Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Washington essays

Washington essays George Washington is best known as the first president of the United States, and a man of moral fortitude with his famous cherry tree legend. However, there is much more to Washingtons extensive character and contribution that give him the legacy of being, perhaps the most influential leader in the creation of the American nation. Through his achievements as commander-in-chief during the Revolution, in support of the drafting and ratification of the Constitution, and as first president, Washington was instrumental in transforming the ideals of the Revolution into reality. His career as soldier, revolutionary, constitution-maker, and chief executive of a new nation demanded a range of skills and talents with few precedents in history. Washington proved himself to be a firm, dignified, conscientious, yet cautious president. He did not want the central government to become too strong and meticulously avoided getting too involved with Congress, since he was a firm believer of separation of powers. In addition he was not biased or prejudice against any faction of the parties. He also always tried to commit every action with proper reason, and to set a precedent with each action for the presidents that would hold office after him. He did not believe in pushing or proposing any legislation or anything that undemocratic, or unconstitutional. Washington, along with others help then was able to stabilize the government after the adoption of the Constitution. One of the precedents that Washington established was The Presidential Cabinet, which was later used by future presidents as well. Whenever, he had any doubts about a decision he would consult his cabinet, an assembly that he himself chose. While appointing the members of the Cabinet, Washington did not favor any faction of a party, and assigned several positions to different political people. He gave Alexander Hamilton the position of Secretary of Treasury, who was confer...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

How to Dress Professionally When Its Blazing Hot Out

How to Dress Professionally When Its Blazing Hot Out It’s summer! It took a while for those of us in colder climates to get to this point, but it’s finally  time to store the sweaters and place your cute warm weather gear at the front of your closet. So it’s 90 degrees out and you need to figure out a way to stay cool, look cute, and somehow also dress professionally- not the easiest combo to master. It is important to keep in mind that, even in this day of casual work cultures, there are still rules and norms that govern what we should and should not wear to the office. And to make matters even more confusing, on top of that, there is always a unique, often unspoken, code in every workplace. Try to figure out what yours is, but also follow these fairly safe rules of thumb to make sure your summer wardrobe doesn’t keep you from fall employment or the respect you deserve.1. Check the rule book, if there is one.Some companies actually have a rule book or employee manual- if you weren’t given one when you started, HR can give you a copy. Check this first to see whether there are any dress policies or bits of intel you can pick up about your summer outfit planning. Err on the side of caution when it comes to baring flesh.2. Follow the grandma rule.When in doubt, look at your outfit. If you would be embarrassed wearing it to meet your grandmother for lunch, then it’s probably not right for the office. This is particularly true for women, who will be judged more often when they bare any skin at all. Dress for your own version of success, not others, but do keep in mind the double standards and injustices of perception out there and make sure to keep yourself†¦ covered, metaphorically speaking (and sometimes actually).3. Err on the side of â€Å"not short.†If there’s a question in your mind as to whether shorts (or short skirts) are appropriate for your workplace, that probably means you haven’t seen anyone in such attire at the office. Take that as a sign and leave your barest-leg ensembles for the weekends. Instead, to stay cool, aim for a skirt that at least hits the knee: summery and smart! (The same rules apply to crop tops: save them for the weekend.)4. Keep the shoes classy.No, you can’t wear flip flops to the office. Yes, you can wear sandals, just try to minimize the amount of bare foot you show on any given day. It’s probably best to avoid shoes with open backs, though if you must, choose slides instead of flops.5. Summer denim is probably too casual.Jeans are one thing, especially if your office tends casual. Times have changed, and a nice dark jean is usually fine. But summer denim is another story: if you give way to the jean section of your closet, you’ll be tempted to wear jorts and jumpers and shorts. Don’t. You can probably get away with a denim shift dress, but any other short denim should stay at home.If you overheat, try lots of lighter fabrics and brighter, breezier colors. If you then get too cold because of overzealous air conditioning, make sure to bring a light sweater to keep yourself warm. And the upside of not baring too much skin, particularly on your legs, is that you won’t need to worry about working through the inevitable goosebumps.Dress smart, and have a great working summer!

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Clean Water in the Environmental Policy Context Essay

Clean Water in the Environmental Policy Context - Essay Example Secondly, the maintenance of a pollution-free waterbody requires several technological and monitoring arrangements which can come at a high cost. Thirdly, water is an essential and abundant resource. People believe that they have the right to clean water. This therefore means that authorities need to ensure that waterbodies are clean and free of pollution. Additionally, the flora and fauna related to the ecosystems of rivers and other waterbodies have the right to be preserved. These three factors imply that federal and state governments have a primary obligation to ensure that water is free from pollution. The inherent nature of clean water issues means that government can only handle the issue of providing safe water through policy. This paper examines the challenges facing policymakers in providing clean water to the public. To this end, the focus will be on the Clean Water Act, 1977 which provides the basic policy framework to tackle this issue through pollution control programs and limitation of discharge into waterbodies (Summary of Clean Water Act, 2011). The research examines perspectives into the challenges facing this Act and comes up with recommendations on how to deal with these challenges. The paper undertakes a critical view of the recommendations and examines how it can be applied in reality. Clean Water Act 1977 The Clean Water Act was enacted â€Å"... to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation's waters† (Section 101 a). This means that it provides a framework to ensure that practical steps are taken to prevent the pollution of our waterbodies. The Act empowers the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Army Corps of Engineers and the States to take reasonable steps to prevent the pollution of surface water in the country (National Research Council, 2008 p65). These parties work together with the other law enforcement agencies to ensure that all limits the law is followed appropriately in local jurisdictions. The Act was ammended in 1981, 1987 and 1990 (National Research Council, 2008 p265). The Act has six different Titles. Title I is about research and related programs. It sets out the goals of the act and the preamble it follows. Title II is about Grants for the Construction of Treatment Works. It shows how the various municipalities will be assisted to expand sewerage treatment plants. Title III is about Standards & Enforcement. It borders on discharge points, technology quality standards, water quality programs as well as criminal and civil provision for the enforcement of the law. Title IV outlines the federal and state certification and the issuance of permits and licenses needed for various potential polluters. Title V is about the facts that citizens can sue polluters and the procedures they can follow for that. It also describes the protections offered to whistleblowers. Title VI is about funding for State and local water pollution control systems. Policy Challen ges of the Clean Water Act There are three main significant challenges that can be identified in relation to the Clean Water Act. First of all, there is a major problem in relation to the uniformity of the application of the Act. Secondly, there is limited funding for treatment services as well as monitoring services to ensure that the Act is fully controlled and kept in motion. Thirdly, due to the apathy in the society and the existence of

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Financial Markets and Institutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Financial Markets and Institutions - Essay Example Another option available to an investor is the financial markets that help to channel money from an individual having surplus funds to an individual who requires the money. By participating in financial markets the investor will get the opportunity to invest in a broad range of securities ranging from stocks, bonds, and Treasury bills to modern financial instruments such as derivatives. Financial markets helps to create wealth by mobilizing personal savings of investors and arranging suitable invest opportunity. The process in turn contributes in creation of national wealth by encouraging investments and savings (Madura, 2012, pp.4-7). Overview of Securities Treasury Bills The maturity of T-bills is less than a year and is hence instrument of money market and not capital market. These instruments are very similar to zero-coupon bonds and hence do not pay interest prior to maturity. The process of issuing T-bills is through competitive bidding where they are sold to investors at disco unt and at maturity they are redeemed at the face value of the bond. The appreciation of bond prices in near future provides returns for investment. The maturity of treasury bills varies from 28 days to 364 days and they are sold weekly through single-price auctions. The minimum amount of investment in T-bills has been reduced from $1000 to $100 and the maximum purchase amount is $5 million. Bonds Bond can be defined as the financial instrument through an institution borrows money from different investor for definite period of time with a fixed interest rate. It can be used by corporate, municipalities and government organisations to fund new projects and for further expansion. Interest rate is also known as coupon rate and interest on bonds can be paid semi annually (every six months) and on the date of maturity principal amount of the bond will be paid to the investor with coupon rate. Bond market is also called as a debt market or credit market which is a financial market where n ew bonds can be issued and trading on existing bonds can be done. It is a long term financial market which includes corporate bonds, notes, bills; US treasury bonds.US bond market is about 44% of global bond market. According to SIFMA (Securities Industry and Financial Market Association) current US bonds market increased from March 2012 to 2013 by 2% to nearly $100 trillion. Currently the yields of US treasuries are varying from 0.05% to 3.89% for 3 months treasuries to 30 year treasuries (Fabozzi, 2007, p.261). Stocks The stock or capital stock of an incorporated business constitutes the equity stake of its owners. It represents the residual assets of company which is due to stockholders after discharging secured and unsecured debt. The stockholder’s equity cannot be withdrawn from company as it is detrimental to creditors of company. The stock of a corporation is partitioned into shares. Additional shares can be authorized by existing shareholders and issued by company. Sh ares represent a fraction of ownership in business. This ownership of share is documented by issue of stock certificate which a legal document is specifying the amount of share owned by shareholder. Stock in the form of shares can be preferred stock or common stock. Preferred stock differs from common stock in the way that it does not carry voting rights. It is entitled to a certain level of dividend payment

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Religion, Wealth and Poverty Essay Example for Free

Religion, Wealth and Poverty Essay Outline the work of one religious agency working for world development and explain why it does this work. The religious agency, Christian Aid was set up in 1944, originally known as the British Churches Ecumenical Refugee Council. It was primarily created to help the thousands of homeless Europeans as a result of the Second World War. It became known as Christian Aid in 1945 and was filed as only a segregated department of all of the non-Roman Catholic churches the British Council of Churches and provided great help to the poorer people surviving in lesser economically developed areas. Christian Aid is now a worldwide organisation and has become an agency for the churches of the United Kingdom and in Ireland, working wherever their need is superlative, irrespective of the religion of this area. As well as doing this work, Christian Aid supports local organisations who are better at understanding the needs in their specified areas, whilst continually helping those in need with the sixteen offices they retain overseas. Christian Aid believes in helping people gain strength in finding their own solution to a particular problem rather than simply helping and leaving, Christian Aid provides withstanding support. In addition to this work, Christian Aid strives to transform a New World by ending poverty and continuously campaigns for the change of the morals and rules that allow the poor to get poorer. Christian Aid works and provides help in over sixty countries in the world today, supplying emergency aid and long term aid to organisations, which are working to create the end of poverty. Christian Aid prefers to work through local organisations in areas of lesser-developed economies, as they believe that these organisations understand the needs of their people best. A great plus of the agency of Christian Aid is that it works in all areas despite the religion or race of the place they are working in. In order to achieve the high aims set by Christian Aid, their work can be divided into four sections and they are as follows. Fund raising is a major issue and to be able to start any work in relieving the issue of poverty, Christian Aid has to tackle the problem of funds, which can be raised in several ways. In 1975, it was organised so that every year in May, Christian Aid week could be held as a nationwide even. This is where churches provide information about Christian Aid to almost every home in certain areas by posting letters through their letterboxes and asking for donations. In 1995, a record à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8.6 million was raised for Christian Aid via this process. In addition to this, certain parishes and individuals organise events to raise money for the agency and in the past have contributed more by this process than in Christian Aid week. Emergency aid is also taken into consideration as Christian Aid set up a fund known as the disaster fund so it could be immediately used if a natural disaster were to occur and has often overtaken long term aid due to its efficiency in helping people survive the effects of a natural disaster. The work done by Christian Aid involves providing and sending food, medicine and materials to build shelters for the victims of such natural disasters as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. An example of this aid was when blankets, tents and food were sent to refugees in Bosnia and Rwanda and when food was provided for drought-stricken Zimbabwe. This specified version of aid is so important that nearly 15% of Christian Aids funds are spent on it per annum. Long term aid is equally important and fortunately, Christian Aid is greatly advantaged in this area as it has contact with the organisations who receive the aid and the majority of Christian Aids emergency and long-term aid is diverted through Christian associations within the country concerned. If is often for these establishments to come up with fund-raising ideas to help relieve certain aspects of poverty in their area and then ask Christian Aid to finance these propositions. An example of this is when in Columbia, poor farmers were being threatened to be evicted from their homes. Fortunately, the farmers were able to establish an alternative environmentally friendly method which allowed them to develop their area that would provide an income for these farmers and their families. Christian Aid and the European Union are negotiating the finance of this scheme. Another example of Christian Aid helping lesser developed countries is in Bangladesh, where Christian Aid are funding a group of Christian workers to make basic drugs for medicine which are unavailable in Bangladesh. Consequently, as Christian Aid helps in all of these diverse and different areas, their main aim is to help people to help themselves. Education is a key factor to the success of Christian Aid. Nearly 5% of Christian Aids funds is consumed on education about the greater need of development and the way in which Christians are enabled to provide this help to those in need. The association of Christian Aid produces a newspaper, Christian Aid News, along with many other educational articles which not only provide information on the projects that Christian Aid is working on but how they are improving the rate of development in lesser economically developed areas. Christian Aid advocates campaigns for the improvement of living and health conditions in lesser-developed areas. Christian Aids motivation is built upon the Christian belief that all people are equal in the eyes of God and so therefore all deserve the same things. This organisation is driven by the beliefs that God cares about the poor and their lifestyle, wanting them to be treated accordingly. It is also believed that the worth and importance of a person is not measured on how much money they have or the material belongings that they may possess. It is written in the Bible that what counts is a persons desire to do good, their faith in God and actions towards other people. Due to these Christian beliefs, Christian Aid does everything within its power to help those who are less fortunate in both this country and abroad. The quotation, There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all once in Christ taken from Galatians 3:25 is the basis of the Christian Aids work. It is believed that everyone has rights and so deserves to be treated the same, despite their circumstances, creed, nationality, religion or colour. In conclusion to the work of Christian Aid and its motivation, it is clear that their main aim is not only to assist the poor, but help them learn to help themselves and by doing this, Christian Aid are increasing the development of the developing world. The motivation of this agency is obvious due to the fact that they are Christian and it is Gods belief that you should use everything within your power to help those in need of your help. Christian Aid believes that From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole Earth, Acts 17: 26, so that everyone is equal in the eyes of God as they were all created from the same mould, therefore everyone should be treated respectfully. Thanks to these beliefs, Christian Aids work is helping to eradicate the growth of poverty and sustain a development in the lesser-developed areas.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

NO Spiritual Reward for Depriving the Physical Body Essay -- Theology

There is NO Spiritual Reward for Depriving the Physical Body of Comfort or Pleasure I. Doctrine There is a great falsehood that is perpetuated by the modern church, and it is one that threatens the very mission assigned to every believer in Matthew 28:18-20. Before one can address this falsehood, one must understand the duty of God's people in this life. It is the believer's task to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them as God ordained, and teaching them how to obey the teachings of Jesus. What then are the teachings of Jesus? As believers, we hold as doctrine that God the Father, along with the Holy Spirit and the Son created all that is. He gave Man, God's special creation made in His own image, dominion over the physical creation, directing Man to "fill the earth and subdue it". Scriptures outline in Genesis 1:28-30 this natural stewardship of Man over the fish of the sea, all living creatures on the ground, and the birds of the air. In addition, God gave to Man the use of "every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit w ith seed in it" (Genesis 1:29b). God, after reviewing all that He had created noted in Genesis 1:31 that it was "very good". Man's charmed life lasted until the Fall, by which sin and sin nature entered the world. Pain in childbirth, difficulty in agriculture, and, most importantly, death are all results of Man's disobedience (Genesis 3:16-19). Death, despite its negative connotations was given to Man as a gift, for only in death could the separation between God and Man be bridged. The practice of offering firstborn livestock to God began with Abel's first sacrifice. This offering pointed to God's ultimate resolution for sin's breach, first promis... ...s idolatry is the fundamental problem of this world, and drug-related idolatry is no different than any other flavor in God's eyes. Rejecting Christ is this world's flaw, and is the sin against which believers wage war. Teaching a drug idolater that the drugs are evil in and of themselves denies the basic truth that placing anything higher than God is sinful (Exodus 20:3-6). Programs like the 'Twelve Steps' teach blasphemy. They teach drug and alcohol idolaters to remain just that, although the idolaters no longer permit themselves to indulge in that which they worship. It is only through recognizing that God's creation is good and that Man commits evil that one can come to true freedom in Christ. It is with respect that this author pleads for such a tactic for those who seek healing in areas of addiction. After all, His grace and only His grace are sufficient.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Cooper Industries’ Corporate Strategy Essay

1. What is Cooper’s corporate strategy? How is Cooper Industries adding corporate value to its portfolio of businesses? Would you recommend any changes in corporate strategy? Cooper’s corporate strategy is diversification through acquisitions and mergers. This diversification is in both related and non-related businesses to lessen its dependence on the capital expenditures of the natural gas industry. Cooper’s started acquiring low-technology manufacturing companies. The companies were premium-quality products with strong brands names mainly still own by the original family owners that have seen better days. Once Cooper’s acquired the companies they would update the processes and equipment and consolidate the plants. In a few cases, moved entire manufacturing plants to new plants in the southern part of the country to break away from practices of 20 years ago. They called this the â€Å"Cooperization† process which is one where they create lean independent business. The â€Å"Cooperization,† process included plans for divisional managers to seek out complementary acquisitions for further expansion of the Cooper Empire. Let’s now look at ways they add this value to the Cooper Portfolio. Cooper empire added value to the corporation in a variety of ways: Manage Cooper’s over all corporate portfolios †¢Pursuing companies have stable earning or earning counter cyclical to oil and natural gas †¢ 30 years acquired more than 60 manufacturing companies †¢Retain only best top leadership from the acquired business †¢Centralized activities including managing inventories, sales, shipping, billing and headquarters. †¢Over 30 divestitures in under 20 years in efforts to only keep business that would continue to add value †¢Half of growth depends upon internal growth and other half from acquisitions †¢Reviewed about 100 potential acquisitions annually. †¢Division had a global responsibility for its operations. †¢Close examination of business parts in order to place different products into a more well suited area of the corporation. †¢Corporate management teams participate in every policy decision made in the organizations †¢Internal audit staff and four person team of manufacturing cost systems experts available †¢Labor relation, shareholders and public relations, environmental matters, legal affairs, administering personnel policy and benefits programs handle by one person. †¢Strong union-avoidance policy †¢Precisely focused upon complying with strategy rather than upon assigning blame for poor performance. †¢Knowledgeable, understanding, and supportive division managers. Managing each individual business owned by Coopers †¢Focus on products that served basic needs and suspending manufacturing on unprofitable products. †¢Vertical integration of other business to lower supply and dealer cost. †¢ Gain leverage with distributors because of greater sales volume and wider product offering. †¢Decentralized operation philosophy. †¢Bottom-up strategic planning. Managed linkages among different divisions of Coopers businesses †¢Combining sales member from other companies to promote all products creating a small yet efficient sales team. †¢Strong brand name for superior quality. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"Cash flow is king,† implemented thinking in divisions to keep money on hand to be able to acquire businesses fast and efficiently if needed or  opportunity presents itself. †¢Production improvements based upon broader perspective of manufacturing plants they one plant can have. †¢Established purchasing council negotiated advantageous prices †¢New building and/or major construction products would be expected to purchases Cooper’s supplies. Manage change in the businesses owned by Coopers †¢Combining duplicate product lines to one division  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"Lean and mean,† cost structures while limited power of spending habits to lower level managers. †¢Rationalized manufacturing facilities to close underutilized plants †¢Consolidating sales and marketing programs to help develop a unified market identity and then construct showroom to display all of its products, train architects, designers, and to show off product lines. †¢Enhanced management of distribution-oriented businesses because of experience at Cooper’s. Recommendations for changes in future acquisitions and mergers: It is my belief that Coopers has a first-class corporate strategy that is very effective at making money. They have great portfolio management skills with obtaining and releasing companies that is best for the stockholders. This means there is little agency problem that occurs in the corporation. Coopers is also great at creating productive manufacturing companies with little worries about foreign competitors due to high-quality products, technologies and management teams in place to direct uncharted directions. The only recommendation of change I have is for the company to have a greater appreciation of people currently running the acquired businesses. Yes, Coopers obtained them in a rundown condition, but the companies are still in business. That means the few people holding the company together could be lost with the â€Å"my way or the highway† philosophy of Coopers. This only need to be a small change, Coopers is good at identifying profitable parts of a business except mid and low level human based resources. Cooper should start an evaluation process of current workers and the ones that are a superior fit should be sent to a different part of the corporation to be trained in the Cooperization process in hopes they will one day become a greater asset to the company. 2. How is Cooper Industries structured? Is this structure  appropriate for its strategy? Would you recommend any structural adjustments? Divisional Structure The diversification structure is very appropriate for Cooper Industries. Cooper has operations in manufacturing, administration and finance across many different products creating synergy throughout entire corporation. These operations across many different products, areas, and customers gives enhanced flexibility to the corporation as a whole in responding to change. This flexibility creates enhanced coordination across the functional departments due to expertise focus. The diversification structure combined with an expertise focus allows Coopers to evaluate internally to give clear responsibility with a mature sense of correction. As if the diversification structure with the expertise focus wasn’t enough, Coopers added a system of control on top of all this to ensure success. This control required all division to propose a standard 150 line item monthly financial report, guidelines to help direct potential acquisitions, and strong brand name awareness for quality creating a well-built company. Cooper recommended structural adjustments In the case of Cooper’s structure I believe it is prestige and shouldn’t be touched. The fact that the company gives up control of day-to-day activities with monitoring and guidance available creates trust in throughout the entire organization. Secondly, because the Cooper’s breaks up newly acquired companies and transfers resources among the different business units or even to relocates a full line to different divisions show that this is a forward thinking company. Thirdly, it would be unachievable for another corporation to compete on the same level as Cooper because it has co-leader in every divisional segment. Lastly, even if a company does become available to purchase you better be ready to compete with Coopers which is a force you don’t want to come against.