Quizz on Chapter 1 International Management 10 E Essay Example

Quizz on Chapter 1 International Management 10 E Essay CHAPTER 1 QUIZ 1. The term globalism or globalization generally refers to _____. a. increasing loyalty to your own country b. global competition characterized by networks that bind countries, institutions, and people. c. competition in an increasingly borderless world d. b and c only 2. The hostility to the takeover of Europe’s largest steel company, Acelor, by India’s Mittal Steel illustrates a. the decrease in nationalism and increase in globalism. b. the backlash against globalism. c. the decline in competitiveness in the steel industry. d. ultural differences about the benefits of takeovers. 3. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a. are generally not competing internationally. b. are major investors in world markets. c. face good opportunities currently as a result of trade shows, export initiatives, and the Internet. d. are unaffected by globalism 4. The three major world currencies today are _____. a. euro, yen, U. S. b. euro, yen, peso c. euro, U. S. dollar , German mark d. euro, U. S. dollar, peso 5. The European Union currently consists of how many nations? a. Ten b. Twenty-seven c. Forty d. Fifty 6. Which of the following countries is not one of the Four Tigers? a. South Korea b. Hong Kong c. Taiwan d. Thailand 7. China has enjoyed recent success as an export powerhouse built upon its _____. a. strengths of low costs and flow of capital b. geographic location in the world c. high educational standards d. close ties with Japan 8. Which of the following statements is not correct about China? a. China joined the WTO in 2002 b. One of China’s key strengths is its excellent infrastructure c. China is stuck halfway between a command economy and a market economy d. We will write a custom essay sample on Quizz on Chapter 1 International Management 10 E specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Quizz on Chapter 1 International Management 10 E specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Quizz on Chapter 1 International Management 10 E specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer China continues to enjoy significant inflows of money from ethnic Chinese outside of China 9. Which of the following statements is correct about India? a. India’s biggest contributor to growth is its excellent infrastructure. b. India is the world’s leader for outsourced back-office services, and increasingly for high tech services c. India is the fastest-growing free-market democracy d. b and c only are correct 10. India’s economic boom is a result of a. reducing protectionism and red tape b. lifting restrictions on foreign investment c. reforming its financial sectors d. ll of the above 11. Which of the following is not correct? a. Foreign investors have become wary of Russia because of recent government action against the Yukos oil group. b. Africa has been ignored by most of the world’s investors c. Because of the political and economic risks in LDCs, they offer no potential international business opportunities d. South Africa has the biggest economy i n Africa. 12. The U. S is offshoring white-collar computer programming jobs to India because _____. a. Indians are better programmers than Americans b. Indians speak better English than Americans . Indian programmers cost one-fourth the cost of equivalent American programmers d. all of the above 13. Political risks are any governmental actions or politically motivated events that adversely affect the _____. a. capacity of the company to survive long-run profitability or value of the company b. personal safety of corporate managers and employees c. company’s capacity to meet consumer needs 14. _____ occurs when the local government seizes the foreign-owned assets of the MNC and provides inadequate compensation. a. Nationalization b. Expropriation c. Confiscation d. Repatriation 15. Suppose the government of Karakozia seizes all assets of Pepsi in Karakozia without offering any compensation to the company. This action on the part of the government is an example of _____. a. nationalization b. repatriation c. expropriation d. confiscation 16. Zagreb Inc. , negotiates a multi-million dollar contract with the government to provide electricity to country A. The government is voted out of power shortly after and the new government changes the contract for all oil producing companies. This is an example of _____. a. barriers to repatriation . expropriation c. confiscation d. micro political risk 17. Micro political risk events are those that affect _____. a. numerous industries or companies b. several other nations in the same region c. one industry or company or a few companies d. managers and employees who are nationals 18. Which of the following is not one of the seven typical political risk events common today? a. loss of technology or intellectua l property rights b. political takeovers and civil wars c. discriminatory treatment in the application of laws d. interference in managerial decision making 19. Expropriation of corporate assets without prompt and adequate compensation is an example of _____. a. economic risk b. political risk c. legal risk d. cultural risk 20. Risk assessment by multinational corporations usually takes two forms: _____ and _____. a. use of experts or consultants; newspaper reports b. use of experts or consultants; internal staff c. use of internal staff; publications d. government risk reports; computer modeling 21. Which of the following is a form of hedging? a. staged contribution strategies b. development assistance c. local debt financing d. ocalization of the operation 22. Representatives of a MNC seek an interview with local government leaders in the Department of Commerce in India with a view to assess the types of policies likely to be implemented. According to Mathis, this is an example of ______. a. qualitative approach b. quantitative approach c. checklist approach d. a combination of all of the above 23. The host country’s legal system is derived from ______. a. common law b. civil law c. Islamic law d. all of the above 24. Tariffs and quotas are examples of what types of policies? a. protectionist b. conomic development c. free market d. political development 25. Some countries rigorously enforce employee secrecy agreements in order to _____. a. protect a firm’s intellectual property b. restrict labor mobility c. avoid costly litigation among firms d. all of the above 26. About 70 countries, predominantly in Europe, are ruled by ______ law, as is Japan. a. common b. Islamic c. civil d. custom 27. Political risk insurance is a form of _____. a. input control b. development assistance c. equity sharing d. hedging 28. When a MNC keeps certain key subsidiary management positions in the hands f expatriate or home-office managers, it is exercising ______. a. input control b. market control c. position control d. bureaucratic control 29. Companies often reduce risk in foreign countries by creating dependency of a subsidiary on the host country. Which of the following is not a means of maintaining dependency? a. market control b. equity sharing c. staged contri bution strategies d. input control 30. Which of the following risk management strategies is not a means of adaptation? a. participative management b. development assistance c. funds sharing d. localization of the operatio

Free Essays on Cause Of Filipino Migration

STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PAPER: The numbers of Filipinos migrating to the United States had been continuously growing over the years. Unfortunately, the limited research on this topic generally tended to focus more on the Filipino immigrant’s social and cultural adaptation and not on the factors that encouraged them to leave the Philippines. Therefore, this research will investigate the significant reason behind the great number of Filipinos migrating in the United States and the consequences of that to the economy of the Philippines. In acquiring data, the research will employ the use of survey mechanism; a survey will concentrates on asking a portion or samples of Filipino immigrant a set of standardized questions. LITERATURE REVIEW: The continuous influx of Filipino immigrants to the United States had brought the Filipino-American populations to be third largest Asian group in the United States. Based on the 2000 U.S. census, â€Å"Filipinos ranks third in population among Asians race-Asian Indian and Chinese ranks first and second, respectively- with a total population of 1,850,314 or 0.7% of the total population of the United States† (2000 U.S. census). There are many literary studies that pertain to the struggles of Filipinos in the United States. Yet, there are very few that focus on the reason of Filipino exodus to the United States and these few assert that the American way of education, the depleting economy of the Philippines, and the social status standard of Filipinos are among the factors that motivate them to relocate. Historically, United States had twice liberated the Philippines to the hands of cruel colonizer and in helping rebuild the devastated country, the American way of life was deeply embedded to the Filipino society. During that time, United States made universal education as one of their major objectives. A policy that was way different from that of most colonial powers, who took the position of ... Free Essays on Cause Of Filipino Migration Free Essays on Cause Of Filipino Migration STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PAPER: The numbers of Filipinos migrating to the United States had been continuously growing over the years. Unfortunately, the limited research on this topic generally tended to focus more on the Filipino immigrant’s social and cultural adaptation and not on the factors that encouraged them to leave the Philippines. Therefore, this research will investigate the significant reason behind the great number of Filipinos migrating in the United States and the consequences of that to the economy of the Philippines. In acquiring data, the research will employ the use of survey mechanism; a survey will concentrates on asking a portion or samples of Filipino immigrant a set of standardized questions. LITERATURE REVIEW: The continuous influx of Filipino immigrants to the United States had brought the Filipino-American populations to be third largest Asian group in the United States. Based on the 2000 U.S. census, â€Å"Filipinos ranks third in population among Asians race-Asian Indian and Chinese ranks first and second, respectively- with a total population of 1,850,314 or 0.7% of the total population of the United States† (2000 U.S. census). There are many literary studies that pertain to the struggles of Filipinos in the United States. Yet, there are very few that focus on the reason of Filipino exodus to the United States and these few assert that the American way of education, the depleting economy of the Philippines, and the social status standard of Filipinos are among the factors that motivate them to relocate. Historically, United States had twice liberated the Philippines to the hands of cruel colonizer and in helping rebuild the devastated country, the American way of life was deeply embedded to the Filipino society. During that time, United States made universal education as one of their major objectives. A policy that was way different from that of most colonial powers, who took the position of ...

Cleave, Cleaver, and Clove

Cleave, Cleaver, and Clove Cleave, Cleaver, and Clove Cleave, Cleaver, and Clove By Maeve Maddox Sophia Bailey asks about the word cleave: Can you please explain cleave. On one hand it means to separate (cleaver butcher) and on the other it means to cling to (cleave to bosom). Huh? Old English had two verbs that have come to be spelled the same way in modern English: clifian: to adhere, to stick cleofan: to split, to separate Note: In these OE words, the letter f stands for the v sound. From clifian we get the cleave that means adhere or stick (in the glutinous sense). Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24, King James version) She cleaved to him, and he could feel his blood changing like quicksilver (D.H. Lawrence, Women in Love (1920) Already married to a man who had ended up in prison, she cleaved to the outlaw†¦ (blog about Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, with a 1995-2005 copyright notice.) †¦she cleaved to her Baptist views until her death. (a book review dated 1999) From cleofan we get the cleave that means cut in two. Order a side of beefthat’s half a cow, roughly 300 poundsand get it cut and cleaved any way you like. (ad for a meat company) A gyrocopter pilot drove towards a hunt supporter who was trying to stop him from taking off, cleaving his head from top to bottom, ..(grim story in the Telegraph, 19 October 2010) Cleofian was a strong verb in OE so we also have the past form clove: [they] conducted him into a vast room, clove a passage for him through the assembled nobility of England, [The knight] cut through all his head armour and his skin and his flesh and clove him in twain. he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out. .. the king seized hold of a huge sledge-hammer, and swinging it round his head, struck it with such force upon the anvil that he clove the massive block of iron in twain†¦, From cleofian we also get the words cleft, cloven and cleavage. Cleft can be used as a noun, as in a cleft in the rock, or as a an adjective meaning split or bifurcated. A cleft palate is a malformation involving a split or gap in the palate. The expression, to find oneself in a cleft stick, means to be in a dilemma, to be unable to go forward or return to ones initial position. The hoof of a pig or a goat can be described either as a cleft hoof or a cloven hoof. The latter has diabolical connotations because the Devil is often depicted in art as having the feet of a goat. The word cleavage is much used by geologists, biologists, and writers of celebrity gossip. cleavage: The action of cleaving or splitting crystals and certain rocks along their lines of natural fissure; the state of being so cleft. cleavage: Cell-division, segmentation. cleavage: The cleft between a womans breasts as revealed by a low-cut dà ©colletage. (colloquial) A cleaver, of course, is a butchers cutting tool. It can be of any shape, but the shape most often associated with it is that of a small hatchet. The noun clove, meaning the pointy bit that breaks off a bulb of garlic, is related to OE cleofian, to split. The noun clove meaning the spice comes from a word meaning nail, Anglo-French clowes, French clou, Latin clavus. Cloves are the dried flowerbuds of an evergreen tree. They resemble nails. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply with20 Words Meaning "Being or Existing in the Past"Comma After Introductory Phrases

HYBRID ENERGIES Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

HYBRID ENERGIES - Research Paper Example The most striking feature is its very low negative impact on the environment, especially of the small hydropower plants (Our Energy, 2010). This is because the large-scale plants, although producing no waste products like gases and fumes, effect the surrounding ecology by disrupting the ecosystem and laying a waste to the soil in terms of agriculture (Our Energy, 2010). Hence, of late, the small-scale power plants, which can be set up on local water supply pipelines and, therefore, not radically shifting the ecosystem, are preferred (Our Energy, 2010). Another near-zero negative impact hybrid energy comes from the solar thermal technology (Solar Thermal Energy, 2008). This is the most favored form of the hybrid energies, and is increasingly becoming cheaper than the conventional fuels to both harness and maintain (Solar Thermal Energy, 2008). The point focus form of this technology is much more efficient than the other forms, almost double the efficiency (Solar Thermal Energy, 2008). This means that to produce the same amount of energy, it will have the least negative balance on the environment. The highest negative balance on the environment comes from the burning of fossil fuels (Postnote, 2006). Even from among these traditional fuels, coal has the highest carbon footprint, reaching to a level of more than 1,000 gCO2eq/kWh (Postnote, 2006).

Case 4-1 McDonald's Great Britain -The Turnaround Study

4-1 McDonald's Great Britain -The Turnaround - Case Study Example There was a further fall in McDonald’s UK’s sales in 2005 alongside those of other European McDonald’s outlets. In 2007, the company’s sales went up by 4.6 percent and it increased its market share. Inadequate localization, negative perception, and competition are some of the reasons for McDonald’s UK lagging behind. The most critical problem confronting McDonald’s UK is inadequate localization. This manifests in the way its Britain customers were repulsed by its use of the red color on its company logo. The second most critical problem facing McDonald’s UK is negative perception and the Greenpeace lawsuit, low quality food, lack of variety on its menu and the low pay that the company offers its employees are responsible for the company’s negative perception. The least critical problem facing McDonald’s UK is competition. Some emerging coffee shops are competing with McDonald’s UK and other fast food businesses are offering more variety for what is considered healthy foods by Britain’s customers (Krishna & Chaudhuri 658). Question 2: Some problems you identified in Question 1 may require a â€Å"quick fix† in the short run, while others may require a major shift in company strategy. Assuming that you cannot focus on all the problems at once, suggest the order in which the issues should be addressed and suggest an approach to solving each problem. The problem of competition that is confronting McDonald’s UK is one that needs a quick fix. McDonald’s UK has the capacity to liaise with its parent firm to offer coffee as a primary item in its menu. Its initiative to introduce freshly ground Kenco beans suffices to introduce a coffee brand that is unique. The problem of negative perception should be the second problem that McDonald’s UK should address. The company can address this problem by making peace with Greenpeace activists in order to reassure the Britons that it takes responsibility for its mistakes. The problem of

Pepsi Refresh Analysis Essay Example for Free

Pepsi Refresh Analysis Essay A Thirst for Change For decades, PepsiCo beverages have had success in capturing much market share of the soft drink industry through fascinating advertising campaigns. Their campaigns revolved around the idea that Pepsi was a drink for the young and young at heart. The advertisements were filled with optimism and aimed to bring people together in some way. At the turn of the twenty-first century, Pepsi was challenged with the fact that people were simply drinking less soda to switch to healthier options. In response to the issue, Pepsi began to expand its product portfolio by including healthier alternatives to the sugar-filled soft drink. Although it was a good attempt to conform to the more health-conscious world, this new focus hindered the attention that was given to their money-making products. Pepsi knew they had to appeal to their audience as more than just a soft drink brand. The problem was how do to so. They began to follow the sentiments of the country and focus on making a change for the better of society. First they launched the Refresh Everything campaign, which gave Pepsi a voice and then the Pepsi Refresh Project, which put that voice to action. The project, which aimed to increase brand equity, earned them an award at the International Advertising Awards but failed to increase sales or market share. Even though the project was successful it was not selling product, which in the end was the main goal. The Pepsi Refresh Project took advantage of one of the company’s best strengths, brand awareness. People knew about Pepsi and were interested in what they were doing to better the society around them. Pepsi saw this new project as an opportunity to establish a point of difference from their biggest competitor, Coca-Cola. They believed that the new socially conscious America was a threat to their industry and had to combat the issue by giving in and helping out. Through social-media and traditional promotion as well as various public relations, Pepsi was able to generate 3. 24 billion media impressions, estimated to be worth $66 million in earned media value, with the Pepsi Refresh Project. Because much of their promotion was done through social networking, Pepsi added 3 million Facebook fans and 53,000 Twitter followers. They also advertised via commercials on NBC, ABC, Fox, MTV, Spike, and ESPN and had print ads in People and Parade magazines. For public relations, they encouraged celebrities to participate in the program and offered grants to help their cause. Even with all of the success in participation of the program, the numbers that really mattered were not increasing. Pepsi sales dropped 4. 8% while market share also decreased. Ultimately, Pepsi believed that long-term brand equity was gained but was unsure whether to continue the project. They could not go another year spending the same amount of money on the Pepsi Refresh Project without their sales increasing. In my opinion, Pepsi broadened the way people think about them as a company and for that, the project was a success. I do not think that continuing this project would be beneficial and they should lend their focus to creating a campaign that drives sales now that they have an even stronger brand equity and awareness.

Essay on The Jungle and Things Fall Apart -- comparison compare contra

The Jungle and Things Fall Apart Frederick Douglass once said "Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." Frederick Douglass was a runaway slave turned abolitionist, and while his history is quite amazing, what is even more intriguing is that this quote sums up the theme behind two books that have nothing to do with slavery or each other. One can conclude, therefore, that oppression, whether by law, in tradition, or by circumstance, is a universal theme. It's sting knows no bounds, geographical, racial, or otherwise. The African American slave suffers from the same plight as the impoverished immigrant and the indigenous peoples subject to the invasion of Christian missionaries. Oppression, as a result, is a tie that binds two very unique novels together, or perhaps, just maybe they are not so different at all. Their parallels can best be analyzed by taking a closer look into the environments, the main characters, and the chilling symbolism present in The Jungle and Things Fall Apart. The environments of both novels stand in stark contrast with each other; one a world of metal and machines, the other a land of straw huts and bare necessities. The common theme, however, is painfully simple. Both cultures are governed by the land, Chicago by the economy and Umuofia by it's traditions. In Chicago, when the economy suffered so did the packing industry. When the world demanded less meat people would be laid off. In Umuofia so long as all people lived by the traditions and l... ...tion and all people obeying said traditions. When the environment crumbles so do the societies that are dependant upon them. The two main characters are driven men who despite heroic efforts fall victims to circumstances they are powerless over. Jurgis and Okonkwo both fight the good fight, but lose to a world the cares not for their troubles. Finally, through symbolism the novels truly come alive. The symbolism present gives the reader a clear depiction of the cruelty that is to befall both men. It is truly tragic how close these horrific stories are, a sad testament to dark chapters in time honored establishments, American economy and Christian missionaries. If these are the consequences of such highly thought of establishments, is there anyway to stop oppression from overcoming the world? It tends to make one think.

The Birthday Party, a comedy of menace

â€Å"Comedy of menace† was a term first used to describe Harold Pinter's plays by the drama critic Irving Wardle. He borrowed the term from the subtitle of one of David Campton's plays, The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace. A comedy is a humorous play which contains variations on the elements of surprise, incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations and so on in order to amuse and make the audience laugh. A menace is something which threatens to cause harm, evil or injury which seems quite incompatible with the idea of a comedy. However, as The Birthday Party shows, it is quite possible for a playwright to create both humour and menace in the same play, and even at the same time, in order to produce certain effects and to transmit ideas to the audience. Comedy is present in The Birthday Party from the very first scene; it is a way of gently introducing the audience to the world which Pinter is trying to create. The humour is quite subtle at first, for example the exchange between Petey and Meg about whether Stanley is up or not plays on the words up and down: â€Å"Meg: â€Å"Is Stanley up yet? Petey: I don't know. Is he? Meg: I don't know. I haven't seen him down. Petey: Well then, he can't be up. Meg: Haven't you seen him down? â€Å". Although the repetitions in this short exchange will not make the audience burst out with laughter they can make them smile and the humour also lulls them into a sense of comfort. A joke with a similar effect is made through another short dialogue between Meg and Petey in which Meg continually asks who is having a baby with Petey insisting that she won't know her until finally saying it's â€Å"Lady Mary Splatt†, to which Meg replies anticlimactically â€Å"I don't know her†. This anticlimax as well as the incongruous name of the woman (we do not imagine a â€Å"Lady† having the surname â€Å"Splatt†) creates humour and again lulls the audience into a sense of peace and normality. As well as this we get a sense of Meg's stupidity, Petey's resignation to it and their relationship being unfruitful and routine from their humorous yet uninteresting dialogue. Indeed, half the reason what they say seems funny is because of how pointless it is. Thus, Pinter highlights the uselessness of Meg and Petey's conversation and in extension the uselessness of everyday small talk. The worrying thing for the audience about this comedy is that it evidences a kind of futility: Meg does notseem to have much of a life beyond these pointless conversations. Thus, while the humour of the dialogue lightens the tone of the scene it also poses a question on the passivity and futility of the lives of the characters and the lives of many people in general. Humour also serves to draw attention to the strangeness of Meg and Stanley's relationship. Indeed, Meg treats him like a child despite his being a man of thirty. We are made aware of the fact that Stanley is not a child when he comes on stage for the first time. Before this Meg's calling him â€Å"that boy† and trying to get him out of bed by calling â€Å"Stan! Stanny! Stan! I'm coming up to fetch you if you don't come down! I'm coming up! I'm going to count to three! One! Two! Three! † makes the audience think he must be a child. Thus when we see him for the first time the incompatibility between the reality and what we have been lead to believe creates humour. The inappropriateness of Meg's treatment of Stanley and his being a fully grown man also creates humour at other moments of the play, for example when she asks him if he â€Å"pa[id] a visit this morning† (went to the toilet). While Meg and Stanley's conversation has some comedic value it could also make the audience feel slightly uneasy, perhaps they will ask themselves why this woman of sixty treats a man of thirty like a boy and why he plays along with her at times. Their exchanges, for example, the dialogue revolving around Stanley calling Meg a â€Å"succulent old washing bag† and Meg's reaction to it, seeming to believe that it's a rude word is quite funny for the audience as again it highlights her silliness but makes their relationship even stranger as she speaks â€Å"coyly†: she does not only play a maternal role but is also somewhat flirtatious. Thus humour, while seeming quite light can have a deeper meaning and cover up something a lot more serious about a character and problems they may have. Likewise, Stanley's attempts at humour when talking to Lulu are a kind of proof of his social inadequacy. When she says that it's stuffy he replies â€Å"Stuffy? I disinfected the place this morning. † And when she talks about his getting under Meg's feet he says he â€Å"always stand[s] on the table when she sweeps the floor†. These two lines are both untrue and when saying them Stanley's aim seems to be to make a joke. However, they both fall flat with Lulu and we could also imagine with the audience. Consequently, comedy, or rather attempts at it, evidence Stanley's lack of social skills. Therefore humour can be a way to introduce the audience to characters and their relationships with each other, and also make the audience think about these characters and perhaps their problems while keeping them interested in the play itself. The parody of small talk also allows Pinter to pose questions to the audience about the futility of many of our lives. Comedy does not just appear alone in this play, humour often appears during a somewhat frightening scene in which characters menace another. Some of these scenes are power struggles between characters or scenes where one character asserts themselves over another. For example, in the scene where Stanley tells Meg about the wheelbarrow he is obviously trying to menace her with his repeated questions (â€Å"Do you know what? â€Å", â€Å"Have you heard the latest? â€Å", â€Å"And do you know what they've got in that van? † etc), the anonymous â€Å"they†, the imminence of â€Å"today† and his actions as he â€Å"advance[s] upon her†. Despite the menacing aspect of this scene the fact that what he is threatening her with is a wheelbarrow adds a slightly bizarre and humorous tone. Indeed, the audience could laugh at Meg, thinking only she could be afraid of a wheelbarrow. However, her reaction to the threats is quite strong as she becomes â€Å"breathless† and cries out â€Å"hoarsely†. She seems to be afraid of it because it's new and different, an example of human fear of the unknown, and also perhaps of being â€Å"taken away† as Stanley repeats twice â€Å"They're looking for someone†. Either way the humorous aspect of someone being afraid of a wheelbarrow heightens the menacing atmosphere for the audience as we don't understand her fear; if she was afraid of something more normal we would not feel so ill at ease. Thus in this scene, Pinter makes use of a comedic aspect with a menacing atmosphere in order to make the audience aware of our own fears of what we do not understand. Comedy and menace also appear together in both the first music hall scene and just before it. In the â€Å"sitting down scene†, a certain amount of humour can be derived from the fact that three grown men are playing a childish game about who will sit down first, but what this game represents is a power struggle. As with the wheelbarrow, this silly game is symbolic of something much more serious; here, the person who sits will lose power. This menacing part of the scene is shown by the insistence of Goldberg and McCann that Stanley sit down and McCann's yelling â€Å"That's a dirty trick! I'll kick the shite out of him†. Interestingly, Stanley seems to try to lighten the atmosphere with the joke (â€Å"Now you've both had a rest you can get out! ) which causes McCann to say this, but he only succeeds in heightening the tense and menacing atmosphere of the scene. Again, humour does not take away from the threat but adds to it, making it worse. The fact that Stanley's joke doesn't lighten the scene as he hoped can also show the inadequacies of language. Indeed, o ne would not expect a joke to create more threats and menace. Thus, through the pairing of humour with menace Pinter shows the audience how words do not always achieve the desired effects and therefore is evidence of our own shortfalls as we do not always accomplish what we would like to through our speech. However, Goldberg does achieve what he wants to with his use of comedy and threats. This is because he wants to create a more menacing scene in order to completely destroy Stanley. His humour comes from the common expressions that he sometimes modifies, such as â€Å"You're beginning to get on my breasts†, and the different registers of these expressions, for example he says â€Å"Why are you driving that old lady off her conk? † which seems very colloquial compared to his normal speech. He also makes an ironic joke when he says that McCann is â€Å"the life and soul of any party†, which is evidently false as the audience can tell that he isn't from how little he speaks. Goldberg's jokes contrast with the serious and controlling man who makes Stanley sit down simply by saying quietly â€Å"Webber. SIT DOWN†. Indeed, we feel more menaced by Goldberg than by McCann because as McCann has already yelled at Stanley we feel as though we know what he is capable of but we don't really know how much Goldberg can do with his power of speech. The power which comes from the paradoxical pairing of humour with menace can be seen in the first music hall scene and in the scene with Lulu. In the music hall scene, the fast pace of the short, nonsensical questions creates a sense of urgency and fear as we do not know what the point of all these questions is. While some of the questions and accusations seem serious, such as â€Å"Why did you leave the organisation? â€Å", others create humour such as, â€Å"When did you last have a bath† or â€Å"McCann: You throttled her. Goldberg: With arsenic†. At the end of the scene the question they are asking him is the well known joke: â€Å"Why did the chicken cross the road? â€Å". It is this question, one of the most unanswerable of all the ones they ask him that finally makes him break down; he can no longer answer. The fact that a joke question is one of the causes of Stanley's destruction shows the strength of humour. Indeed, Freud theorised that â€Å"[in] addition to the one who makes the joke, there must be a second [person] who is taken as the object of the hostile aggressiveness, and a third in whom the joke's aim of producing pleasure is fulfilled†. In this scene, Goldberg and McCann make the jokes to amuse the audience while Stanley is the victim. However, the audience does not really laugh at these jokes, in fact they serve more to make us uneasy, but we still recognise the humour in them and perhaps even appreciate it. The same three person structure is found in the scene where McCann menaces Lulu. In that scene, Lulu is the victim while McCann tells her â€Å"savagely† to confess while Goldberg creates humour by picking up everything she says and turning it against her. For example she says â€Å"You taught me things a girl shouldn't know before she's been married at least three times! , to which Goldberg replies â€Å"Now you're a jump ahead! What are you complaining about? â€Å". The audience will appreciate Goldberg's humour while also finding what Lulu herself says funny despite the fact that she is evidently upset and angry, as it says in the stage directions. This humour followed so quickly by McCann's threats will again make the audience uneasy. This uneasiness of the audience is partly caused by our finding Goldberg, and perhaps even McCann, funny when we feel perhaps that we shouldn't. By being amused by them we ally ourselves with them, the two characters who we know to be manipulative and controlling. Indeed, through their (Goldberg's especially) humour we are manipulated by them to laugh at the other characters. Thus, Pinter shows by placing comedic elements with menacing ones that humour can be powerful and creates relationships between us: relationships which have a strong element of control to them, as our feelings and reactions are manipulated by Goldberg, just like the other relationships which we see in the play. Therefore, we can say that Pinter's â€Å"comedy of menace† is a way to show us how he believes that all relationships revolve around one person asserting their power over another. The atmosphere of menace which is present in this play does not only appear in conjunction with humour. Instead it often relies on the unknown or things not being fully explained. For example, when Goldberg and McCann first arrive, they come through the back door without knocking, which is in itself quite odd, then Goldberg says he wasn't looking for a number when McCann asks him how he knows it's the right house. This is quite an eerie thing to say as the audience can ask themselves what he was looking for as normally you recognise a house by the number. Indeed, it is this abnormality and not knowing how Goldberg knew which house he wanted which creates a sense of a threat or that something bad will happen. This can show the audience how we feel a need for things to be â€Å"normal†, we fear things that we don't understand or that are new. Likewise, McCann's refusal to join Stanley in conversation at the beginning of the second act, giving short answers and asking little in return is really a refusal to make normal conversation. These short responses seem quite menacing because they contrast against Stanley's seemingly open discussion. The audience could believe that Stanley's trying to tempt McCann into conversing with him properly is not only to get information about why he is there but to also make McCann seem more normal and thus less menacing. Like the opening scene with its pointless dialogue this scene shows the human need for speech in order to keep the fear of a threat, in this case represented by McCann, at bay. Language is not the only menacing thing, there are also several small actions or events which add to the menacing atmosphere of the play: the synchronised whistling, McCann's tearing the newspaper into strips and the lights during the birthday party. None of these things should seem that menacing by themselves but the context in which they are placed makes them seem so. Two â€Å"strangers† whistling the same tune together while talking, a grown man sitting at a table tearing paper, a light being shone on a man at his own birthday party as though he is a police suspect and finally a blackout which makes Stanley become violent all seem abnormal and strange for the audience: we do not understand why they happen (except for the blackout, and then we only find out later). It is this not understanding and abnormality of the events which adds to the menacing atmosphere of the play. Therefore we can say that the threatening ambiance of the play is created through language, in particular humour and the unknown, but also through certain eerie and strange events or deeds. The reason Pinter uses these things to make the audience afraid is to show us our fear of what we do not know and the abnormal. However, Pinter makes sure that some of the menacing atmosphere is elevated at times, which actually emphasises how strong this atmosphere is. The threatening ambiance is lessened by the use of humour. This humour can be found in the first dialogue between Goldberg and McCann, for example, when McCann says that Goldberg, who is obviously a Jew, is a â€Å"true Christian†. There is also humour with the dialogue between Goldberg and Meg, after the first music hall scene, when he is admiring her dress and slaps her bottom, as well as before when he calls her a tulip and she asks â€Å"What colour? â€Å". Pinter uses comedy at these moments in the play in order to reassure the audience and to keep some suspense: if the whole length of the play was filled with a menacing atmosphere we would know that Stanley will lose the power struggle from the beginning. The humour also brings a certain level of normality back to the proceedings of the play so that the menacing atmosphere can increase slowly, again creating more suspense. Thus, I agree completely with the description of The Birthday Party as a â€Å"comedy of menace†. While comedy and menace both appear separately in the play it is together that they affect the audience most. The association of two seemingly opposing themes in one play allows the audience to realise some of Pinter's preoccupations concerning the inadequacy of language but also its power, how we have some irrational fears concerning the unknown and the abnormal, how relationships work through manipulation and power struggles and the passivity of so many people throughout their lives. As well as this, the fact that we can associate these two terms, finding something menacing yet humorous at the same time, could also be a way for Pinter to show the paradoxical nature of human beings.

Poverty in the Philippines Essay

This article needs more links to other articles to help integrate it into the encyclopedia. Please help improve this article by adding links that are relevant to the context within the existing text. (April 2013) This article’s factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2012) The estimates of poverty incidence in the Philippines per province as of 2012. The national average is 22.3%, virtually unchanged from 2006’s 23.4%. Poverty remains a critical social problem that needs to be addressed. Philippines’ poverty line marks a per capita income of 16,841 pesos a year.[1] According to the data from the National Statistical Coordination Board, more than one-quarter (27.9%) of the population fell below the poverty line the first semester of 2012, an approximate 1 per cent increase since 2009.[2] This figure is a much lower figure as compared to the 33.1% in 1991.[3] The decline in poverty has been slow and uneven, much slower than neighboring countries who experienced broadly similar numbers in the 1980s,[4] such as People’s Republic of China (PRC), Thailand, Indonesia (where the poverty level lies at 8.5%) or Vietnam (13.5%). This shows that the incidence of poverty has remained significantly high as compared to other countries for almost a decade. The unevenness of the decline has been attributed to a large range of income brackets across regions and sectors, and unmanaged population growth. The Philippines poverty rate is roughly the same level as Haiti.[4] The government planned to eradicate poverty as stated in the Philippines Development Plan 2011-2016 (PDP). The PDP for those six years are an annual economic growth of 7-8% and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Under the MDGs, Philippines  committed itself to having extreme poverty from a 33.1% in 1991 to 16.6% by 2015. This article’s factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2012) Rapid population growth[edit] Given that the population of the Philippines is increasing at a rapid rate of 2.36% per year, this can be translated as an increase of more than 5,000 people daily in a country that already has an increase of more than four million poor people since 1985.[5] In 1985, the absolute number of people living in poverty was 26.5 million. This increased to 30.4 million in 2000 and from 2006 to 2009, increased by almost 970,000 Filipinos from 22.2 million to 23.1 million.[4] As the Philippines has financially limited resources and a high poverty rate, the rapid increase in population has become a problem because there is insufficient resources to support the population, which leaves much fewer resources to improve the economy. From 2003 to 2006, even though the Philippines experienced above-average economic growth, the poverty incidence increased as a result of its population growth rate.[6] Unemployment[edit] Poverty reduction has not kept up with GDP growth rates, largely due to the high unemployment rate, high inflation rate and wide income inequality. The official rate of unemployment for 2012 in the Philippines was 6.8 per cent.[7] This was an increase of joblessness even though in 2012, the GDP grew at 6.6 percent. From 2000 to 2009, the economy of Philippines grew by 3.2% on average annually, which was on par with the economic performance of  its neighbors.[8] However, this recent growth did not translate into more jobs. Unemployment in the Philippines has been high in comparison to its neighbors, at around 7.5% to 8.0% since 2006.[9] The Philippines has faced difficulty in job creation due to its inability to attract more foreign, direct investments. Diwa Guinigundo, who is the Central Bank Deputy Governor, mentioned that while capital flows are turning to the emerging markets,[10] foreign, direct investments to the Philippines remain relatively low due to the weak investment climate. The Philippines has hefty business procedures, poor tax and customs administration, weak protection against expropriation and high-energy cost. Therefore, the poverty rate remains constant over the years. ≠¥ REFERENCE: WIKIPEDIA Philippines: A Strategy to Fight Poverty Poverty Profile The Philippines has achieved only modest reductions in poverty at a national level since the economic and political collapse of the mid-1980s. In addition, severe regional disparities remain. The proportion of households living below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly from 59 percent in 1961 to below 39 percent in 1991 and around 36 percent in 1994. Urban poverty stood at around 23 percent in 1991 and rural poverty at 53 percent (by World Bank staff calculations). Food poverty (or those living below subsistence) was around 20 percent of households in 1991, but 32 percent of rural households while only 12 percent of urban households. Two-thirds of the poor are engaged in the agriculture, fishery, and forestry sectors and have an elementary school education or less. However, the depth of poverty is relatively small (with the poverty gap index only 17 percent in 1991, having fallen by 40 percent since 1961), and income disparities among the poor have declined noticeably. Since 1971, the urban poor have become a rising share of the total poor population, but still two-thirds of the poor live in rural areas. The depth of poverty is nearly 2 1/2 times larger in rural areas than in urban areas. The urban poor are concentrated in Luzon, while the rural poor live predominantly in Mindanao and the Visayas. Poor households in the  Philippines tend to combine into extended families to conserve household assets. Thus, larger households are observed as having greater poverty than smaller households: households of 8 or more members represent nearly a third of all the poor. The incidence and severity of poverty is significantly lower among elderly and female headed households in the Philippines, in striking contrast to the evidence from other developing countries, again because these households tend to be absorbed into others. It also reflects women’s strong position in the labor market in terms of relative pay and attachment compared with many other Asian countries and even relative to many OECD countries. Incentive and Regulatory Framework Philippine performance on poverty reduction has been disappointing compared with the rest of East Asia, but the Philippines has not been able to sustain growth long enough to reduce its incidence of poverty to the levels attained by its neighbors. GDP growth averaged only 1.1 percent per annum in the 1980s. Further, the pattern of growth in the past tended to accentuate rather than reduce income disparities. Slow growth of higher productivity sectors resulted in absorption of labor in low productivity employment in the 1970s and 1980s. The industrial sector shrank over this period, and agricultural growth slowed dramatically. More importantly, poverty declines were modest even when the economy was growing rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s because of the distorted structure of the economy. Policies discriminated against labor, subsidized capital-intensive methods of production, and gave low priority to agriculture and exports. This resulted in growth that was narrowly based and inequitable, trapping many people in marginal, low paying occupations such as upland agriculture, rural wage labor, and informal employment in cities. Infrastructure was highly concentrated in Metro Manila. Government interventions, especially in the 1970s and early 1980s, tended to diminish the role of market mechanisms in favor of regulation by parastatals and promoted oligopolisitic control in important sectors of the economy. This inward-looking strategy was inherently unstable, and so the economy lurched from balance of payments crisis to crisis. In the wake of across-the board structural reforms of the financial sector, agricultural pricing and marketing, the tax system, the foreign trade and investment regimes, and government corporations, the experience of the Philippines in  the late 1980s showed that accelerated growth in a more liberalized economy has a positive impact on incomes of the poor and that poverty declines during periods of rapid growth. Between 1985 and 1988, when GDP growth averaged 4.8 percent, the poverty headcount fell by 1.3 percentage points each year, an achievement equivalent to Thailand’s long-term rate of poverty reduction. Analysis of the economic growth of 1985 to 1988 concludes that deregulation in agriculture and greater control over inflation were likely the key factors that improved the lot of the poor. Labor market performance has also shown signs of improvement. Public Expenditures Public expenditures on education in 1994 were less than 3 percent of GDP compared with 4 percent in Indonesia or 7 percent in Malaysia, despite inching upwards since the late 1980s, after over almost two decades of limited investment through the 1970s and early 1980s. Public primary education remains relatively under-financed, and funding is based on pupil headcount without any compensatory mechanisms to assist the most â€Å"at-risk† areas, schools, or ethnic groups. Thus, in the Philippines, poor youth are much more likely to drop out of school or get a poor quality education. The Philippines spends comparatively less of its resources on health than several other East Asian nations, both publicly and privately (spending 0.6 percent on GDP on health publicly and 2.4 percent of GDP on health overall). In addition, public health gains are not as great as they should be because of the poor distribution of health facilities and personnel over the country. The poor would benefit from more emphasis on primary care and the reduction of environmental risk factors (which induce disease disproportionately among the poor). In many cases, the improvement of other infrastructure such as rural roads will allow existing health facilities to be used more intensively. As a result of the fiscal decentralization enacted in 1991, most traditional poverty alleviation programs except education have become the responsibility of local governments, limiting the ability of the central authorities to implement programs of national priority. At the same time, the current revenue sharing arrangements with local governments (set by a legal formula) do not redistribute resources towards poorer provinces. Also, by devolving functions and whole institutions to local government, expertise and efficiency in many areas has been (at least temporarily) lost  and likely is weakest in poorer provinces. The variation in capacity and resources calls for continued attention by central authorities–for technical assistance, capacity building, and incentives to raise revenues locally. Safety Net The Philippine Government has implemented a number of safety net programs, ranging from cash and in-kind income transfers (such as food subsidies and nutrition interventions) to wage employment programs and livelihood creation programs. In response to natural disasters, the National Food Authority distributes assistance to affected areas in the form of subsidized rice. In addition, the private sector, NGOs, and foreign donors have been actively assisting in the planning, financing and execution of many of these programs. However, the government’s set of programs do not constitute an efficient and equitable social safety net: (i) they are fragmented and not a consistent or adequate response to the problem; (ii) they have generally failed to mobilize communities to help themselves; and (iii) recent changes of institutions and strategies are creating problems of transition that tend to obscure priorities in the government’s delivery of social services or make additional de mands on an ill-equipped bureaucracy and cadre of field workers. Poverty Strategy Policymakers must not waver in keeping the economy outward-oriented and geared towards competition, because an East Asian-style economy is far more likely to be able to sustain the rapid and smooth rate of growth that is fundamental to improving the welfare of the poor. To reach the government’s target of reducing the number of families living below the poverty line from 39 percent in 1991 (by official measures) to 30 percent by 1998, it is estimated that GNP will need to grow by about 6.5 percent annually for 1996 to 1998. Many of the urban poor will be helped directly by growth, as employment opportunities respond to increased demand. Even a good number of the rural poor will find their incomes rising, as demand for agriculture-based products, especially exports, expands. However, significant reduction of rural poverty will require improvements in health and education and infrastructure (especially roads, markets, and agricultural extension). Access to the means of production by the rural poor  is crucial. It is time to revisit how to accomplish the goals of rural land reform so that the intended beneficiaries–the poorest of farmers and landless agricultural workers–can benefit. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, which has accomplished a number of its original goals, is getting too expensive and complicated. Tenancy should be allowed once again, as a useful interim state between landless labor and owner-cultivator status. A market-assisted land reform program should be studied to explore options for reducing costs. Investments with the greatest impact on the poor, e.g., rural infrastructure, should be a priority for use of scarce public funds In urban areas, the scarcity of affordable housing (a problem aggravated by skyrocketing land prices) and threats to environmental health must be addressed. It is now urban, rather than rural, land reform that should be a priority for government action. Tax and regulations on land ownership and development need to be revised. A commission should consider options to balance the rights of dwellers in irregular settlements with the legal owners of urban properties. Water and sanitation services must be extended to poor urban areas. The government should hesitate to spend more money on housing since little of it helps the truly poor. Investment in human capital must be increased by improving the quantity and the quality of primary education and access to primary education in rural areas. Primary health services must be strengthened, especially immunization and prevention of water-borne and respiratory diseases. The social safety net must be consolidated and targeted. General food price subsidies should be stopped, in favor of targeted income subsidies or food stamps and supplementary feeding programs. The National Government should redirect resources formerly used for government livelihood programs towards creating an enabling environment for private institutions to provide credit to the poor successfully. To foster the growth of a healthy microfinance sector, government financial institutions should focus on wholesale lending, ensuring adequate capital is available to reach the poor. Statistical System The key survey for poverty data in the Philippines is the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, conducted every three years. The survey questionnaire is of standard form, more or less comparable to an LSMS format. An important limitation on the relevance of these data for policy purposes has been the  long delays for processing, e.g., the 1991 results became available only in early 1995. Also, the household survey sample is not large enough to allow provincial indicators to be calculated for the smaller provinces. This basic dataset is not integrated with the social sector and other data (surveys on health, demographics., labor force and occasional censuses of population and housing) or with government expenditure information. Monitoring of poverty and the relative performance of the provinces and cities is an important continuing role for the National Government, even after fiscal decentralization. The report recommends that the government expand the household survey and integrate and improve existing statistics and program information so as to provide crucial assistance to the provinces in setting priorities and in raising awareness down to the community level of how well the government is meeting the minimum basic needs of the people. The World Bank has provided technical assistance and grant funding for training and equipment for the government agencies involved (as well as generating interest by other donors) and will continue to do so. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/EXTPA/0,,contentMDK:20204974~menuPK:435735~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:430367~isCURL:Y~isCURL:Y,00.html Poverty in the Philippines: Causes, Constraints and Opportunities Description New ADB Report: â€Å"Taking the Right Road to Inclusive Growth† Poverty and inequality in the Philippines remains a challenge. In the past four decades, the proportion of households living below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly and poverty reduction has been much slower than in neighboring countries such as the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Economic growth has gone through boom and bust cycles, and recent episodes of moderate economic expansion have had limited impact on the poor. Great inequality across income brackets, regions, and sectors, as well as unmanaged population growth, are considered some of the key factors constraining poverty reduction efforts. Causes of Poverty The main causes of poverty in the country include the following: low to moderate economic growth for the past 40 years; low growth elasticity of poverty reduction; weakness in employment generation and the quality of jobs generated; failure to fully develop the agriculture sector; high inflation during crisis periods; high levels of population growth; high and persistent levels of inequality (incomes and assets), which dampen the positive impacts of economic expansion; and recurrent shocks and exposure to risks such as economic crisis, conflicts, natural disasters,and â€Å"environmental poverty.† Key Findings The report’s key findings include the following: Economic growth did not translate into poverty reduction in recent years; Poverty levels vary greatly by regions; Poverty remains a mainly rural phenomenon though urban poverty is on the rise; Poverty levels are strongly linked to educational attainment; The poor have large families, with six or more members; Many Filipino households remain vulnerable to shocks and risks; Governance and institutional constraints remain in the poverty response; There is weak local government capacity for implementing poverty reduction programs; Deficient targeting in various poverty programs; There are serious resource gaps for poverty reduction and the attainment of the MDGs by 2015; Multidimensional responses to poverty reduction are needed; and Further research on chronic poverty is needed. The report comprehensively analyzes the causes of poverty and recommends ways to accelerate poverty reduction and achieve more inclusive growth. In the immediate and short term there is a need to enhance government’s poverty reduction strategy and involve key sectors for a collective and coordinated response to the problem. In the medium and long term the government should continue to pursue key economic reforms for sustained and inclusive growth. Oct2013 Poorest Country in the World: Democratic Republic of Congo You might be surprised to find that the United States isn’t the richest country in the world. Actually, that crown goes to Qatar who has recently jumped ranks to take first place. But what about the other side of the spectrum, the parts of the world struggling with devastating poverty? Well, on that end the Democratic Republic of Congo comes in first – or last, to be more accurate – with the lowest GDP per capita than any other country. Determining a country’s rank in wealth isn’t the easiest of tasks when you sit down and think about the data and economics involved. However, a good indicator of a nation’s standard of living is the assessment of its GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, which is defined as the total value of all domestic goods and services that country produces annually, times its PPP or purchasing power parity. GDP per capita (PPP) isn’t a perfect shot because its purpose isn’t to calculate that kind of econ omic rank but it’s measured frequently, widely and consistently, allowing trends to become visible. In 2010, GNI (gross national income) per capita replaced GDP in the calculation, but the list is the same between the two. Qatar was still first with about $100,000 GDP per capita (PPP) in 2012 just as it was on the GNI list and the Democratic Republic of Congo came in last at around $370 GDP per capita (PPP). The gap is massive. Of the 40 poorest countries in the world, a solid 33 are in Sub-Saharan Africa. They include Zimbabwe, Burundi, Liberia, and Niger. Other parts of the world notoriously infamous for high poverty rates include Afghanistan, Haiti, and Nepal. But none of these places takes it quite as harshly as the Democratic Republic of Congo (not to be confused with the Republic of Congo) whose turbulent past and bloody wars have eclipsed the nation’s potential to thrive. Since its independence in 1960 and once the most industrialized country in Africa, Congo has bled onto the ground because of its lack of infrastructure and the brutal impact of civil war. Disputes between Congo’s prominent rival groups, the Hutu and Tutsi, erupted after the Rwandan Genocide in which 500,000 people, mostly Tutsi, were victims of mass slaughter by the Hulus in the East African state of Rwanda. The result was an exodus of over 2 million Rwandans fleeing to neighboring countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, known in that  time as Zaire. Most of the refugees were Hulus attempting to escape the Tutsi who had climbed to dominance at the end of the genocide. The Hulu refugee camps in Zaire, however, became politicized and militarized and when Tutsi rebels invaded Zaire to repatriate the refugees, the conflict escalated into the First Congo War in 1996. The situation only grew worse and by 1998, the Second Congo War, which was sometimes called the â€Å"African world war† because it involved a total of nine African countries and twenty armed groups, devastated Zaire and laid waste to her population and economy. The political turmoil continues today despite intervention and peace attempts and is one of the world’s deadliest conflicts with a death toll of 5.4 million people. More than almost 90 percent of the conflict’s victims, however, died due a lack of access to shelter, water, food and medicine – all severely aggravated by displaced and overcrowded populations living in unsanitary conditions. Not to mention, 47 percent of deaths were children under 5 and some 45,000 children continue to die each month. The nation also faces the problem of human rights and the countless crimes against humanity because while many have returned home, an estimated 1.5 million are still displaced. DR Congo is also infamous and heavily criticized for its treatment of women. The east of the country has been described as the â€Å"rape capital of the world† and rates of sexual violence has been described as the worst in the world. It doesn’t help that DR Congo is consistently poisoned by corruption and greed. While mining growth has somewhat boosted the country’s economy, the elite are said to syphon off revenue for their own personal gain due to the nation’s lack of strong central government. Conflicts over basic resources, access and control over rich minerals and oil, and political agendas are some of the many complex causes behind the Democratic Republic of Congo’s inability to rise among the ranks and take the title of the poorest country in the world.

Essay on Huangyo Ki

Essay on Huangyo Ki Essay on Huangyo Ki On Nov.4th 2008, a California ballot proposed an amendment to the California constitution called Proposition 8, also called the â€Å"California Marriage Protection Act.† This amendment added to Section 7.5 of the California constitution that â€Å"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.† The fight between the supporters and the opponents of the bill lasted for years. On Feb.7th 2012, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal declared Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. This paper will discuss the conflict between the state court power and federal court power as well as the perspective of the Federalist. Publius promised people the ultimate power; he also had concerns over pure democracy. â€Å"A pure democracy†¦, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual.† Publius worried the majority would use their power to oppress the interest of the rest while the opinion of the majority might not be right. This majority tyranny occurs in Proposition 8 case. The supporters of same-sex marriage are the minority whose interests are overrode by the majority 52%. However, this result is inevitable because â€Å"Direct democracy is, by its nature, based on the principle of the

Captain Ahab

This paper proves how and why Captain Ahab in Herman Melvilles Moby Dick is a tragic hero. This paper examines the character of Captain Ahab as a tragic hero in Herman Melvilles Moby Dick. The author discusses the criteria for a tragic hero and how Ahab fits each criterion. The paper looks at how Captain Ahabs weakness turned him away from success, and how he recognized his personal suffering. Captain Ahab is a man of substance, or outstanding in a positive way. He is also turned aside from success due to his own weakness of character. This weakness of character causes him to suffer which in turn this suffering causes Ahab to find recognition of himself and discover what is happening to him. He also causes the sensitive and intelligent reader to feel a sense of waste. Ahab causes a disruption in a system of order as well. He is classified as a paradoxical figure and shows sign of humanity. With two proofs or more for each of the eight criteria of a tragic hero Captain Ahab proves himself to be a more than adequate tragic hero in Herman Melvilles novel Moby Dick.

Unites States Current Account Deficit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Unites States Current Account Deficit - Essay Example Other government funded interests such as education, military and infrastructure will suffer greatly as well. Why these statements are valid along with imparting a general overview of the national debt so as to illuminate the crisis is this paper’s purpose. If Congress does not control its overspending through measures such as passing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and adhering to it, the country’s economic future is in deep peril. The President submits a proposed budget to Congress in early February for the coming fiscal year that runs from October 1 to September 30 (Executive Office, 2002). The President’s budget request to Congress accomplishes two main objectives. First, it relays the President’s opinion of how much should be taken in via taxation and how much should be spent. Second, it prioritizes the President’s present and future federal funding desires. â€Å"The budget typically sketches out fiscal policy and budget priorities not only for the coming year but for the next five years or more† (Coven & Kogan, 2006). When Congress receives the President’s budget, it usually conducts hearings to discuss many of the requests before developing a budget resolution. This is the budgetary parameters that Congress will work within when making their determinations regarding taxes and spending. The budget resolution, drafted by both Senate and House Budget Committees includes b oth mandatory and discretionary spending goals (Executive Office, 2002). Following committee approval, the resolution is submitted for a vote and possible amendments by the entire membership of the Senate and House. Afterwards, a joint House-Senate committee is convened to resolve any disparities in the resolution of the two versions passed by each house of congress. The resulting joint report is sent back to