Saturday, November 30, 2019

Jfk Essays (1352 words) - Assassination Of John F. Kennedy, Texas

Jfk Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator of Germany during World War II, once said, The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it. Although this may sound ludicrous, we can see many example of this in the world's history. One example would have to be the John Fitzgerald Kennedy assassination. For over thirty years the people of the United States were led to believe that a single gunman shot and killed Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. However, in this paper, I will dispute the evidence of the facts that show a single gunman was involved, and try to show that a conspiracy must have been present. According to the old facts regarding the case of the JFK assassination, a single gunman killed Kennedy. On November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST (Central Standard Time), Kennedy was riding in an open limousine through Dallas, Texas. At this time, Kennedy was shot in the head and neck by a sniper. He was then taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Later, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine, at a nearby theater. By the next morning, Oswald was booked for the murder of President John F. Kennedy. Two days later, Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, killed Oswald while he was being moved from the city to the county jail. At a glance, the above story sounds as if this should be an open-and-shut case. After all, according to the facts above, Oswald must have killed Kennedy. However, you must take a deeper look into this case. Many people who witnessed the murder of John F. Kennedy dispute the facts above, saying that they heard shots from place s besides the book depository, and other things that may contradict what is stated above. One of these Marino, 2 witnesses, Abraham Zapruder, captured the entire assassination on his Bell and Howell eight-millimeter movie camera. This movie, cleverly called the Zapruder Film, is the single best piece of visual evidence in this case. In order to more clearly understand the Zapruder Film, it is necessary to break it down into frames. The particular Bell and Howell movie camera that Zapruder was using ran at eighteen and three-hundredths (18.3) frames per second. When using this frame system, you must remember that all shots were actually fired several frames before the number that is assigned to them. For example, the fatal heard wound, called Z313, was probably fired at Z310, since it took 2-3 frames at 18.3 frames per second for the bullet to reach the victim. Also, you must remember that sound travels at about one thousand-one hundred (1,100) feet per second, or a little over half as fast as the Mannlicher Carcano's bullets. When keeping this in mind, it is expected that witnesses he ard the shot at some point after the bullet passed. The following shows a break down of the frames of the Zapruder film: - The Presidential limousine first comes into view at frame 133 (the starting point of this timeline.) - The first shot at (or just before) Z187 would have passed through both Governor Connally and the President. Marino, 3 The second shot, which passed above the limousine at Z284, missed the President and hit the curb near, witness James Tague. This caused his minor would. - At Z313, the fatal shot occurs, which blew out major portions of the Presidents brain and skull. - A fourth shot occurred at Z323 (slightly 1/2 second after the fatal wound at Z313). Due to the proximity of this report to the one at Z313, as well as its more distant origin, most witnesses were unable to hear this shot. Thus, the above is when the bullets hit either Kennedy or Connally, or passed through the frames of the Zapruder film (in the case of the second shot). Of the one hundred seventy-eight (178) witnesses at Dealey Plaza, one hundred thirty-two (132) said that they hear exactly three shots. If Oswald were a single gunman, it would have taken him at least 2.3 seconds to reload his Mannlicher Carcano rifle. However, the general consensus of the witnesses is that they heard a single shot, followed by silence, with the second

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Writing Secondary Essays

Writing Secondary Essays Secondary essays are personal statements required of medical students by admissions directors to fill in the blanks. Having already written primary statements on such topics as education and/or personal goals, many students use the secondary statement as a way to beef up their application overall. For more information regarding secondary statements, I encourage you to read on. Like personal statements, secondary essays are not simple to compose. Many students, as a matter of fact, find secondary papers more difficult to write due to the fact that they require a more personal approach. Questions such as Where do you hope to be in ten years and What effect would you like your career goals to have on the medical community are commonly used in secondary statement guidelines. Before writing your secondary essay, it is important to take some time in order to properly evaluate the question asked. If, for instance, the application requires you to answer a question regarding your educational selection, do some research on the school itself. Think less about what you believe the review board wants to hear and more about how you honesty feel so that when you begin to write your answer, it will come straight from the heart. Secondary essays might just be some of the most difficult compositions to write. That been said, dont get frustrated if you find the overall process arduous and/or emotionally taxing. In the meanwhile, if you would like more information regarding med school secondaries and/or med school application essays, please access the link provided.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Streamlining Social Media

Streamlining Social Media It’s a familiar song to many writers: to increase book sales you need to build an online platform that includes a website and social media accounts. But if you’re unfamiliar with the various social networks and their settings, the learning curve can be quite steep. Aside from hiring a social media manager, there are ways to streamline the process of posting fresh content, as well as monitoring activity relevant to your writing. Here are a few tips to get you started: 1. Add widgets and plugins to maximize social media. For self-hosted WordPress websites, add widgets to showcase your presence on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Look for JetPack, an all-in-one plugin with social features. Know of a website that’s doing exactly what you want to do? Send them a message to find out what plugins they are using. 2. Use a dashboard service to monitor your accounts. In the same way a car’s dashboard tells you what’s happening with your vehicle, a social media dashboard tells you what’s happening across multiple social networks. HootSuite.com is one of the most popular dashboard services, as its free version allows users to import up to five social media accounts for monitoring and posting. Set up tabs for each social media account, then add streams for various content, such as Facebook Page posts, Twitter mentions, and more. You can even add a WordPress app to write and publish blog posts directly from HootSuite. 3. Take advantage of cross-posting. Once you’ve imported your social networks into HootSuite, you can post simultaneously across several social media accounts 4. Create Twitter lists based on your genre. Are you writing science fiction? Paranormal romance? Keep up with other writers in your genre 5. Monitor conversations using hashtags. Twitter popularized the hashtag, a search term/phrase preceded 6. Schedule posts and tweets in advance. Set aside 30 to 45 minutes a week to write content you can post across Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Then copy and paste each post into HootSuite, select one or more networks to post from, and use the scheduling function to determine the day and time for each item to be posted. 7. Write and schedule evergreen promotional content. Rather than inundate your audience with â€Å"buy my book† posts and tweets, schedule your promotional posts to go out every 8-10 hours. Have several books for sale, or working on multiple projects? Mix it up: Devote weekdays to project posts and weekends to promoting your book.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Religious Tolerance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Religious Tolerance - Essay Example In addition, the reorganization and study of distinct religious tradition offers different way of conceptualizing and organizing the differing ideas about god and social organization that arise from these different opinions concerning the understanding of God. For long time, religion has been helpful to mankind in that it is very for humans to live without order orientation or religion. This is because; religion provides a basis on which people, societies and different world cultures built their lives and institutions. In order to embrace religious tolerance, it is important for people to establish a basic familiarity with other traditions and develop an open mind to be comfortable with the concept that it is possible for others to apply different conceptual systems to organize the same experience and aspirations that we posses. Additionally, it is also ital to recognize and understand how that in modern age, religion is playing a big role in social and political arena thus we need to be very careful on how we asses and evaluate other religions and develop a mechanism on how to deal with variety of religions and tolerate divergent practices. It is significant to note that religious diversity and the role of religion should play in people’s lives are not new issues. This is because encouraging religious toleration makes people to shun away from religious fanaticism and challenges them to pursue life, liberty, and happiness commanded by rational choice and personal judgment. It is worth noting that awareness of religions distinct from ours and tolerance for them is a rare virtue in any world society. But based on rational choice and personal judgment, makes such awareness essential or important. Religious toleration is very important in maintaining a harmonious civic society and promoting personal religious or spiritual aspirations (Esposito et al, 2002). In order to understand the Hindu religion, it is vital to look at the brief history of Hindu

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

MSc Managerial Finance RESIT ASSIGNMENT JUNE 2013

MSc Managerial Finance RESIT JUNE 2013 - Assignment Example Ratio analysis is considered to be a very accurate and reliable tool when it comes to analyzing and interpret the financial outlook and performance of an entity. The main reason for performing a ratio analysis is to quantify the results of the financial operations of an entity and analyze them in the light of financial performance of the prior year(s) in order to assess different aspects of the financial feasibility. [Peavler, R. (2001)] The financial ratios are usually divided into various sub categories such as profitability, gearing and liquidity, each put emphasis on a different area of the financial outlook of the organization. These analyses form an integral part of the financial statement analysis, especially from the investor’s point of view, which are always looking for avenues to invest in countries having strengthened and stabilized financial ratios and representing an upward trend. It is of great significance that the ratios must be benchmarked against a standard i n order for them to possess a meaning. Keeping that into account, the comparison is usually conducted between companies portraying same business and financial risks, between industries and between different time periods of the same company. [Investopedia.com (2012] The financial ratio performance of The GAME Group Plc has been evaluated for the last three years in order to draw attention to various financial trends and significant changes over the period. The analysis is divided into three main categorize namely Profitability, Liquidity and Gearing. Profitability ratios identify how efficiently and effectively a company is utilizing its resources and how successful it has been in generating a desired rate of return for its shareholders and investors. Liquidity ratios measure the ability of the company to quickly convert its asset into liquid cash to settle its short term liabilities. Whereas, the Gearing ratios identifies the extent to which the company is financed through debt and to what degree the operations are being conducted from the finance raised through raising equity capital or otherwise. For the purpose of financial ratio analysis, the financial year from 2011-2009 has been evaluated in order to analyze the financial outlook of The GAME Group Plc. The information has been extracted from the annual report of the company. Profitability Ratios    2011 2010 2009    Profitability Ratios Gross profit margin 26.30% 27.80% 26.14% Net profit margin 1.75% 5.00% 6.31% ROI 2.33% 9.23% 11.48% ROCE 4.79% 18.24% 29.22% Gross profit margin is an analyzing tool which assists in identifying how effectively and efficiently the company is utilizing its raw materials [1], variable cost related to labor and fixed costs such as rent and depreciation of property plant and equipment. The ratio is calculated by dividing the sales revenue by the gross profit. If we analyze the gross profit margin trend of The GAME Group Plc it appears that there is decline in the percenta ge over the last financial year. The gross profit margin was the lowest in the financial year 2009 when the gross profit

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Haveloche corporation Essay Example for Free

Haveloche corporation Essay Haveloche Corporation is a research and development company, which translates into sporadic cash flows over time. There are times when genius ideas bring in lots of cash flow for the company. However, there are also times where those genius ideas are shelved because no one has an interest in that patent. The ever changing cash flows prove to be difficult for decision making, especially when it comes to whether the company should give back to its investors or not. Haveloche is constantly faced with the predicament of deciding what dividend policy is best for the organization and the investors. The company’s CEO listed the stock prices and dividends for us to look at. There are 3 theories of investor preference for dividend versus capital gains: (1) Dividend Irrelevance Theory or Modigliani Miller (2) â€Å"Bird-in-the-hand† Theory (3) Tax Preference Theory. According to Modigliani Miller (MM), the dividend policy has not effect on the stock price of the firm or the cost of capital. This theory states that investors reinvest the dividends back into the firm and the firm’s value is only based on the income produced from its assets, and not the dividends and retained earnings. According to the second theory, the â€Å"Bird-in-the-hand† theory, dividends are known and stable and capital gains are unknown and uncertain. The dividend is less risky than capital gains. The risk of the firm’s cash flows in the long run is determined by the dividend payout policy according to this theory. According to the third theory, Tax Preference Theory, capital gains are preferred over dividends. Due to time value of money, a dollar paid in the future on taxes has a lower cost than a dollar paid on taxes in the present. Capital gains typically have better tax advantages than dividends, which is why some investors prefer to invest in companies that minimize dividends. Based on the scatter plot, I would have to say that Haveloche has chosen a variety of these different theories over the years since they have been paying dividends. When the company needed to reinvest the money back into the company, they dividend was lowered. When the company had plenty of extra cash lying around, the dividend payout increased. Haveloche has been paying a dividend since its initial IPO, but those dividends vary from year to year. One could argue that the dividend is guaranteed each year based on history, but the investor does not have a clue as to how what that dividend will be based off. Moreover, if you take a look at the stock price from year to year, it widely fluctuate up and down. Investors in this do not know from year to year if the company’s patents are going to strike it rich or if they are just going to be shelved. It being an RD company, it is a risky company, which investors know prior to taking the plunge with investing their hard earned money. Haveloches business is based on the unknown of whether the patents will be useful to electronics companies. The company may come up with something that it deems the next big thing, but it may not find a company that wants to use it. Investors in Haveloche are not in it specifically for the dividends. Investors are hoping for heavy payouts if Haveloche makes it big. The company needs to do more research and look into which dividend policies are working for the other small R;D companies that work on patent projects. With more information and results, Haveloche would be able to make a more intelligent business decision about which dividend policy it should choose.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Homosexuality Is a Mental Illness Essay -- Argumentative Essay

Homosexuality Is a Mental Illness The history of gay or same sex marriages has been long in the whole world. Most of the western societies in the early time tolerated it. Astonishingly, they went to an extent of celebrating the same sex relationships and marriages. In ancient Rome, there are evidences of the same sex marriages but their proof is not clear. Same sex marriages can also be traced in medieval Europe and also the ancient Greece. There are also some other proofs of gay marriages among Africans Native Americans. There have been a lot of evidences which shows that homo sexual desire has been recorded from primordial times in the east part of the globe. This yearning is the reason behind gay unions, normally between men. It repeatedly included some variation in age. There has been very rare information on relationships amongst women in early times. This could be because women were not treated with equal status with men, such that while men were free to practice sexual and romantic pleasure both without and within marriage, women were not allowed (www.gay-art-history.org). In China, Male love was quite encouraged especially in Fujian, the southern province. Men would marry youths in sophisticated ceremonies. These marriages would last long. At the last part of this marriage, the senior partner would help the younger partner find a female wife so that he could settle down and start a family. At the west, ancient Greece gives us the first western documents regarding gay relationships. In ancient Greece, gay relationships and marriages were a norm in the society. Fortunately, these relationships did not substitute marriage between woman and a man, but occurred beside or before it. During Hellenic times in Europ... ...s morality. Since time in memorial, same sex relationship is deemed immoral and it will remain immoral forever. Allowing this thing to happen openly is to send a bad message to God, the people and the sanity will have been undermined. This goes against gods teaching and according to the holy Bible; it is the same reasons that made Sodom and Gomorrah to be burnt down. The same thing can still happen today. References: Eric M. Rodriguez (2010). At the Intersection of Church and Gay: A Review of the Psychological Research on Gay and Lesbian Christians. Journal of Homosexuality.1-35 Ralph E. Roughton, (2002) MD. Rethinking homosexuality. What It Teaches Us About Psychoanaysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. The world history of gay love. Retrieved on 7th December 2010 from www.gay-art-history.org

Monday, November 11, 2019

Gwen Harwood Relationships Throughout Poems Essay

Gwen Harwood’s poetry endures to engage readers through its poetic treatment of loss and consolation. Gwen Harwood’s seemingly ironic simultaneous examination of the personal and the universal is regarded as holding sufficient textual integrity that it has come to resonate with a broad audience and a number of critical perspectives. This is clearly evident within her poems ‘At Mornington’ and ‘A Valediction’, these specific texts have a main focus on motif that once innocence is lost it cannot be reclaimed, and it is only through appreciating the value of what we have lost that we can experience comfort and achieve growth. Gwen Harwood’s poetry explores the reality of human existence, utilising a number of personal experiences in order to impart meaning onto the responders. The poems, At Mornington and A Valediction, explore countless thematic concerns including the loss of childhood innocence, comprehending mortality and maturation of individuals. Utilising a regular variation of tense, between past and present, and her own personal relationships with others, Harwood’s poetry provokes an appreciation of the past, and reinforce themes, which highlights their universal significance. Within the beginning of the poem At Mornington, Harwood explores a childhood memory, at â€Å"the sea’s edge†, in order to highlight her apparent childhood strength in her naà ¯ve belief that she could defy nature by â€Å"walking on water/it’s only a matter of balance†, only to be saved by her father. This nativity is reinforced in the parable of the pumpkin, which grew upwards in â€Å"airy defiance of nature†. The biblical allusion with the attempt to walk on water reinforces the blind faith and innocence of the child which is contrasted to the personas self-awareness and acceptance of her own mortality, â€Å"at the time of life, when our bones begin to wear†. This childhood recollection can be deemed as the commencement of her acceptance of death; however it is only upon self-reflection on this experience as an adult that the persona can come to a complete acceptance of her own mortality, as portrayed in the simile â€Å"the peace of this day will shine/like the light on the face of the waters†. Similarly encompassing this experience is night owl, in which the child persona is blind to the nature of death, regarding herself â€Å"wisp-haired judge†¦the master of life and death†. Gwen Harwood’s poetry is steeped in romantic traditions and is underpinned by humanist concerns. Throughout Harwood’s poetry there is a continuing theme where human existence is  characterised by loss and consolation. Like At Mornington, A Valediction explores the importance of the balance between physical and spiritual love. Harwood explores the nature of both form of love and how each is needed to develop ultimate love. Harwood suggests that poetry can offer comfort and deepen the human understanding of life and love. This is portrayed through the use of sarcasm, rhetorical questions, direct speech, allusions, metaphors and imagery. This poem presents the basis on which the sorrow of physical separation can be transformed into joy this is evident within â€Å"my lover will come again to me, my body to its true end will give him joy† and depicts the emphatic tone and confidence in which her husband will return and is presented through future tense. This reflects on the interrelation between flesh and spirit in love and the necessary mix of the spiritual if love is to survive physical separation. Harwood’s A Valediction raises the idea that as humans we change and develop over time with a new sense of maturity and contentment with life. In this poem Harwood speaks about a farewell as she alludes to past poem by John Donne. However, she moves from a literal experience and memory to pensive reflection in order to create a contrast between the younger and older character. This is used by writing about movement from the past to the present and including its effect on the future. The varies of tense further highlights the changes over time as she focuses on the dualities of self and the universal emotions. In my thoughts, Harwood’s poetry engages readers through its poetic treatment of loss and consolation throughout relationships as well as its exploration of universal themes about human existence and processes of life. Harwood’s poetry validates the consoling influence of childhood experiences upon adult development evident in both At Mornington and A Valediction where they both explore one sense of loss and consolidation. Harwood cleverly includes personas with their own feelings and anxieties to outlook on the present and future and the power of memories held with past relationships. Relationships link within Harwood’s poetry as throughout life she experiences suffering and includes her personal voice and life within the story of her poem. In conclusion, Gwen Harwood deals with the constant relevant issues of loss and consolation by the enduring power of poetic treatment of age and youth. In my opinion, on the most profound of universal truths, there is no certainty in life and we must deal with events and situations as we encounter them.  Harwood’s poetry distinctly presents a slight difference throughout exploration of the relationship between age and youth, which has greatly shaped my own understanding of these specific effects. Her unique and personal manner allows the responder to not only form a deep empathy with her words, but also to critically consider one’s own life and experiences.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Ethics: Goldman Sachs Essay

Goldman Sachs, founded by German immigrants, began as a small humble business looking to succeed. Over time their business strategy changed and they entered into ethical and legal issues they had not encountered before. In the late 1920s Goldman Sachs began maliciously investing in companies to drive their demand. They coined this term â€Å"laddering† from overleveraging them selves and putting the market at risk. Their actions created the bubble that burst in the stock market crash of 1929. Furthermore, Goldman Sachs engaged in â€Å"trading huddles†. Only their preferred customers where chose to participate on this unethical schemes, and the same customers were shot changed on financial profit from unprofitable IPO’s shares. It was clear that Goldman Sachs business focus was not customer based but self-based by the mantras that they use to have: â€Å"long-term greedy† and â€Å"Filthy rich by forty.† In 2008 the market once again crashed equally as hard as in 1929 and Goldman Sachs was at the root of the cause. With self-fulfillment and greed in mind, Goldman Sachs used Collateralized Debt Obligations and bet against their clients to increase profitability. Goldman Sachs progressively became more unethical in their dealings, and the SEC took notice. Goldman was accused on two accounts of fraud because of one particular portfolio of securities, named ABACUS, which they dealt with. After analyzing the case and reviewing the unethical actions and alleged accusations against Goldman Sachs, it is clear that Goldman Sachs was operating unethically. They misrepresented, hid information, and engaged in conflicts of interest with their clients. Goldman Sachs took an unfair advantage with their â€Å"toes to the line mentality† on their legal and ethical issues leading the SEC to establish harsher regulations for the banking industry. Goldman Sachs can become more ethical by adopting Warren Buffet’s front page of the newspaper principles. When a firm finds that its employees needs to convince themselves that their work is adding social value, the firm should questions its ethical practices. The recommendation for a firm when they find themselves condoning unethical actions is to be honest with the regulating entity and its clients. It is likely to reward them in the long run despite the immediate consequences. Goldman Sachs Background In 1869 two German immigrants came to the US and founded Goldman Sachs with the humble purpose of being both an originator and a clearinghouse for commercial paper (Jennings, 73). However, the firm started to gradually drift from its initial business strategy set by its founders and started to provide other services and undertook investment strategies. In the late 1920’s Goldman Sachs created investment companies that it would itself invest in to drive up the market demand. As a result, investors started to invest in the company because of the perceived high demand. With the new proceeds, Goldman would borrow more money and create another investment company and repeat the process. As a result of this action, Goldman contributed to the stock market crash in 1929 and, with a similar strategy, the recent financial crisis in 2008 (Jennings, 73). During the Internet bubble in the 1990’s, Goldman engaged in an activity known as laddering. Goldman, as the underwriter of a security, would enter an agreement with its best clients to sell a portion of IPO’s shares at a predetermined price after their initial offering. This led to a misconceived demand in the secondary market of the stock due to the predetermined secondary pricing Goldman had set with some of it’s clients. Furthermore, in the 2000’s, Goldman would sell Collateralized Debt Obligations, for which it had a negative outlook, to its clients and issue trading reports, developed through the existing â€Å"trading huddles† in the firm, to certain preferred customers that was different from the analyst reports that were issued to the public. Its practices has been scrutinized and particularly its â€Å"toes to the line† on legal issues. In most cases, Goldman and its clients are the two main parties involved, and it is the clients that usually end up with the short end of the stick. Goldman’s actions are partly explained by the mantras that they use to have: â€Å"long-term greedy,† and â€Å"Filthy rich by forty.† This paper is relevant for current business leaders because it presents a case where a successful firm has come under great scrutiny due to its unethical actions and questionable practices. Bending the rules and pushing the envelope continuously to be a profitable firm has put Goldman in an unfavorable light in society. The paper will further discuss the ethical and legal issues Goldman has run into through its practices and will provide a general recommendation for how a business can avoid and deal with unethical practices. Analysis of Relevant Legal and Ethical Issues Initial Public Offerings Goldman created a synthetic demand in its IPOs through selling a portion of the IPO shares to its clients at a predetermined price higher then the initial price. This caused the price of the IPO shares to rise due to manufactured demand by Goldman (Jennings, 75). The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Goldman alleging that they had violated Rule 101 of Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which states: â€Å"Rule 101 of Regulation M, among other things, prohibits underwriters, during a restricted period (the five-day period preceding the determinations of IPO prices and prior to the completion of distributions of IPO shares), from directly or indirectly bidding for, purchasing, or attempting to induce any person to bid for or purchase any offered security in the aftermarket† (SEC). Goldman clearly attempted to induce, or induced, certain clients to bid for or purchase offered securities in the aftermarket through its laddering practices, which clearly violates Rule 101 of Regulation M. Goldman agreed to settle with the SEC by paying a fine of $40 million without admitting or denying the allegations (SEC). Some of the unethical practices present in Goldman’s laddering activities were: * Misrepresentation- Goldman inflated the price of the IPO shares consciously through the manufactured demand and the price of the shares were misrepresented. * Lying- Goldman Sachs lied to some of its best clients and had them pay higher price than the initial price under the laddered IPOs. * Violating Rules – Clearly making money from laddering is a violation of rules and therefore Goldman paid a heavy fine when they were caught engaging in this illegal practice Collateralized Debt In order to understand Goldman’s involvement in CDO’s it is pertinent to explain the security. Collateralized debt is simply an Asset-Backed Security, which means that there is a physical asset backing the security under contract. For example, a house serves as collateral for a mortgage and the bank has the right to claim the house in the event that the borrower defaults on the loan. A security is considered any investment contract that gives the owner evidence of indebtedness or business participation. Notes, stock, bonds, debentures, warrants, subscriptions, voting trust certificates, rights to oil, gas, and minerals, and limited partnership interest are all example of securities (Jennings, 728). A Collateralized Debt Obligation is a variety of fixed-income assets that are pooled together to create one security. In 2008, many of these CDOs became completely worthless because they were filled with sub-prime mortgages that defaulted, and Goldman was a big player in the CDO market. ABACUS was one particular CDO deal in which Goldman had created and sold. Fabrice Tourre, a vice president at Goldman Sachs at the time, put together the ABACUS CDO to be sold to clients. Tourre intentionally filled ABACUS with subprime mortgages so that Goldman could take a short position on the security, which means betting against its success, in order to profit. This CDO deal became infamous because the SEC uncovered a few emails written by Tourre. In one of the emails Tourre wrote: â€Å"More and more leverage in the system. The whole building is about to collapse anytime now †¦ Only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab [rice Tourre] †¦ standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implication of those monstrosities [sic]!!!† (Quinn) The SEC filed a civil action suit against Goldman and Tourre for their conduct under the ABACUS deal. The SEC’s complaint charged Goldman and Tourre with violations against Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5 (SEC). Each of the following rule of law states, among other things: â€Å"It shall be unlawful for any person in the offer or sale of any securities †¦ (2) to obtain money or property by means of any untrue statement of a material fact or any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made†¦ â€Å" (SEC) â€Å" POSITION LIMITS —As a means reasonably designed to prevent fraud and manipulation, the Commission shall, by rule or regulation, as necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors, establish limits (including related hedge ex ­ emption provisions) on the size of positions in any security-based swap that may be held by any person.† (SEC) â€Å"It shall be unlawful for any person †¦ (a.) To employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud,†¨(b) To make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statementsmade, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ ¨ (Taft Law) Goldman clearly violated Section 17(a) by not including the information that their ABACUS securities were based on poor mortgages. They violated Section 10(b) by taking a large short position in the Abacus deal. Lastly, they violated Rule 10b-5 by omitting material fact of their short position in the security. Furthermore, the SEC prohibits any analyst from issuing reports on securities that run contrary to the analyst’s true beliefs about the securities. Goldman denies betting against clients in an 8 page letter to it shareholder signed by CEO Lloyd Blankfien as well as President Gary Cohn. Goldman claims that they were protecting themselves and Blankfien said, â€Å"†¦Certainly we did not know the future of the housing market† (SEC). Goldman agreed to pay a fine of $550 million and admitted that it failed to disclose vital information in their marketing of ABACUS securities. Goldman’s actions did not reflect honesty, integrity, or responsibility. Some of the ethical issues present in the ABACUS deal are: * Taking unfair advantage – Goldman consciously made poor recommendations to their clients in order to sell the Abacus CDOs so they could make a profit on their short position. * Engaging in Conflict of Interest – Goldman stated: â€Å"We may trade, and have existing position, based on trading ideas before we have discussed those ideas with you†(Jennings 80). Despite this argument, they had a significant incentive to market and sell the securities in order to profit. * Hiding or Divulging information – Goldman used another firm to create the Abacus CDOs in order to distance themselves from the trade conflicts that would arise by shorting the CDO. They also omitted crucial information about the security, which was the knowledge of the amount of high-risk mortgage securities in the Abacus CDO. * Violating Rules- Goldman was charged with securities fraud, as explained by above, and did not look out for the best interest of their clients. Trading Huddles Goldman’s first obstacle with their trading huddles activities came from their Fundamental Strategies Group of analysts. The group consisted of Goldman analysts employed by their Securities Divisions. These groups of desk analysts were not regulated by the SEC rules because they did not involve â€Å"GIR [Global Investment Research Division] equity research analysts.† The SEC have strict guidelines that, â€Å"prohibits an analyst from issuing reports on securities that run contrary to the analyst’s true beliefs about the securities.† (Craig) Goldman did not break any statutory laws with the Fundamental Strategies Group since they were not covered in the SEC ruling. From the uprising, Goldman’s executives sent an email to all their clients, explaining their â€Å"Trading Ideas† and advice. The email was meant to elucidate the firm and public’s â€Å"conflict of interest† policy. In the message, Goldman stated, â€Å"You should not consider Trading Ideas as objective or independent research or as investment advice. When we discuss Trading Ideas with you, we will not be acting as your advisor (including, without limitation, in relation to investment, accounting, tax or legal matters) and the provision of Trading Ideas to you will not give rise to any fiduciary or equitable duties on our part† (Sorkin 1). In the case of Goldman vs. Common Wealth of Massachusetts, the court ruled, â€Å"Goldman failed to reasonably supervise GIR equity analysts’ communications to prevent and detect dissemination by GIR equity analysts of certain unpublished short term trading ideas† (SEC) and were held accountable to Section 204 (a)(2)(J) of the Act, which in part states that: â€Å"The secretary may by order†¦. deny, suspend, or revoke, any registration †¦ if he finds (1) that the order is the public interest and (2) that the applicant or registrant (J) has failed reasonably to supervise agents, investment adviser representatives or other employees to assure compliance with this chapter† (SEC). Goldman failed to supervise its agents to guarantee compliance with the act. The court ruled that Goldman must have a policy that allows a GIR equity research analyst to identify an unpublished report and follow its publication through more than 14 persons. Furthermore, Goldman will be required to disclose in their Terms of Use Agreement that the amount of GIR equity research report varies from client to client (Stempel). â€Å"Goldman agreed to pay a fine of $10 million and stop giving favored clients trading ideas developed at internal gatherings known as â€Å"trading huddles†Ã¢â‚¬  (Stempel). In addition, they were charged with not dealing in with honesty with all clients and took advantage over others, known as fair dealing with clients. While all companies try to balance on the line of pursuing profits and maintaining a moral conduct, Goldman Sachs was unable to keep their balance. After the reports of intentionally avoiding regulation from SEC Regulation AC, requiring equity research analysts to certify that their issued reports represents their actual views (SEC), the company crossed ethical boundaries. With their Fundamental Strategies Group, Goldman as a whole company condoned unethical action. Instead of following the regulation of the SEC they went around it. Some of the ethical issues present in the case were: * Taking unfair advantage – one part of the firm issued equity research reports to the public and another part of the firm did also engage in equity research but came to a different conclusion. However, the latter report was only issued to certain clients. By releasing one view on a subject and taking another position themselves, thereby taking unfair advantage. * Violating rules – even though their Fundamental Strategies Group were not violating any laws or regulation, they failed to follow the SEC Regulation AC Recommendation and Conclusion The cases mentioned above are only a few of the instances where Goldman has been scrutinized by government entities and the public. Its continuous practice of â€Å"toes to the line† on legal issues has many times resulted in lawsuits against the firm. As we can see, the legal issues they are pushing are unethical, however, they are not violating those laws. Instead, they are charged with other violations that result from operating at the line of illegal practices. Their reputation took a hit due to multiple SEC allegations and fines. To avoid these ethical situations Goldman Sachs should use the ethical principles that are taught. For example, they should have used Warren Buffet’s front page of the newspaper test in the case with the IPOs. Goldman Sachs should ask itself if they would be indifferent of their actions if the public would know that they intentionally manufactured demand for their IPOs. A partial reason for their unethical conduct was due to rationalizing; when they were confronted about their actions they proceeded by rationalizing and labeling their actions in order to avoid the ethical dilemmas. In the ABACUS case, Goldman stated that their clients are â€Å"qualified† and â€Å"sophisticated† enough to make market risk decisions. They most likely rationalized their actions by saying that the system is unfair and â€Å"if we don’t do it, someone else will†. In their case with trading huddles, it was a practice carried out by other firms, however, not to the same degree as Goldman. They waited until the lawyers told them it was wrong and rationalized by thinking â€Å"It’s a gray area†. Goldman Sachs’s pushed the limit of both the letter of the law, and the spirit of the law when dealing with its clients. Goldman’s history of brushing past ethical decisions have created many problems for the firm in the past years. It is clear that pursuing this strategy has not been to their benefit. A business should not have to argue how its actions add social value; it should be clear by the actions themselves. Therefore, if a business finds itself engaging in activities that do not pass Warrant Buffet’s Front of the Newspaper test it should reconsider its actions and business model. A red flag should rise when employees convince themselves that they are adding social value, as in the case with Tourre, or if employees feel any discomfort with their actions. If a company finds itself condoning unethical actions and violating the law, the best solution is to make an action plan on how to present their violations to the regulating government entity most truthfully and inform their clients of the unethical conduct with an apology. Despite that these measures might have a negative impact on the firm, it is highly likely be a short-term effect. The longstanding trust built up from their honesty and confrontation of the unethical actions could be beneficial to the firm’s future reputation. Work Cited Craig, Susanne. â€Å"Goldman’s Trading Tips Reward Its Biggest Clients.† The Wall Street Journal. 24 Aug. 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Goldman Sachs & Co.: Lit. Rel. No. 19051 / JANUARY 25, 2005.† U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Home Page). Web. 28 Mar. 2012. . Quinn, James. â€Å"Goldman Sachs, Fabrice Tourre and the Complex Abacus of Toxic Mortgages.† The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 16 Apr. 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Rule 10b-5 — Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Devices.† Law School  » University of Cincinnati College of Law. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud in Structuring and Marketing of CDO Tied to Subprime Mortgages.† ; 2010-59; April 16, 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. . Sorkin, Andrew. â€Å"DealBook.† Mergers, Acquisitions, Venture Capital, Hedge Funds. 12 Jan. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Statement by SEC Chairman: Proposal of Regulation AC.† Statement by SEC Chairman: Proposal of Regulation AC (Harvey L. Pitt). Web. 28 Mar. 2012. . Stempel, Jo nathan. â€Å"Goldman Fined $10 Million, Agrees to Stop Trading Huddles.† Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 09 June 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. .

Thursday, November 7, 2019

New Microsoft Word Document Essay

New Microsoft Word Document Essay New Microsoft Word Document Essay Noora Al-Ogaili Prof. Jamal Abedin English 81 Cuyamaca college Ipad Essay Ever thought it was impossible to carry textbooks, notebooks, iPod, agenda, calendar, alarms, camera, and more in just one object? Well guess what? It is possible! Using the iPad 3 you can carry all these things in just one object. It is lightweight and has up to 64 gigabytes of storage. You can download many apps to make the most of your iPad. You can even use the iPad to carry all your textbooks. The iPad is perfect for a college student, because that’s why the iPad was created. The iPad was created to be light and portable for students and business people of all ages. These days technology has become very important in our life. And with the emergence of two biggest and famous companies such as Apple and Samsung, the people can not live without their products such as iPhones, iPads and iPods because it has many good education programs. In my view, iPad is better because it is easier to use than text books and worksheets and more evolved. Weighing only 1.44 pounds and only .37 inches thin, the iPad is designed brilliantly for mobility especially going from class to class or when going to the library. The screen gives a display with over 3 million pixels, making every picture look ten times better. The iPad also has a camera that takes amazing pictures for when you need to take pictures of notes on the board or when you just want to have fun. The iPad comes in both black and white, two very sleek and modern colors. The iPad is also wifi enabled and can be hooked up with a cellular service to get wifi wherever you go. It also has up to 64 Gigabytes of storage! That’s a lot of space. The iPad can also get up to 10 hours of surfing the web, watching video, or listening to music. The iPad as physically ideal with its lightness, appeal, technology and more. You can take the iPad everywhere and use it for anything and everything. There are over 275,000 apps available for the iPad. Using apps you can edit pictures, edit movies, read a novel, write a novel, and much more. There are also apps you can use to write papers, make cool power points, and make spreadsheets. The app iBooks can be used to turn your iPad into your personal library with over 1.5 million books. Also, there is the iTunes U app which has complete courses from universities. Don’t forget the find my iPhone app which can locate any apple device just using your apple device because, face it, things can get misplaced. There is literally an app for everything

Monday, November 4, 2019

The List of All U.S. Colleges With a Religious Studies Major

Religion is controversial, inspirational, exciting, and polarizing. Throughout history, humans have sought to discover identity and meaning through religion. A major player in the development of human societies, the study of religion   offers avenues of inquiry far beyond conventional theological philosophies. Religious studies focuses on scholarly perspectives of religion and belief throughout history and geography. An interdisciplinary major, it leverages research from philosophy, history, literature, public health, sociology, economics, and more.   A bachelor’s in religious studies is a versatile degree with many possible applications. Some graduates may choose to pursue an advanced degree in theology or religion, while others may apply their knowledge of religious studies to other areas of culture and society. Just a few of the possible career paths for graduates of religious studies programs include: Religious studies brings together disciplines including art, literature, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and science. Few majors provide exposure to such a vast and diverse array of specialties and fields. As such, religious studies majors will often pair their degree with another field of study.   Majoring in religious studies offers you a lens into other cultures and perspectives from around the world. You’ll learn about different theologies from an academic perspective and gain new insight into how and why people have the beliefs they do, as well as how they express and practice them. You’ll also study the ways in which religion impacts other aspects of society such as government, social norms, and ethics.   Religious studies programs look for well-rounded students who emphasize the humanities and social sciences. You should have plenty of high-level courses in areas like English, history, and   foreign languages. In terms of extracurriculars, focus on activities that emphasize your interest in religious studies, such as community service, volunteering at a place of worship, or even working at a museum or other cultural institution. If you’re looking for guidance creating a strong profile for candidacy for admission into an undergraduate religious studies program, our Early Advising program for 9th and 10th graders could be the answer. A graduate from a top 30 institution will work with you to hone your extracurricular and academic interests while advising you on the courses to take, activities to pursue, and grades and test scores you’ll need to earn for admission. Already into the college process? 11th graders can learn how to strengthen their profiles, create a school list with a balance of colleges that offer religious studies majors, and more through our College Strategy program . We’ll guide you through the process of creating a cohesive profile and applying to college. Estimating your chance of getting into a college is not easy in today’s competitive environment. Thankfully, with our state-of-the-art software and data, we can analyze your academic and extracurricular profile and estimate your chances. Our profile analysis tool can also help you identify the improvement you need to make to enter your dream school. Looking to apply to a religious studies program? We can help. Through our Applications program , we’ll work with you to create a school list that reflects your real chances of admission and your personal college preferences, hone application themes, assist with essays, and more. Anderson University (South Carolina) Calumet College of St. Joseph | CCSJ Christian Brothers University | CBU Auburn University at Montgomery | AUM Austin Peay State University | APSU California Baptist University | CBU Hope International University | HIU California State University, Bakersfield | CSU Bakersfield California State University, Chico | CSU Chico California State University, Dominguez Hills | CSUDH John Paul the Great Catholic University | JPCatholic California State University, East Bay | CSU East Bay California State University, Fresno | CSU Fresno California State University, Fullerton | CSU Fullerton California State University, Long Beach | Long Beach State California State University, Northridge | CSUN Mid-America Christian University | MACU Catholic University of America | CUA Charleston Southern University | CSU National University (California) | NU New Jersey Institute of Technology | NJIT College of Mount Saint Vincent | CMSV Colorado Christian University | CCU Concordia University Wisconsin | CUW Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary | SEBTS State University of New York at Old Westbury | SUNY Old Westbury East Texas Baptist University | ETBU Eastern New Mexico University | ENMU Florida International University | FIU Franciscan University of Steubenville Hannibal–LaGrange University | HLGU Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis | IUPUI Indiana University Bloomington | Indiana Indiana University of Pennsylvania | IUP California Lutheran University | CLU Central Christian College of Kansas Central Washington University | CWU College of the Holy Cross | Holy Cross College of William & Mary | William & Mary Columbia International University | CIU Middle Tennessee State University | MTSU North Carolina Central University | NCCU Franklin and Marshall College | F&M Mount Vernon Nazarene University | MVNU Hobart and William Smith Colleges | HWS North Dakota State University | NDSU Notre Dame of Maryland University | NDMU Oklahoma Wesleyan University | OKWU Palm Beach Atlantic University | PBA Point Loma Nazarene University | PLNU Rutgers University–New Brunswick | Rutgers Saint Martin’s University | St. Martin’s Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College | SMWC University of California, Davis | UC Davis New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology | New Mexico Tech University of California, San Diego | UCSD Our Lady of the Lake University | OLLU Southwestern Christian College | SwCC St. Joseph’s College (New York) | SJC Queens College, City University of New York | CUNY QC Tennessee Wesleyan University | TWU Saint Mary’s College of California | St. Mary’s Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota | SMU Sewanee: The University of the South | Sewanee The State University of New York at Stony Brook | SUNY Stony Brook Southern Methodist University | SMU Southwestern Assemblies of God University | SAGU University of California, Irvine | UC Irvine University of California, Los Angeles | UCLA University of Central Arkansas | UCA University of Central Florida | UCF University of Hawaii at Manoa | UH Manoa University of Houston–Downtown | UHD University of Mary Hardin–Baylor | UMHB University of Mary Washington | UMW University of Massachusetts Amherst | UMass Amherst University of Massachusetts Lowell | UMass Lowell University of California, Riverside | UC Riverside University of California, Santa Barbara | UCSB University of California, Santa Cruz | UCSC University of Mississippi | Ole Miss University of Colorado Boulder | CU Boulder University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign | UIUC University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | UNC University of North Carolina at Charlotte | UNC Charlotte University of North Carolina at Greensboro | UNC Greensboro University of North Carolina at Wilmington | UNC Wilmington University of Maine at Farmington | UMF University of Northwestern – St. Paul University of Minnesota, Twin Cities | Minnesota University of Nebraska–Lincoln | UNL The State University of New York at Albany | SUNY Albany University of Texas at Austin | UT Austin University of South Carolina Upstate | USC Upstate University of Southern California | USC University of Wisconsin-Madison | Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee | UWM University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh | UW Oshkosh University of the Incarnate Word | UIW Virginia Commonwealth University | VCU Washington University in St. Louis | WashU University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)

Saturday, November 2, 2019

The Problem of Adder-Tariff-Scheme in Thailand Essay

The Problem of Adder-Tariff-Scheme in Thailand - Essay Example This paper illustrates that Thailand is one of the successful countries that have made the progressive step in the use of solar energy in South East Asia. The government of Thailand has implemented photovoltaic support programme, which aims at increasing their renewable energy targets. This project has been made possible due to their outstanding policies that they have put in place. The country currently is in the process of implementing policies that will increase the solar energy production from 1,000MW to 3,000MW by the next years to come. These policies come after the government of Thai fails to accept the introduction of feed-in premium. The policies include the solar rooftop programme and community solar-based programme, which is still in development stage. The research shows that the government of Thailand spent many billions importing energy in the neighboring countries.This indicates that the country will continue spending a lot of money in the energy sector due to the risin g demand for the energy supply. This will increase the cost of dependency in foreign energy due to a projected rise in global energy prices. The research advocates for access to affordable and sustainable energy in Thailand. The major interest involved in energy systems are the difficulties that most developing government face in getting access to the energy. Therefore, for the government to improve its access to energy the previous endeavors of the energy department in order to pave way for new technology in the sector to be successful.