Saturday, August 31, 2019

Desdemona

I want you to go back in time many years ago, the 16th century in Shakespeare’s time where there was hardly any technology and the society was very different. Now If that’s hard to imagine that’s ok because I’m an actor in the 21st century hear to talk to you about Desdemona. Desdemona was a beautiful, young, white Venetian girl but also she disobeys her father’s expectations by marrying a black man, she also challenges the society that largely disapproves of intercultural marriages and also she gets abused by her husband. In this way, Desdemona’s relationship with Othello speaks to the play’s concerns with the 16th century attitudes about Lust, Defying social standards of the 16th century and also domestic violence. For example in the play it shows this by Othello saying â€Å"She loved me for the dangers I have passed, and I loved her, that she did pity them. † This is an example of a foreshadowing technique used to hint readers a certain plot development that will come later in the story. Also this quote is telling us that this is ardent admiration, which tells us that Desdemona is still not matured. To think about her future and what society’s expectations are. She admired the stories that Othello told about his brave journeys. In nowadays young teenagers are not drawn by personality but by looks and popularity. Also, Desdemona disobeys her father’s wish by refusing to marry any handsome, rich Venetian men and she goes for Othello an old black man, outside of the Venetian society. For example her farther says. â€Å"Look to her, Moor, if though hast eyes to see, She has deceived her farther, and may thee. † This shows that Desdemona is a disloyal character and may disobey her husband as well, she also goes against the societies expectations by defying standards such as not owing the duty to her farther and then a duty to her husband. Also Intercultural marriages where she marries a black man rather than a white man. In modern societies most young people disobey their parents and follow their own will due to their immaturity. Desdemona gets verbally and physically abused by Othello who slapped her and called her a whore in public towards the end of the play, when she was dying she still blames herself for othello’s physical and emotional abuses. In current situations people all around the world especially women get abused by men and usual, stand up for their husbands exactly what Desdemona did back then. Well, there you go even if this plays were written in the 16th century even in today’s time we still have the themes lust, domestic violence and societies expectations in today’s time. It’s easy for us to engage with the character’s in that timeframe due to the setting , the characters are realistic and believable and even this themes are considered in today’s society in different concepts.

Friday, August 30, 2019

D.T. Resistant Materials – Evaluation

I feel that my product has fulfilled all of the essential criteria although some of the desired criteria aren't fulfilled. This includes: * Incorporated Lights * A Combination of Materials * Be used for placing an object on top The reason behind these specifications not being fulfilled was mainly due to limitations or the way it would have to be incorporated into the design I chose. If I decided to incorporate lights, the price would have rose as well as me having to make the boxes more bulky making them a lot more difficult to move and customise. A combination of materials wasn't used because of complications and problems which I will explain later and to be used for placing an object on top, the product would become less customisable, however an add on could be designed for my product in the future which would allow this, but as current because of time scale and general problems (which I will explain) this is an unavailable feature. What it does and how good it is at doing it My product is designed to allow users to store objects such as books and paperwork in. Teenagers, my target audience, would be able to customise the product by adding different tops as well as a different combination of boxes of which came in two sizes. The system I designed allowed the boxes to be placed on top of each other as well as beside each other. After testing, I found that the average sized box fitted perfectly, mainly due to my research which I carried out earlier. Papers unfortunately didn't fit without aid such as a folder or possibly something which allowed the paper to stand on end. Having said this, the product was perfectly able to stand the weight and the customisable feature with everything lining up with little add on features which gave room for error as well as being extra features to the set. After asking other 15/16 year olds, comments were very positive particularly with the engraved design on the side which matched with the add on spacers as well as the fact the boxes could be stacked or put on the side. They also liked the idea of the customisable top which could be turned into a different wide range of add-ons which could have been added to in the future if desired. There were few negative comments which were probably due mainly to pure politeness! Having said this, the ones I received were well constructed such as the fact that paper couldn't be placed flat without it sticking out the side as well as the fact that the choice of finish allowed the pine to show which was of a colour too bright to some people's preference. Modifications and/due to Problems One major problem I came up against was the fact that I was unable to cast a peg. This was due to limitations of knowledge on casting as well as the time limit I was restricted against. Our first trial was shown on my developing ideas section where only one half of the peg seemed to come out correctly. This, unfortunately, made me skip the variety of materials desired criteria. Another problem was accuracy. I was only making one of many of these products and because of this I opted to create the top plate by hand. Having done this I soon realised that it was very difficult and time consuming to get it correctly placed. Due to this fact I modified the size of the dowel from 8mm to 6mm which meant that the 8mm hole will now have 6mm slotted into it with the top plate. Because of time restrictions, it wasn't possible to create other add-ons such as the CD rack I planned earlier on. Instead I opted in a different material which would make the product more appealing (aesthetically pleasing). Accuracy was also another problem which I faced when joining the boxes together. I originally planned to join the boxes directly against each other. Because of 8mm holes being in the top and the bottom, 8mm dowel had to be used and the fact is that there was no room for error which became a problem. I solved this by creating a spacer which contained 6mm dowel which would slot into both the bottom and top box. This was a viable solution. Design problems also caused the boxes to be connected sideways only one possible direction as the boxes would not slot into each other on one side. This problem was one which I didn't fix as the boxes could still tessellate one way which made this problem very minor.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Wellbeing in college Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wellbeing in college - Essay Example A great sense of well being does not just come but it is earned, it is not something natural but rather something earned. Students who want the best out of themselves have to develop te great sense of well-being through learning and developing it. If a student feels that life is no on their side, it is a high time to realize that lack of sense of well being must have contributed to the miseries that befallen them. And the failures to fix things rights by the students should be their wake up call to quickly sprung into action by looking for ways to improve their sense of well-being. It’s not just about students feeling well about themselves but also their friends, families, study places and the communities they live in all benefit from them having a healthy, proactive approach to managing their wellbeing. Any wellbeing should be seen from a broader perspective. Good emotional and physical health can turn into the unprecedented serious mental health conditions if wellbeing is no t given due considerations.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

HW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

HW - Essay Example 332). SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act) demands the recording of the system used by management in an effort to evaluate its efficiency and announce any errors or weaknesses. This documentation is always subject to auditing requirements that may require constant revision (Natan, p. 333). Lastly, the 1386 regulation California Senate Bill mandates the proper requirements and abilities to be aware of any access to private California resident data by unauthorized parties. Identifying any such breaches requires the business to base its auditing requirements on effective privacy measures (Natan, p. 335). Auditing should include schema, stored procedures or activators, user freedoms, and other DDL changes. From protection, compliance, structure management, and procedural perspectives, these factors are vital collectively (Natan, p. 357). DDL instructions are most likely the most destructive instructions today and allow intruders to compromise any network with absolution from a security point of view. Numerous regulations made organizations and individual data users audit all changes to data configurations from a compliance point of view. Compliance requisites for schema modifications during auditing are frequently the same as the requisites characterized as under structural management and IP administration initiatives. As a result, an external party will be able to maliciously alter, utilize, and roll back schema to its original form. These functions can occur without the authorized user noticing, particularly when the entire process occurred within less than 24 hours (Natan, p. 358) . The DML audit trails discussed in Section 12.9 reveal how one can selectively determine the items and instructions that need auditing. This determination comes about through unsophisticated and rough calculations. More specifically, Ben Natan anticipates DML audit

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Cultural Dimensions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cultural Dimensions - Assignment Example Cultural dimensions Disparities and similarities exist in the cultural domains between the two countries. The two countries exhibit lower long-term orientation. They score normative in this dimension. Spanish people prefer keeping their lives normal without considering what the future entails. Americans treat changes that arise in the society with great suspicion. They tend to analyze emerging information to confirm its validity. Americans possess good analytical skills that give them a clear view whether particular information is good or disastrous. The foundation of businesses in America is short-term goals. America and Spain share individualism in the cultural domains. The members Interact freely with people from other parts of the world. Americans find it easy to interact and seek information from non-Americans. They exhibit free-spirited interactions amongst themselves simplifying their engagement that relates to business and other activities. In the power distance domain of culture, the countries perform differently. In contrast to Spanish, Americans do not appreciate the fact that people must be different in the society. They constantly struggle to address the inequality that exists among people. Most employees in America prefer to participate in the decision-making process and tend to question the actions of the authorities on issues that relate to them. In Spain, people accept the diversity prevalent in the society. They make little effort to breach the gap. Spanish people refer to the decisions made by the authorities as autocratic and rarely challenge the directives from the leaders. In uncertainty avoidance domain, the two countries exist on opposite sides of the divide. Spain scores highly in this domain while America performance is below average. Americans find it easy to incorporate new ideas than the Spanish people.  

Monday, August 26, 2019

Major Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words - 1

Major Project - Essay Example However, there are arguments favouring and opposing the need to preserve the public employee union strength. The debate remains unsettled. The problem needs to be treated based on the peculiarities of the public sector and the implications of preserving the bargaining power of the union in an organization. In this essay, the debate in this regard is discussed based on the existing Wisconsin debate. This essay is organized as follows. In section 2 the history of public employee union is discussed. In section 3,the ongoing debate in Wisconsin is discussed based on the debate between the Unions and the state, parties, media, President of USA etc. Section 4 concludes the essay. 2. History of Public Employee Unions The first public sector collective bargaining started in the years between 1955 and 1965 along with the civil rights movement. Both of these were based on the principle of the need for granting the rights and freedom of all citizens equally. There were many acts granting the ri ghts of private sector workers like Wagner Act 1935 and Social Security Act while the public sector workers were not covered by these acts. This unequal treatment between both workers became more intense with the private sector workers achieving lifestyle of the middle class (Mc Cartin, 2011). This was intensely criticized by many including the special committee of the American Bar Association. The legislation for the public sector bargaining rights was first started in Wisconsin in 1959.Starting from this, many laws were passed here like the one in 1962, 1968 Meyers-Milias Brown Act in California, the one passed by Richard Nixon in 1969 etc. Consequently, there had been significant rise in the membership of public sector employee unions. However from 1970 onwards the public sector employee unions were seen to influence the political system of nations which resulted in the antiunion voices to a great extent like in Madison. According to the antiunion arguments by the Public Service Research Council in the 1970, the public sector employee unions will result in strikes that stop the works of many government institutions. Other argument includes possibility of unions controlling government. In spite of these arguments, practical experience showed no strikes that paralyzed government institutions and no control of the unions over the government. There are many arguments for and against preserving the bargaining power of workers. These include union strength as very important in protecting the rights of individual workers. The estimates show greater percentage of workers in public sector as unionized compared to the workers in private sector. Thus weakening of the union strength means weakening of union strength in the public sector. Weakening of the union strength results in weaker protection of non unionized workers for getting their rights (Halliday, 2011). The arguments against preserving the public sector bargaining rights include the huge disparity in the wag es and compensation benefits of public and private sector workers. However, the recent estimates show the disparity only at the national level while at the state and local level the disparity is not very much significant(Freeman,1988).Moreover arguments also are based on the adverse effects on the finances of government. The estimates by the Centre for Budget and Policy Priorities, shows no significant

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Critically discuss the role of place branding and promoting a country Essay

Critically discuss the role of place branding and promoting a country in international marketing - Essay Example Many people flock the city, since it has been branded as a place where people are satisfied from the wide range of entertainment spots. Secondly, place branding helps to improve the image of a place. This attracts other people in the international community, as they would like to be associated with the place. For example, Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates is considered one of the most developing cities in the world. The marketing has focused on ensuring the image of the city as a developing and enhancing city attracts many people across the globe (Moilanen and Rainisto, 2009:12). When investors note that the city is among the most developing cities, they are encouraged to engage in investments in the city. This creates a business hub that continues to attract many people across the world. Apparently, the image and identity of a place is enhancing the development of many cities across the world, as they have a particular point of focus. For example, the population of Abu Dhabi has been increasing rapidly, as many of the settlers are technocrats and investors. Place branding is a prudent approach in reducing price sensitivity, especially to customers. At times, the brand of a place is widely renown, which attracts a large number of investors, stakeholders, and customers (Baker, 2007:6). These stakeholders and customers have stakes in the place, since they have their priorities in order. As such, they have to engage in business and trade with the stakeholders in the city, as they need to satisfy their needs. Apparently, when a place is branded with a particular identity, the stakeholders and customers only focus on the identity of the place. Therefore, the marketing directs the focus of stakeholders on satisfying their interests, while other factors are neglected. For example, the customers will direct their focus on the products and place, while neglecting the price tags. As a result, the customers are prepared to incur premium costs in satisfying their needs.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Globalink Understanding diversity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Globalink Understanding diversity - Assignment Example It has also discussed the best practices to manage organisational diversity. The micro analysis of organisational behaviour helps any business to understand the potential conflict issues within the individuals of the organisation. Most of the conflicts generate from the diversified work force of any organisation (Robbins and Judge, 2012). The workforce of this organisation is mainly diversified by age, race, and ethnicity. The organisation possesses different generation of workforce such as baby boomer, generation X and generation Y (Ibec, 2015a). The baby boomers of the organisation are mainly the sales managers who are within the age bracket of 45-65 years. Generation X employees or the supervisors fall in the bracket of 28-45 years. On the other hand the generation Y employees who are the call centre operative are aged between 20-27 years. These generation diversity causes difference in work related expectation and characteristics. These differences between these generations can be judged to understand the reasons behind the conflict within the workforce. The study of the differences of these employee generations has provided a clear view about the potential reasons of the conflict. The difference in work ethics, skill sets and attitude towards the jobs are causing conflict between different generations of the employees in the organisation. The different level of tolerance of these groups is creating conflict within the employees of different levels. The absence of proper interaction and communication is also causing problems within the employees and their managers. Another reason behind these conflicts is the cultural and racial diversity of the organisation. The employees of this organisation are from different race, religion and ethnicity across the world. The training procedure and work patterns of the organisation are not well designed as per the language and

Political Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Political Science - Essay Example When a particular state is composed of a single nation or people with common identity, we call it a nation-state† (Viotti 464). However, the dynamics of nationalism may be a little complex and tricky where more than one groups, may be on the basis of religion, race etc, exist and interacts to formulate the national interest of the state. This may result in sort of interest clashes if not dealt tactfully at state level. Ethnic and racial groups are conservative and traditionalist in their loyalty and allegiance towards their religion and race. These groups possess their own specific and rigid identities and like to maintain themselves as unit while sticking firm to these identities. The unity on the basis of religious or racial grouping gives birth to the problem of contentious autonomy within the state. The intricacies are purely the subject of politics and have to be address with political will while safeguarding the interest of state. The unity and identity on the basis of religion and race is a challenging issue for the state level unity and identity as a nation-state. People tend to retain their religious and racial identity while â€Å"Nationality involves a significant degree of self-definition and refers to a people with sense of common identity, if not destiny† (Viotti 464). Nationality demands subjugation of religious and ethnic interests by the sovereignty, integrity and solidarity of the state. If the group level identities and interests are dominated and governed by the state interests, the concept of nation-state persists and flourishes otherwise it spoils and destroys. Nationalism manifest itself in several different colors and shapes but one major attribute of the nationalism is its conformity to the history and myth. Every state despite existence of multicultural religious and racial groups and unities share some common exhibits of historical and mythical events which promote nationalism. Among these

Friday, August 23, 2019

Servant Leadership Integrative Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Servant Leadership Integrative Project - Essay Example Transformational leadership style is composed of so many components (Margaret 2013). The components of transformational leadership are well highlighted below; Intellectual stimulation This of component transformational style encourages creativity and innovation among the people who follow this style. The transformational leaders challenge the members who follow them and arouse them to identify new gaps and learn from that. The local churches can as well adapt this form of transformational style so that they identify the areas or points that they may need to strengthen to enable them develop and spread the gospel further (Larry 2002). Individualized or subjective consideration Under this component of transformational leadership, it is important to note that the transformational leaders give personal assistance to the individual followers. The followers can access the services they would require from the followers. They have ensured that there is transparency in the means and modes of communication between the leaders and the followers. This has helped as the followers can now see that the leaders acknowledge the efforts that they make towards the team. The local churches have always shown this especially in the cases where the church members would wish to have prayer requests at their residential places and thank God that the God sent servants have never let them down. The servants do this because the word of the Lord is free and to make the members see that the efforts that they put in the church are acknowledged (Mitsuru 2011). Inspirational motivation Transformational leaders have well set goals and missions that have boosted the loyalty of the members. The members therefore have developed a strong passion for the team thereby contributing much for the benefit of the team. In the local churches, the leaders have to be goal oriented of which the goal is spreading the gospel and they should not involve themselves in other activities that can send the people awa y from the Lord. They should therefore conduct themselves in an inspiring and a manner that is quite motivating (Rhonda 2011). Idealized influence Transformational leaders can serve as the moral icons fir their followers. Any move they take will therefore be highly copied and emulated by their followers. It is therefore important to highlight that they should conduct themselves well so that the picture that comes after they are seen is a positive one to the followers. The leaders in the local churches should therefore be on the forefront of inflicting good moral values to the people. This is another way of accomplishing the work of the Lord (Larry 2002). It is very important to highlight that transformational form of leadership has various core values that, are the propulsive forces that that back up the mission as well as the visional duties of the servants of God. The core or rather the main values of transformational style of leadership are highlighted below; Courage Transformati onal style of leadership needs a lot of courage for success to be realized in any mission that you undertake. With this, the servant has to be ready to take the risk and as well bear them. Courage must be supported with good will and positivity in any circumstance you choose to go for. Courageous servants of the biblical work mission have the potential of overcoming any temptation that may come their way. The missionary work of God

Thursday, August 22, 2019

The Almanac of American Politics (2008) Essay Example for Free

The Almanac of American Politics (2008) Essay Presidential election results (2000, 2004) The following pages are quoted verbatim from the Almanac of American Politics, 2006 edition: American politics has devolved into a grim battle between two approximately equal-size armies in a take-no-prisoners culture war. In 2000, those armies fought to a near-draw—out of more than 100 million ballots cast, the presidency of the United States hinged on a breathtakingly slim 537-vote margin in Florida. Four years later, despite the occurrence of a recession, two wars, and a devastating terrorist attack on American soil, the two adversaries remain fairly evenly divided. In the wake of an acrimonious election where both political parties together spent roughly $4 billion on the federal elections the crisis spilled over into other areas of American politics: health and welfare spending, handling of the economy, and the continued occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan (Barone and Cohen, 2006) State Profile NEW JERSEY State Profile The following data and information about this state is taken from the 2006 Almanac of American Politics. â€Å"New Jersey boomed in the 1980s, suffered sharply in the early 1990s recession, came back strongly, and is now weathering the high-tech storms with mixed success.† At A Glance Size: 8,721 square miles Population in 2000: 8,414,350; 94.3% urban; 5.7% rural Population in 1990: 7,730,188 Population Change: Up 8.6% 1990-2000; Up 5.0% 1980-1990 Population Rank: 9th of 50; 3.0% of total U.S. population Most Populous Cities: Newark (277,911); Jersey City (239,097); Paterson (150,782); Elizabeth (123,215); Trenton (85,314) Registered Voters: 1,163,224 D (23.2%); 884,801 R (17.7%); 2,957,934 unaffiliated and minor parties (59.1%) State Senate: 22 D 18 R State General Assembly: 49 D 31 R State Legislative Term Limits: No Key Elected Officials Gov. Jon Corzine (D) Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) Sen. Robert Menendez (D) Representatives: (6 D, 6 R, 1 V): Robert Andrews (D-01) Loida Nicolas Lewis (D-02) Jim Saxton (R-03) Chris Smith (R-04) Scott Garrett (R-05) Frank Pallone (D-06) Michael Ferguson (R-07) Bill Pascrell (D-08) Steven Rothman (D-09) Donald Payne (D-10) Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11) Rush Holt (D-12) Vacant; formerly Robert Menendez (D-13) About New Jersey The Northeast has long been the nation’s least conservative region and turned out the biggest bonanza for the Democrats in their surge to an even greater House majority in 2008: 15 of the 25 seats the party took from the GOP were in the area.   Democrats say this â€Å"reverse alignment† — counterbalancing the Southern shift to the GOP — rolls on (The Electoral Map, 2007). â€Å"A valley of humility between two mountains of conceit: That is what Benjamin Franklin called New Jersey, which even in colonial days was overshadowed by the metropolises of New York and Philadelphia. New Jersey was named by King James II, then Duke of York, for the Channel Island on which he was sheltered during the English Civil War. But New Jersey has much to say for itself. It is a sort of laboratory in which the best blood is prepared for other communities to thrive on, Woodrow Wilson said when he was governor, just a tad defensively. Today, New Jersey is the nations tenth most populous state: It boomed in the 1980s, suffered sharply in the early 1990s recession, came back strongly, and is now weathering the high-tech storms with mixed success. New Jersey was the home of Thomas Edison and of the old Bell Labs; its successors Lucent and ATT were among its biggest employers in the 1990s. Other big employers include several of the nations biggest pharmaceutical firmsMerck, Johnson Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Schering-Plough. These industries give the state a high-income, high-education work force, and in 2000 New Jersey passed Connecticut to boast the nations highest median household income. This is prosperous middle-income country, with more two-car than one-car families but fewer limousines than Manhattan, with an estimated 13,500 $1 million houses but not the multi-million dollar co-ops of Manhattan or mansions of Greenwich, Connecticut. Within New Jerseys close boundaries is great diversity, geographically from beaches to mountains, demographically from old Quaker stock to new Hispanics, economically from inner city slums to hunt country mansions. Though New York writers are inclined to look on New Jersey as a land of 1940s diners and 1970s shopping malls, this state much more closely resembles the rest of America than does Manhattan, even if its accents can sometimes be incomprehensible to outsiders. The Jersey City row houses seen on emerging from the Holland Tunnel, many renovated by Wall Street commuters and Latin immigrants, give way within a few miles to the skyscrapers of Newark and its new Performing Arts Center. Farther out are comfortably packed middle-income suburbs and the horse country around Far Hills, the university town of Princeton, old industrial cities like Paterson and Trenton, and dozens of suburban towns and small factory cities where people work and raise families over generations. Among them are commuter towns like Middletown, whose commuter trails lead to Lower Manhattan, and which lost dozens of neighbors on September 11. A year later, only 37% of New Jersey citizens said their lives had returned to normal and 29% said they would never be the same; 43% said they thought about the attacks every day. New Jersey has long been a magnet for immigrants, and it is again today. In 2000, 29% of its residents were born in another country or had a parent who was; only California and New York have larger percentages of foreign-born residents. Hudson County, the land along the ridge opposite Manhattan, was the home to hundreds of thousands of Irish, Italian, Polish and Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century; in 2003 it was 41% Hispanic, with Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Mexicans. Immigrants are plentiful in the little middle-American towns of Bergen County, Filipinos in Bergenfield, Guatemalans in Fairview, Koreans in Leonia, Indians in Lodi, Chinese in Palisades Park. The old central cities of Elizabeth and Paterson were half-Hispanic in 2000 and Camden, opposite Philadelphia, was 39% Hispanic. There is still a black majority in Newark, but it includes many of the Brazilians in the Ironbound district. New Jersey has all the ethnic variety that America offers. In the last two decades, a new New Jersey has sprouted. The oil tank farms and swamplands of the Jersey Meadows have become sports palaces and office complexes; the Singer factory in Elizabeth, the Western Electric factory in Kearny, the Ford plant in Mahwah, the Shulton plant in Clifton are all gone, replaced by shopping centers or hotels or other development, and the GM plant in Linden, the last New Jersey auto plant, closed in April 2005; the intersection of I-78 and I-287 has become a major shopping and office edge city; U.S. 1 north from Princeton to North Brunswick has become one of the nations high-tech centers. Even some of New Jerseys long-ailing central cities are perking up. New Jersey increasingly has an identity of its own. It is the home of big league football, basketball and hockey franchisesthough after nearly three decades, two of them have threatened to moveand of the worlds longest expanse of boardwalks on the Jersey Shore from Cape May to Sandy Hook. And New Jersey is one of Americas great gambling centers: Atlantic City, an hour from Philadelphia and two hours from Manhattan, had gambling revenues in 2006 ($8.2 billion) that nearly matched the Las Vegas strip ($8.8 billion). State government played an important role in building New Jersey identity and pride. In the 1970s, Governor Brendan Byrne started the Meadowlands sports complex and got casino gambling legalized in Atlantic City. Governor Tom Kean in the 1980s started education reforms and promoted the state shamelessly. The revolt against Governor Jim Florios tax increase in 1990 was led by the first all-New Jersey talk radio station and took on national significance with the 1993 election of Christine Todd Whitman, who later became EPA Administrator. In the next decade crime and welfare rolls dropped, but auto insurance and property taxes remain the highest in the nation. New Jersey, contained within two of the nations biggest metropolitan areas, was also a harbinger of the national trend in the big metro areas toward Bill Clintons Democrats. Not so long ago, suburban New Jersey was one of the most Republican of big states: It voted 56%-42% for the first George Bush in 1988. But in 1996 New Jersey voters, turned off by the congressional Republicans Southern leaders and by the national partys opposition to abortion and gun control, voted 54%-36% for Clinton and 53%-43% for Democrat Bob Torricelli for the Senate. In 1997 Whitman, despite cutting taxes, was reelected by only 47%-46% over little-known Democrat Jim McGreevey. In 2000 Al Gore carried the state 56%-40%. In 2001 McGreevey defeated Republican Bret Schundler for governor by 56%-42% and in 2002, after an unorthodox campaign, Democrat Frank Lautenberg defeated Republican Douglas Forrester for senator by 54%-44%very similar margins. Democrats cinched control of both houses of the legislature in 2003. New Jerseys politicians compete in a market that is the second most expensive in the nation, because they have to buy New York and Philadelphia television. And they have a special handicap, because those stations dont give state politics and government the in-depth coverage that voters in most states can expect. This gives an advantage to well-known candidates, like former Senator Bill Bradley, and to incumbents with a distinctive style and notable achievements, like Governors Byrne, Kean and Whitman, and to self-funders like Senator and gubernatorial candidate Jon Corzine. But it also means that high-income, highly educated New Jersey politics is often the business of county and city political machines, of varying degrees of competence, cronyism and corruption. It is, astonishingly, a great advantage in both parties to have the designation of the local county party on the primary ballot. A 1993 campaign finance law allowed county parties to take contributions 18 times as large as candidates could, so money is increasingly raised by chairmen of parties that have control of local government and can dole out contractsthe Jersey term is pay to playand then wheeled, or doled out, to favored candidates all over the state. McGreevey, elected in 2001 after his near-defeat of Whitman in 1997, was a product of the Middlesex County Democratic machine and served as both mayor of Woodbridge and state senatorin New Jersey, as in France, politicians can be town mayors and legislators at the same time. Second District, New Jersey 2008 Congressional Election Results (Second District, New Jersey) NJ-02 District Profile: Politically, Atlantic City often votes Democratic but has an antique Republican machine that goes back generations. 2008 Results: First-timer Loida Nicolas-Lewis (D) roundly defeated Frank LoBiondo (R) by 64-31% Loida Nicolas-Lewis (R) Nicolas-Lewis was nominated with 72% in a two-way primary. Contact: 212-756-8900 †¢Ã‚  Campaign Web site †¢Ã‚  Official Web site †¢Ã‚  Almanac biography Frank LoBiondo (D) Elected in 1994; Seeking eighth term; LoBiondo barely emerged from the primary with 50.5% pf the vote. Contact: 856-794-2004 †¢Ã‚  Campaign Web site †¢Ã‚  Official Web site †¢Ã‚  Almanac biography Profile of the District (Source: Almanac of American Politics) When the builders of the Camden Atlantic Railroad in 1852 extended the line to the little inlet town of Absecon, little did they know what would become Americas biggest beach resort, Atlantic City. Like all resorts, it was a product of developments elsewhere: of industrialization and spreading affluence, of railroad technology and the conquest of diseases which used to make summer a time of terror for parents and doctors. In the years after the Civil War, first Atlantic City and then the whole Jersey Shore from Brigantine to Cape May became Americas first seaside resort, and Atlantic City developed its characteristic features: the Boardwalk in 1870, the amusement pier in 1882, the rolling chair in 1884, salt water taffy in the 1890s, Miss America in 1921. By 1940, 16 million Americans visited every summer, Atlantic City was a common mans resort of old traditions; but the place became less popular after World War II as people could afford nicer vacations. By the early 1970s, Atlantic City was grim. Then in 1977, New Jersey voters legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City and gleaming new hotels sprang up, big name entertainers came in and Atlantic City became more glamorous than it had been in 90 years. But not for all of its residents: Casino and hotel jobs tend to be low-wage, and the slums begin just feet from the massive parking lots of the casinos. In the 1990s Atlantic Citys gambling business was thrivingcasinos came out ahead $4.3 billion in 2000and huge new casinos were built on both Boardwalk and bayside. Over Donald Trumps objections, Steve Wynn won approval of a new tunnel, which would permit him to build a new casino in the marina district. Now listed among the top 10 House districts nationwide for tourist economies, Atlantic City is growing into what Las Vegas has become, not just a collection of gaudy casinos but a gaggle of theme parks, with entertainment for the family as well as adults. The Jersey Shore south of Atlantic City is a string of different resorts. Behind the Shore are swamp and flatland, the Pine Barrens and vegetable fields that gave New Jersey the name Garden State. Growth has been slow in these small towns and gas station intersections, communities in whose eerie calmness in the summer you can hear mosquitoes whining. In the flatness, you can also find towns clustered around low-wage apparel factories or petrochemical plants on the Delaware estuary; the Northeast high-tech service economy has not reached this far south in Jersey yet. This part of South Jersey makes up the 2d Congressional District. Politically, it has strong Democratic presences in the chemical industry towns along the Delaware River and in Vineland and a strong Republican presence in Cape May; Atlantic City often votes Democratic.   The party carried the area in all 1990s statewide elections and won easily in the 1996 and 2000 presidential races. This is prime marginal territory, off the beaten track of Northeast politics. The Incumbent New Jersey 2d voters finally gave seven-termer Frank LoBiondo the boot long after he had promised not to run for more than six terms.   Even loyal Republicans angrily crossed party lines owing to a series of indiscretions and scandals.   Chief of these was involvement in the Abscam scandal and the revelation that Harrah’s had been the single biggest contributor to his campaigns all along.   Sentiment against the Iraq war also focused on his voting record of going along with every bill sponsored by the White House that related to funding and deployment in that country and Afghanistan. Other aspects of his legislative record that came to light in a bad way were having voted with DeLay seven in eight times, agreeing to weaken ethics rules and assenting to bringing indictment hearings behind closed doors.   The last straw turned out to be outtakes from the local Harrah’s security cameras proving it was LoBiondo after all who had been, and still was, carrying on an affair with Vicki Iseman the telecoms lobbyist whom the New York Times had wrongly linked with John McCain. Mere minutes after LoBiondo conceded the election in November, his wife held her own press conference to announce she was divorcing LoBiondo.   The following day, a downcast ex-congressmen was seen off at the airport departing for parts unknown, muttering something about getting in a few rounds of golf with the Bushes. The 2008 Election Winner Loida Nicolas Lewis Born: July 20, 1957 Family: Husband, Reginald (deceased); two daughters Religion: Roman Catholic Education: St. Theresa’s College (Philippines), A.B. 1972 (summa cum laude) University of the Philippines, Ll.B. 1976 (summa cum laude) Harvard, J.D. 1985 Career: Chairman/CEO, Beatrice International Holdings, Inc. President, Confederation of Asian-American Associations Immigration lawyer Elected Office: None 2008 New Member Profiles New Jerseys Second District: Loida Nicolas-Lewis (D) The Almanac of American Politics  © National Journal Group Inc. From out of nowhere and riding a wave of anti-administration sentiment among minorities in the district, the inexperienced but highly intelligent and articulate Loida Lewis captured the imagination of voters and soundly trounced the incumbent by an unprecedented 2:1 margin.   No one was more surprised than Representative LoBiondo himself. Loida first came to national attention and even gained a measure of fame after her husband, the famed African-American deal-maker Reginald Lewis engineered a leveraged buyout of Beatrice Foods International.   On completing the LBO deal with the help of Michael Milliken at Drexel Burnham Lambert, the press hailed Reginald and the flagship TLC Beatrice as the most successful African-American enterprise ever.   When Reginald foundered in his choice of domestic acquisitions that would allow Beatrice to balance industry cycles in Europe and especially after Reginald’s death, Loida earned the respect of minority stakeholders for her business acumen as CEO. Three months before the primaries, Loida landed in the short list of Gov. Corzine owing to her decade-long work with minority associations on both coasts.   An informal dinner with campaign managers of Sen. Obama and President-Elect Clinton made the choice official. In the ensuing campaign, Loida Lewis proved herself a soft-spoken but very articulate and highly moral rival to the flagging and corruption-prone image of the incumbent.   With unfailingly good press, unanimous support from every minority association and church group, and extremely good rapport with businessmen, Loida Lewis was happy enough to leave the mudslinging to the press.   To no one’s surprise, she won handily and immediately won kudos from the House leadership. THIS SECTION ADAPTED FROM ALMANAC OF AMERICAN POLITICS 2008 (Almanac, 2007) Committees Foreign Relations (10th of 11 D) European Affairs; African Affairs; East Asian Pacific Affairs; International Development Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs International Environmental Protection. Health, Education, Labor Pensions (11th of 11 D) Employment Workplace Safety; Children Families. Homeland Security Governmental Affairs (8th of 9 D) Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services International Security; Investigations; State, Local Private Sector Preparedness Integration. Veterans Affairs (2nd of 8 D). Group Ratings ADA ACLU AFS LCV ITIC NTU COC ACU CFG FRC    2008 95 83 100 100 75 16 55 8 7 0 2009 100 100 95 6 39 8 0 National Journal Ratings 2008 LIB 2008 CONS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2009 LIB 2009 CONS ECONOMIC 87% 12% 87% 0% SOCIAL 77% 18% 77% 21% FOREIGN 76% 15% 85% 12% Key Votes Of The 109th Congress 1 Bar ANWR Drilling Y 2 FY06 Spending Curb N 3 Estate Tax Repeal N 4 Raise Minimum Wage Y 5 Recognize Filipino WW2 veterans Y 6 Path to Citizenship Y 7 Bar Same Sex Marriage Y 8 Stem Cell Research $ N 9 Limit Interstate Abortion Y 10 CAFTA Y 11 Urge Iraq Withdrawal Y 12 Provide Detainee Rights Y References Almanac (2007) Almanac of American politics 2008. National Journal. Barone, M. and Cohen, R. E. (2006) The almanac of American politics, 2006. Retrieved February 29, 2008 from http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/161479.ctl. The Electoral Map (2007) Do Democrats still have room for growth in the northeast? Retrieved February 29, 2008 from http://theelectoralmap.com/2007/11.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Experiences and Suppression of Intrusive Thoughts

Experiences and Suppression of Intrusive Thoughts A Mixed Methods Research on the Experience and Suppression of Intrusive Thoughts and other ways of Thought-Control in the Non-Clinical Mauritian Adult Population ‘’The mind is its own place, and in itself can make heaven of Hell, a hell of heaven.’’ Milton The experience and suppression of intrusive thoughts, and the use of other thought-control strategies by normal or non-clinical individuals, are some of those complex cognitive phenomena, which are gradually gaining increasing thorough scientific attention in the world of Psychology. Significantly Wegner Pennebaker (1993) view the experience of intrusive thinking as a remarkably common clinical and normative phenomenon. Hence, it would be wise to underline that intrusive thoughts occur universally. Indeed research on intrusive thoughts always accompanies research on thought control especially thought suppression. Definition Because intrusive thinking is studied alongside manifold psychological disorders such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder (PTSD), General-Anxiety Disorder (GAD), depression, phobias, eating disorders and even Substance-Use disorder, there are bound to be major differences in the definition of the term ’intrusive thought’. Notably Clark and Purdon (1995; Purdon Clark, 1999) underlined the construct validity problems of some measures utilised in studies about intrusive thoughts in non-clinical populations just because of the broad definitional problem of the term. These researchers have also suggested that both the cognitive characteristics (intrusiveness, thought-control difficulty) and the content of intrusive thoughts have to be considered while defining them. For the purposes of this research, which focuses on the experience and suppression of intrusive thoughts, and the use of other thought-control strategies by the non-clinical Ma uritian adult population, we would preferably agree with Rachman’s definition of intrusive thoughts as ‘cognitions that are spontaneous, disruptive, and difficult to control and unwanted’ (Rachman, 1981). Similarly, Clark Rhyno (2005,p.4) define the experience of intrusive thought as ‘any distinct, identifiable cognitive event that is unwanted, unintended, and recurrent’. The focus of this research is on negative intrusive thoughts which are unwelcome, involuntary and distressing. People generally approach these negative thoughts in a myriad of ways. Our next point is that people have different coping or appraisal styles in their approach to unwanted negative thoughts. Many people try to control their intrusive thoughts using different thought control strategies which reflect their appraisal styles. Appraisal is the way in which meaning is attached to intrusive thoughts (OCCWG,1997). It cannot be denied that when some negative intrusive thoughts int erfere with concentration and emotional equilibrium, they become unpleasant and distressing and many people try to banish these thoughts from their awareness. Notably, Sigmund Freud (1915,1957) explained the role of suppression and repression that keep unwanted, unpleasant and distressing thoughts out of awareness. The modern view, as supported by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association; APA, 2000) uses the concepts automatic (unconscious) and voluntary (conscious) processes to refer to the Freudian defence mechanisms: repression and suppression. Ever since Wegner et al (1987) started their White Bear experiments in an attempt to study suppression of intrusive thoughts, many other studies have been gradually carried out, which present thought suppression as an inadequate, counterproductive mental control strategy (Beevers et al, 1999; Bodenhausen Macrae, 1996; Monteith et al, 1998a; Purdon Clark 1999; Wegner 1989, 1992; Wegner et al 1994a; Wegner Wenzlaff 1996). Significant studies have also analysed other thought-control strategies like distraction, punishment, re-appraisal, worry and social control in an attempt to understand how individuals approach their intrusive thoughts (Wells Davies, 1994). Aim of Research The primary aim of this study is to review the research done on the experience and suppression of intrusive thoughts in the normal population and analyse the experience and suppression of intrusive thoughts in the normal or non-clinical Mauritian adult population, by shedding light specifically on the different thought-control strategies employed by normal people while coping with intrusive thoughts and most significantly, by analysing suppression as a maladaptive control strategy. Clinical Approach to Intrusive Thoughts and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Initial research on intrusive thoughts started with the analysis of the experience of intrusive thinking in the clinical context and it has verily been observed that intrusive thoughts characterize several clinical disorders, for example, GAD, OCD, Depression, PTSD (Brewin, 1998; Green, 2003; Langlois, Freeston, Ladouceur, 2000a,b; Pudon, 1999; Watkins, 2004). It has also been stated that as well as being symptoms of these disorders, intrusive thoughts also contribute to the maintenance of these disorders (Brett Ostroff, 1985; Brewin, Watson, McCarthy, Hyman Dayson, 1998). There is indubitably a significant relationship between intrusive thinking and OCD. The DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association; APA, 2000) refers to recurrent, intrusive thoughts, images or impulses that are experienced as ego-dystonic (totally inconsistent with the self) and extremely distressing, as partly characterizing OCD. More specifically, many researchers have scrutinized the experience of intrusive tho ughts among OCD patients and have demonstrated that these patients feel compelled to perform compulsive rituals (for instance, neutralizing behaviours etc.) in an attempt to escape from the distressing intrusive thoughts. For them, the performance of these rituals is aimed at the reduction of anxiety and the prevention of a feared outcome from occurring. However these compulsive rituals increase intrusive thinking and therefore, maintain the disorder. Notably, research has demonstrated that OCD patients show deficiencies in cognitive inhibition and when they fail to suppress their thoughts, they make internal attributions of their suppression failures (Tolin et al., 2002). The Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group (2005) have denoted the relationship of OCD with several specific appraisal styles such as responsibility/overestimated threat, intolerance of uncertainty/perfectionism and importance/control of thoughts. In his cognitive model of OCD, Salkovskis underlines the centrality of responsibility. Rachman (1997) argues that as these intrusive thoughts are ego-dystonic (that is, they perfectly contrast what the self really wants),OCD patients often interpret these thoughts as having personal negative significance and having potentially severe consequences and predicting undesirable outcomes. Furthermore, emphasizing the importance of metacognitions (that is, thinking about thoughts), Wells, Gwilliam and Cartwright-Hatton (2001) elucidate the role of thought-fusion beliefs in the maintenance of the disorder. More concisely, these are: thought-event fusion (the belief that thoughts can change the course of events); thought-action fusion (the be lief that thinking about something means a possibility to act on the thought) and thought-object fusion (the belief that thoughts can be fused into objects). Responsibility beliefs and thought-action fusion beliefs are stronger in people with OCD than those without (Coles, Mennin Heimberg, 2001). Additionally recent cognitive-behavioural theories about OCD have assumed that obsessive thoughts have their roots in some of the thoughts currently experienced by normal individuals (Pudon Clark, 1999; Salkovskis, 1985, 1989). Intrusive thoughts in non-clinical population Ever since Rachman and de Silva (1978) scientifically found that intrusive thoughts are a common non-clinical phenomenon, a plethora of research, especially questionnaire studies have tried to replicate Rachman and de Silva’s research. Using the questionnaire of Rachman and de Silva, Salkovskis and Harrison (1984) confirmed that 88% of a sample of non-clinical individuals experienced at least one intrusive though t. Additionally, according to several other studies, around 79-99% of people in non-clinical samples experience intrusive thoughts similar in nature to those experienced by people suffering from OCD (Freeston, Ladouceur, Thibodeau Gagnon, 1991; Julien, O’Connor Aaredma, 2009; Rachman de Silva, 1978; Salkovskis Harrison, 1984). The real prevalence of intrusive thoughts in non-clinical populations is likely to be on the higher ends of these estimates, as research participants may have underreported their experience of intrusive thoughts due to embarrassment, hesitation and shame. Moreover Pudon and Clark (1993) and Belloch, Morillo, Lucero, Cabedo, and Carrio (2004) also found that 99% of their non-clinical samples (n=293, n=336 respectively) reported having experienced at least one intrusive thought listed in the Obsessive Intrusions Inventory (OII/ROII). But it should be underlined that these researchers also found a slight difference in contents of intrusive thoughts exp erienced by OCD patients and non-clinical samples. OCD patients reported thoughts of dirt, disease and contamination among others. However normal people mainly reported thoughts of unacceptable sex, harm to self, aggression towards others and accidents amongst others. But it might be that the normal people do not consider thoughts about disease, dirt and contamination distressing, thus they are underreported. A Severity Continuum from Normality to Clinical Obsessions The intrusive thoughts reported by normal individuals are considered the ‘normal’ analogues to clinical obsessions and their study allows for better comprehension of the nature of intrusive thoughts. Instead of the normality versus psychopathology breakdown, the modern view discusses the continuity from normality to clinical obsessions. Clark elaborates more on this continuum of intrusive thoughts, by placing clinical obsessions at the extreme end, stating that the difference between clinical and non-clinical cognitive intrusions is ‘one of degree, rather than kind’(Clark,2005, p.11). Similarly Rachman and de Silva (1978) denote a similarity between the content of intrusive thoughts experienced by normal people and people with OCD. The researchers even postulate that psychologists and psychiatrists, who only have the knowledge about the content of the thoughts, have difficulty distinguishing between clinical and non-clinical obsessions. However the same researchers identified a quantitative difference between normal intrusions and clinical obsessions. The difference lies in the intensity and frequency with which these thoughts are experienced. Other studies highlight differences in other variables such as the associated unpleasantness and the level of anxiety occasioned by obsessions, the difficulty in controlling them or freeing the mind from the thoughts, the extent to which people perform neutralizing behaviours or rituals to reduce discomfort and ease anxiety, and the ultimate consequences that result from these intrusive thoughts, because clinical intrusive t houghts interfere remarkably with the daily functioning and life of people suffering from them (Oltmanns Gibbs, 1995; Parkinson ranchman, 1981; Rachman de Silva,1978; Salkovskis Harrison, 1984). Freeston and Ladouceur ( 1997) found that among all the other variables, unpleasantness associated with intrusive thoughts is immensely clinically significant because the assessment of this variable can provide insight to therapists on whether clinical change has occurred or not. Hence this variable can be used to assess therapeutic effectiveness. Theoretical Explanations of Intrusive Thinking Various theorists have attempted to approach intrusive thinking in manifold ways using different approaches like the biological, psychodynamic, behavioural and cognitive approaches. A full discussion of all the approaches is beyond the scope of this thesis. Hence, our analysis will focus on the cognitive and metacognitive approaches. If intrusive thinking is initially a normal phenomenon, then why does it develop into obsessive thinking in a minority? Research has underlined the role of cognitive and behavioural variables in the transition from normality to pathology (Clark Purdon, 1993; Freeston et al, 1991,1992; Niler Beck, 1989; OCCWG, 1997; Purdon Clark, 1994a, 1994b; Rachman,1993). More concisely, cognitive variables are related to the evaluative process (cognitive appraisal) and meaning that an individual attach to his or her negative thought. In clinical cases the meaning assigned to intrusive thoughts might be immensely threatening and disturbing. The behavioural variables are related to the covert and overt actions that the individual performs in response to his or her negative thoughts in an attempt to feel better by decreasing anxiety and discomfort. Salkovskis (1989) highlights the neutralising responses to intrusive thoughts as the key element in the ultimate development of obsessions. Hence the c ontents of normal intrusions and clinical obsessions are basically similar; it’s only the mental and behavioural processing of the negative thoughts that put them on either end of the continuum. Rachman’s (1997) Cognitive Theory of Obsessions According to Rachman (1978), the transformation of normal intrusions into clinical obsessions occurs when the individual considers his thoughts as catastrophic and threatening by viewing them as being personally significant. In an attempt to explain the origins of intrusive thoughts, Rachman (1978) argues that exposure to stressful events occasions the occurrence of intrusive thoughts. Rachman and de Silva (1978) further highlight that external cues trigger the occurrence of normal intrusive thoughts (characterized as being less intense and less distressing) and even clinical obsessions (characterized as being more intense and distressing). This view gained support by the experimental research carried out by Horowitz (1985), Horow itz and Becker (1971), and Horowitz, Becker, Moslowitz and Rashid (1975) which summarized that patients and non- patients experienced increased intrusive thoughts when they were exposed to stressful films. A Metacognitive Approach Metacognitions refer to the beliefs and knowledge about thinking and also the strategies used in the regulation and control of thinking processes (Flavell, 1979). Indeed, metacognitions are responsible for the shaping of the attention we pay to things, thoughts and so on, and they also determine the appraisal and the strategies we employ to regulate our thoughts. Adrian Wells (1997) developed the metacognitive therapy by positing that people experience emotional disturbance, distress and anxiety because of the Cognitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS) which consists of the perseverative thinking style including worry, rumination, attention focused on threat, thought suppression, ineffective self-regulating strategies and maladaptive coping behaviours. The CAS i s a maladaptive style of responding to thoughts and feelings and it enhances negative emotions and the occurrence of intrusive thoughts. The author highlights the presence of a higher degree of this syndrome in clinical patients suffering from depression and other anxiety disorders. He also differentiates between the ‘object mode’ and ‘metacognitive mode’ of mental processing.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Labelling theory

Labelling theory PROSPER MOTSI 07475594 SWK 1002 Outline labelling theory and consider its usefulness in understanding youth crime and anti-social behaviour in Britain today. Labelling theory is the act of naming, the deployment of language to confer and fix the meanings of behaviour and symbolic internationalism and phenomenology.Tannenbaum,(1938) defines labelling as the process of making the criminal by employing processes of tagging, defining ,identifying,segregating,describing,emphasising,making conscious and self conscious. Labelling theory claims that deviance and conformity results not so much from what people do but from how others respond to those actions, it highlights social responses to crime and deviance Macionis and Plummer, (2005).Deviant behaviour is therefore socially constructed. This essay will describe in full the labelling theory and comment on the importance of the theory to the deviant behaviour of the youth and the anti-social behaviour of the youth in Britain today. The labelling theory becomes dominant in the early 1960s and the late 1970s when it was used as a sociological theory of crime influential in challenging orthodox positivity criminology. The key people to this theory were Becker and Lement.The foundations of this view of deviance are said to have been first established by Lement, (1951) and were subsequently developed by Becker, (1963).As a matter of fact the labelling theory has subsequently become a dominant paradigm in the explanation of devience.The symbolic interaction perspective was extremely active in the early foundations of the labelling theory. The labelling theory is constituted by the assumption that deviant behaviour is to be seen not simply as the violation of a norm but as any behaviour which is successfully defined or labelled as deviant. Deviance is not the act itself but the response others give to that act which means deviance is in the eyes of the beholder. Actually the labelling theory was built on Becker, (1963 :9) statement that Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders-deviance is not a quality of the act of a person commits, but rather a consequences of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label. The way out is a refusal to dramatize the evil. The labelling theory connects to great sociological ideas of Dukheim the symbolic interactionism and the conflict theory. The theory also draws from the idea of Thomas (1928) that when people define situations as real they become real in their consequences. Lement ,(1951-1972) distinguishes deviance into primary and secondary deviance in which he described primary deviance as those little reactions from others which have little effect on a persons self concept and secondary deviance as when people push a deviant person out of their social circles which leads the person to be embittered and seek the company of the people who condone his behaviour.Lement further argued that rather than seeing a crime as leading to control it may be more fruitful to see the process as one in which control agencies structured and even generated crime. Secondary deviance leads to what Goffman (1963) deviant career. This will subsequently leads to stigma which is a powerful negative social label that radically changes a persons self concept and social identity. A criminal prosecution is one way that an individual is labelled in a negative rather than in a positive way. Stigmatising people often leads to retrospective labelling which is the interpretation of someones past consistent with the present deviance Seheff; (1984).Retrospective labelling distorts a persons biography in a prejudicial way guided by stigma than any attempt to be fair. No social class stands apart from others as being either criminal or free from criminality. However according to various sociologists people with less stake in society and their own future typically exhibit less resistance to some kinds of devience.Labelling theory asks what happens to criminals after they have been labelled and suggests that crime may be highlighted by criminal sanctions thus sending one to prison may help to criminalise an individual further. Stigmatising young offenders may actually lead them into a criminal career. Howard S.Becker , (1963) one of the earlier interaction theorists claimed that social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders. Furthermore the labelling theoretical approach to deviance concentrates on the social reaction to deviance committed by individuals as well as the interaction processes leading up to the labelling. The theory therefore suggests that criminology has been given too much attention to criminals as types of people and insufficient attention to the collection of social control responses. That therefore means the law, the police, the media and the public publications helps to give crime its shape. This is supported by the conflict theory which demonstrates how deviance reflects inequalities and power .This approach holds that the causes of crime may be linked to inequalities of class, race and gender and that who or what is labelled as deviant depends on the relative power of categories of people.Cicourels study on Juvenile justice in California, (1972) pointed out that police stereotypes result in black, white class youth being labelled criminal. The conflict theory links deviance to power in the form of the norms and the laws of most societies which bolster the interests of the rich and powerful. The labelling theory links deviance not to action but to the reaction of others .The concept of stigma, secondary deviance and deviant career demonstrates how people can incorporate the label of deviance into a lasting self-concept. Political leaders recognises that labelling was a political act for it made them aware on which rules to enforce, what behaviour is to regarded as deviant and which people labelled as outsiders may require political assistance Becker,(1963-7).Political leaders went on to produce a series of empirical studies concerning the origins of deviancy definitions through political actions in areas such as drugs legislation, temperance legislation ,delinquency definitions,homosexuality,prostitution and pornography. Becker, (1963) examines the possible effects upon an individual after being publicly labelled as deviant. A label is not neutral; it contains an evaluation of the person to whom it is applied. It will become a master label in the sense that it colours all the other statuses possessed by an individual. If one is labelled as a paedophile, criminal or homosexual it is difficult to reject such labels for those labels largely overrides their original status as parents, worker, neighbour and friend. Others view that person and respond to him or her in terms of the label and tend to assume that individual has the negative characteristics normally associated with such labels. Since an individuals self concept is largely derived from the responses of others they will tend to see themselves in terms of that label. This may produce a self fulfilling prophecy whereby the deviant identification becomes the controlling one. This links to the interactionist approach which emphasizes the importance of the meanings the various actors bring to and develops within the interaction situation. However the labelling theory has its weaknesses which includes Liazos,(1972) who noted that although the labelling theorists aims to humanise the deviant individual and show that he or she is no different than other individuals except perhaps in terms of opportunity. It however by the very emphasis on the deviant and his identity problems and subculture the opposite effect may have been achieved. He further suggested that while considering the more usual everyday types of deviance such as homosexuality, prostitution and juvenile delinquency the labelling theorists have totally ignored a more dangerous and malevolent types of deviance which he termed covert institutional violence. He pointed out that this type of violence leads to such things as poverty and exploitation for example the war in Vietnam, unjust tax laws, racism and sexism. It is questionable whether labelling theorists should even attempt to discuss forms of deviance such as this in the same way as more commonplace indiv idual crimes or whether the two should be kept totally separate being so different in subject matter. Akers, (1994) also criticized the labelling theory by pointing out that it fails to explain why people break the law while the majority conform explaining that people go about minding their own business and then wham-bad society comes along and stops them with a stigmatised label. The theory fails to explain why the moral entrepreneurs react in the manner described but rather blames society and portrays criminals as innocent victims which is not always the case. To counter for the negative effects of punitive measures to youth crime and anti-social behaviour the British government introduced the ASBO and ABC which means anti social behaviour orders and acceptable behaviours respectively.ASBO and ABC are recent developments in Britain which were designed to put a stop to anti-social behaviour by the individual on whom they are imposed.ASBO is a statutory creation and it carries legal force where as an ABC is an informal procedure though not without legal significance. Both types of interventions are aimed at stopping the problem behaviour rather than punishing the offender which may lead an individual into a deviant career. The ABC proved most effective as a means of encouraging young adults, children and parents to take responsibility for unacceptable behaviour. These measures are being used to improve the quality of life for local people by tackling behaviour such as harassment, graffiti, criminal damage and verbal abuse without criminalising the offender. The crime and disorder act (1998) contains the key elements of labours new youth justice system which saw the establishment of the youth justice and the restructuring of the non custodial penalties available to the youth court. The government believed that preventing offending promotes the welfare of the individual young offender and protects the public. The youth justice board oversees the youth offending teams which has a number of roles including assessing the risk and protective factors in a young persons life that relate to their offending behaviour to enable effective interventions to be implemented, providing support to young people who have been released from the custody into the community and early intervention and preventative work both in criminality and anti-social behaviour. To further reduce the effects of labelling the British government is tackling anti-social behaviour and its causes by tackling family problems, poor education attainment, unemployment, alcohol and drug misuse. The most successful interventions to be implemented where noted to be those that engage the individual in changing their own behaviour. This is being done ensuring that an individual understands the impact of their behaviour to the community whilst offering the necessary support to conform. Rather than labelling and criminalising an individual the British government came up with effective advice, councelling and support that enable people who behave anti- Socially to change their behaviour. Perpetrators young and adults have issues in their lives that require the help and support of professional, statutory or voluntary organisations. Issues like money management and debt, communication difficulties with the family, young people struggling within the educational or employment because of offending behaviour and victims of domestic violence can all benefit from available services in Britain today. This essay therefore concludes that labelling theory is enormously influential in directing attention towards the relative and somewhat arbitrary nature of dominant definitions of crime and criminality in Britain. It also critizes the criminal justice and the agencies of social control for it reflects on the consequences of our social reaction and advocates for changes in public policy on juvenile justice, restorative justice,de-institutionalisation   and communitarian approaches. The powerful insights of the labelling theory made the British authorities to rethink again on the tough on crime stance hence the introduction of new restorative measures which does not label or criminalise young offenders. The labelling theory is therefore quite useful in understanding that the rise in the yob culture, gang culture and hoody culture in Britain was a result of criminalising young offenders rather than addressing issues leading the young into crime and anti-social behaviour. Words  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2010 References Berker and Howard, S (1963) Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance, New York: free press Goffman, E (1963) Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity, Prentice-hall Hall, S (1978) Policing the crisis, The Macmillan press LTD Haralambos, M and Holborn (1991) Sociology themes and perspectives, Collins education. Macionis, J and Plummer, K (2005) Sociology a global introduction, Pearson education limited. Taylor et al, (1973) the new criminology for a social theory of devience, Routledge 5

Monday, August 19, 2019

Loyalty Conflicts between Family and State in Homer’s Odyssey, and Soph

Loyalty Conflicts between Family and State in Homer’s Odyssey, and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Antigone Everyday we are faced with hundreds of decisions. Some of the decisions take very little time and are made without a second thought. Other decisions hold more at stake and can tear a person in two while trying to make the final decision. The basis of many of the hardest decisions is the conflict between family and state. The decision between pursuing a career and starting a family first is an example. Once a family is started, there are endless decisions about daycare, office meetings, and school activities to decide which will take priority. These decisions can become harder during a time of war. People are forced to choose between their personal lives including education, family and careers, and their duties as a citizen. Some of the earliest recorded literature presents this conflict between family and state. Homer’s novel, The Odyssey, deals with the issue at a time of war. Sophocles also addresses the conflict in two of his famous plays, Oedipus the King and Antigone. In the Greek language, this is a conflict between oikos1 and polis. 2 This essay will present the separation of loyalty between oikos and polis as is evident in early literature and in decisions of today. A modern example of the conflict between oikos and polis at a time of war can be seen in one National Guard soldier, Ryan. In February, 2003, Ryan was twenty-one years old and had just received a degree from a two-year college. He had met the woman he wanted to marry and had recently proposed to her. The couple had not set a date, but was looking at the spring of 2004. Everything was headed towards a bright f... ... New York: Penguin, 1979. Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1996. Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1984. Notes 1 Oikos is the Greek word meaning the family. 2 Polis is the Greek word meaning the government. 3 The Greek word for assembly is agora, which is the place of the meeting and the meeting itself. 4 Greek word for tradition, custom. 5 Greek word for multitudes. 6 Finley. 7 Greek word for king. 8 Greek word showing the might that the king has. 9 Finley, 91. 10 Homer, 228. 11 Finley, 120. 12 Auge. 13 Auge. 14 Sophocles, pg 63, lines 85 – 92. 15 Sophocles, pg 97, line 824. 16 Sophocles. pg 97, line 825. 17 Sophocles, pg 82, lines 503- 508. 18 Sophocles, pg 94, lines 756-761.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Bay Of Pigs :: American America History

Bay Of Pigs The story of the failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, which is located on the south coast of Cuba about 97 miles southeast of Havanna, was one of mismanagement, poor judgment, and stupidity ("Bay of Pigs" 378). The blame for the failed invasion falls directly on the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and a young president by the name of John F. Kennedy. The whole intention of the invasion was to assault communist Cuba and put an end to Fidel Castro. Ironically, thirty-nine years after the Bay of Pigs, Fidel Castro is still in power. First, it is necessary to look at why the invasion happened and then why it did not work. From the end of World War II until the mid-eighties, most Americans could agree that communism was the enemy. Communism wanted to destroy our way of life and corrupt the freest country in the world. Communism is an economic system in which one person or a group of people are in control. The main purpose of communism is to make the social and economic status of all individuals the same. It abolishes the inequalities in possession of property and distributes wealth equally to all. The main problem with this is that one person who is very wealthy can be stripped of most of his wealth so that another person can have more material goods and be his equal. The main reason for the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba was the change to communism. On January 1, 1959, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the country for the safety of the Dominican Republic (Goode, Stephen 75). Fidel Castro and his guerrilla warriors overthrew the old government dictated by Batista. During the next couple of weeks, Castro established a new government and on February 16, he was officially declared premier (Finkelstein, Norman H. 127). The United States accepted this new regime as a relief from the harsh, corrupt, and unpopular government of Batista. Soon after everything settled down, Castro and his men made a rapid move to change their political course. He announced his transformation to Marxism-Leninism and avowed his friendship with the Soviet Union (Goode, Stephen 75). These events upset the United States and there were concerns about Castro becoming too powerful. One reason was the friendship with the Soviet Union because Cuba was receiving armed forces to expan d and improve its army.

Euthanasia Essay - Assisted Suicide and the Supreme Court

Assisted Suicide and the Supreme Court      Ã‚   After the nation's highest court declared that U.S. citizens are not constitutionally guaranteed the right to a physician-assisted suicide, the movement has sort of lost its steam. Why do the Supreme Court Justices consider legalization dangerous? How did it win legislative approval in Oregon in the first place? What is the current trend in public opinion about this question? This essay will delve into these questions. After the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a crushing blow to the assisted suicide movement, time stopped for the activists. In a unanimous decision, the nine justices upheld the right of each and every state to protect its residents. Justice Rehnquist, writing for the Court, clearly articulated the dangers that legalized assisted suicide would pose, particularly to those who are most vulnerable: "The risk of harm is greatest for the many individuals in our society whose autonomy and well-being are already compromised by poverty, lack of access to good medical care, advanced age, or membership in a stigmatized social group."(1) With the Court's decision, the door was slammed in the faces of those who sought to prevent full public discussion of what permissive assisted suicide would mean to all of us. Contrary to what some have said, the decision did not open any doors. Instead it recognized that the debate belongs at the state level where the realities can be fully and honestly addressed. Now, with their resounding defeat from the Supreme Court, assisted suicide advocates are forced to take their case before the court of public opinion where they are losing support.    During the last year, national support for euthanasia has fallen 18 percentage points. In ... ...orting those who want to die," Boston Globe, Jan. 18, 1994.) 14.) "Model Aid-in-Dying Act," Iowa Law Review, vol. 75, no. 1 (1989). 15.) John Hofsess' announcement of the availability of the Art & Science of suicide project made to the right-to-die mailing list, August 20, 1996. Hofsess described Smith's chapters: "Ms. Smith's chapters provide specialized information on such subjects as tricyclic antidepressants; barbiturates; and carbon monoxide. Each chapter has been updated (August 1996) to include the latest research available. For example, the barbiturates article incorporates new information derived from the experience of Compassion in Dying in Washington State. The carbon monoxide article includes reports of successful suicides in Canada and the United States using various sources of CO." 16.) Tom Bates, "Write to Die," Oregonian, Dec. 18, 1994. Euthanasia Essay - Assisted Suicide and the Supreme Court Assisted Suicide and the Supreme Court      Ã‚   After the nation's highest court declared that U.S. citizens are not constitutionally guaranteed the right to a physician-assisted suicide, the movement has sort of lost its steam. Why do the Supreme Court Justices consider legalization dangerous? How did it win legislative approval in Oregon in the first place? What is the current trend in public opinion about this question? This essay will delve into these questions. After the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a crushing blow to the assisted suicide movement, time stopped for the activists. In a unanimous decision, the nine justices upheld the right of each and every state to protect its residents. Justice Rehnquist, writing for the Court, clearly articulated the dangers that legalized assisted suicide would pose, particularly to those who are most vulnerable: "The risk of harm is greatest for the many individuals in our society whose autonomy and well-being are already compromised by poverty, lack of access to good medical care, advanced age, or membership in a stigmatized social group."(1) With the Court's decision, the door was slammed in the faces of those who sought to prevent full public discussion of what permissive assisted suicide would mean to all of us. Contrary to what some have said, the decision did not open any doors. Instead it recognized that the debate belongs at the state level where the realities can be fully and honestly addressed. Now, with their resounding defeat from the Supreme Court, assisted suicide advocates are forced to take their case before the court of public opinion where they are losing support.    During the last year, national support for euthanasia has fallen 18 percentage points. In ... ...orting those who want to die," Boston Globe, Jan. 18, 1994.) 14.) "Model Aid-in-Dying Act," Iowa Law Review, vol. 75, no. 1 (1989). 15.) John Hofsess' announcement of the availability of the Art & Science of suicide project made to the right-to-die mailing list, August 20, 1996. Hofsess described Smith's chapters: "Ms. Smith's chapters provide specialized information on such subjects as tricyclic antidepressants; barbiturates; and carbon monoxide. Each chapter has been updated (August 1996) to include the latest research available. For example, the barbiturates article incorporates new information derived from the experience of Compassion in Dying in Washington State. The carbon monoxide article includes reports of successful suicides in Canada and the United States using various sources of CO." 16.) Tom Bates, "Write to Die," Oregonian, Dec. 18, 1994.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Cooper Industries’ Corporate Strategy Essay

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

Friday, August 16, 2019

Financial Crisis of 2008 Essay

The financial crisis is the problem that is faced by many countries like United Nations, Canada and others. It came as a result of economic difficulties triggered by the financial markets, currency fluctuations and liquidity shortfall in banking. The problem started from financial markets to the entire economy. The crisis in 2008 triggered falling of prices for homes. The homes prices in United States dropped after the depression of home sales (William, 2012). There was high rate of unemployment and tighter credit. This led to the drop of real estate prices which encouraged massive increase in construction and extraction of home equity. The housing price affected the recession and economic recovery in United States. United States is recovering slowly from the financial crisis after 2008. The studies show that the financial crisis comes as a result of growth-stifling policies. They clarify their issue in political perspective by showing that in 2012 the voters blamed their political leader especial president Bush for the financial crisis in their country. They still blame president Barrack Obama for the weak recovery (Davis, 2014). According to the research of Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Renhart, they claim they predicted the financial crisis before it took place. They also claim that their research showed there would be slow recovery. This is seen in how United States experiences slow recoveries and people blaming their leaders for it. The recession took place occurred when the governments, households and corporations were in great debt. This is what triggered a high rate of crisis in finance. The research show that on the issue of crisis Bordo argues that recession tend to lead into strong recovery. He does not concur with Kennetth and Carmeths research. The financial crisis started in 2007 in United States resulted in the federal bank of US investing in financial markets. By the year 2008, the crisis had worsened and the markets around the world had become volatile. Those who had taken up loans were unable to pay for mortgages and borrowers found themselves with negative equity. The other aspects that also led to financial crisis were the collapse of Lehman Brothers (Davis, 2014). Due to their collapse the government was forced to work hard in order to restore its financial institutions. In order to secure itself it had to propose a plan that required around 700 billion dollars. The plan failed due to opposition from people. Instead, people started to invest in gold and US dollar euro as an alternative to save the country from financial crisis since housing market had collapsed. President Obama helped restore United States to its place by spending one trillion dollars. Despite of his effort the people blame him of the slow recovery. According to Lothian & Dwyer (2011), the United States support for current recovery is similar to that of the Great Depression. They do not provide support to link low employment and the high employment in the current recovery. They focus on low aggregate demand and policies that decreases productivity in the country. The research shows that there is a high rate of poverty levels, low birthrates and crippled middle class. This shows that America is still under crisis. According to the president the slow recovery is to the deep recession faced by the country. He claims it will take long time before US recovers. According to Williams (2012) the Federal Reserve has made a lot of effort by taking a step to combat the issue of financial crisis in countries like United States and Canada. It has developed great goals of maximizing employment and make sure there is stable prices. Although the Federal Reserve is doing its best unemployment is still on a high rate. The economic crisis encountered at the early 2000 when the state was still recovering from the recession caused a deep depression in the country. Before the states had recovered full another crisis took place in 2008. The housing market was the only thing that took off to boost the economy of the country in United States. People become wealthier financially. Housing was the main business that boosted the economy of the states financially. The buyers ended up in the housing business in the market with courage of it expanding in future. Acquiring mortgages became much easier and the business mushroomed afterwards (Williams, 2012). The financial engineers took steps of selling mortgages to investors all over the world. The lenders on the other hand emerged and they could sell mortgages with high rate interest. The financial crisis began again when people who had low income just signed up for a mortgage and walked away without making a down payment. This is due to the financial institutions making lots of money at that time since the rise of housing markets had reduced. After the boom on the housing, the financial institutes and lenders encountered great loss which resulted in placing big bets on mortgages. This shows that U.S has not fully recovered and is still doing so slowly due great depression in housing market. The first recovery they conducted was by spending resources on construction and household goods. The Federal Reserve has exerted its effort to recover countries from financial crisis (World Bank, 2010). It innovated the world by setting up Large-scale asset purchases (LSAPs). The LSAPs introduced liquidity to boost the economy through banks purchasing financial assets like mortgages. This helped raise the financial situations in markets not just in united states but worldwide. Their collaboration with the banks helped lower the level of financial assets. The Federal Reserve has done its best to help retain United States to its sustainable economic growth (Williams, 2012). Despite all this efforts the economy of U.S remains weak and inflation below what the Federal Reserve has been targeted. According to Reinhart research, Americans still commit the same mistakes of having weak banks that are unable to make new loans and encourage economic growth. He claims the banks are not performing and may lead to financial crisis again. Some recent studies points out that the financial crisi s may lead to other quick recoveries and studies need to be conducted to focus on how long it will take for the economic standard to return to its level. As for Canada they did not experience high rate of financial crisis as compared to United States. The main problem they encountered was with the Canadian marketing collapsing. Both public and private sectors helped to resolve the situation (Lane & Ontara, 2014). The recession that occurred in Canada led to collapsing of exports. This did not affect Canada alone but also United States since a half of its products were exported to United States. It encountered great loss since both countries were facing financial crisis. Their business was linked to economic investments and housing that collapsed due to recession in the country and United States (Lane & Ontara, 2014). To save itself from economic decline it initiated monetary policy to expand Canadian households and companies to rise to its level. Canada made sure that prices for natural resources remain elevated to help its country quickly pick up. This enabled boost its income, employment and government revenue. Canada is among the countries that have quickened its process to recover from financial crisis. In 2010 it had already passed pre-crisis peak and employment was back into track (Lane & Ontara, 2014). Although it picked up quickly than other countries it needs to lay down more excellent strategies to fully recover from financial crisis. Its economic standard is unbalanced which causes problems to financial system. Its efforts of United States to strengthen its export with Canadian did not work. This shows that it is still facing some financial crisis since U.S was the main country it exported its goods to. However, Australia is also among the countries that faced financial problems but it has done its best to combat the problem. Their president delivered a budget in order to fight inflation. He guaranteed bank deposits with 10.4 billion dollars. It enabled pay for care, families and seniors. He also gave help to automotive industry since lenders at that time had withdrawn from the market. Their withdrawal left banks empty. In 2009 they announced another stimuli package of 47 billion dollars to help boost the economy of Australia (Lane & Ontara 2014). These helped built schools, repair roads, boost small business, construction of new homes and to pay taxpayers. Australia among other countries has made a great improvement to its economy and financial state is not at risk. Nevertheless, among the countries that faced global crisis Poland turns out to be a little bit of resistance for a long time. It was not affected by the first crisis. It has made efforts to heighten its credit policies and the banks being re-assessed. Poland is the only country that has raised its economic growth in the first half 2009(Jungmann & Segemann, 2011) due to its minor share in machinery and equipment in exports. The global crisis had little impact on its economic situation. Their economic growths in 2007 only fell for a little rate. It has increased financial due to construction and assembly production. Employment and wages is not an issue since it is of a high rate compared to other countries. Apart from that, their profit of construction business gives positive results (.Jungmann & Segemann, 2011). The financial crisis in 2008 had little impact to its construction growth. It only affected its investment growth and deterioration in financial cooperation. In 2010 the reces sion spread all over in the construction and engineering. Despite of the effects on the sector Poland has shown slight improvement in the sector. This shows how its construction sector still faces little financial crisis. Since 2008 the countries continue to suffer the financial crisis due to the boom that took place in 2008. Lack of oversight and regulation by united states is a major contributions to the crisis which led to the huge costs to investors. The united states remain to be central in the problems of financial crisis. To solve the global financial crisis countries such as China, India and Russia have collaborated with advanced industrial nations of North America and others to combat the financial crisis (Ciro, 2013). The financial crisis has also enabled large currency reserves to assume higher profiles in financial circles. President Obama conducted a congress required to close attention and skills to manage relations with Chinese leadership. This is due to Chinese being a contributing factor to United States Mortgage bubble (Ciro, 2013). United state still faces financial crisis due to having many trade crisis. Trade is very important it is able to reduce financial vulnerabilities and red uce financial shock to countries. The main reason why United States still faces the financial risks is due to lack of tires with its traders. The only country that did not suffer from high rate of financial crisis in 2008 is china. It is the only country that has brought recovery in many countries. It has played a big role of a main engine in restoring economy in the world. According to the World Bank (2010) china still maintains high percentage in growth. The global economy is still recovered slowly. This has forced china as country with its expanding market to shift from export oriented to domestic- pull (World Bank, 2010). China economics has improved becoming the second biggest growth engine. The World Bank explains out that the financial crisis in many countries have reduced due to the prices in the economy strength. Countries like Korean have difficulties in combating the problem of financial crisis. Their government policies have been exhausted creating difficulties to remedy the financial crisis (Lin, 2013). Apart from that, South Africa has picked up since the financial crisis economy has improved. This is due to the hosting of world cup in 2010. Their banking system has remained stable. They have been introduced diversification by building manufacturing industries to address unemployment crisis (Lin, 2013). As to Brazil the economic situation is unsteady but with the large capital inflows and taxes imposed on foreigners, Brazil is trying to recover from the crisis. The financial crisis continues to be a problem due to epidemics such as viruses, and the gap between countries that perform best and worse in trade. Many business people are missing out on opportunities in the markets to expand their growth. There is marginalization and lack of unemployment to teenagers. House prices are still a major problem and due to this many people are left homeless. Despite of all of this has, globalization has helped incur the financial crisis that took place (Bann, 2014). The globalization has boosted the trade system and in future many countries will recover fully and gains trillions. The international interaction has boosted the economy since people are able to do businesses together. Globalization has worked as a connection index to link people together in boosting trade and export systems in markets (Bann, 2014). Many countries such as china and United States have linked together to do businesses. This has enabled fight the problem of financial crisis in many countries. Globalization has led to negotiations among bilateral and regional trade which has facilitated access to markets. Some countries are able to access different markets and acquire large market share through exports. The large market share increases their financial levels. The countries mentioned have encountered financial crisis and still are going through the same problem. This is due to the boom that took place in 2008. Many countries have not recovered and they are doing their best to get back to track. The only country that remains strong is china due to its stability in economic growth. It is the only country that tried to resist financial crisis unlike other countries. Countries like Canada and United States continue to face financial crisis and their recovery is slow. This comes as a result of aspects such as unemployment, poverty and reduction in house marketing business. They face trade crisis which comes as a result of their trade with other markets collapsing. They are unable to manage financial crisis due to trade. The recession affected main businesses that boosted the economy revenue of many countries. Accumulation imbalances in financial sectors need to be reduced and provide equality to all areas to enable fight for financial crisis. In order to survive in the market and boost the countries revenue, economies should be vulnerable to external stocks. They should encourage higher growth rates and political risks should be involved when unemployment rate still remain at a high level. After the normal recession that took place earlier the economy still remains the same as it was and recoveries have lost ground. Research on how the crisis will be solved shows that it will take a long time since the process will be slow. People need to take action but not rely on leaders to bring change. Everyone possesses entrepreneurial spirit. This is what is needed to help boost the economic standards of many countries. The entrepreneurs need to sustain their families and businesses to help boost the economic growth of the countries. Conclusion Although the researchers claim the recession brings a quick recovery, it cannot solve the issue of financial crisis. Once a country has fallen into deep depression it takes time and efforts to recover from the incidences, it cannot take a short period neither can the country recover quickly. Recovering from financial crisis needs time that’s why many countries are still facing financial crisis. Leaders cannot be a solution for the problem in the state, but the help of other people is also required. Countries working together will help in boosting the financial revenue of their states. Since, the financial crisis has not been recovered yet, it will take time for countries like United States to do so. References Bonn (2014) globalization is recovering financial crisis, DHL global connectedness index reveals Ciro, T. (2013) the global financial crisis: triggers responses and aftermath. Print. Davis, J. (2014) Global financial crisis- what caused it and how the world responded. Retrieved on 2th December 2014 Jungmann, J., & Sagemann, B. (2011). Financial crisis in Eastern Europe: Road to recovery. Wiesbaden: Gabler. Lin, C. Y.-Y. (2013). National intellectual capital and the financial crisis in Brazil, Russia, India, China, Korea, and South Africa. New York: Springe Lothian, J.R. & Dwyer, P.G (2011) the financial crisis and recovery . Retrieved on 2th December 2014. M.C.K (2012). Is the slow recovery unsual? Retrieved on 2th 2014. Timothy, L. & Ontara, O. (2014) are we there yet? The united states and Canada after the global financial crisis. Retrieved on 2th December 2014 William, C.J. (2012) the federal reserve and the economic recovery. Retrieved on 2th December 2014 World Bank (2010). Global prospets 2010: crisis, finance and growth. Source document