Why the Drinking Age Should be Lowered Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why the Drinking Age Should be Lowered - Essay Example The need is to comprehend how the drinking age has to be adjusted in the first place. There are different societies in the world which offer a host of explanations in the wake of the drinking age. However, what remains to be seen is how well this age represents the true mindsets of the people who are actually bringing about a positive change to begin with. The drinking age can only be seen as a number and nothing else. Drinking age should also be lowered because there is no need to set an age at all. When the teenagers have intellect to pick and choose pastimes of their own, then there is no use to ask them to change their habits or to follow a certain age category before drinking. Hence there comes the equation of the drinking age getting lowered and that too for all the right reasons. As the drinking age has been established in the Western countries, it would only be a given to comprehend how it will be seen within the Eastern nations as well. But then again, the bottom line remain s embedded in the fact that drinking age has to be brought down because the kids of today are no more the kids that used to be in the yesteryears. Drinking age must also be lowered because it is just a figure that needs to be followed. The young ones do not care what age they should be before they can start drinking. It is important for them to drink and feel good about their own selves.

BP Company Oil Spills Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

BP Company Oil Spills - Case Study Example Furthermore, this oils pill led to numerous ethical issues that BP should have addressed, some of this issues are discussed below.   The independent scientists and other examiners were denied the opportunity to research and determine the rate at which the oil was spilling by the BP Company. The scientists would have reduced the impact of the oil spill to the community if they would have been given the chance to assess the rate of the spill. Having said this, the ethical issue is, if indeed BP Company denied the independent scientist the opportunity of to examine the extent of the damage caused by the oil spill, then how would the company get to know where the problem was and come to effective conclusions. In addition, it was quite surprising that the government was unable to process the needs of the press and newsmakers to be able to enter into the site that had caused this damage, even though BP Company could have had various reasons for this, it was not fair since it did not follow a transparent process. Therefore, the ethical issue here is that there was no disclosure of information by both the company and the US government to the citizens thus making them to â€Å"stay in the dark.† Moreover, the legal security in the Mexican Gulf is incomplete as well as incomprehensive since it did not raise any penalty to the company for causing health and mental related damages to the wildlife living in that area (Freudenburg & Gramling 2011). Therefore, there is an ethical issue of the lack of animal and wildlife protection regulation that would punish the company. In addition, the company did not appropriately take charge of the oil spill situation since they did not give any warnings to the public. Ethically, the company was supposed to show great sorrow and regret as well as the oil spill tragedy instead of engaging itself in multiple blame games.

Individual Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Individual Project - Essay Example In international business, it is interesting the very many diverse cultures that one can find in such forums; it is thus impossible that cultures from one’s own country can be carried and applied to the interaction with these other countries with the expectation of success (Hill, 2008). Management cannot be undertaken exclusively without a proper understanding of culture because it is only in this way that people from diverse cultures can truly work together. Part 1 Explain each model and how it can be used to investigate national preferences. Models of cultural dimension have been developed by several organizational experts namely Hofstede and Trompenaars who through a series of research studies developed dimensional perspectives that would enable people understand how to work with other people from different cultures and ensure that business is completed. The first dimension sought to allow for the comprehension of the two cultures of individualism and collectivism (Johnson & Turner, 2009). They stated that people from individualistic cultures had an inclination to choosing their own affiliations within the workplace and often preferring to work alone. Alternatively, those people from the collectivist cultures were often found working in varied groups aligning themselves to one another based on age and religion among other interests (Edwards & Rees, 2006). The second dimension sought to measure the element of how people within the organization perceived power differences (Johnson & Turner, 2009). There are those people who come from cultures where there are small power differences and are thus more inclined to a consultative and democratic method of handling issues. These types of people have been known to relate to their peers and others with equality and respect and when placed in subordinate positions, demand the right to contribute to decision making. In contrast, those from cultures with a large power distance have got great fear and respect for t hose in authority (Edwards & Rees, 2006). People have different ways of preparing themselves for unknown events; as such, the weak verses strong uncertainty avoidance was another dimension that Hofstede determined. Some people come from cultures where there are explicit rules on avoidance that allow them to cope with aspects of the unknown (Keeley, 2001). These people have got specific routines and structures for accomplishing tasks and in the context of employment, have got a much higher ability of sticking with one employer for a longer time that their counterparts. They have also been known to identify danger from a distance and often accredited for the development of safety regulations and guidelines within an organization. Those people who come from communities that have got weak uncertainty avoidance have got a more flexible and care free lifestyle with an inclination for engaging in life threatening and informal activities. Within the context of employment, these people often have an inclination to change not only their employers but also their employment status from time to time (Edwards & Rees, 2006). They are also more accommodative of other people’s ideas and concepts often allowing more than one concept to run simultaneously with another one allowing for variety of fresh thoughts, ideas and change within the organization. Various values are embedded into these cultures with emphasis being placed in different areas that vary from one culture to another. Sensitivity to masculinity and femininity

DISCUSSION QUESTION RESPONSE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 24

DISCUSSION QUESTION RESPONSE - Essay Example On the other hand, technology has brought negative effects. Technology is slowly eroding our moral values due to availability of explicit content to the unintended users. The business world has experienced drastic changes over the years. I agree with you that videoconferencing has greatly improved communication in business. It has made business transactions to be more effective and efficient. Perhaps the most important improvement is on cost effectiveness. While it takes a lot of time and hundreds of dollars to travel across the globe for business meetings, web conferencing has made business operations more cost effective. However, we also need to question about the challenges brought by these technologies in modern business. For instance, what were some of the challenges that you faced during your internet meetings? What if there was internet breakdown? What about interception of sensitive information communicated over the internet? (Carroll and Buchholtz 348) Both sides of the coin need to be

Psychological makeup of a terrorist Essay Example for Free

Psychological makeup of a terrorist Essay The attack brought with it a number of repercussions. For instance, immediately after the attack, the nation’s economy went into a sudden plunge. This is because the stock exchange for the day was canceled by not only the NYSE but also NASDAQ (Morgan, 2009). Although the attack was meant to affect the US economy, it also affected nations such as such as those in Britain. For instance, after the attack, London Stock Exchange was also forced to close due to fear of similar attacks. The economic drop brought with it a number of consequences. For instance, there was a hike in the price of commodities such as gold as well as fuel and gas. Apart from the rise of commodity prices, the US also suffered a drop on its currency, which was quite devastating (Roberts, 2011). Similarly, after the incident, hundreds of flights were grounded not only in the US but globally, hence, this resulted to more financial losses for the nation. Psychological makeup of a terrorist                     According to Kershaw (2010), terrorists usually decide to commit such atrocities due to a number of factors that are normally exposed to them the moment they make up their minds to join terrorist organizations. First, terrorists are usually made to believe that they are in accordance with religion when they commit atrocities such as mass killings and suicide bombings. Additionally, terrorists also believe that when they become martyrs if they die with many people since to them it is honorable to die fighting infidels (Kershaw, 2010). It is because of such beliefs that drives most of the terrorists into committing killings as the ones witnessed in the US. What type of people become terrorists?                     Terrorism is quite dynamic; this is because there is usually no specific age, education level as well as religion that one needs to be so that he can qualify to become a terrorist (Hewitt, 2003). According to studies, it is because of the dynamic nature of terrorism that it is quite difficult to know exactly in what manner the terrorists will attack. The fact that terrorists can board a plane and take control of it is enough proof that most of them are well educated. This is because it is not possible for an illiterate person to operate a plane. According to studies, not all terrorists are of Islamic religion; this is because there are others who join terrorist organizations for quick fame (Hewitt, 2003). Conclusion                     Although terrorism has been around for a long time, the 9/11 attack on the US was the day that the world realized the extent that terrorism had evolved. This is because unlike in the past, terrorists of the current generation are so daring to the extent that they can go ahead and commit suicide just to get their opinion heard. One of the reasons why terrorists decide to commit such atrocities is because of their religious beliefs. According to terrorists’ beliefs, one becomes a martyr if he dies fighting infidels. References Bergen, P. (2006). â€Å"What Were the Causes of 9/11?† Prospect Magazine. Retrieved on 10 September 2014 from http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/features/whatwerethecausesof911 Hewitt, C. (2003). Understanding Terrorism in America: From the Klan to Al Qaeda. United Kingdom: Psychology Press Hoffman, B. (2013). Inside terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press. JREF. (2011). What Motivated the 9/11 Hijackers? Retrieved on 10 September 2014 from http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=238563 Kershaw, S. (2010). â€Å"The Terrorist Mind: An Update.† The New York Times. Retrieved on 10 September 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/weekinreview/10kershaw.html?pagewanted=all_r=0 Malisow, B., French, J. L. (2008). Terrorism. New York, NY: Chelsea House. Morgan, M. J.(2009). The impact of 9/11 on business and economics: The business of terror. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Roberts, B.W. (2011). Macroeconomic Impacts of the 9/11 Attack: Evidence from Real-Time Forecasting. Collingdale: DIANE Publishing Schmemann, S. (2010). â€Å"Hijacked Jets Destroy Twin Towers and Hit Pentagon.† The New York Times. Retrieved on 10 September 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0911.html Source document

Causes of the US National Debt

Causes of the US National Debt How big is the US National Debt and history? By definition, the amount of money owed by the federal government to creditors is referred to as the US National Debt. The National debt is categorized into two; public debts and government. Government debts are always on the rise due to the increase in government spending and expenditure, unpaid credits by debtors, decreased taxes among others (Zezza, 2014). The US National Debt has a historical increment due to the rise in debt as a share of the GDP during the recession periods and times of war. A combination of inflation and growth of GDP results in decreased national debt. The national debt of the US, for instance, increased after the World War II to 113 % in the year 1945 (Zezza, 2014). However, this figure later went down in the subsequent thirty-five years. In the past few decades, there have been concerns of how sustainable the fiscal policies of the US National government are based on the rise in costs of medication and the growing number of old people in the US population ( Zezza, 2014). According to Sakbani (2013), the public debt of the US was at $ 14.3 trillion of the overall GDP while the inter-governmental debts were $5.4 trillion. This totals to about 10.6% of the 2015 GDP. Sakbani (2013) further notes that more than 45 % of the US national debt in 2016 was by foreign investors with Japan and China in the lead. Precisely, an analysis of the US national debt reveals that the debt has had a constructive decline since the year 1789 apart from between 1835 and 1836 (Chorafas, 2014). The debt was at the highest level during the first term presidency of Harry Truman which was during and after the Second World War.   After the second world war, there was a notable fall in the national debt in the US. The US national debt was at its lowest point in 1974 under the leadership of Richard Nixon (Sakbani, 2013). However, after 1974, the national debt started appreciating and this has been the trend since then. But it stagnated during Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter’s presidency. In the 1980s there was a tremendous increase in national debt due to Ronald Reagans decision to lower taxes and increase military expenditures. However, in the 1990s the debt went down when a reverse of the 1980s was implemented; increased taxes, and lower military spending. Chorafas (2014) highlights that due to the fina ncial crisis between 2007 and 2008 the public debt went extremely high. There seems to be a surge in national debt during the GW Bush and Obama administrations. Why? There was a considerable rise in national debt between the presidency of George Bush and that of Barrack Obama. This was from $ 5.768 trillion when Bush left office to $ 14.071 trillion 735 days after Obama took office (Skidmore, 2011). This means that the recording of Bush’s national debt was wrong. This is because in his term as the president there was a rise of $ 607 billion yearly hence the overall figure could not be $ 5.768 trillion as indicated in the Treasury records. Skidmore (2011) further explains that during Obama’s era the national debt considerably went high by an average of $ 1.723 trillion yearly. This saw the figure go way up above the debt during Bush’s presidency. However, it is not possible to hold Obama responsible for this increase in debt. This is because the figures flow from the 2009’s budget which Obama never signed. This means that if the right account to Obamas accounts are to be analyzed this should trail down from the fiscal year 2010 and 2011 (Sakbani, 2013). In addition to a sum of $ 225 trillion that was included in the 2009 budget under his signature. A close comparison of Obama’s and Bush’s spending and deficit reveal that Bush was way far than Obama based on managing of the national debt. This argument can be supported by; Bush operated a total budget of 3.283 trillion in deficit spending for his eight fiscal years in office. On the other hand, Obama operated at a spending deficit of $ 2.826 trillion within his first two years in office. This means that while Bush operated at a deficit of $410 billion per annum, Obama operates at more than $1.4 trillion per annum, giving a difference of more than 1 trillion between the two reigns. This analysis explains the current surge between Obamas presidency and Bushs presidency regarding deficit spending. What are the consequences of a large national debt? Is it going to hamper the economic growth as some have claimed? Based on an economic perspective, large national debt affects the economic growth negatively. It is almost impossible for a government or country rather to sustaining a large and growing national debt. Some of the effects come from the side of investors who begin doubting the possibility of the federal government to continue servicing the economy and government spending (Boubekar et al., 2016). There are three major effects of large national debts on a country’s economic growth. First, large debt draws money away from national investments which would earn then government some revenues. This is due to lack of enough money for the government to service effective investments. This would mean that the government is heavily spending, but there are minimal or no revenues being generated hence lack of capital to be reinvested. There will be no growth in the country’s economy. Secondly, large debts negatively influence taxation and spending by the government. This is because when the country is suffering from high national debts, all the attention are focused on what the government can do to continue sustaining itself. This is where the government adjusts. As Boubaker et al. (2016) put it when taxation is high workers and investors are negatively affected by tax increment and can be left with little or no money to reinvest. Also, the tax increment leads to economic downturn from the side of the policymakers and investors. Policymakers find it challenging designing policies on tax spending in an environment where there is an extremely high national debt. The economic growth is normally hard in such a situation based on the fact that there are no sufficient funds to fund any new challenges that arise along the policy-making and policy implementation processes. Is it possible for the US to default on its debt in future? Explain The United States does not have any record of ever defaulting on national debt. If this ever happens the results can be unimaginable. However, there have been cases when the House Republicans have resisted raising the house ceilings urging the Congress house to cut on spending first (Johnson, 2000). It means that there are possibilities of the US failing to honor their national debt shortly. Precisely, the US can default their national debt in two main ways; failure of the Congress to raise the debt ceiling, and is the Government decides that the interests they are charged are way too high and resolve to not paying interests on bond, notes, and Treasury bills. In the first case scenario, failure by the Congress to raise the debt ceiling would mean high interests rate on Treasuries, hence high costs on the consumer loan, mortgages, and other such services (Johnson, 2000).This will then lead to decline in the value of a dollar and finally inability of the government to pay salaries and benefits to their civil servants and retirees. On the other hand, in the second scenario, there would be a disaster as the value of treasuries in all the government’s secondary markets would stagnate or go down hence Treasuries would be sold at discounted prices (Cline, 2013). The government would find it hard to auction their treasuries hence making it hard for them to borrow money and pay bills. The default of US national debt would be extremely disastrous owing to the confidence most investors have on the US markets. Why the Nobel winning economist Paul Krugman is not as alarmed as many others are concerning the high level of US National debt? It is important to note that the overall national debt is usually a combination of all loans acquired by the federal government from various creditors to finance a deficit budget. In taking and utilizing loans, the government usually has a focus on increasing their tax rates for them to finance their current government spending (Zezza, 2014). Paul Kraugman can be said to be less alarmed on the high level of the US national debt due to his argument that there is no need for investors or anybody else to worry about the level of the impeding national debt of the US. In his argument, Kraugman makes several assumptions. Unlike others, Krugman argues that in as much as debt matters there are other things that matter most and that the government needs to spend more to get the US citizens out of the current unemployment trap (Zezza, 2014). This shows that he had no idea what harm the current high national debt has caused the US and the impacts a further increase in government spending will cause the US. References Boubaker, S., Rouatbi, W., & Saffar, W. (2016). The Role of multiple large shareholders in the choice of debt source. Financial Management, 46(1), 241-387. Doi: 10. 1111/fima. 12148 Chorafas, D. N. (2014). Kingdoms of Debt Public Debt Dynamics of Europe and the US, 24-32. DOI: 10. 1016/b978-0-12-420021-0.00002-6 Cline, W. R. (2013). The multiplier, sovereign default Risk, and the US budget: An overview. Public Debt, Global Governance and Economics Dynamism, 276-29. Doi: 10.1007/978-88-470-5331-1-3 Johnson, K. (2000). National Missile Defense 2015: An Unintended Consequence. Doi. 10. 21236/ada432647 Sakbani, M. N. (2013). The Dual Debt Problem in the US and in Europe. International Debt. Doi: 10. 1057/9781137030573.0007 Skidmore, D. N. (2011). The Obama Presidency and the US Foreign Policy: Where is the Multilateralism? International Studies Perspectives, 13(1), 46-53. Doi: 10.1111/mj. 1528-3585.2011.00454.x Zezza, G. (2014). Fiscal and Debt Policies for Sustainable US Growth. Fiscal and Debt Policies for the Future. Doi: 10. 1057/9781137269539.0012

Existentialism in The Stranger (The Outsider) :: Camus Stranger Essays

Existentialism in The Stranger Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes a few main points, such as the freedom to choose and the choices you make should be made without the assistance of another person or standard. From the existentialist point of view you must accept the risk and responsibility of your choices and follow the commitment to wherever it leads. Someone that is put in a particular situation understands it far more than someone looking in on that same situation, one commonly used situation that appears often in existentialist writing is that of death. The existentialist should learn to accept death when the time has to come and should know that the most important questions in life are not accessible to reason or science. Acting on your own experiences is essential in arriving at the truth and "man is condemned to be free. (Sartre)" There were two parts in The Stranger that helped me better understand existentialism the most. One part of the novel that helped me to understand existentialism better was when Meursault shot the Arab on the beach and how he handled the situation afterwards. The Arab had drawn his knife and held it up to Meursault, but this wasn't what bothered him, it was the light from the sun that shot off the Arabs knife, and the intense heat along with the salt from his sweat in his eyes that was bothering him. Meursault shot the Arab mainly because he was uncomfortable and not because he felt threatened, but in any case he made the decision to shoot him. In the next chapter Meursault can't understand why he would need an attorney for his case because it's simple to him, he had murdered a man and was now ready to pay the consequences. He had made a choice that might not have been the right one but he accepted it and was ready to go through with his decision to wherever it would lead. The other part in The Stranger that helped me to understand existentialism better was at the end of the novel when Meursault is sentenced to death. I don't think Meursault was an existentialist but I do think that he faced death the way an existentialist would have.