The Economy of France between 1980 and 2012

Introduction France is one of the largest and most advanced economies in the world. The country achieved its success through diversification of its economy and prudent management of the public sector finances.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Economy of France between 1980 and 2012 specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Unlike other developed countries, agriculture contributes significantly to economic development in France. The output from the agricultural sector comes from livestock and cash crops. The leading industries in the country include chemicals, automobiles, electronics, machinery, and textiles. The main minerals produced in the country include iron, bauxite, and coal. Nearly 75% of the country’s electricity is generated though nuclear energy. The government has since reduced its participation in the economy by privatizing most of its firms. This paper focuses on the economy of France by analyzing five of its key macroeconomic variables. Additionally, policy recommendations will be suggested to help the country to revitalize its economy. The analysis will focus on the period between 1980 and 2012. Background France is among the leading producers of automobiles, aircrafts, cosmetics, and luxury goods. It also has highly advanced insurance, telecoms, power generation, and tourism industries. The country’s labor force has the largest number of graduates, especially, in science disciples per one thousand workers in the Euro-zone. Following the end of the Second World War, the country experienced a rapid economic growth due to its massive investment in agriculture. During this period, nearly 40% of the population was employed in the agricultural sector. The country’s GDP expanded at an average rate of 4.1% between 1945 and 1975. Rapid economic growth was maintained through several four-year development plans.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These plans had economic development targets that were set by the government, but were mainly achieved by the private sector. From 1945 to 1986, the government focused on implementing policies of nationalization, as well as, intensive intervention in the economy. From 1981, Mitterrand’s regime focused on nationalizing major firms in key industries such as insurance, banking, and pharmaceuticals. Following the failure of the nationalization strategy, the country embarked on large-scale privatization of its firms in the 1990s. Nonetheless, the government still holds a large proportion of shares in the countries major companies such as France Telecom and Renault. In the 1990s, the country’s economy maintained moderate growth through investments in modern technologies such as the internet and the expansion of infrastructure. The formation of the European Union and the Euro-zone contributed to the country’s economic growth by providing a ready market for its exports. However, the economic crisis in Europe and the global economic downturn, which began in 2007, led to severe reduction in the country’s growth rate. In 2009, the country’s â€Å"real GDP contracted by 2.6%, whereas unemployment rate increased from 7.4% to 10%†. Additionally, the country’s budget deficit as a percentage of GDP increased from 3.4% in 2008 to 7.5% in 2009. Public debt also increased from 68% to 89% of the GDP in the same period.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Economy of France between 1980 and 2012 specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Despite the efforts made by the government in the last five years, the country has not been able to achieve a growth rate above 2% or to reduce its unemployment rate below 10% (IMF, 2013). Overview of the Main Macroeconomic Variables France’s real in terest rate, unemployment rate, GDP, current account balance, and inflation rate have greatly evolved in the last thirty years. Unemployment rate refers to the â€Å"percentage of the total labor force that is unemployed, but willing to work and actively seeking employment†. Figure 1 illustrates the fluctuation of unemployment in France in the last thirty years. According to figure 1, the country’s unemployment rate rose steadily from 8.07% in 1982 to 10.5% in 1988. This increase is mainly attributed to the socialist policies that were implemented by the government, which resulted into poor performance of state-owned firms. This led to a significant loss of jobs. On average, the country’s unemployment rate in the 1980s was 9.56%. Following the implementation of an expansionary fiscal policy that led to a 4.67% GDP growth in 1988, the unemployment rate reduced to 8.98% in 1990 (IMF, 2013). However, this recovery was short lived since the unemployment rate rose to 11.68% in 1994. From 1994 to 1999, the country’s average unemployment rate was 11.21%. The country maintained a less than 10% unemployment rate from 2000 to 2008. However, the 2008/2009 global economic downturn led to an increase in unemployment rate above 10%. Figure 2 indicates that the country’s inflation rate has been falling from 1982 to 2012. The inflation rate decreased from 11.98% in 1982 to 0.67% in 1998 (IMF, 2013). One of the factors that accounted for the reduction in inflation was the oil glut of the 1980s.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The increase in oil supply in early 1980s led to a reduction in the price of crude oil. Consequently, the cost of production reduced, which in turn led to low inflation. However, inflation rose to 1.92% in 2012 mainly due to the Euro-zone crisis. Despite the low inflation rate, France’s aggregate consumption and demand did not rise substantially in order to boost rapid economic growth. In this regard, the steady decline in inflation in the last decade reflects the poor growth in the country’s GDP. This is because inflation often increases when the economy is experiencing rapid economic growth, especially, when the government implements an expansionary fiscal policy. Figure 1: Unemployment Rate Verses GDP growth The country’s real interest rate has also been falling steadily in the last twenty years as shown in figure 3. Concisely, the interest rate was reduced from 2.4% in 1993 to 0.12% in 2012 (World Bank, 2013). A significant reduction in interest rate was on e of the strategies of the French government to spur economic growth by reducing the cost of financial capital. In particular, reducing the real interest rate was meant to increase the availability of affordable credit to businesses and individuals. Consequently, private economic agents were expected to increase their expenditure, thereby promoting GDP growth. Figure 2: Inflation Rate Verses GDP Growth Figure 3: Real Interest Rate Verses GDP Growth Figure 4 indicates that France’s current account balance has been very volatile in the last thirty years. The country had a deficit between 1982 and 1990. However, it recovered steadily after 1992, thereby reaching a surplus of 3.15% of GDP by 1999 (IMF, 2013). From 2000, the current account has been declining steadily, thereby reaching a deficit of -1.75% of GDP in 2012. This deficit reflects the inability of France’s products to maintain their competitiveness in the international market. In particular, high cost of produ ction increased the prices of France’s exports. The resulting reduction in the country’s exports partly contributed to the increase in its current account deficit. Since 1982, the country’s highest GDP growth was 4.67% in 1988, whereas the lowest growth was -3.15 in 2009. Table 1in the appendix presents the data used to generate figure 1 to 4. Figure 4: Current Account Balance Verses GDP Growth Macroeconomic Analysis France experienced a high unemployment rate (above 10%) between 1985 and 1988; 1993 and 1999; and 2011 and 2012. The high unemployment rate during these periods is mainly attributed to the conditions in the country’s labor market. France has one of the highest income taxes in the world. The country’s personal income tax rate is more than 40%. France’s personal income tax rate is higher than the rate in most developed countries, especially, members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). For instance , the United States of America charges 5%, whereas the United Kingdom charges 11%. The high personal income tax rate has contributed significantly to the reduction of the competitiveness of French companies. This is because French employees have to demand for high wages in order to compensate for the high taxes that they pay to the government. This increases the operating costs of most firms, especially, in labor-intensive industries. In order to maintain their competiveness, most French firms in the manufacturing sector relocated their production plants to countries such as China and India, which have cheap labor. This strategy has led to exportation of jobs as companies reduce their workers in order to lower operating costs. For instance, Peugeot, one of the leading automobiles manufacturers in the country, dismissed 8,000 workers in 2012 in order to reduce its labor costs. From 2000, the government focused on implementing several reforms in order to boost employment in the privat e sector. The reforms included a reduction of personal income taxes for employees earning the minimum wage, as well as, allowing tax breaks for firms that employ young people or trainees. These reforms partly contributed to the slight reduction of unemployment between 2000 and 2003. Nonetheless, these reforms did not achieve much since unemployment rate began to increase from 2004. This is because French firms still found it profitable to produce in countries with cheap labor. Consequently, they focused on creating jobs in overseas markets rather than in their domestic market. Protection of employee rights is another problem that leads to high unemployment rate in France. The labor unions in France have a lot of influence in the labor market. They always participated in the negotiation of salaries and working conditions in most industries. Consequently, French workers benefit from job security and guaranteed salary levels. Providing these benefits has been a great challenge to small businesses due to their limited financial resources. Consequently, they are reluctant to create new jobs for fear of the penalties associated with dismissing workers or paying low wages. Low qualification is the major cause of unemployment among the youth. Due to the high competition in the job market, most employers prefer to hire experienced workers rather than fresh graduates from collages. Fresh graduates (youth) are expensive to employers since they have to be trained before they adapt to the work environment. Finally, the high employment rate in 2012 is attributed to dismal economic growth that began in 2007. Figure 1 shows that unemployment has been increasing as GDP growth reduces from 2007. The low economic growth has led to reduced profits, thereby limiting the ability of firms to create new jobs or to sustain existing ones. According to figure 2, France’s inflation rate was highest in 1982. This is partly attributed to the 1978-1979 oil shock that led to a sharp i ncrease in prices of goods. The increase in oil prices in late 1970s led to an increase in the cost of production, thereby causing a general rise in the prices of goods. As the economy recovered from the oil shock, inflation began to reduce, reaching a low of 2.5% in 1986. Following the expansion of GDP by 4.67% in 1988, the inflation rate rose to 3.5% in 1989 (IMF, 2013). An increase in economic growth is normally accompanied by increased expenditure in the private and the public sector, thereby increasing inflationary pressure. Since 1990, France has maintained an inflation rate below 3%. This low rate of inflation is mainly attributed to slow economic growth and slack in the economy. According to figure 2, inflation tends to be falling when GDP growth is reducing. The logic behind this trend is that slow economic growth lead to low GDP per capita. The resulting reduction in purchasing power leads to a fall in the demand for goods and services. Consequently, firms reduce their pri ces in order to remain competitive. This reduction in prices leads to low inflation rate. In 2009, the GDP contracted by -3.1%, thereby causing a near deflation situation (0.09% inflation rate). The reduction in real interest rate in the last three decades was caused by intense regulation of the banking sector. Concisely, banking-sector regulations did not permit the increase of nominal interest rates to compensate for the loss of currency value due to inflation. Consequently, real interest rates reduced as inflation increased. Even though the government liberalized the banking sector in late 1990s, the real interest rates did not rise. This is because France’s central bank lowered its lending rate in order to spur economic growth. Current account balance refers to a country’s net import of goods and services, as well as, net transfer payment and earnings from sources such as rent. In the last three decades, France’s current account has been in deficit except fo r the period between 1992 and 2004. The deficit that occurred before 1992 was due to the high labor costs that led to outsourcing by most French companies. Concisely, most companies relocated their production plants to overseas economies with cheap labor. Additionally, some companies outsourced their back office operations to foreign countries. This led to increased imports, thereby causing the current account deficit. The deficit that occurred after 2004 is mainly attributed to France’s participation in the Euro-zone. In particular, the deficit has been caused by the monetary union in the Euro-zone. The use of a common currency means that France’s exchange rate in the Euro-zone is fixed. Consequently, its currency cannot depreciate relative to other Euro-zone countries such as Germany in order to boost exports and reduce imports. Figure 4 indicates that France’s current account has been worsening when its GDP is falling and vice versa. This implies that the red uction in productivity as indicated by a reduction in GDP limits the country’s ability to export. Arising GDP, on the other hand, implies increased productivity that increase the country’s ability to export, thereby improving the current account balance. According to figure 5, France has been able to achieve a rapid growth in its per capita GDP since 1800. Consequently, it has been able to catch-up with other developed countries such Spain and Sweden (Gap-Minder, 2013). Nonetheless, figure 1to 4 shows that the country has not been able to maintain a rapid growth of its GDP in the last three decades. From 1982 to 2008, France’s average GDP growth was approximately 2%. Other advanced economies such as the USA grew by 3% over the same period. After 2008, France has not been able to achieve any growth above 1.6% (IMF, 2013). The factors that account for the poor performance include the following. To begin with, the economic model that spurred rapid growth after the Second World War lost its effectiveness from the 1970s to 1990s. This is because the country has been experiencing a sharp decline in returns on capital, labor productivity gains, and investments since 1970s. Low productivity among the working class has also contributed to the country’s poor economic growth. The number of hours dedicated to work per full-time employee has reduced considerable in the last three decades. France’s investment efficiency has reduced substantially in the last four decades. Investment efficiency refers to the â€Å"variation in GDP in relation to net fixed capital formation†. The combined effect of low productivity gains and reduced investment efficiency led to a reduction in firm profits, thereby limiting growth. Consequently, firms focused on cost reduction and maintaining profitability rather than expanding their markets. The reduction in profits limited the firms’ ability to make new investments, thereby slowing job creation . The resulting increase in unemployment rate led to a reduction of wages. Consequently, aggregate demand fell, thereby discouraging economic growth in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the government introduced labor market reforms such as fixed-term contracts. These reforms enabled most firms to return to profitability. However, they did not succeed in enhancing domestic demand in order to promote economic growth. Even though investment rebound in late 1990s, France did not define a new economic model to sustain a rapid growth. Due to unfavorable labor market conditions and low profits, most French companies embarked on foreign direct investments in the 1990s. This strategy did not only lead to capital flight from the country, but also worsened its current account deficit and unemployment rate. Figure 5: Gap-Minder France is yet to recover from the shocks of the Euro-zone crisis and the 2008/2009 economic downturn, which have reduced its economic growth in the last five years. Figure 6 sh ows the trend in the growth of France’s GDP in the last five years. According to the figure, France’s GDP began to decline just before the global financial crisis in mid 2007. The country’s aggregate demand declined during the crisis, thereby reducing its GDP growth from 2.289% in 2007 to -0.083 in 2008. The GDP growth further reduced to -3.146% in 2009. This reduction is attributed to the fact that by 2009, the financial crisis had negatively affected consumption in most European countries, which are the main export destinations for France’s products. Consequently, France experienced economic decline due to a reduction in its exports. The country’s business cycle shifted from recession to recovery phase in 2010. Additionally, its GDP growth remained stable at a rate of approximately 1.6% between 2010 and 2011. However, this gain was lost as the effect of the Euro-zone crisis spread across Europe. In particular, the Euro-zone crisis led to low inve stor confidence, capital flight, low demand and consumption in the region. These shocks led to a decline in France’s economic growth from 1.693% in 2011 to 0.122% in 2012. Figure 6: France’s Economic Growth in the Last Five Years Policy Recommendations The following suggestions can help France to return to rapid economic growth. To begin with, unemployment can be reduced through labor market reforms. These include wage compression that involves lowering the minimum wage rate and implementing a negative income tax. A lower minimum wage will encourage local firms to create new jobs, whereas a negative income tax will compensate employees for the income lost through the reduction of the minimum wage. The payroll tax should also be reduced in order to encourage local firms to create jobs by investing in France rather than relocating to other countries. The current account deficit can be corrected by increasing net exports outside the Euro-zone. This is because the depreci ation of the Euro against other currencies will make France’s exports more competitive. The current account will improve as exports increase and imports reduce. The government can avoid deflation by loosening its monetary policy. The resulting increase in money supply will encourage investment and consumption, thereby preventing deflation. However, loosening monetary policy should be moderate in order to avoid high inflation. Finally, France should improve its economic growth by reforming its tax system. Concisely, it should raise taxes for the high-income earners and lower taxes for the low-income earners. This will ensure that the government has adequate tax revenue without discouraging expenditure among the low-income earners. Reducing the budget deficit to 3% of the GDP will negate the need for austerity measures in future, thereby encouraging growth through public and private expenditure. Conclusion The aim of this paper was to analyze the French economy. In particular, it focused on the evolution of the economy’s GDP, unemployment rate, inflation rate, current account balance, and real interest rate in the last three decades. Results show that GDP growth has remained dismal in the last thirty years. The factors that account for the slow growth include high labor costs, lack of an effective growth model, and low investment efficiency. The current account has been deteriorating. Similarly, high unemployment has been a persistent problem. Nonetheless, the real interest rate and inflation have been declining. In light of these revelations, the government should take immediate measures to improve the economy. Appendix Table 1: Data for figure 1 to 4 yeas GDP Inflation Unemployment CA Bal Interest rate 1982 2.418 11.978 8.069 -2.099 1983 1.227 9.46 8.421 -0.853 1984 1.499 7.674 9.771 -0.145 1985 1.614 5.831 10.23 -0.064 1986 2.252 2.539 10.363 0.31 1987 2.387 3.289 10.5 -0.484 1988 4.671 2.701 10.006 -0.465 1989 4.184 3. 498 9.396 -0.46 1990 2.625 3.38 8.975 -0.791 1991 1.034 3.217 9.467 -0.495 1992 1.478 2.366 9.85 0.279 1993 -0.665 2.106 11.117 0.708 7.02 1994 2.248 1.661 11.683 0.596 6.69 1995 2.044 1.778 11.15 0.466 6.80 1996 1.067 2.084 11.583 1.231 5.23 1997 2.189 1.283 11.542 2.657 5.38 1998 3.377 0.667 11.067 2.621 5.46 1999 3.287 0.533 10.458 3.147 6.17 2000 3.686 1.716 9.083 1.452 5.05 2001 1.834 1.606 8.392 1.756 4.86 2002 0.928 1.885 8.908 1.247 4.29 2003 0.901 2.141 8.892 0.723 4.51 2004 2.54 2.143 9.258 0.541 4.84 2005 1.826 1.751 9.283 -0.485 4.50 2006 2.468 1.669 9.242 -0.576 4.55 2007 2.289 1.49 8.375 -1.003 3.70 2008 -0.083 2.817 7.817 -1.744 4.6 2009 -3.146 0.099 9.5 -1.333 4.70 2010 1.664 1.493 9.729 -1.558 3.12 2011 1.693 2.141 9.633 -1.95 3.32 2012 0.122 1.924 10.138 -1.734 2.54 References Boyes, W., Melvin, M. (2010). Macroeconomics. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Couleaud, A., Delamarre, F. (2010). France’s national ec onomic wealth declined in 2009 for the second year in a row. Paris, France: Banque de France. Gap-Minder. (2013). The wealth of nations. Web. IMF. (2013). Economic data. Web. Kabundi, A., Simone, F. (2011). France in the global economy: A stractural approximation dynamic factor model anlysis. Empirical Economics, 41(2), 311-342. Miotti, L., Sachwald, F. (2004). Growth in France from 1950-2030: The innovation challange. Paris, France: IFRI. World Bank. (2013). World development indicators. Web. This essay on The Economy of France between 1980 and 2012 was written and submitted by user Carolina Glover to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

How to Cite a Website

How to Cite a Website A good writer is nothing without good research. Whether you are writing about literary criticisms of F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby or you are researching the effects of climate change on the arctic, it is imperative that you are looking at the right sources to give you accurate information. Its only natural that a writer would turn to the Internet to find these sources because its fast, easy, and you dont have to leave your living room or put on pants.However, writers and researchers need to be aware of the many (many) sites out there that are not well researched, well written, or have been edited for content or clarity. Because of this, writers need to have a lot of digital literacy- meaning that they must pay attention and be wary when researching online. Once they have found their sources and determined them to be accurate and sufficient to put in their research, they must also know how to cite a website properly. In this new age of research that includes websites and trad itional media like books, journals, and newspapers, its important to make sure that you have everything properly formatted per your style guide that youre using. Here are some tips and tricks to navigating and citing websites for your research.Make sure the website is citableThere has been a lot of news lately about fake news and fake information. In this digital age, its very easy to create a website, add some content, some photos, and some keywords that will give your site search engine optimization (meaning that it will go to the top of the Google search). You as the writer have to determine if the website youre reading is not only factually accurate but also whether or not its written by a credible person who is a subject matter expert. So, how do you go about doing that?There are several ways to determine whether or not the website in question is worthy of going into your paper as research. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when youre determining if its a good source.Doe s the website in question have:An author? There are some articles with unknown authors that can be credible and source-worthy, but most often if a writer doesnt want to stand by their words and leave their work unsigned then you should tread lightly. Having an author on the website means that the author is willing to place their name next to their work no matter how its perceived.A credible suffix? A website suffix is what goes at the end of the url. Credible suffixes include .gov for government websites, .com for corporate websites, .edu for educational websites, and .org for nonprofit organization websites. If the website in question doesnt have one of those suffixes, then its most likely that it wasnt written by a credible source or institution. Also beware of blogs, which do have .com addresses but theyre preceded by the blog hosts name (like Wordpress or Tumblr). Though these sites can have accurate information, its likely that it wasnt edited or verified and is just simply the authors opinion.A date? If youre looking at an article and it doesnt have a date, be wary of this source. A date will help you give you insight into what time the author or organization was writing the site and how relevant the information might be. Of course, many nonprofits or corporations dont necessarily date their individual pages that have info on them, but they should have a copyright date on their about me page or at the bottom of the home page.Good design? Though not every single website will have award-winning design, its certainly something to pay attention to. Does the site look like it was professionally done or does it look like someone used a blog platforms inherit design features? Is the font type something whimsical looking like Comic Sans or is it something more traditional like Times New Roman? These might be small details but they go into the overall credibility of the website. While youre looking at it if something seems†¦ off then it might be.A completely unbelievable headline? If the title to the website has something shocking or something almost too good to be true, then it just might be. Really take a look at your sources hard and determine if this is information that you can verify elsewhere. If youre just finding this information in one source and the website in question lacks any of the other characteristics that weve noted above, it may not be credible. Try to be as discerning as possible when you are gathering information because you dont want to lead anyone astray with the facts.How to actually cite a website in your paperAs we all know, different style guides have different rules when it comes to formatting- both within a paper and in the works cited or references. Depending on what style guide youre using will depend on the look and feel of the website citation. Now well go over and give examples on how to cite a website both in text and in the references section of the most popular style guides.MLAMLA gives a lot of good details on how to reference a website in both the reference section and an in-text citation.For the reference section you will need to gather all of the following about your source:The authors first and last nameThe title of the article or pageThe title of the websiteThe name of the publisherThe date the site was publishedThe URLHeres what that might look like:Heres a sample MLA citation.As you can see in this example, we didnt have a publisher because the ACLU acts as its own publisher. Theres no need to list it twice, in other words. In many cases if you are referencing that has no author because the corporation is the author, simply start out with the title of the article in quotations. Also note that it is not necessary to use http in the URL in the citation.When it comes to in-text citations, it all depends on what information you have about the website youre citing. If you were using the example above in a parenthetical reference then you would just write it like any other so urce with two authors.Heres a sample MLA in-text citation.Notice that theres no need to have a page number as you normally would with a book or a journal reference (because of course there are no page numbers online). If you were citing something that had a corporate or unknown author, then just put the organization name in parenthesis. For example, if you were quoting something by the website Healthline.com, theres no need to put the entire URL of the page. Just simply put Healthline.com in parenthesis.APAThe American Psychological Association also gives us some good detail about what a website citation should look like both in text and on the references page.APA actually outlines a lot of very specific examples of how your citation should look like depending on what kind of medium it is. It gives information about online book reviews, Kindle books, data sets, online encyclopedias, YouTube videos, podcasts, and more. For more specific instructions on your source, check out the APA Manual.Using the same source as we did in our MLA example, heres what it would look like:Heres a sample APA citation.Its important to note that if your website has no known author, then use the organization name first in the citation. If your website or page has no known date then put (n.d.) in place of the date in the citation.Remember that when youre dealing with a website, just grab as much information about the source as you possibly can. Dont be lazy! Make sure that its that you really cannot find the authors name and not because you didnt look or make the effort to look in the right places.When it comes to in-text citations for websites in APA, stick to the conventions of their author date system.Heres a sample APA in-text citation.The in-text citations have similar rules as the reference section. If your website has no known author, put the organizations name in the parenthesis. If the website has no known published date put n.d. for no date.Chicago Manual of StyleThe Chicago Manual of Style details how it wants us to deal with websites as sources in both the bibliography and the in-text citations.Lets use the same example as we did for MLA and APA to illustrate how to use them in Chicago Manual of Style.Heres a sample Chicago Manual of Style citation.Note that if you dont have an authors last name, then just start with the title in quotation marks. If there is no known date then use the date that you accessed the website.For the in-text citations, Chicago Manual of Style uses footnotes, which are placed at the bottom of the page. The footnotes are called out with superscript numbers after the parenthetical reference and are formatted at the bottom of the page.Heres what that might look like in accordance with our example weve been using.Heres a sample Chicago Manual of Style in-text citation.Note that the footnote is flipped from the format of the bibliography in that the authors first names are first (versus last names first). Again, if you dont have the authors name, start with the title in quotation marks. If you dont have the date, put the access date in its place.The Chicago Manual of Style does outline some specific online sources, such as how to handle the citation style of blogs, emails, and podcasts. For more information on that be sure to check out the 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.Use a variety of sourcesIn this article weve examined how to determine if a website is credible, and how to handle the citation once you figure out that it is. In this new electronic era of research its important to know how to use websites in our writing in the best possible way. Luckily, learning how to cite websites and other electronic resources are the most difficult to learn. Once you master how to do these, its easier to write other citations like books or journals.Its also important to note here that its good to diversify your research. Dont simply just rely on Internet sources because theyre the easiest to find. You nev er know what could be waiting for you at the library in the periodicals area or in the stacks. Its always best to go through a whole slew of research and writing before you actually sit down to write your findings. If youre unsure of how to locate a resource, be sure to ask your librarian or a teacher to assist you.

Sexism and the mythology of the weaker sex Essay

Sexism and the mythology of the weaker sex - Essay Example In the Ebony Magazine of August 1966, Era Bell Thompson evolved out with the article where she desperately and deliberately discussed the evolution of women as a ‘weaker sex’. In her article bearing the title, â€Å"What Weaker Sex† she ogles out her despair, â€Å"MEN CALL her a member of Weaker Sex and make exaggerated allowances for her family. They also sing songs to her fair beauty. Like a priceless vase, this gentle creature- so pure, so sweet, so untouchable was created to be worshipped from afar† (Ebony, 1966). The terms like, ‘weaker sex’, ‘second sex’ or ‘fairer sex’ has been assigned to the women only since ages. Men do not hold any special position in the literature, myth or folklore because he is common and general. This is not because, he is mundane but the reason for making women special, placing her on pedestal and chiming the songs of her beauty and aura is done with a vision to make her a piece from a esthetic cult or a toy to playful banter in the mighty hands of her master actually lies in the politics of dehumanizing her. History of the Idea of Women as Weaker Sex Depicting women as a feeble creature persisted since ages in the society. Women are undermined when it comes to the virtues like valor, strength or courage in present day society. If one focuses on the introspection of this mindset or thought process, one can easily come to the conclusion that over the ages a stereotype depiction of woman subjugated to the male member in the society has actually resulted in the culmination of this sort of idea for woman as a ‘ weaker sex.’ Women are not weak in physical or mental challenges. Yet, there are certain epithets like chivalry as and when was associated along the name of a woman, it has evolved out as an exemplary phenomena. And, it is a well accepted fact that exceptions cannot be considered as examples in society. Women were treated as a commodity and traces of women as a mode of exchange in the barter system evolves out in the research work of many scholars. They were slaves, and goods that can yield satisfaction or luxury since the ancient time already. Flesh trade is regarded as one of the most ancient occupations after agriculture and all these indicate to a trend where women were easily preyed and subjugated because they are physically weaker than the male members of the society. In the book, â€Å"Subordinated Sex: A History of Attitudes Toward Women† it is found that scholars have traced and argued the ancient way of acquiring a woman as wife and her position in the society. The book puts forward a very significant point where the exchange of money with bride is affirmed, â€Å"Some scholars have argued that the earliest form of marriage required the bridegroom to purchase his bride, emphasizing even further the woman as property† (Bullough, Shelton & Slavin, 2004). Exploration of Sexism over Time Peter Sterns argue s that in the pre-agricultural societies, women had the privilege of sharing same positions along with power with men. It was merely after the invent of agriculture, and invention of deskbound jobs that women were subjugated and men initiated the process of institutionalizing the

To prepare a marketing communications plan to launch a new brand Essay

To prepare a marketing communications plan to launch a new brand (Yumee) into the UK market - Essay Example The report provides a comprehensive marketing communication plan for the new product â€Å"Yummee† a fresh fruit juice to be launched in to the UK market. A market analysis along with target market segments is discussed prior to setting marketing objectives. The marketing communication plan is linked to these overall marketing objectives to ensure a fully integrated marketing communication strategy. The Exotic Juice Company Ltd (TEJCL) is in the second position in the UK’s fresh fruit juice and fruit based drinks such as smoothies market behind the market leader, Innocence. The company has earned a reputation for product quality over the past hundred years of its existence and have a brand image, which is of â€Å"value for money† contrary to the high-end premium priced Innocence products. With their product portfolio currently carting orange, grapefruit and pineapple based products, the company wishes to expand their range with introduction of products, which targets the growing segment of health conscious consumers. After intensive investments in product development and market research, the company is ready to launch â€Å"Yummee† a product made of Yumberry, a â€Å"super fruit† from Australia, which is a rare and precious berry that provides a deep red colored juice and is purported to carry healthy benefits. For a company to be successful in business, it needs to respond to the changes in the market place by developing and implementing business strategies, that takes in to account the dynamic micro and macro business environment (Abell 1980, Thomson & Strickland 2003). The report provides a market analysis of the Fresh Fruit Juice market in UK and also assess the new product, Yummee’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to environmental conditions. . A SWOT analysis can be used in drawing conclusions on how a company can best align its resource base to take advantage of the business opportunities while safeguarding

Buss's Strategic Conflict Model Between Two Sexes Essay

Buss's Strategic Conflict Model Between Two Sexes - Essay Example These studies, according to Buss, provide modest support for the strategic conflict model and implicate the negative emotions of anger and upset as proximate mechanisms that alert men and women to strategic interference. Moreover, the diversity of upset elicitors discovered here (being condescending, possessive, neglecting, abusive, inconsiderate, moody, and self-centered), point to the limitations of this evolutionary model and the need to develop more comprehensive models of conflict between the sexes. At a closer look, the following observations and comments have been drawn: First, the highly selective samples of American college students and their generalizability may be limited. There is an uneven distribution of subjects, with 51 men and 56 women. Second, the reliance on self-report measures, although that has been the methodology of choice in most research examining sexual desires may not yield and objective result. Self-rating method can be bias in the sense that the subjects feelings and prejudice may interfere with the results. Moreover, the subjects have so many differences. They come from different backgrounds and have differing knowledge and perceptions of the same and opposite sexes of participants. They also differ in dating history and marital status. The ones with longer dating history may have different perceptions and experiences with those of short-term dating. The married ones, divorced, widowed and singles have definitely different experiences and maturity. In addition, this is a problematic development of upset instrument because the instrument is based on responses from undergraduates only. There is a disparity in the level of maturity compared to the lower and higher levels of actual, real-life individuals and experiences, as well as psychological make-up. Furthermore, the participants of this research are either single and in a relationship. This could lead to the responses based on the participant's imaginative capabilities. This could further cause more differences. Another bias is the partial explanation for males only, such as: Men's upset and anger about women's withholding of sex. Women are not necessarily upset and angered by the hypothesized feature of male reproductive strategy involving sexual aggressiveness. According to attachment fertility theory (Miller and Fishkin, 1997) that might argue that unattached participants were in the phase of "promiscuously" seeking potential mates in an attempt to enhance the likelihood of a good mate choice. The unattached female here can take male's aggression and may be happy with it because of the initial motivation of seeking a potential mate. Female, in this case are unfairly described. In addition, differences of features of the opposite sex's reproductive strategy or different reproductive strategy may not interfere with one's adopted reproductive strategy and thus cause conflict. Moreover, the research claims that negative emotions provide signal and reduce

Illegal Immigrants And The Different Solutions Sociology Essay

Illegal Immigrants And The Different Solutions Sociology Essay The first Illegal Immigrants to ever step foot on American soil, the New World, was the pilgrims, thats right, us, the great American people. We traveled overseas from Britain and assumed ownership over America. The Native Americans who occupied the new territory were treated unfairly by us, the intruders. We treated them as if they were on our land, so we pushed them further away from the coast so we could take our place on this new soil, that we today call our home. Unfortunately, the Native Americans didnt have a government system to insure we had green cards and visas; otherwise they may still run this country. And now that we have The United State of America, we want to keep it ours. We refuse to have our country overran by a multitude of illegal aliens that are using our resources and taking our employment opportunities, while we, the hard-working Americans receive nothing in return. Nevertheless, that is exactly where America is today. There are nearly thirteen million illegal aliens in the United States, that is nearly four and a half percent of the population, and growing at roughly five hundred thousand illegal immigrants a year according to F.A.I.R Federation for American Immigration Reform. This is a major disposition for the economic and social order of the United States. Illegal Immigration creates many problems, higher unemployment rates, health care issues, not paying taxes, and many others. The Problems that are caused by Illegal immigration grow rapidly as the population of illegal immigrants increase. Something needs to be done, and no one has a definite solution to this issue, but I believe I have an answer. The first problem that Illegal Immigrants cause, is the increasing rise of the unemployment rate for national legal citizens. The average unemployment rate of the United States is 9.7%, according to Beck. That doesnt seem too drastic, but if you look at the locations where most of the Illegal immigrants are employed and live; the unemployment rate of those states are higher than those that are not affected as much by Illegal Immigrants. California has the most illegal immigrants with 12.5%; Texas, New York, Illinois, and Florida follow closely behind with the most illegal individuals. Each of these 5 states is in the top 9 states with the highest unemployment rate. What does the unemployment rate and illegal immigrants have in common? Im glad you asked, Illegal Immigrants, wait Im tired of that name, I want to sound politically correct, Ill call them undocumented workers. CITE PAGE NUMBERS The reason that undocumented workers come to the United States is so they can provide a better life for their families. They come here in pursuit of jobs, because they are unable to find them in their country. As a result, the immigrants take more employment opportunities compared to any other state. California has employment opportunities that Americans could excel in, but the Americans are refused because undocumented workers took them. Now, before I go any further, this is where illegal immigration activists argue, undocumented workers do the jobs that Americans arent willing to do. Thats bologna, Have you ever seen the show Dirty Jobs? In one episode Mike Rowe, the host of Dirty Jobs helped clean the sewer of San Francisco; the sewer ran the length of the streets following in suit with the hills, thats not a very intriguing job, yet it was still the work of a blue collar American. Another job he participated in was Horse Inseminator you can just use your imagination with that one. The point of all these examples is that Americans are willing to do whatever it takes to hav e a paying job, especially with the way our economy is now Swift Company meat-processing plants lost about nine percent of their workforce when they were raided in six states. After the raids, Swift raised their pay by almost two dollars an hour and hundreds of residents lined up the next day to take the jobs illegal aliens used to have. Howard industries, an electronics maker in Laurel, Mississippi, was raided in the fall of 2008. Hundreds of citizens soon lined up to apply for the new job opportunities, including one woman who drove 40 miles. This doesnt include those individuals who are lazy and unmotivated, while they rather milk the government instead of getting a real job. Now that I got that off my chest, the issue with undocumented workers having jobs isnt our governments fault, or the average Americans; its the companies and employers that hire them. Bear Stearns Reported That between four and six million jobs have moved to the underground economy since 1990. Those are the jobs Americans wont do, but rather the jobs they used to do before illegal labor became much more attractive to employers. Companies can hire undocumented workers at a fraction of the cost of hiring deserving legal American citizens. I dont blame employers for taking the cheaper route of hiring undocumented workers. There are a number of advantages, such as, no payroll tax since the employer is paying under the table. They dont have to have to worry about supplying health insurance for their employees, and finally they can pay lower wages since undocumented workers dont have that legal right to an attorney, or the privilege of equal rights. Every legal citizen of the United States has become accustomed to paying taxes, from the time they get their first job to the day they die. To see the importance of the argument Im about to make, I have to explain how taxes are used. Taxes help maintain roads, highways, and the public school system so our children can have an education. Taxes also pay for public safety, police officers, prisons, and defense. Taxes also go to a number of other areas in our nation, but thats a general list. If a citizen doesnt pay his/her taxes there are consequences that can occur depending on the situation. If someone neglects to pay taxes or tries to get out of paying taxes otherwise known as tax evasion, there can be fines, criminal charges, auditing, investigations, and garnishing of wages. There could be a giant disposition for a single individual to handle. But, luckily for undocumented workers, they dont have to worry about paying taxes. They get to use our resources, have our jobs and not have to worry about filing a tax return at the end of the year. Yes, they have to pay sales tax, but that is only 7.25% on the dollar, compared to 20% of ones salary. The only time undocumented workers pay any kind of income tax is if they somehow got a social security card illegally, then they pay social security tax. They deliberately perform tax evasion with no punishment, when a normal American citizen would be punished. Another big issue with undocumented workers is health care. American citizens get the privilege of owning health insurance which covers costs that get accrued when visiting hospitals and doctors. Undocumented workers dont get the privilege to own health insurance, so they have to pay for their health care out of pocket. The cost of having basic procedures are mind boggling, too expensive for a family in an upper class salary bracket to afford without health insurance. I wonder how an undocumented worker can afford to pay for their medical issues, my guess is they cant. Most of the time when someone cant, or dont pay their medical bills, the hospital just has a collection agency garnish their wages. With an undocumented worker its a bit different, with no records of where they work, where they live, or a social security number, how to hospitals get that money? Well the answer is they dont, most of time hospitals just eat debt and wait for the government to reimburse them for the loss. So if the government is reimbursing the hospitals, essentially the American people are paying the hospitals for the loss. With the government having to give money to the hospitals that causes taxes to go up. When taxes go up, people have less money to stimulate the economy, thus causes a recession. With all that being said, what has the government and states come up with for solutions? In 1996 Bill Clinton decided to use border control to help in his campaign, he had a 14 foot fence 40 miles long put in to help deter the flow of undocumented workers. This is great in theory, but the border between Mexico and the United states is roughly 2000 miles, which only leaves a 1,940 mile gap. In 2006 George W. Bush had plans for a virtual fence which would have cost 6.7 billion dollars. The virtual fence would consist of, cameras, ground sensors, and radars. The virtual fence would stretch almost the entire Mexican Border. The whole project was canceled by the Obama Administration, after spending nearly 700 million dollars and seeing nearly no results. Even if the virtual fence was completed, there would be a stretch of 200 miles in Big Bend National Park in Texas that wouldnt have a virtual fence established. (Thats like having a home security system installed but putting a note on the front door saying that the back door doesnt have a sensor yet. -Glenn Beck) There is a government agency that helps with deportation of Illegal Immigrants; this agency is referred as Ice Air. Basically its an airline dedicated to transporting illegal persons back to their home country. Ice Air has all the amenities that you would find on Continental, TWA, or Southwest Airlines. Every passenger gets a meal, soda, peanuts. But the only difference is that it is paid for by a legal national citizen, thats right, Illegal Immigrants get a free ride back home. An average one-way single person ticket would normally cost roughly 700 dollars. There have been stories about Illegal Immigrants who had turned themselves in. Their reasoning in often cases were so they could get a free ride home for holidays, and then they just sneak back over as it becomes a repeating pattern for them. Basically the Illegal Immigrants are getting smart; they are using our agencies for their benefits. That is what we get for having such poor deportation and border control methods. It seems like there have been solutions to the problem at hand, but none have been followed through or thought out very well. I have a question for you, do illegal immigrants have civil rights, and do they have rights under our National Constitution? Personally I dont think they should, but the Government seems to think so when it comes to suing National Born Citizens. Arizona Ranchers Roger and Barbara Barnet were sued by 16 Illegal Immigrants after holding them at gun point on his property as they crossed the borders illegally. He held them there until authorities arrived; Barnett has turned almost 12,000 Illegal Immigrants over to the authorities since 1998. The Illegal Immigrants said that they were traumatized and that their civil rights were violated. What civil rights were they talking about? I dont think the U.S Constitution says anything about Illegal Immigrants having rights in our Nation. Barnett said some of his cattle died from ingesting the plastic bottles left behind by the immigrants, with that he added, that he installed a faucet on an 8,000-gallon water tank so the immigrants would stop damaging the tank to get water. Mr. Barnett said some of the ranch ´s established immigrant trails were littered with trash 10 inches deep, including human waste, used toilet paper, soiled diapers, cigarette packs, clothes, backpacks, empty 1-gallon water bottles, chewing-gum wrappers and aluminum foil which supposedly is used to pack the drugs the immigrant smugglers give their clients to keep them running. The Illegal Immigrants sued Barnett for nearly 32 million dollars, thats insane. The courts didnt see it Barnetts way, but they also didnt see it the immigrants way either. The immigrants won the law suit, but only got 100,000 dollars. That fires me up, how can a group of people who have no rights in our country sue a national legal law abiding citizen and win?! Our government is screwy if you ask me. How are people like Barnett supposed to handle situations like this? It just doesnt make sense to me but a lot of things dont make sense to me, such as, Obama wanting to make it to where undocumented workers are able to get drivers license legally. Thats giving rights to people who have no rights under law of being in our country. It seems like instead of setting up ways to abolish Illegal Immigrants, the government just wants to find ways to give them legal rights in our nation. Ok I could go on and on with this argument and debate, but this paper has to come to an end eventually. So my solution to this problem is fairly simplistic on paper, but more difficult in action. I propose that the government imposes a $50,000 fine for each undocumented worker that any employer has. It may sound outrageous, but I believe that employers shouldnt be allowed to cut corners; its essentially tax evasion. The employee will face other felony charges, and maybe even a prison sentence. I believe that would be a great scare tactic to keep most employers from hiring undocumented workers. With no jobs available, we can only hope that undocumented workers head back across the borders to their home countries. Some people argue if you force companies to higher legal citizens they have to raise their wages, which is true, but they also say if companies raise wages that they may not be able to stay in business. My response would be good, if a company cant stay in business because the y have to raise their wages for legal American citizens then they have no business being in business. Another idea to add to my solution is what Bill Clinton already started, a fence; two 14 tall fences stretching the length of the border, all 2000 miles. At an average cost of 5 million dollars a mile, that would cost roughly 20 billion dollars. People might argue that this hypothesis is way too expensive on the tax payers, but if you look at the budget set in for the stimulus package youll notice that the amount of money that set aside for unemployment was roughly 40 billion dollars. Then I also would propose a compromise to allow for some illegals to come out of the wood work, and we would allow them to become legal national citizens. To sum things up, with no jobs for illegal immigrants, they would leave the country because there isnt any prosperity for them here. Also with an enormous fence, that will help deter illegal immigration from occurring as often. With no Illegal Immigr ants being in the United States, employers are forced to higher national citizens, thus reducing the national unemployment rate, and reducing that amount of money government has to pay. When it comes to Illegal Immigrants using our hospitals, I believe that they should just be refused, yes that sounds harsh, but it isnt fair to our hospitals when they have to eat the loss, because the intruders cant get provide a payment for people who are honest national citizens. This will save the government and hospitals money also. That is essentially my solution to the Illegal Immigrant issues, it makes sense to me, but since Im not known in politics my voice may never be heard on this subject. U.S. Code Title 8, Section 1325 Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. (b) Improper time or place; civil penalties Any alien who is apprehended while entering (or attempting to enter) the United States at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers shall be subject to a civil penalty of (1) at least $50 and not more than $250 for each such entry (or attempted entry); or (2) twice the amount specified in paragraph (1) in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subsection. Civil penalties under this subsection are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any criminal or other civil penalties that may be imposed. The paragraph above is the statutes for Illegal Immigration, half the information in it isnt even enforced. Mostly because it cant, we dont have the resources, or enough border control to apprehend the ones crossing the border. Our nation has so many problems with border control that half the time that Illegal Immigrants are apprehended they are let go, and given a citation with a court date on it. Reasoning behind the citation is because our prison system is so full already. Our government needs to come up with a good plan because our country is going to fall apart faster than a jenga tower standing on one block. http://law.onecle.com/uscode/8/1325.html. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/09/16-illegals-sue-arizona-rancher/ http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/interactive-timeline.html http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/09/16-illegals-sue-arizona-rancher/ http://www.fairus.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticleid=16859security=1601news_iv_ctrl=1007

Panthers :: essays research papers

Bobby Seale   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bobby Seale was one of the co-founders of the Black Panther Party. He was born on October 22, 1939 in Dallas Texas. By the time Bobby was ten his family moved to Oakland, California where he would have a rough childhood. Seale’s family was very poor so this only added to his dire childhood. Bobby eventually dropped out of high school and at 18 he was indicted into the Air Force. He was immediately sent to Amarillo, Texas to receive training as an aircraft sheet-metal mechanic. He soon graduated from the Technical School Class of Air Force training with honors. After that, he was moved to Rapid City, South Dakota at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Bobby served here for three and a half years and left with the rank of corporal. After he left the Air Force he enrolled at Merrit College in Oakland where he intended to study engineering. Bobby first became interested in 1962 when he first heard Malcolm-X speak. During his enrollment at the University, he joined the Af ro-American Association (AAA) which was an organization formed by young African-Americans in Oakland to try to confront the problems faced by the black community. This was an organization that tried to confront the problem faced by the black community. Seale got interested very quickly and was inspired by such people as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. du Bois. Another member of the AAA named Huey Newton had very similar beliefs as Bobby. Soon Bobby became one of the many black activists who broke away from the traditional non-violent protests to â€Å"preach a doctrine of militant black empowerment.† Bobby and Huey became very close friends and in 1966 formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Bobby Seale is still alive today and is no longer involved in violent protests. He is running his own web site that tells of his adventures and why he did everything he did in his earlier years. Huey Newton   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Huey Percy Newton was the other major co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Huey was born on February 17, 1942, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the youngest of Armelia and Walter Newton's seven children. When he was three years old he moved to Oakland, California. Huey and his family fled to the hard core side of Oakland because his father was looking for good work that was out of the Louisiana Bayou.

Religious Believers Understand More Essay

To discuss this statement first we must look at the definition of understanding. Religious believers and scientists would probably differ in their definitions and therefore disagree from the beginning. A religious person would perhaps say that understanding the world means knowing how to be a good person, how to live a good life and fulfill God’s plan. A scientist would probably disagree, saying that understanding the world is having a wide knowledge and good comprehension of how the world works including theories like evolution and understanding why and how things occur. Another slight problem with this statement is its implication that one cannot be a religious believer and a scientist when in fact there are many religious scientists who seem to have science and religion existing harmoniously in their lives. If we are defining understanding as understanding how to live a good life, then I believe that the Bible and Religious Believers do understand more about the world than Scientists do. Religious Believers have a better understanding of how the universe and mans place in it was set up, but it’s hard for people to understand correctly because it’s not in scientific terms, it’s in myths and metaphors. You can’t see it with our available scientific instruments, it’s something you experience. Religious Believers have direct guidance from their Holy texts, e.g. for the Jewish faith, the Torah on how to live their life. They are taught, by the Ten Commandments, that they are not to steal, not to commit adultery and not to murder. One criticism of scientists is that a number of assumption are made to give parameters to an experiment. Also perception can be fallible, as we expect to see things, so we see them. We don’t expect to see them, so we miss them out. In response to this, in the parable the invisible gardener; where the religious believer trusts that the gardener came but couldn’t be seen and the other (scientist) believing that there couldn’t be a gardener because there was no empirical evidence of this. This shows that even though there was no evidence of the gardener or God they still hold a belief, whereas the scientist had to be proven. Some claim that believers only want hope. Religious Believers hope for the return of their â€Å"invisible gardener†, while New Atheists (Richard Dawkins and his followers) have no expectations of a new life after death, thereforelive their lives without fear of an almighty God smiting them down. In this situation, one could argue that the Religious Believer is playing it safe, however they still understand the world better, in many cases they see it as an almighty being’s creation. In conclusion, I believe that, although Scientists have proof of the age of the earth, and that they have proven many facts of the Earth, They do not have as good guidance as Religious Believers do on understanding life.

Research Paper on Prayer

Research Paper on Prayer We live in a nation that says personal freedom is the fundamental and supreme value. There is no room for state-mandated prayer in a nation of citizens that greatly value their individuality. The nation we live in has no governmentally adopted religion or particular religious faith, this is because of the constitutional principle that the Supreme Court has maintained for many years, this â€Å"wall of separation between Church and State† that makes America a model of religious freedom. Religion matters tremendously in the United States, a world torn by conflict over religious differences the United States is the most religiously diverse nation on Earth. Therefore we are not officially a Christian nation, which gives us the ability to actually live up to the First Amendment and have more religious liberty in this country. That diversity will be endangered, not enhanced, if an amendment is passed that would promote organized school prayer. A proposal like enforcing prayer in public schools will create the type of division that the framers of the Constitution were seeking to prevent when they adopted the First Amendment. Children, who are required to attend school by law, should not be placed in the position of having to choose between pressures from their teachers, peers, and their parent’s instructions on religious practice. School sponsorship of a religious message is impermissible because it sends a subliminal message to the students, of leaving some who are nonadherents feeling as though they are outsiders. The current United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment does not prohibit students from praying voluntarily in school. However, it does bar organized school sponsored prayer. This is the difference between the right to pray in school, which is an absolute right, and the right not to be coerced to pray. Texas Governor Rick Perry led an organized prayer at an East Texas middle school on October 18, 2001. At the end of his prayer he offered â€Å"in Jesus’ name,† and some students responded with â€Å"Amen.† This is a problem because the students were required to attend this assembly therefore this was an organized prayer that students who may be nonbelievers or even of other religions were forced to participate in. The Governor took his personal perspective in consideration, â€Å"prayer life and a country that respects a higher being, our God, is a stronger country.† That is his belief and he took it upon himself to say that the majority of people in Texas believe the same thing. Has America along with the Governor forgotten about the rights of the minority? He overlooked the right not to be coerced to pray and the fact that not all Texans are going to be comfortable with the same prayer. Rick Perry is oppressing those that are of the Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist religion, or nonbelievers by saying that we all pray to the same God, and those who don’t should just show benevolence. The Governor should know that the founders of our nation strongly believed that the government, whether on the national or local level, should not become involved in any way in religious activities, which is exactly what he did. It is just not possible to have organized prayer in school w hen the United States is the multicultural melting pot of the world. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, people in the nation should be called to prayer and students need a sanctuary. The sanctuary that students need can be found in the schools. Schools have students for at least 30 hours a week, which is more time than what the parents have in reality, and 30 times more than the church. More than any other institution in the world, the school has that unique opportunity with the next generation. The school is the school, an institution for learning, providing instruction and the church is the church, a clergy of a religious body. It is not the duty of the public school to teach religion or practice any majority religion. Parents are still the sole providers and teachers of morality for their children, and because students spend most of their time at public schools does not take away the duties that parents have to their children. Bringing a child up in a particular faith or teaching them the beliefs of a particular faith is a privilege and right of a parent. Wanting to bring religion to the children in public schools takes away that right and responsibility from parents. Most Americans do not want the government interfering in any of their most private affairs, one of them being religion. The public school that a parent’s child may be attending could be the very school that teaches a prayer that endorses beliefs that offend a parent. There are concerns about a decline in moral values in the country and in the increase in violence on the streets and in America’s homes. William Bennett, former Secretary of Education, claims that the 1962 decision, Engel v. Vitale of banning official prayer from the public schools, is directly responsible for the national decline. The 1962 decision marked a rapid plunge in SAT scores, a high rise in the teenage pregnancy rate and many other social problems. However, these are misleading claims, the social problems are related to the increase in wealth and opportunity and education between the richest and poorest people in our society. It is obvious that the decline and social problem have clearly nothing to do with prayer in public schools. For it is very crucial that America remembers that the school or any other government body cannot substitute for our churches, synagogues, mosques, homes, or any other place of worship. Prayer in the public schools will infringe on religious liberty rights, it will encourage divisiveness along religious lines in a public school setting, the minority religion will never prevail and their views will be effectively silenced. The nation’s founders believed that people should be free to pursue their own religious beliefs without government interference. Government endorsement of religion in a public school is a violation of the First Amendment and religious freedom should never be subjected to majority vote. You can also order a custom essay, term paper, thesis, dissertation or research paper on prayer from our custom research writing service which provides high-quality custom written papers at an affordable cost. Here is a list of the most popular essay topics on prayer: Should Prayer be Allowed in Schools? Prayer In School Religious Freedom? Power of Prayer Distant Intercessory Prayer Injustice on Prayer in Colleges A Prayer for Own Meany An Instrument of God Prayer for Success Does God Need the Church? Prayer Session Exodus 2:23-3:10 Prayer in Portrait of the Artist Analytical Response: Prayer before birth and Mid-term break

Music Piracy essays

Music Piracy essays On September 19, 2003, the Federal Communications Commission filed 196 lawsuits against citizens who were pirating music. The people ranged from a ten year-old girl to a seventy-five-year old grandfather, who had allowed his grandchildren to use his computer. The suits were filed against down-loaders who had pirated well over 800 songs. Only recently has the issue of file sharing become an out-of-control problem. The public is fascinated with having access to music without paying, or paying very little for it. Although down-loading is a common activity in households today, the FCC and artists alike find file sharing to be a hobby which must come to an end. Typically, the first step to promoting an album is to release the single on the radio. The audience grows affection for this song, and cannot wait for the C.D. to come out. However, thanks to the internet, people can have access to the single right after its radio release. File sharing solves the issue of waiting months to hear one particular song. In some cases, that one single happens to be the only good song on the album. Rather than pay eighteen dollars for twelve songs, in which only one holds significance, listeners are now downloading that solo track for free. Unknown bands also have a chance to introduce their music to the world; posting tracks online helps the musicians gain a following without going through a major record label. Websites such as Napster were a success because visitors could download as many songs as they liked without paying a dime. Eventually, the FCC found means to shut down the site, which led to the creation of such sites as Kazaa and Morpheus. Kazaa allows visitors to download up to two hundred songs before they have to pay a fee. After that, they are charged around ninety-nine cents a song. Napster made a comeback in the fall of 2002 by charging down-loaders around ninety cents a song. However, this minor charge came about only recently ...

Discuss in DETAIL six Cognitive distortions Essay

Discuss in DETAIL six Cognitive distortions - Essay Example Due to such a perception, an individual may end up having a self perception that may be distorted or completely untrue. A third distortion is magnification or minimization which occurs when an individual ignores the positive and over thinks about the negatives or ignores the negative and only thinks about the positives in himself or herself. Personalization is a fourth kind of distortion occurs when an individual connects an unrelated event to his/her state and believes that it is connected to him/her. For example: an individual may believe that the death of a loved one was caused by them. The fifth kind of cognitive distortion is All-or-nothing thinking which takes place when an individual is of the idea that events should happen as he/she may want it to be or they have completely failed. Selective abstractions take place when an individual chooses a certain part of an event to prove that he she was experiencing depression at that

What is the heart of Catholicism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

What is the heart of Catholicism - Essay Example For salvation and redemption, people need to gather around the bishop since he is the true descendant of God and, therefore, of Jesus. In Catholicism, this institutional approach to belief and the importance of communion with the Holy See through a religious medium like church or other religious authority are essentially inspired by Biblical evidences and history. One of Jesus’ speeches supports Catholicism’s claim about the importance of a believer’s communion with the religious authority is as following: â€Å"I say to you, something greater than the temple is here† (Barron 24). Indeed in Catholicism, the ideas of ‘temple’ and ‘bishop’ are the representatives of each other. In this regard, Barron says, â€Å"If Jesus is, in his person, the true temple, then he should be the definitive source of teaching, healing and, forgiveness and this is just what the Gospel tells us† (Barron 24). Indeed this very basis of Christ’s persona as the sole source salvation and redemption lies at the heart of Catholicism. Indeed, proper religious authority plays an important role in shaping the rites and rituals of Catholicism. The propriety of religious authority is often determined by sacramental evidences. While the Catholics unanimously believe in the ministration of Christ as the temple of teaching, salvation and redemption, the bishop is believed to be the true spiritual descendant of Christ himself. Therefore a bishop plays a very important role in catholic rites and rituals. For an instance, Catholic dogma asserts that the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper must be administered by certain qualified persons. According to the Roman Catholic Church, â€Å"only a Catholic Priest ordained into the apostolic succession can administered the Eucharist† (Erickson 1122). Erickson further says in this regard, â€Å"If any other person should take the same physical elements and pronounce the same words over them, they would remain bread and