U.S and the world Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

U.S and the world - Research Paper Example Get directly to the point, prove the point critically from the evidence, and conclude your paper. This paper should be between 8-10 pages, the cumulative work from both papers.   One of the key focal points in the American history that aim to solve the enigma of the isolationist policy of American politics is indeed very interesting to study. The birth of a new nation undoubtedly sparked the interest of international nations as well. After the Spanish American war, the Americans wanted peace and stability of mind. Undoubtedly, the US could remain as an isolationist as it continued to expand outward. Even looking back at history, the country’s attempt to remain an isolationist during both World War II was not susceptible. The US verily had to enter both World Wars since it became a leader in the Western frontier. The United States returned to isolationist foreign policy since domestic problems plagued the country. Furthermore, Europe was in chaos itself and the US could not afford to indulge itself in such petty issues. However, one can argue that the isolationist policy did have some ramifications towards American diplomacy. The United States embodied the foreign policy of isolationism into an international role because it wanted to strengthen its capitalistic economy, address reform, acknowledge immigration and continue to pursue its beautiful American dream even though it lost threshold in foreign affairs. The colonies themselves wanted to be domestically involved as many had entered American in search of new provisions. The roots of isolationism were well established years before independence [2]. A brilliant testament towards this theory can be clearly seen through the decision of the Continental Congress to reject help from France during the War of 1812 [4]. The notion of America to remain independent was because of the exerted influence by the forefathers and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.

Minimum wage Essay Example for Free

Minimum wage Essay While poverty continues to increase in several areas of the world, economist tries their best to find a way to offer a feasible solution. One of the most common answers that can ordinarily be found in economical debate would be the issue of the establishment of a minimum wage. Setting a minimum wage is a policy tool that ought to increase the income of the working class in a certain community or country. Seemingly this premise gives the minimum wage policy easy to understand. Ideally, an increase in the minimum wage results to an increase in income that is suppose to alleviate low income households into a higher social status. In fact, this policy tool has been commonly used to alleviate poverty levels in the third world countries. Most regions in the Latin America adopted this policy sometime in their past. Nonetheless its positive and negative effects are still subject to careful analysis and thoughtful criticism. This paper would focus on the effect of an increase in minimum wage on different countries primarily between a first world and a third world country. In doing so, the paper would attempt to review the literature presented by Gindling and Terrell (2007) along with the data’s gathered by Powers. From such literature I have gathered the importance or the role of unemployment rate on the changes in poverty level. The several discussions shall be related to the surveys, theoretical models and data’s that are gathered as of June 2007. The econometric analysis that would be use would also be based on the regression that was formerly made by Powers. Literature Review From the different articles that flooded the economic circle, there were several debates that concerned the utility that could be derived with the implementation of minimum wage. The proponents of the positive impacts of an increase of the minimum wage in reducing low income household according to the study made by Gindling and Terrell believes that it would only be effective and limited in the formal sector. Those who compose this â€Å"formal sector† are the employees who receive more than or equal to the minimum wage. Those people that argue against the minimum wage does so under the assumption that the market and economy today is highly affected by a close competition brought about by globalization. In line with this, the current governments would be required to create the most attractive business milieu for the investors. Thus, the government, most especially of the â€Å"developing country† would most likely impose lower minimum wages or might even argue to abolish it (Lee, 2002). In a brief discussion, a minimum wage implies a law that was legislated in order to ensure that worker/s will receive a minimum amount of payment for a certain amount of performance made. This law was created in able to protect the workers, most especially those who low income earners from possible exploitation and abuse from their employers. Most of the low wage earners were composed of unskilled laborers and have mostly received low level of proper education, if any. At the same time, insuring that this type of workers will receive a minimum wage would result to a lower level of poverty. This will be the case since it is standard that upon setting the minimum wage factors such as the daily living standards of a person and the purchasing power are taken into consideration. Such procedures would make a minimum wage law more effective and beneficial for the worker/s. Gindling and Terrell in their study of the situation of the economy of Honduras provided insights regarding the different factors that may affect the family income. The first thing that they believed that one should consider in instituting a minimum wage would be the person/s that the policy will apply. The person/s involved and the labor market in which they belong are important in the considerations since the more competitive a market is, the higher the unemployment rate it will produce. It is important to note because the demand for labor usually determine the number of person that shall be displaced upon the possible increase in the minimum wage. The second factor would be on the possible effect of the minimum wage changes on the workers that are not cover with the implementation of such policy. This is important to note since those people who would lose their job because of the increase in minimum change increases the available supply of labor in the sector that was not covered by minimum change. Such sector includes self-employed individuals or individuals who are underpaid. Factors Affecting Minimum Wage  Another factor that Gindling and Terrell believe to create an impact on the family income is the social status in which the family belongs. The increase in minimum wage is meant to reduce poverty. Nonetheless, the families that might have been affected by the changes in minimum wage might not be included in the families along or under the poverty line. This is an important factor since it would determine if the increase in minimum wage would have an impact on the middle class or the lower class. If the minimum wage increase would affect only or greatly on the middle class, the gap between the middle and the lower class would inevitably widen. The last thing to consider would be the view that a society takes regarding what a minimum wage shall cover. In some cases the minimum wage is based on the worker family’s basic need. In other society the worker’s personal basic needs is the one which is considered. Thus, in effect, it would be relevant to consider the number of the working member in the family or the number/s of bread winner/s. Effects of Minimum Wage The effects of a minimum wage depend upon the household and the family that responds to the requirements of the labor market. A family might be able to benefit in an increase of minimum wage if there are two or more members of that family that are would receive or affected by the increase in minimum wage. Nonetheless, if instead of gaining from the minimum wage increase, some earners in the family was removed from the job resulting from the laying off of workers that company resulted into, to be able to effectively provide other workers with a minimum wage without decreasing the company income. The family would suffer more poverty than they have experienced before. The effects of minimum wage also differ with respect to gender, age and ethnicity. More often than not women due to their high expense, having more leaves and being more prone to illness due to a â€Å"weaker body structure† are more susceptible than man when lay offs occur. Thus, for those families that are single handedly supported by a female, an increase in minimum wage is not actually good news. Also, people who are already approaching their golden age or those who are closing to retirement age are usually subjected to layoffs since they are considered to be less productive than the young ones. Lastly, there are areas were ethnic discrimination is still an issue. Problems with Minimum Wage According to the research made by Gindling and Freeman, the main objective of creating a minimum wage is not to decrease the number of employment; it is actually to equally distribute income to the low wage earners. The cost cutting procedure that usually resulted as an effect of the increase in minimum wage cost the job of the workers more prominently those who are in the bottom ladder of production. Since these people do not have enough skills, experience and education, they would find it very hard to look for a new job. In such case, instead of alleviating poverty, the increase in minimum wage results to an increase in poverty. In the view of Richard Berman, the government upon imposing the law on minimum wage increase imposes such command to the employers on how much they should give. However, the government does not have the authority to command the employers regarding who are the people that should and should not be hired. Such situation is what causes the employers to layoff the less productive workers. It also made them employ less people and employ only those who posses more than enough qualification that would fit for the job and for the wage. The drastic effect that such situation results into is a little bit complicated. First and foremost the amount of available employment would be greatly reduced. With lesser opportunity for those who does not have jobs and with an additional number of unemployed produced from the layoffs, unemployment would greatly increase. In the long run the family of those who are unemployed would suffer lower income and would fall under or stay under the poverty line. Another effect would be on how employers would choose their employees. Since employees cause more, aside from a reduction in the number of employees, as explained above, employers would also tend to increase their qualifications for possible employees. Thus, employers would tend to hire people who are better qualified, that is that they have attained higher level of education and/or skilled. Those who includes in the highly educated employees are usually compose of the younger generations. Also, one cannot expect someone below the poverty line to get the best education available since it is most like that higher education is expensive. The skilled laborers on the other hand are only a few and would more or less attain some degree of education. This leaves the adult unskilled worker/s less preferable for a usual low wage job. With this in mind, one could assume that the probability of unskilled adults to work on jobs that would be affected by the increase in minimum wage, very low. It is more likely that would seek and settle to an underpaid job to be able to somehow support themselves and their family or they might not work at all. What may follow is a further increase in poverty, rather than a reduction. Another possible scenario involves chances of higher prices in commodities. As a usual flow in economics, the expenses that were received by the company would be passing on to their consumers in able to maximize profit. Sometimes this kind of reaction may lead to a lower quality in the services and the products produced by the company. Further more, the employers might ask the employees to work for much longer hours and workers might be subjected to a low quality of working environment with additional task. Minimum Wage and Poverty in the United States According to Gindling and Terrell (2007), using the study that was conducted by Blackburn and Addison in 1999, an increase in the minimum wage had a positive effect on the level of junior high school dropouts from 1983 to 1996. This can somehow be interpreted that less junior high school and teenagers stop from schooling in able to help their parents earn family income or that there have been more students who are able to continue going to school. Neumark and Wascher in 2002 conduct a study through the use of US CPS data. Their research demonstrates that an increase in the minimum wage both have a positive effect on the probability of families to fall into poverty and to escape poverty. The impact of the Neumark and Wascher study is that there is a redistribution of income among the poor.

Mydin Expansion And Growth Strategy Analysis

Mydin Expansion And Growth Strategy Analysis Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd is a local business organization in retail industry under the leadership of chief executive, Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin. The business starts its operation since 1957 in retail and wholesale. In the economic environment, Mydin face challenge from other key players such as Giant, Tesco, Carrefour and Econsave. Currently Mydin has 4 hypermarkets and its total stores are 55 which located at Klang Valley, Terengganu, Kota Bharu, Seremban, Nilai, Johor, Alor Setar, Melaka, Penang, Pahang and Kelantan. To compete, the company plans to expand their business and grow organically. Mydin imposed low pricing strategies and provide economically price goods to its customers. Surely, the expansion and growth will influence the business objective. Below is the comparison data of retailers with its number of stores in Malaysia. Retailer Number of stores Giant. 40(hypermarket/superstores) Total Giant stores: 100 Tesco. 35(hypermarket) Carrefour. 23(hypermarket) Econsave. 38(supermarket hypermarket) Mydin. 4 hypermarkets. Total Mydin stores : 55 Hypermarket list is not exhaustive. [Business Times , Saturday, July 31, 2010] Therefore I would like to investigate whether Mydins expansions and growth strategy is viable to the business to gain market share and emerge as market leader. RESEARCH BACKGROUND. This commentary will be based on these following supporting documents; MYDIN EXPECTS 10pc RISE IN PROFIT, QA with Datuk Ameer Ali (Mydin)/SKORCAREER Mydin to built its biggest hypermart in Kota Baru/Business Times. New logo,motto for Buy Malaysian Campaign/mydin.com.my INTERNAL CENTRE OF LEADERSHIP(ICLIF)-2009/MYDIN CASE STUDY. Microsoft Supports Malaysian Retailers Aggressive Plans to Expend. Malaysia mulls bar-code system for halal, products Business Times MARKETING. Marketing Planning. As a retail company in Malaysia, Mydin had implement several marketing planning to boost their sales and obtaining bigger market share. Therefore, this commentary will examine the marketing mix approached by Mydin to successfully market their product and formulate their marketing strategy. Therefore, Mydin can moves towards becoming a market leader. Marketing mix: Product. Mydin has a wide range of product line such as food line, soft line, hard-line and household items. Due to the wide range of product, Mydin will benefits from larger customer base. This will give positive advantage to Mydin as its customer can obtain all products needed here at lower and cheaper price. As a local player, Mydin provide items that are complement with its customers need. Majority of Malaysian are Muslims. Therefore, Mydin provide local prayer mats, prayer garment for women and traditional product which are rarely found elsewhere. However, Mydin should consider its non-Muslim customers due to the image of the place where only Muslim shops. Place. Besides, Mydin is currently expending their business into different format namely hypermarkets, emporium, and My Mart (24 hour convenience stores). As referred to growth of Mydins chain by the year 2009 to 2020, the business forecasted to have 26 Hypermarket, 60 Convenience Store, 20 Emporium and 5 My Mart  [1]  . This investment cost the business a large amount of cash which is RM 200million for supermarket and 60 million for the building of hypermarket  [2]  . The managing director tries to emulate the growth strategies of Kmart by having My Mart although Kmart experience bankruptcy. This expansion can help Mydin, reachable for its customers with various channel of distribution. For example, the choice to build the biggest hypermarket in Malaysia at Kota Baharu  [3]  is due to high demand and larger land available. However, Mydin should consider their large expansion as they may be affected by diseconomies of scale. Promotion. In terms of promotion Mydin apply me-to-promotion where Mydin follow and respond to their rivals marketing strategies such as purchasing similar advertisement board and article from newspaper  [4]  . One of its outlets in Subang Jaya has a digital billboard, controlled digitally from its office. This provides fast response toward its rivals advertisement. Besides, Mydin should consider having other marketing strategies such as advertisement through website or radio to provide detailed information and awareness of their existence. Price. Mydin is well-known for selling its product at wholesale price (40% of its business is wholesale). As compared to its rival, (Giant, Tesco and Carrefour) Mydin is a favorite place for shopping especially in period of economic down turn. They gain RM 1.3 billion in 2009 from RM 1.1.in 2008  [5]  . This proves that as Mydin grow organically, they gain strength in volume, thus can sell cheaper as compared to its rivals. Therefore, the situation is inciting its marketing objective. Positioning. Market positioning is crucial to portray a good corporate image and differentiate Mydins product over rivals. The unique selling point (USP) of Mydin that makes the business stand out from others is the embracing the concept of Halal (following the dietary law in Islam)  [6]  . As most Malaysian are Muslim and very particular in Halal product, the USP is an added advantage. Mydin popular slogans: Where everybody can buy  [7]  also provide a perception towards the customers that in retail industry, you can buy product cheaper at Mydin. But Mydin need to sustain the image by providing items cheap and not providing cheap items with low qualities. Mydin can perceive its brand to be a bargain brands (at high quality but with low price) although its hard to sustain. Therefore, with the growth and expansion strategies, Mydin is moving from Economy brands towards Bargain brands.  [8]   Quality High Low High Premium brands Cowboy brands Low Bargain brands Economy brands Price Figure 1: Perception map showing relationship between price and quality. The slogan is in line with governments campaign, Buy Malaysian  [9]  which educates Malaysian to buy local product (Mydin provide local product on its shelves). Mydins outlet at Subang Jaya has been chosen as the place for exhibition attends by Prime Minister to launch the campaign  [10]  . Besides, Mydin together with Halal Development Council (HDC) organized Halal training program course for small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs (SMEs)  [11]  . The corporate social responsibilities (CSR) done by Mydin enhance its image and will attract customers to choose Mydin instead of others. OPERATION MANAGEMENT. Product Planning. As Mydin grow, the business may affected by overtrading due to stockpiling  [12]  . This situation can increase cost and later absorb on the price of product. Hence, Mydin decide on Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail to applied Just-In-Time stock management  [13]  . The software provides information for its suppliers and decision-makers so that the distribution of stocks runs smoothly from stores to supply chain  [14]  . By this, Mydin can be more responsive to its customers, reduce their break-even point, and improve cash flow and the working capital cycle  [15]  . Consequently, provide competitive advantage towards its rival. HUMAN RESOURCES. Organizational Structure. Besides, Mydin interfere coordination problem of its managers as the business grow hierarchal taller and wider span of control. Communication across the organizational structure will become time consuming and in certain case may be distorted. To overcome this, Mydin decide on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007  [16]  that allows massive information to be provided to all layer of the organization and its suppliers. Motivation. In becoming a market leader, Mydin must have a productive employees to generate larger working capital.16.2% of its workers are foreigners and the remaining are locals  [17]  . To create sense of belonging to work and generate teambuilding between workers, the company provides financial and emotional support  [18]  . According to Maslows hierarchy of needs, people are motivated more than just money  [19]  . Mydin meets the social needs of its worker by conducting birthday parties, cultural dance and inter-branch sports.  [20]   CONCLUSION. Mydin has implemented huge expansion and organic growth of its company. They try to gain their market share by becoming more competitive toward its rival. In becoming so, a transformation throughout the organization is done. Based on the marketing planning carried out, Mydin is currently on the right direction towards its corporate objectives. We can notice how Mydin develop strategic marketing mix to successfully market their product. However, there is some areas that should be improved and focus on. In terms of product, Mydin can try to attract non-Muslim customers by having a promotion or creating an image of Mydin as a place for anyone. Besides that Mydin has wide channel of distribution. However, Mydin should also consider dealing with diseconomies of scales. One of the choices is by introducing measures to remove productive inefficiencies. Mydin might count the effectiveness of each of the business format. The marketing strategies indicate that Mydin can gain higher market share from its competitive advantage in promotion and price. In positioning their product, Mydin had done it well through their USP, slogan and CSR played. They manage to give clear perception of the business to public. Hence, they can gain more customers in the future. In operation management and human resources, Mydin try to centralize their management to hinder business runs at loss and to generate efficiencies. Their decision to cooperate with Microsoft Corp. is a right choice to place Mydin at top amongst other key players. Also, without neglecting its employees needs and demands. Overall, based on the analysis of marketing planning, operation management and human resource Mydin expansion and growth strategies is viable for the business to be a market leader in retail industry.

A Seperate Peace :: essays research papers

Devon is a safe haven away from the rest of the world. A war is going on, but at Devon the boys are playing around a river and creating new games like blitzball and not worrying about the problems boys only a few years older than them are facing. Devon is at peace, separate from the fighting and loss many people in the world are facing while Finny, Gene, and other boys are forming a special club just for their group of friends. At Devon the boys know about the war and even have people coming to get them to enlist, but still the war does not hit home. They are still at peace and do not see the reality of the war. What they see are mostly videos brought to them to encourage them to enlist, and those do not come close to showing then the true terror of war. At the beginning of the novel, the boys have not yet been drafted like those a few years ahead of their class. They have not trained for war, and most do not see it as much of a threat. A few boys are ready to enlist, and some do not even consider it. Phineas says he does not even believe there is a war at all, and he partly convinces Gene of this idea as well. The war doesn’t hit any of them until Leper, the first to enlist, goes to war and comes back a complete mess. Although not children, they are not quite adults, and they share a rare time of carefree play that is completely isolated from the war. These young boys are separate from the reality of the world while they continue their studies just as they had always done, with the only difference being an extra school session in the summer. They have no concept of the danger many people are facing. At such a young age, the war seems so distant and unreal, maybe even fake. According to Witherington, "War is only make-believe on the fields and rivers of Devon.

Developmental Profile †Cognitive

The classroom is the venue with which a child learns how to use his/her cognitive abilities for greater understanding and mastery of educational skills like reading, problem solving, critical thinking and hypothesis testing. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development shows that each person undergoes cognitive milestones which have to be attained by a child before he/she can go into the next stage. Each stage is composed of cognitive skills that have to do with the cognitive processing of information (Atherton, 2005).For example, in the early stages a child first knows that he/she is separate from other people. Next, he/she is able to use language and can identify objects and what they represent. The school age child normally is able to think logically; makes use of number, mass and weight conservation and classify objects in terms of various characteristics. The last stage is when the child can think abstractly and test hypothesis as well as be concerned with ideological thinkin g and problems (Atherton, 2005).The classroom offers different activities that promote the learning of this cognitive sills, as well as delivering information and knowledge in ways that are cognitively appropriate for their age. This developmental profile report shows how the teacher supports the cognitive development of her students through the instructional approaches he/she uses in the classroom. Ms. Lisa is a 4th grade teacher, she is well aware that children are still in the concrete stage and that they are more able to understand the lessons if it is presented using concrete examples and models that the children could touch and feel or observe.For today’s lesson, Miss Lisa is introducing the concept of classifications; she has Amber, Stacy and Luis to help her in the lesson presentation. Ms. Lisa presents the 3 children with colored balls and in different shapes, She firsts asks Amber to describe what she sees and then to arrange the balls in size. Amber seems to smile because she knows that her task is very simple, she first places the golf ball in the line, followed by the baseball, then the volleyball and the basketball. Ms.Lisa check Amber’s work and is satisfied, she then asks the class why the balls are correctly lined up. Now Ms. Lisa tells Stacy to arrange the balls by color, Stacy claps gleefully as she proceeds to arrange the balls with the golf, baseball and volleyball on one side and the basketball on the other side. Stacy seeks the approval of her teacher as she asks whether her answer is correct. Ms. Lisa tells her it is correct and she smiles even more. Finally, Ms. Lisa tells Luis to arrange the balls in shape.The class fell silent and Luis scratched his head and made inquisitive looks to his teacher. He approached the balls not really sure of what to do since all the balls looked the same. Then Ms. Lisa encouraged him to go and try out his answer so he would know if it was right or not. In an instant, Luis eyes brightened a nd became rounder, he then went to the balls more confident and then went on to lump the balls in one pile. He smiled and said â€Å"that’s it, they are all round, and they are balls†. Ms. Lisa smiles and tells the class that Luis is right. The process that Ms.Lisa used to demonstrate classification of different characteristics using the same objects showed that the children have achieved the ability to classify objects, in the process the teacher have contributed to the self-esteem and confidence of the student in working with her class demonstration. Amber definitely knows she has the right answer and Ms. Lisa did not have to encourage her, on the other hand Stacy was unsure but tried her best, and Ms. Lisa affirmed her answer. Ms. Lisa however spent more time with Luis since he had difficulty with the task, but in a moment of insightful thinking, he was able to give the correct answer. Reference Atherton, J. (2005).   Learning and Teaching:   Piaget's developmental theory. Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm   

How To Make a Ketchup Packet Cartesian Diver

How To Make a Ketchup Packet Cartesian Diver Place a ketchup packet in a bottle of water and make it rise and fall at your command, as if by magic. Of course, the magic involves some basic science. Heres how to do the diving ketchup trick and how it works. Diving Ketchup Magic Trick Materials Plastic bottleKetchup packet from a fast food restaurantWater Perform the Diving Ketchup Magic Trick Drop the ketchup packet into the bottle.Seal the lid of the bottle.Fill the bottle with water. The ketchup packet should float somewhere in the middle of the bottle. If it sinks, either try using a different packet (the size of the air bubble inside the ketchup packet varies slightly) or else dump out the water and ketchup, bend the packet slightly so that it can hold an air bubble when you fill the bottle again, and refill the bottle. My packet was heavy, so I trapped an air bubble on the packet and tapped the bottle with a fingernail until I knocked off just enough air bubbles to get the packet to sit in the middle of the bottle.Squeeze the bottle to cause the ketchup packet to sink.Relax your grip on the bottle to cause the packet to float. With a little practice, you can make it appear that you arent squeezing the bottle. If you are performing this demonstration as a magic trick you can say you are using the power of your mind to move the ketchup. Pretend to be concentrating very hard, using your incredible powers of telekinesis. How the Diving Ketchup Magic Trick Works An air bubble is trapped inside a ketchup packet when it is sealed at the factory. If the bubble is big enough, it makes the packet float in water. When you squeeze the bottle, the water wont compress but the air bubble inside the ketchup packet is squeezed and becomes smaller. The size of the packet is reduced, but its mass remains unchanged. Density is mass per volume, so squeezing the bottle increases the density of the ketchup packet. When the density of the packet is more than the density of the water the packet will sink. When you release the pressure on the bottle the air bubble expands and the ketchup packet rises.