Inflation and the cpi index Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Inflation and the cpi index - Research Paper Example Indeed, it affects financial planning and budgeting where it considers costs for goods and services, labor, and employee benefits (City Budget Office Web). In addition, inflation affects revenues as changes occur in the prices of taxable goods and services. Price inflation is normally confused with â€Å"Price Deflation† which is the percentage decrease in the price of the basket of products over a specific period. However, the question arises as to what measures the inflation rate. The Laspeyres formula applies in calculating the inflation rate that is defined by the consumer price index. This paper looks at the overwhelming evidence supporting that current inflation due to economic and political pressures has adversely effected the consumer price index The consumer price index (CPI) is generally the measure of the average change in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services over time. Indeed, the CPI represents all goods and service s purchased for consumption by a given population in a program that produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for available goods and services. ... Indeed, the CPI is best applied when the market has the intention to allow consumers to purchase goods and services at current market prices in equivalence to future purchases. However, the CPI may not be applicable to all population entities and is limited in measurement where it manifests sampling and non-sampling errors (Bureau of Labor Statistics Web). Inflation is caused by many factors that include economic, political, and human activities. The current inflation due to economic and political pressures has adversely affected the consumer price index. As stated herein, there are many causes of inflation where inflation can be long-term or short term. Economic pressures like the need to have more money in the market than the value of goods and services in the market and various shocks of the economy lead to inflation conditions in the economy. Indeed, economic shocks like increases in prices of imported raw materials, increases in costs of production, food and energy price shocks are common examples of the causes of Inflation. This form of inflation has diverse effects on the consumer price index. This is so because the market will not be in a position to effectively, adjust to the effects of the economic pressures. In addition, it causes many distortions in the economy that affect the purchasing power of the population. Moreover, this form of inflation hurts retirees living on a fixed income since when prices raises the retirees cannot buy their normal quantities as their income is fixed (Gerolamo Web). This is a direct effect on the Customer Price Index. In addition, this boosts the value of money presently compared to the future hence they will not save thus affecting the CPI. Indeed, when inflation surfaces, persons that include factories will

How Going Public For Facebook Has Affected The Company Research Paper

How Going Public For Facebook Has Affected The Company - Research Paper Example Since that time, it has seen its users numbers grow to over 900 million users who are active. Handset devices are the majorly used by the Facebook subscribers. As typically anticipated, changing a company’s status from a private to a public status happens to be a commemorative period for the commercial entity holder, as well as, the management. The IPO signifies a reward for periods of thriving practices of the Facebook Company and the affirmative reception by the consumers. Nevertheless, the taking of the Facebook Company happened to highlight the significant weaknesses perhaps as an entity that is not geared up to see through the extra burden of finances and consequently lack of control. This is brought about by the initiation into the market of the stock exchange. As is the norm when preparing a company for an IPO issuance, a company cannot put out the information regarding its finances with any prospective investors or present investors through the quiet period. Therefore, investing in the company comes out blindly, a case that could make the investors lose their finances on the takeover supposing the company is overvalued as is the Facebook Company. In the process of making acquisition briefly after the IPO, since the overvaluation result in the unreasonably investors being buoyant, there is bound to be an overpayment. The challenges the Facebook Company has undergone since transforming its status into being a public company have posed numerous challenges to its undertakings. These challenges have consequently had a bearing effect on the company. Introduction The process of acquiring a public status of a trading company dealing in the stock exchange market from a private entity is not a procedure to be assumed lightly. The procedure is rigorous and takes up a lot of the financial resources, the dedication of management and the company’s time. However, the result of transforming into a public entity is significant as it comes along with an inc rease in the finances together with an increase in the level of awareness by the public. In addition, there is also the increase in the requirements of the legal nature and the corporate responsibility. Facebook Company’s intention of having IPO was essentially become traded in the public domain and consequently become bigger. Therefore, the individuals who put up their finances in the company through purchasing of the shares of the company gain a part of ownership of the company for an opportunity to share in the advantages of the company’s upcoming profits. For the owner of the Facebook Company, part of control he encompasses for the company was given up relative to the percentage of the company put up on sale. On top of being answerable to its shareholders, the Facebook Company has been opened to scrutiny by the government and the public. Nonetheless, the anticipation is that the Facebook Company will be able to generate extra capital resources as its capability to do so have been considerably improved. The general net worth of the company which is necessitated by the selling of the company’s stock, results in the company attaining such capabilities. The thriving of the stock of the company as was expected prior to the IPO was that it would play a part in the decreasing of any ratio of the debt versus the income, consequently assisting in the enhancement of the company’s score on its credit. Therefore, supposing the Facebook Company after attaining the public trading company status had successful stock provision, lenders can subsequently is found easily. This is because of the enhanced rating of credit

Comparative Analysis of Portugal and Australia Culture Essay

Comparative Analysis of Portugal and Australia Culture - Essay Example Comparative Analysis of Portugal and Australia Culture For an individual, it is imperative to comprehend the multicultural values especially in the business environment to successfully perform the assigned activities. With this concern, in order to ascertain cultural distinctiveness of the host or target country i.e. Australia, a person working in the corporate sector in the nation was interviewed. Subsequently, a number of critical facets have been derived that would enable to meet the ensuing challenges in a diverse culture. The objective of the study is to determine the various cultural dimensions which differentiate the business and cultural environment of Australia from Portugal. The behavioral dimension, work purpose, time and human nature among factors are evaluated. The cultural environment of Australia differs from that of Portugal on the basis of certain grounds. From the conversation with the designated individual and from revealed researches, it has been ascertained that the culture of Australia gives much significance to ascertaining harmony of the country which influences the workplace. The harmony is valued to bring cohesiveness and promote diversity in Australia which supports the work culture to a great extent. Australia renders more significance to the individualistic culture, which makes the society loosely knit. This characteristic is displayed in the business environment where the employees are estimated to be self-reliant and exhibit initiative. The people of Australia are modest, val ue authenticity, sincerity and give more importance to the business. The hiring and the promotion of the people in Australia depend on the merit of the individuals. Conversely, in Portugal, the importance is given to the moral and relationship factor. The cohesiveness of the people in Australia makes it a better place for business than in Portugal. The Portugal culture gives more importance to personal relation than business. The commitment among the people is more in Portugal as they follow the collective approach, which gives more importance to the group member than an individual (ITIM, â€Å"What about Australia†; ITIM, â€Å"What about Portugal†). UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE The rules and procedures are flexible in Australia as it follows the pragmatic culture for avoiding uncertainty. With reference to Hofstede’s cultural dimension, it is observed that the score of Australia is 51 as compared to 104 of Portugal which signifies that the Australian culture gives em phasis on idea generation, innovation and has a risk taking approach to help the work environment to flourish amid the changing uncertainties. Whereas, the Portuguese culture states that they follow rigid rules and procedures which help them to avoid uncertainty better than Australia. The people do not focus on emotions much and emphasize planning to make the business grow. The culture emphasizes more emotions, beliefs and have a risk-averse behavior (ITIM, â€Å"What about Australia†; ITIM, â€Å"What about Portugal†). SOURCES OF TRUTH In the Australian organizational culture, the managers are easily accessible due to a flexible hierarchical system. The communication system is informal in Australia which gives scope for both the management and the employees to have a free interaction. Thus, employee for any query or in search of truth

What specific impact does the media have on the development of Research Paper

What specific impact does the media have on the development of - Research Paper Example The big question is are the media contributing positively in the development of this cadre of population. The answer is no, as it is now apparent that the media particularly the internet has made the moral turpitude of the teens to be put to doubts and ascertained that this is the avenue through which they explore and practice illicit behaviors. It is not accurate to state that media does not have any meaningful contribution in the lives of the teens, as it does influence many things with positive outcomes, an example of the case in the US where adolescent obesity has been mitigated through the media. Notwithstanding, when critically evaluated it will be found that the same media has also contributed negatively in the lives of the teens by exposing them to issues related to sex, an example is the phonographic videos in the internet. Teens have also fallen into the trap of engaging in the illicit activities following the kind of advertisement they are accorded in the media; therefore, the media has both positives and negatives influences to the teens. According to research, it has been proven that the teens with computer and laptops in their room demonstrate remarkable improvement in their performance in academic work. This is attributed to the fact that by having computers, they not only have the ease to reach information through the internet but also get motivated and spend more hours reading information in the internet. Television show are also rated to have the best educational session on several issues that even the parent might not be having good grasp of knowledge about. In a close supervision then, television can prove to be one of the best informative media on relevant issues to the teens. An example is the show by Dr. Oz and Oprah It is a fact that the reading culture is threatened with the technological advancement today. Most of the teens demonstrate a very poor reading culture that needs to be reinforced. The print media

Romanaticized Blackness by Whites to The Folk Essay

Romanaticized Blackness by Whites to The Folk - Essay Example He touches several other related topics as well. Throughout Hale’s book she has mentioned how the white Americans were much more open to the ideas of sharing the same hobbies, the same interests with the colored population and so they are termed as ‘outsiders’. This sudden change over several years caused a great transformation in the society and culture. The rebellion was such that a person’s race did not count, the discriminatory acts were slowing down. On the other hand, Baldwin’s stories clearly display that there was no such thing as fairness and justice between the races. The blacks were still treated wrongly, judged because of their skin color, the facts ignored because a white man was not to be blamed. It always had to be the colored man’s fault and he was unjustly punished for it. One of the stories Baldwin has written is Rockpile. The Grimes family consists of mixed ethnicity. The members are all white except on boy called John who i s Reverend Gabriel Grimes’ step son – son of his wife’s with another man before their marriage. Despite being a man of God, Grimes does not treat John fairly just because of his skin color. The incident related in the story is how Grimes’ son Rory gets injured due to his own fault, but John receives all the censure for it because he is black. Rory gets into a fight with some African American boys and hurts himself. "They fought on the rockpile. Sure footed, dangerous, and reckless, they rushed each other and grappled on the heights (†¦) Immediately, one side of Roy's face ran with blood, he fell and rolled on his face down the rocks" (Long and Collier 541) The story mostly shows the tumultuous relationship between the two. They were fighting with each other for no reason other than their color. John was thought to be guilty because of no other basis than the fact that he was black so obviously it was his entire fault. The unfairness is clearly shown here and it is quite a different version of what Hale is talking about in her own book. Times were quite difficult then. The sufferance during the Great Depression led to the white people unemployed. Only the blacks still had employment opportunities as they were willing to work for cheap wages and long hours. As more and more people were sacked, the menial tasks set aside for the blacks were given to whites. This was one of the early signs of prejudice and racism. Hale writes that the white Americans called themselves the outsiders during these times since they were not working. It was the ‘in’ thing even though they still had much more privileged lives than the blacks who were even working. The latter had very less income; the divide between the rich and poor was great. The poor automatically became even poorer whilst the rich continued to prosper despite the troubled times. The economic divide between the two races was great and yet the whites continued to compare th eir problems with those of the blacks. They did not realize that they were in a much greater, luckier position. Another story written by Baldwin is Sonny’s Blues. It is referring to the songs which were preferred in that time period. The story is about two brothers who are not really close but the narrator is showed as being worried for his sibling despite the distance. Sonny is a gifted pianist but he is troubled because he has no idea what to do with his talent. He gets into drugs till he becomes really addicted to them and puts everyone concerned

HSA 530 wk 7 assignment 2 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HSA 530 wk 7 assignment 2 - Coursework Example In addition, Human Resource Management can be seen as process of bringing people and their organization together as a way of accomplishing their goals. In the health sector, the HRM plays various roles such as; legal and ethical matters of treatment, deals with the health and safety of all employees and patients, deals with labor unions in the health sector, job analysis and design of all employees, selection and recruitment of employees, deals with employee benefits, training and motivation and lastly is also concerned with the termination of employees. All these are the activities required to be accomplished by any HRM in any given hospital. However, the HRM has to follow some rules and regulations from the Joint Commission while in the line of duty. According to the law, any HRM in any health service must be accredited by the Joint Commission. This is in order to prove that they are capable of providing the highest level of performance in their line of duty. In addition, the HRM has to adhere to all standards of the Joint Commission and especially when hiring new members of staff. Similarly, he or she has to ensure that the organizations objectives are all met (Anand & BÃ ¤rnighausen, 2004). This is seen as to undermine the duties of the HRM since they do know all their responsibilities and the procedures they should follow. Notably, the HR is forced to follow the policies and procedure of the Joint Commission rather those that are provided by the hospital itself. Resultantly, the HRM is compelled to follow the job description outlined by the Joint Commission thereby foregoing those set by the hospital. Due to these c olliding obligations, the HRM has no choice but to follow the commission. Collaboration is manifested when employees work together towards achieving a given target. Therefore, collaboration is an essential aspect of growth in any organization and especially in the health sector (Boddy,

Causes of Great Depression Essay Example for Free

Causes of Great Depression Essay The economists and historians have not been able to reach an agreement regarding the causes of the depression. Most of them argue that the extensive stock market speculation was the major cause of depression. However they differ in the magnitude of effect of stock-market crash on the great depression. Milton Friedman says in this regard; I dont doubt for a moment that the collapse of the stock market in 1929 played a role in the initial recession (Parker, 49) Another economic historian Temin (1976) only attribute a minor role to the speculation and stock market crash as the cause of great depression. Other economists speculate that stock market crash set an impetus for great depression and was the primary cause of this economic devastation. For example, the research studies by Romer (1990) and Flacco and Parker (1992) provides verified and verifiable evidence that speculation and stock market collapse were the primary source of consumers uncertainty in the economic activity that finally led to great depression. As usual the period of depression was preceded by a long period of speculation. The prosperity of the 1920s has benefited only a small group of people who owned great businesses. These people made huge profits in the form of dividends. No doubt in these big businesses hundred and thousands of stockholders had also shares but their investments were purely of marginal nature. The major share in these concerns was in the hands of comparatively small number of people. It is estimated that in 1929 almost 78% of the dividends from the great industries, railroads, oil companies and other combines went to 0.3% population, headed by a handful of multi-millionaires. Gusmorino (1996) says in this regard; According to a study done by the Brookings Institute, in 1929 the top 0.1% of Americans had a combined income equal to the bottom 42%2. That same top 0.1% of Americans in 1929 controlled 34% of all savings, while 80% of Americans had no savings at all3. Automotive industry mogul Henry Ford provides a striking example of the unequal distribution of wealth between the rich and the middle-class. Henry Ford reported a personal income of $14 million4 in the same year that the average personal income was $750. As a result of speculation wave which swept the country during the years 1928-1929, the stock market reached new heights. This boom was caused by a large number of people speculating in shares of stock ‘on margin’. Under this system speculator deposited only as much money with their brokers as was sufficient to cover the probable range of fluctuations. Speculation in shares is resorted to because the price of the shares is rising and seems likely to rise. Tempted by the possibility of an easy fortune and wealth, in the late 1920s, people from different walks of life and professions freely indulged in stock speculation. For some time the prices of the shares showed a steady rise and reached an all time record in 1928-1929. Hall and Ferguson states that: The Federal Reserve began expressing concern in early 1928 and at that time began a policy of monetary restriction in an effort to stem the stock market advance. This policy continued through May 1929. The monetary restriction was carried out by selling $405 million in government securities and raising the discount rate in three stages from 3.5 percent to 5 percent at all Federal Reserve banks. But it was a late move as in October 1929, the stock market collapsed following Britain decision to raise the rate of interest to six and a half percent, with a view to attract back the capital that had been invested in United States. As a result many European holdings were thrown on the market and the prices of the shares began to sag. Once the process fell, the speculator started selling their stock-shares to avoid bigger losses. Once selling on larger scale started, this affected the confidence of the others who also fell in line. As a result of this stock market collapse, an unparalleled depression overtook United States. The prices started falling sharply, foreign trade declined, factories curtailed production, real-estate declined, new construction practically ceased, wages were cut and unemployment began to increase. Over-production of agricultural products is considered as another cause of great depression. As the farmers produced more wheat, cotton, corn and other cash crops than could be consumed, as a result there was sharp decline in the prices and purchase of farm products. This affected the purchasing power of the farmers, Furthermore, the farmers had assumed heavy mortgage during the prosperous times, which further curtailed their purchasing capacity. This inevitably cut down the market for the manufactured goods and prevented the factories from producing to their full capacity and stood in the ways of the workers getting employment. So it was cause and effect phenomenon. Over-production in the industrial sector also augmented the depression. In the years of boom which followed by World War I, the American manufacturers, encouraged and captivated by huge profits had made too many goods which could not be consumed by the home market. Ultimately these manufacturers were compelled to cut down the production which meant dismissing a number of workers. The unemployed workers had very little or no capacity to spend which meant further reduction in the production of goods. As the depression grew, this process continued. For sometime the production of these merchants was consumed by the domestic consumers due to system of installment buying. However, carried to extreme, this plan of installment buying was dangerous and completely dried up the future purchasing power and increased the load of private debts. The introduction of the labor-saving devices also led to greater production with less labor. As a result of introduction of the machines, a large number of men were thrown out of jobs and usually they failed to secure alternative jobs. This meant diminishing capacity of the labor to purchase. The Gold standard and money hoarding also contributed toward the increase of depression. Due to economic unrest caused initially by bathed stock market crash compelled the people to hoard large amounts of money. As America had a 100% gold standard at that time, so circulation of money became a major dilemma for the Federal Reserve Board. Money supply dropped radically. However Professor Richard Timberlake (2005) negates this preposition and holds that the gold standard could not held accountable for the Great Depression, because Federal Reserve Board was not pursuing a austere gold standard even earlier. As a result of the war, the economies of the European powers were badly shattered and they owed huge debts to United States. Most of these debtor nations made an effort to buy as little as possible and sell more to United States. For sometime the American investor kept the international trade machinery working by providing huge loans to the foreign powers. But once the borrowers reached a point where their capacity to repay ceased, the loans were stopped. This greatly affected the American trade. Gusmorino (1996) holds the view; A last major instability of the American economy had to do with large-scale international wealth distribution problems. While America was prospering in the 1920s, European nations were struggling to rebuild themselves after the damage of war. During World War I the U.S. government lent its European allies $7 billion, and then another $3.3 billion by 1920. By the Dawes Plan of 1924 the U.S. started lending to Axis Germany. American foreign lending continued in the 1920s climbing to $900 million in 1924, and $1.25 billion in 1927 and 1928. Further, the American government adopted huge tariffs (Fordney-McCumber Tariff 1922 and Hawley Smooth Tariff of 1930) which checked the inflow of European goods into United States. The European powers retaliated by erecting tariff barriers against American goods. As a result the American exports to overseas markets fell considerably. Randall Parker add another psychological dimension to these material and monetary causes of great depression. He analyzes that pessimistic expectation of the investors and the consumers also contributed greatly toward solidifying depression. He further says; †¦the behavior of expectations should also be added. As explained by James Tobin, there was another reason for a â€Å"change in the character of the contraction† in 1931. Although Friedman and Schwartz attribute this â€Å"change† to the bank panics that occurred, Tobin points out that change also took place because of the emergence of pessimistic expectations. If it was thought that the early stages of the Depression were symptomatic of a recession that was not different in kind from similar episodes in our economic history, and that recovery was a real possibility, the public need not have had pessimistic expectations. Instead the public may have anticipated things would get better. However, after the British left the gold standard, expectations changed in a very pessimistic way. The public may very well have believed that the business cycle downturn was not going to be reversed, but rather was going to get worse than it was. When households and business investors begin to make plans based on the economy getting worse instead of making plans based on anticipations of recovery, the depressing economic effects on consumption and investment of this switch in expectations are common knowledge in the modern macroeconomic literature. In addition to these above factors, certain other factors also operated either o cause the depression or to make it worse once it had come. These included (i) the increase in population rate was much less than the production rate, which reduced the consumers.; (ii) the disappearance of the western frontier, which meant that America could no lo9nger move in that direction during bad times and (iii) political unrest in Europe, Asia and South America, due to inter-governmental debts, also aggravated the great depression in United States. References Gusmorino, Paul A., III. `Main Causes of the Great Depression.` Gusmorino World (May 13, 1996). http://www.gusmorino.com/pag3/great_depression/index.html Flacco, Paul R. and Randall E. Parker. â€Å"Income Uncertainty and the Onset of the Great Depression.† Economic Inquiry 30, no. 1 (1992): 154-71. Hall, Thomas Ferguson, David. The Great Depression: an international disaster of perverse economic policies. Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 1998. Kaiser, David E. Economic diplomacy and the origins of the Second World War: Germany, Britain, France and Eastern Europe, 1930-1939 (1980) Parker, Randall E. Reflections on the Great Depression. Northampton, MA, USA : Edward Elgar. 2002. Parker, Randall E. An Overview of the Great Depression. Economic History Association. http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/parker.depression Temin, Peter. Did Monetary Forces Cause the Great Depression? New York: W.W. Norton, 1976. Timberlake, Richard. Gold Standards And the Real Bills Doctrine in U.S. Monetary Policy. Economic Journal Watch. VOL.2. No. 2. (August 2005). 196-233.