Thursday, January 30, 2020

Computers Are an Important Part of Most People’s Everyday Lives Essay Example for Free

Computers Are an Important Part of Most People’s Everyday Lives Essay Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Nowadays, computers are an important part of most people’s everyday lives. This change has improved the way people live. By advances in the technology, especially invention of computers, human beings can do their works much easier than the past. They have improved the way of our lives (life) dramatically. The number of advantages that computers can bring us is very much so that its disadvantages can be ignored (Advantages of using computers are so much that disadvantages could be ignored). Cases such as save (saving) time or facilitate (facilitating) job and affairs and improve(ing) our communications are my reasons which will be illustrated in details as following. To begin with, by using of computers we can save the time (more time). In todays’ community, it is told that time is money. With the huge advancements in technology, people’s life has more (become) complicated as it seems. Each of us hasn’t enough time to do all works on time (No one has enough time to do everything on time). The advent of computers in our lives(life), we can save time and do a big part of works more efficiently. For example, instead of going to shop and buying cloths, I (you) can buy it from my home by going to its website and even I (you) have this chance to see which cloth is the top-selling. (or) As an another example, I(you) can choose my (you) favorite five-star restaurant or hotel a couple of weeks before my(your) trip to a certain place. hat shows that I can better manage my affairs(It shows that people can better manage their life and schedule everything). The last example is that I even can control my home or personal room by using of my workplace’s computer (The last example is that home or personal room can be controlled or and monitored by using of a computer in workplace). These examples show computers have revolutionized our lifestyle. The last but not the least, computers improved our social behaviors. For the very first time in the history, Social networks and websites have given this opportunity to people to find friends and know people they never met before. Nowadays, there are a few internet-organizations by which we can find our future wife. It shows that computers even affect our lives (life) emotionally. To take these into consideration, I can confidently draw the conclusion that there are a lot of advantages which computers donate us such as finding new friends or saving the valuable time so that its drawbacks can be ignored.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Currency hedging Essay -- essays research papers

What is hedging? Hedging is a strategy used to protect risks posed by worldwide currency fluctuations. One hedges the currency risk by contracting to sell foreign currency in the future, at the current exchange rate (Fries). If fund managers think the dollar is going to be stronger when they are ready to change the foreign currency back into American dollars, then they take out a foreign futures contract (a hedge). Thus, they lock in the exchange rate beforehand, so that they will not lose profits gained from holding devalued foreign currency (Hedging, 1999). If the manager guesses correctly, he will boost the fund’s overall return because the profits will be worth even more when they are exchanged into American dollars. The foreign exchange market is one of the most important financial markets. It influences the relative price of goods between countries and can shape trade. It influences the price of imports and can have an effect on a country’s price level (inflation rate). In addition, it influences the international investment and financing decisions. Exchange rates present many risks to a company and a company must be able to hedge itself (Gray, 2003). The price of one currency expressed in terms of another currency is called an exchange rate (Gray, 2003). Foreign investors need to sell in a foreign currency to be competitive. By making the most of the exchange rate risk, it may take away some of the risk of the cross border trade from customers. This in turn may encourage a customer to buy products. Exchange rates are the amount of one country’s currency needed to purchase one unit of another currency (Gray, 2003). Typically, vacationers wanting to exchange money will not be bothered with shifts in the exchange rates. However, for multinational companies, dealing with very large amounts of money in their transactions, the rise or fall of a currency can mean receiving a surplus or a deficit on their balance sheets, which is an example of translation risk. Translation risk is more of an accounting issue, and refers primarily to the impact of exchange rates on earnings and balance sheet items (Hedging, 1999). Another type of exchange risk faced by multinational companies is transaction risk. If a company sells products to an overseas customer, it might be subject to transaction risk. Transaction risk refers to actual conversions of cash flows from one c... ...to the American dollar will affect the total loss or gain on the investment when the money is converted back. This risk usually affects businesses, but it can also affect individual investors who make international investments, also called currency risk (Investorworld). References http://www.investorwords.com/1808/exchange_rate_risk.html retrieved February 27, 2005 Fries, Bill. Thornburg Articles. Currency Hedging retrieved February 24, 2005 from http://www.thornburginvestments.com/research/articles/Currency%20Hedging.asp Gray, Phil and Irwin, Tim. (2003). Allocating Exchange Rate Risk in Private   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Infrastructure Contracts retrieved February 24, 2005 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://rru.worldbank.org/Discussions/Topics/Topic21.aspx Hedging Currency Risk with Options and Futures retrieved February 25, 2005 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.goldencapital.com/research/reports/hedging.htm Kaepplinger, Peter (1990). The CPA Journal Online Foreign currency hedging transactions under Section 988Temporary regulations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Retrieved February 24, 2005 from http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/old/08660556.htm

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

American and British Labor

The dramatic rise of the British Labor Party to the position of His Majesty's opposition in the House of Commons has focused the attention of the entire Western world upon the British labor movement. On the benches where Burke and Gladstone once sat there are now over 140 miners, machinists, weavers, boilermakers and working class leaders ready to take over the government of Great Britain if the conservative parties fail. The movement which has brought the British working class to the thresh-old of power is not the sudden spurt of a handful of insurrectionists working upon the discontent of the people. It is a conscious and highly organized section of the state moving deliberately toward a new kind of industrial and political society. The movement has tremendous significance for America because it is a movement of kindred peoples, speaking a common language and struggling in the midst of industrial problems which are not unlike the problems of America. What British labor does in one decade may be done in America in the next. To understand the British labor movement it is well to note first of all that it is a movement of one hundred and twenty-five years' growth. Many of the issues which are today vital in the American labor movement were disposed of fifty years ago in Great Britain. When America was still predominantly an agricultural country Great Britain had passed through the first and worst stages of the Industrial Revolution. With the introduction of power  driven machinery great numbers of workers were brought together under one employer in factories and mills. They were forced to work fifteen and eighteen hours a day for   wages that would now be refused by an errand boy. They formed unions and went on strikes only to be beaten, imprisoned and exiled. When they demanded a ten-hour day   they were denounced as criminals. When they formed a picket line, they were imprisoned for intimidation. Although temporarily defeated in times of industrial depression they did not lose courage. Step by step they won the right to organize, the right to strike, collective bargaining, political power in the state, the reduction of hours, the enormous increase of wages, and a measure of joint control over working conditions. Every forward step which the British workers have taken has been bitterly fought by the employing classes and has been conceded only when labor demonstrated its superior economic or political power. With such a background of struggle the British labor movement is not a delicate thing. It does not depend on employers' sanctions: it is not concerned about its respectability. It is proud with the pride of a hard won success. The Rise of the Labour Party From the back bedroom of Ramsay MacDonald's house in No. 3 Lincoln's Inn Field to the front benches of Parliament in twenty years the Labor Party has come. Its growth is the most inspiring achievement of the British labor movement. It is a party of manual and brain workers, controlled by workers and led by workers. Fifty years ago there was no indication that the workers would ever reject the old parties and create a party of their own. The growth of the idea of a separate labor party was at first painfully slow. In 1892 Kier Hardie sat alone as the first independent worker to be elected to the House of Commons. He helped to organize the Independent Labor Party, a group of vigorous young socialists who set about to convert the trade unions to believe in the political action of labor. By 1900 they had so far succeeded that the Trades Union Congress appointed a Labor Representation Committee. Since the formation of this committee, the power of labor in politics has steadily grown. The Labor Party, officially   formed in 1906, startled the country in that year by electing 29 members to Parliament. In 1910 the party elected 42 members and in 1918 about 70. In November, 1922, the Labor Party returned 144 representatives and some 10,000 local and municipal officials. If the increase in the Labor Party vote continues to be as rapid as it was in the years from 1900 to 1922, Great Britain will have a clear majority of labor voters by 1926. The labor votes have increased from 62,000†¦ socialist societies affiliated in a body of individual members. The brain workers are joining the party in increasing numbers are being provided for by separate local organizations. The Labour party is controlled by annual conference of delegates from the affiliated organizations and by an execute committee of twenty-three members elected by the conference. The party carries candidate becomes official when he has been approved by the National Executive Committee of the Labor Party. In this scheme of nominating candidates the individual members of the Labor Party are not forgotten. Their candidates immediately before election, often a constituency has a â€Å"prospective† candidate who may be chosen shortly after an election and approved by the national Labour Party who have 43 representatives, but there has been no fundamental clash of interests between the trade-union leaders and the intellectuals. The chief reason for the opposition to the Communist International is that the British workers do not favor the method of revolution adopted by the Communists. Operation in international affairs will be more successful than the similar pledge given by the European socialists before the war. THE POWER OF THE UNIONS There are more than twice as many members in trade unions in Great Britain as there are in the United States in proportion to population. Almost every industry has its union or unions with recognition and collective bargaining. The membership of unions affiliated to the Trades Union Congress increased from one million in 1895 to six and one-half millions in 1920. During 1921 and 1922 there was a serious loss in union membership because of unemployment and the financial depression but there were no indications that this loss would be permanent. The 1922 figures showed about five million union members. The Federation of British Industries, the largest employers' organization, representing 16,000 firms and over 19 billion dollars of capital, in its official report on the control of industry, says: â€Å"The principles of trade union representation and collective bargaining are now fully accepted by employers.† British employers do not use the term collective bargaining to mean dealing with â€Å"Company Unions† or employees' organizations set up by the employers themselves. There are virtually no â€Å"Company Unions† in Great Britain, except the organizations of foremen and supervisors. Most British employers bargain directly with their employees as members of a national or district labor union. It is generally recognized that the workers have the right to choose their own representatives without restriction. They are usually represented in negotiations with employers by their own elected union officers who are specialists in gathering and presenting information about the trade. In America, the unskilled workers are the last of the manual workers to be organized, with the result that strong craft unions may be found working with unskilled non union, demonstrated during the conduct of great strikes. In the coal strike of the spring and summer of 1921, over 1,000,000 miners were on strike, and approximately 3,000,000 other workers of organizers. It is controlled by the votes of the delegates who have power in proportion to the number of members they represent. (Paul Blanshard – author, Paul Blanshard – author. Publisher: George H. Doran Company. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1923. Page Number: 20.) The Labour Party was created in 1900: a new party for a new century.   Its formation was the result of many years of hard effort by working people, trade unionists and socialists, united by the goal of changing the British Parliament to represent the interests of everybody.   Ignored by the Tories and disillusioned with the Liberals, a coalition of different interests came together to push for change at a Conference on Labour Representation in London's Memorial Hall in February 1900. For many years the new organisation struggled to take root in the British political system.   The conference of February 1900 had not even created a proper ‘party.' Instead the new body was called the Labour Representation Committee and it had no members, only organisations affiliated to it.   In the elections of that year, the new group made little ground.   Indeed Labour's leaders worked closely with the 1906-14 Liberal Governments, and relied on their majority to agree measures to help Labour, such as the Trade Disputes Act of 1906, and the payment of MPs in 1911. But while Labour in Parliament was â€Å"hanging from the coat-tails† of the Liberals, Labour in the country was growing apace.   The number of constituency parties affiliated rose from 73 in 1906 to 179 by 1914 and before the outbreak of war prevented the expected election, Labour was prepared to field a record number of candidates.   When the Liberal Party split in 1916, the Labour Party was well placed to make a challenge for power. Until the early 1900s, people often worked long hours for low wages. The labor movement began as people started to work together to improve their work conditions. Although there are many laws to protect workers, there are still concerns about working conditions, particular the use of immigrants and children. In the 1930s, the labor movement gained momentum. With an abundance of labor, employers could easily replace workers. Labor unions were formed to help workers get organized and bargain for their needs and rights. Workers created unions because groups have more bargaining power than individuals. When large groups of employees make joint decisions, employers are forced to listen to their concerns. For example, if all the workers in a factory stopped working at the same time, it would be difficult to keep the company operating. Early unions in North America faced a difficult battle. Employers refused to accept the unions. The courts often declared the unions illegal. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 and other laws required employers to bargain with unions. Political parties and other groups have also become involved with the labor movement. Organized labor is not as powerful today as it once was. However, many people such as construction, factory,and industry employees are members of unions. Although they have helped workers earn higher wages and better working conditions, some people think they are too powerful.                                                

Monday, January 6, 2020

How Failures in Financial Engineering Influenced the...

In this paper, an analysis of how the failures in financial engineering and Corporate Governance have been closely related with the recent Global Financial Crisis is carried out. The Real Estate Bubble in 2006 leaded to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis in 2007 which expanded from the United States to the whole world generating the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. There are multiple factors that originate a crisis like this, and will be explained and analysed later, but in order to understand the global economic situation it is necessary to understand how the changes in the Corporate Governance have been one of the reasons of this and how this changes have been motivated by the Financial Globalization. It†¦show more content†¦After this, the Corporate Governance of financial companies changed to adapt to the new markets that they were now able to cover. Regarding the liberalization of the economy, once again the Corporate Governance of the companies needed to change in order to fit the variation in the policy concerning the reduction in the barriers to the free transit, which was inevitably implemented in order to allow the Financial Globalization, and can be sometimes considered as a source of instability. Either way, both the reduction in the regulation of the banking system and the liberalization of the economy leaded to the Financialization of the Economy, understood as the process in which financial markets take a bigger relevance over the primary and secondary sectors of the economy. Once again, this has consequences in the Corporate Governance of the different companies because of three different factors: With the decrease in the intensity of the regulations, now all the parts involved in the financial markets can move their assets from one place to another more easily. After the clear limits between Investment Banking and Commercial Banking disappeared in the 80s, new sorts of institutions that manage different markets at the same time have appeared. The collective investment schemes, through investment management groups, have increased their relevance in the executive boards of the companies they own. These factors have been the naturalShow MoreRelatedAustralia Case Study1672 Words   |  7 Pages Evidence of decline in graduate based jobs in Adelaide Recent statistical data has shown that university graduate jobs are in decline. In fact, studies have shown that less and less individuals are finding full-time employment occupation once completing university. 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