Great Inflation Essays - Reparations, Inflation, Weimar Culture

Great Inflation annon In late-1922 the German government were forced to ask the Allies for a moratorium on reparations payments; this was refused, and she then defaulted on shipments of both coal and timber to France. By January of the following year, French and Belgian troops had entered and occupied the Ruhr. The German people, perhaps for the first time since 1914, united behind their government, and passive resistance to the occupying troops was ordered. A government-funded strike began as thousands of workers marched out of their factories and steel works. The German economy, already under massive pressure, gave way. The huge cost of funding the strike in the Ruhr and the costs of imports to meet basic consumer needs were met by the familiar expedient of the printing pre sses. Note circulation increased rapidly, and by November 1923 had reached almost 92 trillion marks. With less than three per cent of government expenditure being met from income and with the cost of one dollar at four billion marks, Germany was in the th roes of economic and social chaos. Starvation became a reality for millions of people, despite a bumper cereal harvest, as shops reverted to the barter system. Farmers refused to accept the effectively worthless, banknotes in exchange for grain, and food quickly began to run short in the cities. Prices rose one trillion-fold from their pre-war level. More importantly, for the long-term political future of Germany, the middle and working classes saw their savings wiped out. These were, in essence, the pe ople who were later to become the hard-core of the Nazi vote. Economists will argue that runaway hyperinflation has two sources. Firstly, it arises through a fall in the foreign exchange value of a currency, when an adverse balance of payments reduces foreign investors demand for the currency. A falling exchange rat e increases the cost of imports and, therefore, the cost of living. Wages rise as workers try to maintain their standard of living, especially if previous institutional arrangements have linked wages to living costs. Firms paying higher wages raise the pr ice of the goods they sell, prices rise still further, the foreign exchange value of the currency falls still more, and the cycle continues. Secondly, it arises through a large budget deficit which no one believes will narrow in the future. Faced with the prospect of budget deficits for many years to come, the usual sources of credit available to the government decline to make further loans; the government can no longer borrow to cover the deficit between revenue and expenditure. The only alternative is t o print more and more banknotes. As government workers and suppliers present their bills to the Treasury, it pays them off with newly-printed pieces of paper. This puts more banknotes into the hands of the public and they then spend them. In Germany, as we have seen, the problem was that there were trillions of marks worth of paper currency in circulation. Prices could rise one thousand times between a worker being paid and his reaching the shops. A common analogy used is that if one could afford a bottl e of wine today, one should keep the empty bottle which would be worth more tomorrow than the full bottle was today. Eventually, the power to boost government spending by printing money goes. When the government can no longer gain, even in the short-term, a budgetary balance through inflation, the situation becomes so intense that stabilisation through a currency board, a new finance minister or a link to the gold standard is implemented, and reform can be successful. It was at this point that some sanity was injected into the German economy by the election of Gustav Stresemann. He called a halt to resistance in the Ru hr, and set out to stabilise the mark. Luther, Stresemanns Finance Minister, introduced the rentenmark the value of which was based on Germanys staple, rye, rather than gold. In fact the rentenmark represented a mortgage on Germanys land and industry, which could never be redeemed. It did not matter. The point was that the currency was stabilised and became exchangeable at a rate of one billion old marks to one new mark, and at the pre-war parity of 4.2 marks to the dollar. The new currency was quickl y accepted by the population, and food and consumer goods began to appear in the shops. The government could now attempt to regain budgetary control in a climate of low inflation. The Dawes Plan was brokered, and a sum of some 39 billion dollars

Atomic Energy essays

Atomic Energy essays The users that are infected usually arent aware of the disease until its too late for them to be properly treated. People that get AIDS from having more than one sexual partner effect the life of every person they sleep with. Mothers who are pregnant with AIDS may pass the disease on to their child without them being able to do anything about it. No matter how a person gets the disease their chances of dying are 100%. Family and friends of AIDS patients are effected because they have to see that person go through the disease. In the long run, there is no easy way to deal with AIDS; the burden is something people have to cope with in their own way. Remedies of AIDS are very limited since there isnt a cure for the disease. Treatment for AIDS is given only to slow the disease from spreading rapidly. One major drug called AZT has been highly effective in reducing HIV transmission. The most effective method of preventing HIV and AIDS is education. Parents and schools make the students aware of the disease at an early age so they are at a lower risk. Education and the use of certain drugs have reduced the amount of people who get the disease and die with the disease, but thats not enough. In just one year the amount of people who are infected with HIV has risen 10 percent. AIDS is a social problem that everyone would like to get rid of. The disease is painful emotionally and physically both for the patient and their family. For the disease to be kept under control, massive campaigns and cooperation are needed to spread the education of AIDS to all countries. The commitment and resources needed to create such a project has been a problem since some people dont want to be part of such a dangerous epidemic. Until a cure or something used to prevent AIDS is discovered, the number of HIV infections will continue to rise. All people must learn how to protect themselves and remember its ...

Book Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Book Report - Essay Example This illustrates that it is not easy for a person to make it without being ready to face obstacles. The other lesson that I learnt is that celebrities people adore also struggled in the initial stages of their careers (Poe 12). This is because someone had to give challenge them before offering the chance. Success requires passion to guide one towards attaining the dream regardless of other’s opinions or negative feedbacks. It is apparent that some newcomers in the music industry assume that the celebrities did not face criticisms and struggles when venturing into the show business. I also learnt that one song can enable an artist to break into the music industry if it has good quality and contents. This implies that the first song or piece should portray creativity and originality in that it needs a fresh approach from the mainstream pieces (Poe 14). Art is an expressive element unique to the individual owners and it should always manifest in upcoming artists contents. The important music business lesson I have learnt from the book entails having the correct networks within the industry that can give guidance. For example, Poe knew a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band who enabled introduced him to Willie (Poe 13). It is appropriate to have connections with people who have experience in an industry to avoid making of errors. Another important lesson learnt is that song plugging does not apply in all situations. Poe suggests that one should know when to plug a song when interacting with people because some will ignore the moment. It indicates being able to identify the people who are ready to develop talent against those who ignore the upcoming. The other important thing I learnt about music business is that time consideration is an essential component (Poe 19). A person should not rush things with the view of making it instantly, but take precautionary steps.

Democratic and socialist approaches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Democratic and socialist approaches - Essay Example Democracy should inevitably lead to ever more local forms of government, and appears to work best when shareholders or stakeholders have some true value or worth accorded to their participation in governance. By this standard, the voting for a President every four years is merely a symbolic action, and in nation states with a huge population such as the United States, it is clear that the individual vote is often lost, viewed as inconsequential, or easily disposed of with by politicians. However, on the local level, the importance of the vote is much more valuable for those who are actively participating in their own governance. The Greek city-state can be seen as a classic example of small-scale governance where the individual voice is truly valued and participation can make a real impact. When power is decentralized to ever smaller and more local organizations of government, democracy works best, as it is under these situations when the people whose lives are actually affected by t he decision-making process are actually given the opportunity to discuss and vote on the issues which concern them. This is the principle behind Federalism, and there is significant evidence that the Founding Fathers of America intended or hoped that the Federal government would be an extremely limited organization, lacking the power of income tax initially for example or restricted in its ability to raise debt or standing armies. What has become known as the modern democratic State is in fact little different from what is called an oligarchy?

Opportunities and Challenges of Having Access to a Broader Workforce Essay Example for Free

Opportunities and Challenges of Having Access to a Broader Workforce Essay Question: a) Discuss the opportunities and challenges of having access to a broader workforce. Answer: The Workforce is the total number of a countrys population employed in the armed forces and civilian jobs, plus those unemployed people who are actually seeking paying work. In other words, workforce also refers to Total number of employee (usually excluding the management) on an employers payroll. It may also mean all those that are available for work. Workers may be unionized, whereby the union conducts negotiations regarding pay and conditions of employment. In the event of industrial unrest, unions provide a coordinating role in organizing ballots of the workforce, and strike action. As the world becomes globalize, the workforce in industries/companies become diversifies. The broader workforce make up from employees that come from different age groups, race, beliefs, gender etc. Opportunities Provide training on core competencies Devise training is needed to address the needs of different levels of workers, including training directed at entry-level and less skilled staff, workers with degrees not directly relevant to afterschool, and workers pursuing credentials. We cannot afford to ignore the workers who stay only a short time or work part-time, because they make up too large a portion of our workforce. They need some minimum level of knowledge in the core competencies required to work in afterschool programs. Moreover, providing training and supporting pursuit of a credential is an excellent way to foster an attachment to the field. Expand Quality training and professional development opportunities Quality training and professional development opportunities are needed to be expanded for all workers, including encouraging programs to give workers paid time off to attend training. Another need is for approaches such as distance learning to increase access to training in rural areas. We also should establish a core group of high quality, recognized, and approved trainers and promote ways to share the knowledge of experienced afterschool staff, for example, through mentoring younger staff. Provide afterschool/youth work content in higher education curricula We need to work with institutions of higher education to provide more course work relevant to youth work and afterschool that could be accessed by workers and students pursuing credentials or a degree. We also need to work with these institutions to address the needs of the adult learners in our workforce who would be candidates for these courses. Advocate for funding for training and professional development Policymakers at all levels need to provide more funding specifically for training and professional development for afterschool staff through supports such as scholarships and loan forgiveness. In advocating for such funding, the afterschool field needs to highlight the connection between positive outcomes for children and youth in afterschool—a goal endorsed by policymakers—and the qualifications of the staff that provide afterschool services. Provide human resources staff with the training and resources they need to recruit and hire Although the focus of this project and resulting report is on the current afterschool workforce, it’s difficult not to consider the need for effective recruiting and hiring techniques in afterschool programs. A program’s workforce begins with, and its success reflects, the recruiting and hiring of employees who are adequately matched to a program’s core competencies and needs. Challenges Developing specific strategies for reaching the target populations There are people 18- 59 years old in the population who are all needed in the workplace and who need the education/training to take advantage of the opportunity it provides. The challenge is to develop marketing campaigns and services that focus on each of these groups, their specific education/training needs, and their need for user friendly access, delivery, and support systems. Further, there are significant shifts in the gender, ethnicity, and work experience within these populations. Studying these shifts identifies targeted opportunities for increased participation and support. The lack of clear, systemic, and complete information continues to be one of the major barriers to these populations. Several recent studies suggest the lack of useful labor market information contribute to the lack of participation. Developing a series of strategic alliances with business/industrial associations, professional associations, and assessment organizations Education curriculum and competency standards are no longer within the sole domain of the academy. Such areas as education content, achievement, and application are all reflections of constant evolutions in the world external to higher education. It is no longer possible for free standing independent education and training organizations to unilaterally maintain currency with the rapidly changing demands of the new economy. Curriculum is no longer fixed, singular, or limited in scope. Competency standards are evolving at increasing rates as are the related assessments. Further, the expansion of multiple employer related delivery options as well as the growth in industry recognized credentials suggest the need for formal alliances with external partners. Employer Associations Three fundamental shifts have shaken the employer world: 1) the rapid changes in technology and productivity and the resulting impact on workforce skills, 2)the dramatic shift in demographics with the loss of skilled workers and the lack of skilled entrants, and 3) the difficulty identifying effective educational ‘pipelines’ for skilled applicants. Both employers and educators are looking to industrial associations as partners in developing the definition of new skills and competencies, the related curriculum, the required assessments and, the resulting credentials. The move towards alignment (tuning) is increasingly dependent on association partnerships. Effective associations will have systems of continuous improvement that will ensure alignment between their education and training partners as well as their employer membership. This communication system opens up the pipeline for skilled workers and provides a communication system for internships, work based learning, and ultimate support for placement of graduates within the industry. The primary purpose of these alliances is to ensure both the continuous alignment and portability of academic content and outcomes with the constantly changing expectations of both the employer and academic world. Industry Recognized Certifications (IRC) Opportunities for more formal alliances occur with associations that sponsor formal industry certifications. These offer industry recognition of credentials and their accompanying competencies. They offer the individual portability of their recognized credentials and the institution a means of aligning curriculum, competencies, and assessments. An exceptional opportunity exists in providing academic credit to students enrolled in programs resulting in industry recognized certifications. Students engaged in technical training would be more inclined to stay in a program if they receive industry recognized credentials as well as specific credits toward academic or technical Associate degrees. This creates a unique prospect to engage students in seamless system of lifelong continuous learning. The prospects for long term strategic alliances with industry associations are enormous and offer great marketing benefits. Alliances with Professional and International Organizations Forming strategic alliances with professional organizations and accreditors ensures both alignment of curricula and outcome standards as well as ensuring the portability of the credits and credentials. These alliances are becoming increasingly recognized as significant pipelines for qualified professional applicants and they offer exceptional marketing opportunities to both student applicants and industry. Development of a ‘One Stop’ access to the new economy A ‘one stop centers’ is needed for individuals to: 1) get labor market information about high wage/high growth industries, 2) obtain available skill standards and/or IRC’s, 3) accredit their past training, education, and experience, 4) gain advice and counseling on entering post secondary education, 5) receive assistance with entrance to recognized academic and training programs, and, 6) get assistance with placement within the industry. The major problem with the labor market adjustment system in the United States is a completely bifurcated and user unfriendly information, counseling, advising, crediting, accessing, financing, and education/training system. Both the unemployed, re-entering adults and first time students are highly mobile learners who are looking for the access portal to the new economy. Stagnate outdated agencies, policies and systems are simply incapable of delivering such services. It is time to develop a new on-line system that would ensure all citizens ongoing and easy access to understandable and timely job matches, labor market information, and credentials needed for the new economy. All post secondary institutions have a unique opportunity to participate in the building of this broader set of services into a publically transparent system. Ability to offer, give a perception of and have the reputation of providing a ‘Guarantee’ This is the outgrowth of the need to close the loop between employers, students, and educators. The primary question is: does the institutions system of identified learning outcomes meet the academic and technical standards of the new economy and, then, does it ‘ensure’ that every graduate meets those standards? This means establishing standards, curriculum, and assessments that achieve these levels and ensuring that every graduate meets them. When substandard performance is recognized there is a system of remediation and ultimately the failure to graduate if the student simply cannot meet the institutional standards. Some would add that for any student hired which the employer believes does not meet the standard, the school would take them back and remediate them at no cost. While this would come with a cost, it is far more important to develop a reputation with employers for producing graduates that meet the industry standards for tomorrow’s economy. While this important for employers, it is imperative for students who want to be certain that the education/training they are engaged in will in fact prepare them for the new economy. Action on this challenge represents a fundamental shift away from the old system of ‘education opportunity’. For the future, it is about highly mobile students accessing a system that ‘ensures’ their achievement of the competencies required for the new economy. America’s exceptionally diverse post secondary education system has the capacity and commitment to implement this new relationship. (b) What extend Malaysia has benefited and also able to develop own Knowledge worker. The Malaysian labor force is generally educated. This is because youths who enter the labor market would have undergone at least 11 years of schooling. Furthermore, the proportion of labor force with secondary and tertiary education has risen over the years, making them easier to be trained and to learn new skills. Nonetheless, it has been argued that there is a shortage of skilled labor in Malaysia. This shortfall in skilled labor was believed to be one of the causes for the tightness in the Malaysian labor market during the 1980s and 1990s, alongside a mismatch between demand for and supply of labor. Malaysia’s response to this matter is one of the reasons for the nation’s focus on human capital development in recent years. Since the mid-1990s, Malaysia has entered into a phase where new emphasis and demand for high technology and knowledge-based industries were in place. A change in the Malaysian economic policies was, therefore, needed in order to maintain the nation’s competitiveness. Knowledge-based economy is defined as one that is â€Å"directly based on the production, distribution and use of knowledge and information†¦ towards growth in high technology investments, high-technology industries, more highly skilled labor and associated productivity gains†. Malaysia adopted this definition into its Knowledge-based Economy Master Plan, which defines a knowledge-based economy as â€Å"an economy where knowledge, creativity and innovation play an ever-increasing and important role in generating and sustaining growth†. The Master Plan was developed to provide a strategic framework outlining the required changes to the fundamentals of the Malaysian economy. Since the concept of a knowledge-based economy revolves around knowledge and information as the key contributors to economic growth and development, the move towards a knowledge-based economy is expected to provide Malaysia with the necessary competitiveness in order to achieve a developed nation status and meet the objectives of Vision 2020. Several reasons were given as to why Malaysia should move into the knowledge-based economy. First, the nation has lost its global competitiveness in attracting FDI when it fell from the 18th place in 1994 to the 29th spot in 2001, as reported the World Competitiveness Yearbook (IMD, various years). Related to this is the increasing competition for the country’s products from other developing countries, such as China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia that enjoy cheaper labor and more abundant resources. This is especially true in the case of China, where it has been reported that cheaper and equal quality goods from this new economic power, mainly in labor intensive textiles, would bring about stiff competition to Malaysia’s export goods in its domestic and international markets. Third, Malaysia’s economic policies have been affected by globalization and liberalization as barriers and protective walls that help sustain local industries are slowly removed and brought down. As a result, Malaysia, like all other developing economies will have to search for new products and services that are feasible in the emerging global market where the distinction between local and world markets is gradually disappearing. Such goods and services like aircraft, pharmaceuticals, ecommerce, tourism and educational services and ICT industries are common in the knowledge-based industries. Fourth, as Malaysia strives to become a developed nation by the year 2020, this would result in its current edge in producing goods and services for the global market, which hinges on low wages, to be eroded. This is because its cost levels would approach those of developed countries. To face this anticipated escalating labor cost, Malaysia needs to ensure higher value is added to its products in order for its industries to remain viable. Thus, for Malaysia to be competitive, it must produce goods and services to compete at comparable levels as those in developed countries. Again, such high value-added is generally provided by knowledge-based industries. Fifth, Malaysia needs to move into more profitable and wealth-generating stages of production. In other words, it has to make its manufacturing sector more profitable. To do so, Malaysian firms have little choice but to move into the pre- production stage (which includes product conceptualization, research and design, prototyping etc) and/or post-production stage (packaging, branding, marketing, retailing etc) of manufacturing, because there is less profit to be made from the core production process. These pre- and post-production stages also happen to be more knowledge-intensive compared to the existing core production process stage. Sixth, Malaysia needs to find new sources of growth in its economy as the old sources of growth have become less productive. A knowledge-based economy will provide some of these new sources of growth to enable Malaysia to sustain growth and dynamism. Finally, Malaysia needs to improve the contribution of the â€Å"total factor productivity† (TFP) in terms of improving the quality of workers, methods of doing things and other delivery activities (EPU, 2002: 5). To what extend do Malaysia able to develop own knowledge worker? Education: At the primary and secondary levels, some of the indicators for quality that tend to raise concerns have to do with the teaching profession, the curriculum, and the grading of schools. The most serious concern is that of teacher recruitment, salary, career path, work load and training. These concerns have discouraged many potentially good teachers from joining the profession. As regards the school curriculum, there are two sets of issues. The first has to do with content. The second set of issues deals with implementation of the curriculum, classroom size, expertise of teachers and courseware development. Overcrowding in urban schools can impede teaching and learning, including the effective delivery of the curriculum. At the tertiary level, concerns centre mainly on the issues of research, resources, faculty qualifications, and the quality of output. Some public institutions are not keen on being assessed and ranked by an external body. Consequently these institutions become less aw are of their weaknesses. This lack of awareness about their performance does not contribute to accountability. The public requires detailed information on the performance of various institutions in order to have confidence in them. In terms of the use of ICT, the largest provider for programmes in schools is the government, mainly the Ministry of Education (MOE). MIMOS, MDC and the private sector, including parent-teacher associations, are also involved. Some observations are made on the current trends and development of the ICT programmes in schools: ââ€" ª At this stage, ICT programmes at the school level are still heavily centered on infrastructure or procurement of hardware. Software (content development for courseware) and people ware (training) in the ICT programmes are more urgent. The hardware focus alone is inadequate to create the environment for e-education which can enhance teaching and learning and accommodate life-long learning. The software and people ware aspects that are necessary for e-education have to be considered and expanded. ââ€" ª There is a lack of co-ordination among the various agencies, namely MOE, MIMOS and MDC, in their supporting activities for the ICT programmes. Redundancy and wastage of resources can be avoided if there is better co-ordination. ââ€" ª In many schools, computers are often locked up in a special room or a lab, impeding their use for teaching and learning. The class time-table often does not include time for working or playing with computers. The costly equipment forces teachers in charge of the room to be cautious in allowing access, and this adds to the difficulty in utilizing the computers. ââ€" ª Most teachers have not had sufficient training to maximize the use of computers to enhance teaching and learning, and often merely impose traditional methods of drilling and rote learning using computers. This is mainly due to the emphasis on ICT literacy in teacher training programmes. ââ€" ª Due to the lack of a standard approach in the utilization of computers, student contact hours with computers cannot be established. ââ€" ª Teachers take charge of ICT centers in schools on a voluntary basis. Most of them do not have any formal training in ICT. There is often no technician who can assist the teachers with maintenance. Public higher education institutions, especially the universities, have been expanding their ICT programmes, especially over the past five years. Computer labs at the faculty level and computer centers for the university have been initiated and are in progress. ICT’s capacity to contribute to greater efficiency of work and resource management has not been fully exploited. E-mail facilities are not being maximized, and downloading lecture notes from the web or interacting with lecturers via e-mail or the web is still uncommon. The Internet is not being adequately accessed for lecture content. Another issue requiring attention is the need to develop quality private education. Private education in Malaysia is a relatively developed sector, particularly at the higher education level. As regards technical education, the system at the upper secondary level needs to address a number of issues: ââ€" ª Greater efforts should be made to improve hands-on skills among technical school students. The Technical Education Department has already introduced the contextual learning delivery system, which essentially recognizes that learning is a complex and multi-faceted process. Such learning goes far beyond theory, drill-oriented, stimulus and response teaching methodologies. It was introduced in Secondary Technical Schools in 1998 to help all students master higher-level academic and work skills. Instruction based on this strategy is being structured to help students apply their knowledge more effectively. ââ€" ª Greater efforts are required to improve the links between schools and industry. Currently the School Advisory Committees, established in all schools, comprise representatives from industries, higher education, Parent-Teacher Associations and Head Teachers who advise schools on curriculum and equipment. The Career Guidance, Industrial Liaison and Placement Unit in every school also provide career guidance and placement of students in industries. These should be further improved. B. Skills Training and Retraining Malaysia currently has several drawbacks with regards to the education and skills profile required for a K-based economy. It lacks an adequate pool of knowledge workers, sufficiently high enrolment in the sciences at tertiary levels, and a broad base of workers with minimum literacy, learning ability and skills. Educational reform takes time while the recruitment of foreign talent is merely a temporary measure. An effective response would be to train managers and workers to cope with the new demands of the K-based economy. Private and public sector managers need to be trained to reengineer their organizations into ‘learning organizations’ which can attract, retain and develop K-workers to make their organizations more competitive, service-oriented and efficient. To increase the quality and relevance of skills, greater autonomy and flexibility should be given to public sector training institutions to make them more responsive to the rapidly changing labor market requirements of a K-based economy. To minimize job dislocation resulting from the transition to the K-based economy, ‘bridging’ courses need to be organized for displaced workers, especially those who are old, uneducated, and un-trainable. The power of the Internet should also be harnessed to establish ‘net communities’ for citizens with special needs and interests to interact among them and with the government. For the economy as a whole, there is also a need for an efficient and speedy labor market information system to help ensure effective planning to meet the manpower demands of the K-based economy. This may require the establishment of a specialist study group, improved career counseling, and a directory of training institutions. In addition to providing basic education for all, in a K-based economy it is essential to stress Lifelong Learning and Education to help citizens cope with expanding knowledge and rapid change. The challenges of Lifelong Learning and Education in the context of the K-based economy include the following: 1. Producing a highly skilled, knowledge-rich workforce. 2. Reducing unemployment and re-skilling the workforce. 3. Addressing and adjusting to the needs of an aging society. C. Global Talent A world shortage of high level manpower is likely to increase the brain drain from Malaysia. While the high growth East Asian economies compete for Malaysian talent, particularly in ICT the more serious long-term competitors are the advanced K-based economies of the US and Europe which suffer serious shortages of ICT personnel. It is estimated that Europe and the US alone need two million more ICT workers by 2002. Recent changes to immigration laws enacted to attract foreign talent to the US have serious implications for Asia and for Malaysia’s efforts to retain domestic talent and attract foreign, particularly ICT talent. A Bill passed by US Congress in late 2000 allows US firms to recruit 600,000 foreigners, a third of them from India. The three-year programme takes effect from 2001. The US recruitment drive occurs in the context of a world-wide shortage of ICT talent, with Asian countries too unable to meet their domestic demand. Despite this the best and brightest Asians ( including Malaysians), are likely to be lured by better wages, work conditions, occupational mobility and the quality of life in the US and Europe. This ‘brain drain’ has already begun, with European and US recruiters scouring Asian universities for talent. This situation signals several dangers for Malaysia. Firstly, like the Asian countries, Malaysia too is likely to lose young graduates from local and foreign universities to firms in the US and Europe. Secondly, experienced Malaysians may also be recruited, with the Malaysian labor market serving as a ‘training ground’ for developed K-based economies. Thirdly, since the Asian shortage and US demand will deplete the international talent pool, Malaysia’s option of utilizing foreign talent will be limited. Foreigners who are recruited to work in Malaysia are also likely to treat Malaysia as a ‘training ground’ for eventual entry and settlement in the US and Europe. There are several ways Malaysia can cope with this situation: ââ€" ª One current advantage Malaysia has is that except for Singapore, other countries in the region including Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, and China, all of which also have ambitious ICT plans, have not moved fast enough to recruit foreign talent. Moving quickly to simplify immigration rules and ease recruitment of foreign talent will give Malaysia a competitive edge in recruitment. ââ€" ª Secondly, of all countries in the region, Malaysia probably has the most balanced set of attractions in terms of wages, low costs, quality of life, stability and safety. This advantage should be exploited to the fullest. ââ€" ª Thirdly, Malaysia’s rich and tolerant multi-ethnic heritage makes it attractive to a wide spectrum of expatriates, whether Caucasians, Middle-Easterners, East Asians or South Asians. Unlike its competitors in the region, Malaysia can therefore alleviate the problem of the world-wide shortage by recr uiting from a wide variety of countries and labor markets. The government itself has made several clear efforts to recruit foreign talent. In 1995-98 the Returning Scientists Programme managed by the Ministry of Science attracted 93 overseas-based foreign and Malaysian scientists on short-term contracts to local institutions. But their high wages posed a financial strain and contributed to wage inequities vis-a-vis local scientists. Recognizing the need for talent, the Returning Scientists Programme was revived in early 2001, and the recent national Budget provided incentives to encourage Malaysian experts abroad ‘who have the required expertise’ to return and serve the nation. Income remitted within two years from the date of arrival will be exempted from income tax. Two cars registered in the country of origin for at least six months will also be exempted from import duty and sales tax, while the husbands/wives and children of Malaysian citizens will now be given PR status within six months of the date of arrival. Previously, husbands who were non-citizens were not entitled to PR status, while non-citizen wives could only apply for PR after five years residence in Malaysia. The programme took effect from 1 January 2001. Under this programme, six fields of expertise and skills have been identified, i.e. IT, Science and Technology, Industry, Finance and Accounting, Arts, and Medicine and Health.

Gender Inequality In Family

Gender Inequality In Family In this essay I would like to demonstrate that achieving a greater equality in terms of reconciliation of professional and family life requires policies that not only introduce changes in labour market patterns, but also within the private sphere of family. This is to say, the reconceptualisation of womens and mens roles cannot be achieved without the political will descending from above and common social agreement emanating from below. Further along the essay, I am going to complement the theoretical arguments with some practical examples from the European context in order to discuss to what extent family policies enhance or diminish equality between men and women. Demographic changes towards new family patterns One of numerous attributes of the post-industrial era could be defined in terms of feminist claims for gender equality. Indeed, women demands have been part of policy arena in most post-industrial countries. As individuals, women firstly demanded the detachment from their traditional roles of housewives. Later on, due to demographic changes such as low fertility, womens issues became one of the top priorities on political agenda. This time, however, women reclaimed their rights not only as workers, but also as mothers. This political turn shouldnt be regarded as nostalgia for the male bread-winner model. In effect, tough conditions of labour market and economic hardship put women under pressure in terms of making a trade-off between having a family and pursuing a professional career. Subsequently, since a large proportion of women opted for stability employment rather than precariousness providing free care, the fertility rate has started dropping rapidly. Since the societys reprod uction buttresses future states economy, it remains highly questionable if national policies, originally purported to tackle gender inequality, are not more likely to be driven by political preoccupation of deleterious consequences of low fertility on productivity, profitability and competitivity of a country. The fact that until today most of the political effort to eradicate gender equality concentrated on labour market adjustments rather than finding real answers in the core of the problem in family patterns confirms the hypothesis of governments hypocrisy. From the theoretical perspective Although welfare regimes have been more or less successful in equalizing men and women in the labour market, the fact that women still perform the bulk of domestic work gives evidence about the ineffectiveness of these policies in terms of gender equity. In the theoretical field, scholars positions towards the relationship between family and gender have been rather convergent. According to Daly and Lewis (2000) the relationship between family and state has used to be defined in terms of level of contribution of individual to the labour market. Taking this criterion as a universal measure of human ´s contribution, the non-remunerated care giving activities would be therefore omitted since their social value would be considered as negligible. Although this definition would probably more likely correspond to the definition traditional society of industrial era, residues do persist in Western countries persist in form of assigning women to the private sphere of family, while stressing the duties of men as the bread-winners and therefore, the only actors in the public sphere. In tandem with the disproportional relationship between men and women, Lewis (2002:332), for instance, highlights the unequal relationship between women and labour market. She contends that women are only taken into account when working, whereas women that stay at home and care for child ren have not being recognized as legitimate enough to the contribution to the society. This is to say that despite the fact that female participation on the labour market increased steadily during the last twenty years, no considerable change has been achieved at the household level, where the majority of domestic tasks, including cleaning and child rearing activities, continues to be performed by women (Lewis, 2002). On a similar note, Fraser(1994) tries to define the post-industrial welfare regimes through two models. The universal caregiver model (1994:593) assumes men and women as autonomous individuals and aims to attain the gender equity through the guarantee of equal opportunities and equal treatment in the labour market. The other one Caregiver parity model (1994:593) aims to reach gender equity through the support of informal care and generous caregiver allowances. However, because both models are in some aspect discriminating, they fail to alter the gendered conditions of employment and reproduction and therefore, to respond to womens demands. Fraser thus deems that gender equity can only be achieved through the dismantlement of gender opposition between breadwinning and caregiving (Fraser, 1994:611). In other words, the key to achieving gender equity in a postindustrial welfare state is to make womens current patterns the norm (Ibid.). Frasers universal caregiver approach considers ch ildcare responsibilities as the alpha omega of persistent gender inequalities of current welfare systems. Peter McDonald (2002) suggests that in societies where women are treated as autonomous individuals in education and labour market, but as inferior beings in other social male dominated institutions, they are more likely to opt to not to have children. This argument would reinforce his hypothesis that low fertility rate in industrialized countries is most probably due to a persistent gender inequalities since the women willingness to have children didnt change. Surveys such as those conducted my McDonald and Fraser place the issues of childcare at the centre of recent policy making interest. For the reasons discussed above, challenges Western societies are facing since the last two decades specifically the low birth rate, longevity risk and ageing population problem have become more pronounced and have force the policy- making authorities to introduce changes not only in the public sphere, but also in the private sphere. In the second part of my essay, I am going to provide some empirical support from Netherlands and Sweden which tried to tackle the low fertility with gender neutral policies premised on reconciliation of family and work lives. Reconciliation policies in EU In 1997, the Dutch government launched the Combination Scenario programme aimed to promote equal sharing of time between paid and unpaid work among men and women. Since the Dutch culture is based on strong attachment to private and informal care (Platenga et al., 1999), the policy goal was to be achieved through widening employment patterns rather than providing extensive childcare services. Long male and short female working hours were supposed to be equalized through policies such as shorter working week. Nonetheless, whereas public opinion hailed new measures, outcomes of the latter remained far from the initial goal. Part-time contract did not diminish mens working hours, but moreover, it even pronounced the inequality of labour market since women (and not men) continued to opt for part-time contracts in order to care for their children. Platenga et al. therefore conclude: an increase in the amount of time spent in the market without any corresponding change in the organization of unpaid work will not only slow down any progress made towards gender equality, but will also have detrimental effects on the quality of our lives. (1999:109) Here again, the failure of Dutch initiative could be a consequence of putting too much emphasis into the promotion of changes in employment patterns rather than in equal distribution of care time. Some authors suggest that such working-time regimes can either promote or diminish gender equality (Rubery et al, 1998 in Platenga et al, 1999). This would depend on to what extent the institutions and political environment are favourable toward these changes. In the Dutch case, despite the public willingness of change, part-time work continued to be considered as a deviation from full-time norm as well as the care work persisted to be understood as womens responsibility and was therefore, undervalued (Platenga et al., 1999) Unlike other EU countries, Sweden, for instance, has a long history of active women participation in public sphere. Since 1970 women represented up to 50% of elected representatives at all levels of governance (Hantrais, 2000). The women -friendliness of Nordic welfare systems is supposed to be premised on this active female participation in politics. The Nordic model, also called the dual-breadwinner model is women-friendly in the sense of allowing women to participate in public life and on the same time, allowing the reconciliation of motherhood and paid work. Moreover, in 1974 the maternity leave had been replaced by gender neutral parental leave that hitherto enabled men to actively participate in child rearing (Ibid). Although the generosity of Nordic child subventions cant be disputed, Scandinavian welfare system can be also discriminating for some women. Shalev (2008) claims that mother friendly state interventions can have detrimental effects for the labour market attainments of high class women by relegating their type of employment to the public sector and subsequently, limiting their access to high managerial positions. Premised on the idea that childhood determines peoples lifecourse, the post-industrial societies should consider the investment in children as a sine qua non for sustainable development of knowledge economy (Esping-Andersen, 2002). However, due to the cultural differences, the debate about whether support for childcare should be provided through childcare allowances (Netherlands) or whether families should rather benefit from childcare facilities (Sweden) dominates the European agenda. Lewis (2006) contends that increasing attention to children in the political agenda is a result of their future role as adult citizens rather than their role as child qua child (Lewis, 2006:43). As a counter-argument , Esping-Andersen concludes that there is no empirical evidence that mothers work could have detrimental impact on childrens development (Esping-Andersen, 2002). Other authors, however, suggest that key success of equal gender treatment consists in concentrating in private sphere instead o f putting too much effort into the public sphere (Lewis 2006, McDonald 2002). In opposition to the Nordic model, where parents benefit from extensive childcare facilities, some authors deem that care provided by parents themselves cannot be substituted by any public service no matter how good it is (Folbre and Nelson, 2000). In addition to this, Etzioni (1993) deems that the transmission of informal values and norms is more likely to happen in private sphere of family. Subsequently, children socialized in childcare facilities would suffer from lack of so-called parental deficit (Ibid). From the theoretical debate it is difficult and inappropriate to make generalizations about what kind of care is more suitable for children. On the other hand, Lewis argues convincingly that evidence shows a shift in parents opinion about time spent with children from being assumed as a duty to as an important part of self-fulfilment (Lewis, 2006). This is also to say that more fathers have begun to consider their involvement in rearing activities. In Sweden, the fathers month, designed to convince more fathers to take up the parental insurance benefit, was backed up by important political support of so-called fathers group that campaigned for men to perform their role as fathers in taking the parental leave (Hantrais, 2000: 170-1). Successful strategies to tackle gender equality and reconcile work and family life, need to include combined strategies (Esping-Andersen, 2002:66) that would guarantee security through income assurance for those who want to take parental leave and also, measures to provide a stable support for mothers employment, since unemployed and single mothers face the highest poverty risk (European Commission, 2007). Monoparental families at the edge of poverty Despite measures intended to secure access to women into the labour market, solo mothers and lone-parent households continue to be the most vulnerable cohort in term of facing the risk of poverty and unemployment. By the same means, exclusion and poverty in lone-parents household is more likely to become a long-term phenomenon, since childrens development depends on parental and social investment and is very likely to be reproduced (Esping-Andersen, 2002). Following the Report enacted by European Commission, women constitute almost totality of lone parents with an exception of United Kingdom, Denmark, Poland and Germany, where the percentage of young fathers under age 35 varies from 17% (United Kingdom ) up to 25% (in Denmark) (EC, 2007:3). The singleness of lone mothers makes their position in society extremely vulnerable: unlike other forms of family, solo mothers face the double pressure to combine child care and breadwinner responsibilities on the same time. Although some critique could be raised towards Scandinavian welfare systems, Nordic countries occupy the top positions of international rankings and this is unconditionally of the type of conducted survey. However, the application of this model to the rest of European countries would require deep structural changes, especially in terms of more generous budget. Ergo, in the European continental context of scarce budget resources, lone mothers that opt for childcare benefits instead of paid employment, condemn themselves to be more vulnerable to poverty. The key issue to avoid this scenario stems from securing enough flexibility of labour market, so that lone mothers can combine the pleasure of motherhood with a decent employment. Conclusion In this essay I tried to demonstrate that increased individualization which considers men and women as autonomous individuals freed from their family and gender responsibilities does not suffice to guarantee equal conditions for every individual. Subsequently, women become more vulnerable and risk either exclusion from welfare either pressure from labour market. From the theoretical perspective, most of the authors agree that assuring reliable security net requires adjustments of social and working structures to the family, and not to the market. For example, one of the positive outcomes of the Netherlands Combination Scenario had been the application of legal minimum wage to all employees regardless of the amount of working hours (Platenga et al., 1999). This is to say that in order to avoid mens and womens occupational segregation, policy-making authorities should guarantee sufficient adjustment of child care allowances and employment policies so both, men and women can equally con tribute to paid and unpaid work.

Ngocdung

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B) Adobe Acro bat. C) PayPal. D) eBay. 8) Web sites allowing users to add, remove, or edit content are called:   A) wikis. B) blogs. C) browsers. D) online diaries. 9) Wal-Mart has recently introduced ________ tags into their supply chain.A) price B) anti-theft C) RFID D) CSID 10) Companies setting up entire factories in China is an example of: A) offshoring. B) outsourcing. C) in-sourcing. D) on-shoring. 11) ________ refers to the delegation of a company's core operations to a subcontractor that specializes in that operation. A) Offshoring B) Outsourcing C) In-sourcing D) On-shoring 12) Assembly plants located on the Mexican side of the U. S. -Mexican border are called:   A) Mexinanitas. B) Maquiladoras. C) Manufactorias. D) Fabricados. 13) Which of the following is not a service that is being outsourced? 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A) Demographic B) Expertise C) Time zone differences D) Internet access 19) The EU data protection directive is an example of which type of challenge? A) Political system B) Regulatory C) Data sharing D) Individual freedom 0) Differences in network infrastructures throughout the world are an example of which type of challenge? A) Internet access and individual freedom B) Infrastructure related reliability C) Regulatory D) Political system 21) ________ are government-imposed fees to regulate the flow of goods and services in and out of a country   A) Export regulations B) Embargoes C) Tariffs D) Quotas 22) A(n) ________ is a type of export regulation concerning the flow of goods and services, typically limiting (or prohibiting) trade with one particular country. A) export regulation B) embargo C) tariff D) quota 23) The U. S. overnment attempts to isolate the Cuban government economically using: A) export regulations. B) embargoes. C) tariffs. D) quotas. 24) ________ are directed at limiting the export of certain goods to other countries. A) Export regulations B) Embargoes C) Tariffs D) Quotas 25) Products such as missile or encryption technology underlie: A) expor t regulations. B) embargoes. C) tariffs. D) quotas. 26) ________ are regulations permitting foreign businesses to export only a certain number of products to a specific country. A) Export regulations B) Embargoes C) Tariffs D) Quotas 27) Foreign companies such as Toyota are producing goods in the U.S. to minimize the effect of:   A) export regulations. B) embargoes. C) tariffs. D) quotas. 28) The EU data protection directive limits: A) Internet freedom. B) personal rights to access data. C) transborder data flows. D) electronic commerce. 29) Which of the flowing countries is NOT considered â€Å"enemy of the Internet† by the â€Å"Reporters without Borders†? A) Belarus B) Thailand C) Vietnam D) North Korea 30) Which of the following outsourcing destinations has the lowest average annual salary for experienced programmers? A) India B) Philippines C) Malaysia D) China 31) Dimensions on which cultures differ include:A) uncertainty avoidance. B) concept of time. C) life focus. D) all of the above. 32) ________ is a cultural characteristic emphasizing the importance of the collective/group over the individual in society. A) Collectivism B) Power distance C) Uncertainty avoidance D) Group think 33) ________ is a cultural characteristic that reflects the extent to which a culture has a longer- or shorter-term orientation. A) Life focus B) Concept of time C) Time focus D) Punctuality 34) ________ is a cultural characteristic emphasizing the importance of the individual over the collective/group in society. A) Life focus B) IndividualismC) Selfishness D) Egocentrism 35) ________ is a cultural characteristic related to how different societies view authority and hierarchical structures. A) Power distance B) Obedience C) Obesity D) Authoritarianism 36) ________ reflects degree to which a society is characterized by masculine qualities, such as assertiveness, or by feminine characteristics, such as nurturance. A) Masculinity/femininity B) Assertiveness C) N urturance D) Life focus 37) ________ is a cultural characteristic related to the risk-taking nature of a culture. A) Risk aversion B) Uncertainty avoidance C) Fear of future consequences D) Risk seeking 8) ________ reflects the extent to which a culture focuses on the quantity versus the quality of life. A) Life focus B) Life center C) Quantity of life orientation D) Quality of life orientation 39) Which of the following countries ranks highest in individualism? A) Australia B) Austria C) Mexico D) Peru 40) Which of the following is most likely to be considered a domestic company? A) Insurance company B) Car manufacturer C) Consumer goods company D) Barber shop 41) A ________ business strategy is best suited for operation in markets differing widely. A) multidomestic B) global C) transnational D) All strategies are equally well suited. 2) Which of the following is a weakness of the multidomestic business strategy? A) Differing product offerings limit economies of scale B) Inability to react to local market conditions C) Difficult to manage D) Personnel overhead 43) Which of the following is a weakness of the global business strategy? A) Differing product offerings limit economies of scale B) Inability to react to local market conditions C) Difficult to manage D) Personnel overhead 44) Which of the following is a weakness of the transnational business strategy? A) Differing product offerings limit economies of scale B) Inability to react to local market conditionsC) Difficult to manage D) Personnel overhead 45) A multidomestic information systems strategy is characterized by ________ systems   A) centralized B) decentralized C) distributed D) homogeneous 46) A global information systems strategy is characterized by ________ systems   A) centralized B) decentralized C) distributed D) homogeneous 47) A transnational information systems strategy is characterized by ________ systems   A) centralized B) decentralized C) distributed D) homogeneous 48) A _______ _ information systems strategy is characterized by multiple networks between the home office and the subsidiaries.A) global B) transnational C) multinational D) hybrid 49) A ________ information systems strategy is characterized by local databases. A) global B) transnational C) multidomestic D) hybrid 50) A ________ information systems strategy is characterized by data sharing between the home office and the subsidiaries. A) global B) transnational C) multinational D) hybrid Chap 2: 1E 2D 3C 4A 5D 6A 7D 8A 9C 10A 11C 12B 13D 14C 15C 16D 17B 18D 19C 20B 21C 22B 23B 24A 25A 26D 27D 28C 29B 30A 31D 32A 33B 34B 35A 36A 37B 38A 39A 40D 41A 42A 43B 44C 45B 46A 47C 48A 49C 50A

Bus 610 Week 1

Michael Rush BUS 610 10/27/12 Complete Connect Exercise 1, Chapter 1 (p 13), 1. a. Interval b. Ratio c. Nominal d. Nominal e. Ordinal f. Ratio 2. a. Ratio b. Nominal c. Nominal d. Ratio 3. orangecountyregister. com Nominal- The sales of the Microsoft Surface allow for the measurement of Nominal data. When looking at the tablet market all of the sales are essentially a tally for the version or brand. The article looks at the sales which can be easily compared to other tablets in that market.Ordinal- The concept of ordinal measurement is directly represented in the idea of high school football. In the article it talks about the number one ranked Mission Viejo team. This is directly categorized as an ordinal unit of data. With having a clear ranking in terms of success, the first place team has a measureable gain over teams that would be in the lower rankings. Interval- Interval data can be found throughout the readings when it comes to weather. Weather is a great example of interval da ta.The temperature has a difference between values at a constant size and an easy ranking the temperatures for clear measurement. Additionally a zero does not have significance as in an absence of heat. Ratio- In the paper the Symantec Company was brought up. The article revolved around the earnings in the second quarter. This measurement is one of a ratio due to the fact that a zero value is meaningful. A company has the ability to be at zero and be factual. The data can be compared to different years or other companies. 4. a. Sample b.Population c. Population d. Sample Chapter 1 Practice Test for Part II, Problem #2 (p 20), 2. |Freshmen |Sophomores |Juniors |Seniors | |14 |18 |10 |6 | [pic] Chapter 2 Practice test for Part II, Problem 1 (p 54) 1. a. 30 b. 105 c. 52 d. 0. 190476 or 19% e. $165 f. Minimum= $120 and Maximum =$330 g. [pic] h. [pic]

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