Analysis of the Business Cycle in the Economy

Analysis of the Business Cycle in the Economy One of the most difficult subjects in economics in the business cycle or the pattern of contraction and expansion seen in the overall economy, this is a major factor that will effect the profit and sales performance of all companies to an extent. On average business productivity in EC has expanded at a rate of 3% per year in terms of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). During an expansion in the business cycle, the real GDP can increase to a rate of 5-6% or even more and during a recession it can decline for an extended period. During the years the economy is growing – output, income, and employment are increasing. In other words, the trend in business and general economic activity is upward. But there are fluctuations around what we might call the ‘growth-path’ line. We have terms for the periods when business activity have temporarily pulls us below our upward growth-path, and others for periods when business activity moves with, or in excess of, our normal growth –path. We call the former recessions or depression and the latter expansions or booms. During the boom period employment level is up as are expectations, sales and profits and imports. During this period high risk investments will be undertaken and may inefficient firms will be able to operate, as margins are high. This will subsequently lead to shortage of resources (supply-side effects), this occurs at the highest point. In figures 1.1 the coloured line represents the long-term ‘growth-path’ around which the economic activity fluctuates, moving in some consistent pattern from expansion to recession and back again. This was one of the reasons why UK did not join the Single Currency, as to ensure EMU succeeds in the long-term; all participating member states must operate at the same stage of the business cycle. The Phillips curve illustrates the short-term trade off between inflation and unemployment. The trade of between unemployment and inflation is temporary as government microeconomic policies can in the short-term exploit a trade-off between them using various policy instruments, such as public spending and taxation. Therefore, the government can influence the combination of inflation and unemployment the economy experiences. Therefore, the Phillips curve is critical in the understanding of the business cycle, via measurements such as rate of unemployment or the production of goods and services. When real GDP grows rapidly, business is good. During such periods of economic expansions, businesses will have excess demand and profits are growing. However, when real GDP is declining during a recession, demand is slow and most companies record declining sales and profits. The term business cycle is somewhat misleading, as it would suggest that the fluctuations within the economy follows a regular and predictable pattern. However, fluctuations are not at all regular and very difficult to forecast. If we examine the real GDP within the UK between 1971 and 2004 and define a recession as occurring when GDP declines for two or more successive quarters, then we would see that the UK economy has experienced four recessions since 1971. Recessions can occur quite close together as in the 70’s, but sometime the economy can go one for many years with a recession, as is the case in UK, where we have not suffered a recession since 1991. Real GDP is the most commonly used measure for monitoring changes within a countries economy, as it provides a broad measurement of economic activity. â€Å"Real GDP measures the value of all final goods and services produced within a given period of time.†[1] Changes in the economy’s output of goods and services are strongly correlated with changes in the economy’s utilisation of its labour force. Therefore, when real GDP decreases the rate of unemployment increases. This is not every uncommon as companies will decide to make a smaller quantity of goods, and make redundancies, and this in turn will raise the level of unemployment in the economy. There are two main classes of factors that offer an explanation on business cycles. The first are internal and those occur from actual changes within the economy, for example, changes in stocks. The second is external, and there are factors outside the control of the economy, for example, rise in oil prices, conflict in Iraq etc. Examples of explanations are: Fluctuations in the money supply – when money supply increase at a faster rate then GDP the rate of interest is low and spending increases. Therefore the economy goes into a boom. The increase in demand subsequently results in both firms and individuals wanting more money and therefore, interest rates rise and this reduces investment and consumptions and the economy goes into a recession. This is a Monetarists explanation for business cycles. Stop-go cycles/Political cycles – Government stimulate growth and employment in the economy and this in turn increase demand. This reflationary action results in expansion in the economy and then the government may be concern about inflationary pressures and as a result adopt a deflationary policies, like increase in taxation. This will lead the economy back into a recession. Keynesian cycles – A rise in exports will raise national income by a multiple amount. This will cause investment to increase and subsequently generate more national income. This will reach a point when the economy will experience supply-side shortages like labour and this in turn will mean income grows more slowly then investment will decrease (leading to a recession). Demand and supply-side shocks – caused by unforeseen shocks such as the global financial crisis in 1997 resulting in decreased demand for goods and services across the globe. Real Business Cycle Theory – â€Å"explains cyclical shocks in terms of spurts and starts in technological advance.†[2]Innovations in technologies like MP3, MP4 players, HD Digital Televisions, etc causes an increase in productivity and subsequently higher real wages and more willingness to participate in the labour market. Seasonal work patterns within the leisure and tourism industry is a prime example of cycles that are generated by rational economic agents, hence, the term ‘real’ factors. Other examples or real factors affecting the real business cycle would be bad weather, increase regulation for CO2 emissions, terms of trade, energy prices and oil price fluctuations. Those factors do not require money supply and Keynesian cycles (amongst others discussed earlier) to explain the existences of why business cycles exist. Demand and supply shocks as discussed above and natural disasters like the Tsunami also can have comparable effects to the technology s hocks analysed in real business cycle theory. Real Business Cycle Theory (RBC) The notion of Real Business Cycle (RBC) evolves from a macroeconomic viewpoint that attributes the fluctuations in terms of economic recessions and booms to productivity (GDP) that is as a direct result of random occurrences across the global. This school of thought argues against any form of government intervention via the use of monetary or fiscal policy instruments such as money supply, taxation, government spending etc, to bring the economy out of a recession or control an economy during a period of rapid growth in a boom. The RBC believes the level of GDP will maximise utility at any one time. RBC models are seen as an extension of a neoclassical growth model Therefore, RBC theorists believe that the business cycle is ‘real’ and not a result of market failures, but a reflection of efficient works of the economy. Various criticisms of real business cycle theory has come to light in recent times and also as a result of the research conducted by Kydland and Prescott (Econometrica 1982), who modelled economic variability as â€Å"real† business cycles with efficient markets. This study failed to recognise the impact of any government intervention via monetary policy upon the business cycle, underestimates the existence of market inefficiencies and the role of unemployment (as discussed via the Phillips Curve). Therefore, it is clear that the economic debate on whether business cycles are ‘real’ or a function of cyclical movements is still very much alive. Importance of Business Cycle within EMU The important role of business cycle can be illustrated by the example of the Euro. The introduction of economic and monetary union across 11 of the 15 member states of the European Union is an interesting economic experiment. It has been driven by a political aspiration to create a unified trading block to rival any other trading block in the world. To ensure EMU succeeds in the long-term all participating member states must operate at the same stage of the economic cycle. Reaching that stage will represent the greatest threat to EMU. A very rough way to assess the similarity of the business cycle is to look at the correlation coefficient for annual changes in Gross Domestic Products (GDP) for pairs of countries. Using data from OECD for the period 1971-2000 for Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Ireland, it appears that only France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Italy with correlation ranging between 0.83 (France/Belgium) to 0.47 (Italy/Spain) have similarity in business cycle. The Finland business cycle is closest to France (0.49), Belgium (0.43) and Spain (o.41), but distant from Germany (0.005) and Netherlands (0.19). In this sample, the country that is indeed not well integrated into a common European business cycle is Ireland. The Irish economy is closest to that of Netherlands (0.32), Finland (0.32) and most distant from Italy (-0.02). The Irish business cycle has a negative relationship to that of the Italian. This suggests that when Italy is experiencing a boom Ireland will be in a recession or steady economic growth. The Irish economy is the acid test of whether or not the Euro works. Most members are coming out of a recession whereas Ireland is in a state of boom. Aust. Fra. Ger Italy Nether Spain Ire Bel. Fin Lux. Port. Aust. 1 Fra. 0.71 1 Ger 0.65 0.61 1 Italy 0.57 0.71 0.57 1 Nether 0.63 0.63 0.71 0.54 1 Spain 0.67 0.74 0.47 0.46 0.61 1 Ire 0.12 0.21 0.14 -0.02 0.32 0.28 1 Bel 0.67 0.83 0.63 0.75 0.68 0.74 0.23 1 Fin 0.26 0.49 0.00 0.39 0.19 0.41 0.32 0.43 1 Lux 0.30 0.34 0.41 0.31 0.49 0.40 0.13 0.42 0.12 1 Port 0.74 0.82 0.63 0.69 0.51 0.67 0.17 0.73 0.37 0.34 1 Source: OECD Economic Outlook December 1998 July 1991, Own calculation of correlation matrix The subject of business cycle and real business cycle still has many questions to answer; the primary is what is the principal source of cyclical movements in GDP of an economy? Are the fluctuations in GDP caused by technology or are the movements in GDP due to government interventions via monetary and fiscal policy implementations? Those are critical questions, and the answers to which would serve as a great benefit to both firms and governments. It would provide firms at a microeconomic level a greater ability to accurately forecast business cycles and hence, consolidate there profits, and government in estimating the resulting welfare costs of a shift in macroeconomic policy like increase public spending, lower taxation, lower interest rates etc. In my opinion the dominant view of a business cycle is still one that is caused by a change in monetary policy and not just as a result of ‘real’ factors like technological innovation or political events like war or trade disputes. We believe that those real events do play some part in the fluctuations around the business cycle but business cycles are still primarily caused as a result of fluctuations in economic activity such as employment and production as measured by GDP. OECD Economic Outlook December 1998 July 1991 Mankiw, N.G. and Taylor, M.P. (2006) Economics, Thomson Learning McAleese, D., (2004) Economics for Business Third Edition, FT Prentice Hall Grant, S.J., (2000) Stanlake’s Introductory Economics 7th Edition, Longman Stanlake G.F, (2000) Macroeconomics: An Introduction, Longman Group UK Greenaway, David; Shaw, G.K., Macroeconomics Theory and Policy in the UK Second Edition (1991), Basil Blackwell. Dornbusch, Rudiger; Fischer, Stanley, Macroeconomics Fifth Edition (1990) McGraw-Hill International Editions Footnotes [1] Gregory, M. and Taylor, M.P. (2006) [2] McAleese, D. (2004)

International House of Pancake History :: essays research papers

IHOP was not always a multinational conglomerate. It is now one of the nations leading sit down, cheap restraint chains. With over 1,000 locations world wide it is a commonly known restraint. As of recent IHOP has had a 52-week high of 39.4 and a low of 27.04. Recently, IHOP rang the bell of the NYSE in celebration of the kick-off of the National Pancake Day (March 4) and the launch of a brand rejuvenation strategy for IHOP, which celebrates its 45th year in business this July. In honor of the occasion, Julia A. Stewart, President, CEO, COO rang the bell. Before laying out the entire history of the International House of Pancake here is some simple background information: IHOP Corp. is a family restaurant chain that serves a wide variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner selections. Offering more than 16 types of pancakes, as well as omelettes, breakfast specialties, burgers, chicken and steaks, IHOP's menu is designed to appeal to people of all ages. IHOP restaurants are developed, operated and franchised by the Company. As of December 31, 2003, there were 1,165 IHOP restaurants in 48 states and Canada to be exact. In 1958, IHOP Corp. traces started up by opening of the first International House of Pancakes restaurant in a suburb of Los Angeles, Toluca Lake, California. The American eating public quickly took to the concept of a restaurant based on one of America's favorite foods†¦. pancakes. Within four years the number of units had increased to nearly 50, with many of the restaurants being operated by franchisees. That is incredible when you think about it since it takes a while to start up a franchise. Obviously past, present, and future In 1961 the company became publicly traded under the name International House of Pancakes. The remainder of the decade was a time of acquisition for the company. The company acquired both food and non-food businesses during this period with a strategy of becoming "The Franchise Company." Because of these acquisitions and to reflect properly the diversified conglomerate become, the company adopted the name International Industries, Inc. in 1963. Restaurant brands under International Industries control during the 1960's included International House of Pancakes, Orange Julius, Love's Wood Pit Barbecue, Golden Cup Coffee Shoppes, The Original House of Pies, Wil Wright's Ice Cream Shops, Woody's SmorgasBurger, The Dog House and Copper Penny. Non-food brands included The Big Brake Safety Center, The Golden Oaks Retirement Homes, United Rent-Alls, House of Nine, and Sawyer College of Business.

Evaluation of Voluntourism Essay

A trend has started in the recent years, where people participate in organizations that commonly claim to be helping developing countries. This trend is fuelled by the gap year phenomenon, which is defined as â€Å"a period of time between 3 and 24 months taken out of education or a work career.† (Jones, 2004) With enthusiasm of â€Å"making a difference†, more and more people choose voluntourism, combination of tourism and volunteer projects, as their gap year holiday option. Despite the well-intended enthusiasm, opinions regarding the contribution of voluntourism on local community are divided. The primary issue of debate is whether voluntourism provide help to the local communities. While some researchers using surveys find local people satisfied with volunteer tourists, other research investigating quality, tasks, motivation and local need of voluntourism have found it doing more harm than good. Such a harmful trend has made the UK director of VSO, one of the baggie st and earliest international development charity, warn â€Å"Young people want to make difference through volunteering, but they would better off travelling†¦rather than wasting time on projects that have no impact†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ward, 2007) In this paper, we will evaluate both side of the debate and carefully assess the value of voluntourism for local community. In order to assess the benefit given by volunteer tourists, it is essential to look at the quality of the helpers. Unskilled volunteers may be a burden to local communities that have to take care of them. As Stephan peck, operations director at the Scout Association, puts it â€Å"[bad volunteers] are like a cancer† (Ainsworth, 2012). Therefore, the volunteer selection process is critical in recruiting needed and appropriate volunteers that benefit local communities. While supporters of voluntourism claims those volunteers as satisfying, looking into their selection experience shall make it clear that these tourists are hardly qualified as helpful volunteers. Research done by Richard Forsythe in Ghana vlountourism showed that only 36% of all studied volunteer applicants in various fields went through application process more complicated than filling appli cation forms, and â€Å"no individuals remarked upon the selection process as a particularly challenging experience, and indeed several of the organizations interviewed admitted to accepting ‘almost all volunteers’ having ‘very few requirements, and taking ‘anyone who is interested’†(Forsythe, 2011). Recruitment through application forms or basic information can only depend on the self-evaluation of applicants, who probably had no volunteering experience, as to whether they will be helpful to the local community. With such a lenient selection, the volunteers selected are much more likely to be burden than help to local volunteers and community who cry out: â€Å"A lot of people have very unrealistic expectations about overseas volunteering, and they want to be there for only a month or less and have no skills that are critically needed in the developing world† (Huang, 2012). People may expect those unqualified volunteers to receive some training before starting work, but research has also showed that volunteer tourists receive almost no training. When they do receive information, much of it is about the culture and language, safety and packing with little attention toward the skills and duties involved within the volunteer placements (Forsythe, 2011). Furthermore, no more than half the volunteers received supervision or guidance during the placement (Forsythe, 2011). The organization’s local presence is indispensible for placements’ appropriate, long-term effectiveness and safety of volunteers. With the growing number of teenagers participating in volunteer tours, supervision and protection by organization are vital. However, some volunteers set out with enthusiastic motivation ends up in a awkward situation as Hannah Saunders, a gap year volunteer: â€Å"When I arrived†¦they didn’t know I was coming or what to do with me.† (Ward, 2007) Although the volunteers’ intention maybe beneficial, they are unqualified, untrained and unguided. Such groups of volunteers can hardly provide any high-quality help that is needed by local communities. Supporters of voluntourism may cling onto the motivation behind voluntourism to justify the trend. Indeed, motivation is also a factor often discussed when talking about the benefits of voluntourism. Supporters of voluntourism argue actions that come from altruistic intension to help, although may not provide substantial help, are at least better than nothing. The supporters say that by just participating and showing concern, it is already helping the people in dispair. It is literally, â€Å"you are the difference!† With the belief in altruism, people advertise voluntourism, â€Å"in which enthusiasm and good intentions are allowed to prevail† (Simpson, 2004). However, it seems the good intension behind voluntourism is not enough to be allowed to â€Å"prevail†. While many people wish to believe that motivation behind volunteering abroad is purely altruistic, research using evolutionally, social psychological, organizational and game theoretic literature as fram ework, has found that, in general, people volunteered most often when personal benefits are high (Murnighan, Kim, & Metzger, 1993). Consistent with this result, almost all authors of articles about voluntourism, even the supporters, agree that voluntourism does not come from purely altruistic motivation. Despite the difference in motivational factors concluded by different authors, all of them agree that these motivations outweigh altruism (Forsythe, 2011;Corti, Marola, & Castro, 2010;Wearing 2001; Brown, 2005; Cohen, Reichel, Shwartz, & Uriely, 2002; Tosun, 2000; Unstead-Jones, 2008). It is commonly agreed that volunteer tourists plan to satisfy the needs of communities through meeting their own needs such as â€Å"experiencing cultures†. If actions from altruism intention are the ones that give hope and â€Å"prevail†, voluntourism with self-centered motivation is not one. Furthermore, less concern in local community than in self-gain may result in idealized, incorrect assumption about local needs. Reflecting this worry about incorrect assumption, Sacha Brown, Program Manager of World Youth Intern ational, a NGO taking volunteers overseas for their development projects says, â€Å" there is a lot of development that is useless and is based on erroneous assumptions around what is ‘best’ for the community or country† (Huang, 2012). Inexperienced volunteers’ erroneous expectations on local needs, together with their self-centered concerns, make them concentrate on their own enjoyment without examining what help is needed. Organizations that seek to profit from voluntourism may increase rather than reduce neglect of local need. The director of VSO is worried that competition between organizations may lead to more emphasis on volunteer enjoyment and â€Å"may not deliver the maximum benefits to the communities these people are working in†. (Huang, 2012) Indeed, one of the organizations interviewed by Forsythe implied that its placements were driven by preferences of volunteers rather than local needs. It is not only researchers who are concerned about whether volunteering tourists’ helps are actually needed. Some volunteers interviewed by Justine Tillon express their feeling of lack of acceptance by local government and citizens. Some of them felt that â€Å"the government and local citizens are forced to be helped by the participants†. When there is evidence that help is â€Å"forced† on local people, maybe we should really ask ourselves: â€Å"Does this kind of help make a peaceful word?† All has been said, some supporters may provide research that show local satisfaction toward volunteer tourists. One of such research about Moroccan students’ satisfaction toward foreign volunteer teachers of French and English showed 79% of appreciation (Corti et al., 2010). The rate is indeed high, but we should look closer into this study. The job of the volunteers studied is to give English and French classes during vacation of school year. Out of 253 students who enrolled, 32.41% left to travel with their parents in the middle of classes (Corti et al., 2010). Although the desistance rate already implies that local community regards the classes as unserious holiday childcare rather than structured learning experience, several other questions can be raised against results of this and similar other studies. First, does the rate actually reflect the work done by volunteer teachers? The improvement in student’s language skills is not measured in the study. Since it was students who answered those surveys, it is questionable whether they looked at bigger picture and thought the experience educating or they were just excited to see foreigners. Inferring from previous evaluation of quality, training and supervision of volunteers, these teachers are likely to be unqualified as teachers. Of course supporters may say that the satisfaction rate is indeed the proof that the volunteers are qualified. That raises a second question. Is it voluntourism per se that is benefiting? Do they have to be volunteer tourists or they can be anyone? Considering that English and French are both official language of Morocco, classes given by mixture of nonnative and native speakers of the languages may hardly made any difference from that by local Moroccans who speak both languages. It is not clear whether the 79% satisfaction was toward â€Å"volunteers from abroad† or â€Å"people who helped†. Questions about the tourists’ help per se have been studied in different contexts. Study in Gahanna showed that many volunteers are placed in daily tasks and traditional chores such as bathing, dressing, feeding and supervising of children, that can be done by anyone else (Fosythe, 2011). To justify voluntourism itself, studies about unique benefit of voluntourism need be carried out. Through this paper, we have evaluated the quality, motivation and local need of voluntourism. While there are some studies showing satisfactions toward voluntourism presented, several essential questions are raised. Through evaluation, it became clear that volunteer tourists are unskilled, authentically motivated, and to certain extent, unwelcomed. Although it may be a valuable experience for tourists, it seems that voluntourism carry few value, if not harm, to local community. Whether or not it is primary desire, the desire to volunteer is laudable. However, we need to tread more carefully, especially when dealing with people who are already suffering. Unless we have enough knowledge and transferrable skills, we might do better to travel and bring money into developing countries. Works Cited Ainsworth, D. (2012). Bad volunteers are like a cancer, says Scout Association director. Third Sector Online . Brown, S. (2005). Understanding the motives and benefits of voluntourists: What makes them tick? Retrieved from http://www.voluntourism.org/newsstudyandresearc h1005.htm Cohen, E., Reichel, A., Schwartz, Z., & Uriely, N. (2002). ). Rescuing hikers in Israel’s deserts: Community altruism or an extension of adventure tourism? . Journal of Leisure Research . Corti, I. N., Marola, P. N., & Castro, M. B. (2010). Social Inclusion and Local Development through European Voluntourism: A Case Study of the Project Realized in a Neighborhood of Morocco. merican Journal of Economics and Business Administration 2 . Forsythe, R. (2011). Helping or hindering? Volunteer tourism in Ghana and its critical role in development . Huang, A. (2008, 8 1). Voluntourism: Benifit or Harm? Retrieved from Yahoo! voices: http://voices.yahoo.com/voluntourism-benefit-harm-775403.html?cat=9 Jones, A. (2004). Review of Gap Year Provision. Murnighan, J. K., Kim, J. W., & Metzger, A. R. (1993). the Volunteer Dilemma. Administrative Science Quarterly . Simpson, K. (2004). ‘Doing Development’: The Gap Year, Volunteer Tourists and a Popular Practice of Development. Journal of International Development . Taillon, J. (2007). The Identification of Motivation in Voluntourists: Particularly Extrinsic Motivators in Vacation-Minded Volunteer Tourism Participants. Retrieved from http://justintaillon.com/FINAL% 20PAPER.doc Tosun, C. (2000). Limits to community participation in the tourism development process in developing countries. . Tourism Management . Unstead-Jones, R. (2008). An Analysis of Volunteer Motivation: Implications for International Development. The Journal of the Institute for Volunteering Research . Ward, L. (2007). You’re better off backpacking-VSO warns about perils of ‘voluntourism’. The Guardian . Wearing, S. (2001). Volunteer tourism: Experiences that Make a Difference. CABI Publishing.

Replacement for and replacement of

Replacement for and replacement of Replacement for and replacement of Replacement for and replacement of By Maeve Maddox Prepositions and particles are tricky in any language. Its not an easy matter to explain why some words are followed by to while others are followed by in or for. The native speaker just knows. Recently, Ive noticed the use of to with the word replacement where Id expect for or of. Homeopathy as replacement to antibiotics†¦ Offers a cost effective replacement to broken parcel shelf string†¦ i have lost 12v ac 2.4 power adapter when moving home and am looking for a replacement to said item†¦ The two most frequent meanings of replacement are a person who or thing which replaces another; a substitute. The action or an act of replacing something When replacement is used in the first sense, its synonymous with substitute. For that reason, for is the obvious choice: I need a replacement for my windshield wiper. We need a replacement for Mr. Jones the math teacher. It seems to me that in all three of the examples given above, for is the obvious choice: Homeopathy as a replacement (substitute) for antibiotics†¦ cost effective replacement (substitute) for broken parcel shelf string†¦ looking for a replacement (substitute) for said item. Used in the second sense, replacement is followed by of. Requests for the issuance or replacement of military service medals†¦ Operations involve either metal pinning with screws and/or plates or replacement of the hip joint with artificial parts†¦ Thats not to say that to must never follow the word replacement. The word is often followed by an infinitive: Sansoms replacement to be decided today†¦ SMPT gateway replacement to make mail testing easier Sometimes replacement is followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with to: Procedure now calls for the mayor to nominate a replacement to the board†¦ Budget woes delay shuttle replacement to 2015 However, in these examples, the to phrases do not qualify replacement; they modify the verbs: the shuttle replacement is being delayed to 2015; the mayors choice will be nominated to the board. Whats the consensus? Is replacement to instead of replacement for a regional thing, or an aberration? Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Possessive of Proper Names Ending in S50 Idioms About Arms, Hands, and FingersPersonification vs. Anthropomorphism

An Old Woman. Essay Example

An Old Woman. Essay Example An Old Woman. Essay An Old Woman. Essay The poem is highly symbolic and very common placed in its subject matter. The poet was impressed by the temple of Kandoba at Jajori and the poem is thus against this setting. An Old Woman is a graphic picture of a beggar woman. Having lost the promises of her past, she is reduced to her present state. As the speaker views her squarely, he, in a sort of revelation, becomes aware of the decay which has set in her person and which is extended to the decaying tradition symbolized by the hills and the temples. Without using many words, the old woman forces the narrator to look at her from closed quarters. It is then that he realizes the hypocrisy of society and the decadence of the social system that has ruined the old woman to a beggar. he finds that the social fabric is destroyed, architectural features go into ruins. Human values are forgotten. The old womans condition reduces the narrator to a small status when he feels as insignificant as that small coin in her hand. This poem humbles us to remember our responsibility to society. It reveals the callousness, a failure on our part to take care of the elderly, protect our heritage and preserve our values. In the rush of materialism and the desire to achieve, one takes all that one can from society, but giving the same back is largely forgotten. So the cracking hills, crumbling temples, crumbling of social order is directly a result of our negligence, our failure to act responsibly. Somewhere, the materialistic world has made man selfish, trapping him in a race to accumulate. When society has to face this onslaught, cracks appear, but selfish man forgets to repair the cracks, forgets to salvage lost values, thereby creating a dilapidated social fabric.

RISK AND VULNERABILITY REPORT FOR JAPAN Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

RISK AND VULNERABILITY REPORT FOR JAPAN - Essay Example Figure 1: Key Themes The presentation and discussion of results shall be done around these four themes. There shall however be minor areas of consideration such as geography of Japan and vulnerability in Japan. Presentation and discussion of results on the themes shall all be done both qualitatively and quantitatively using figures, maps, tables and diagrams. 4.2 PRESENTATION AND DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS AND FINDINGS Geography of Japan According to JapanGuide.Com (2011), â€Å"Japan's closest neighbors are Korea, Russia and China. The Sea of Japan separates the Asian continent from the Japanese archipelago.† Japan is located in Eastern Asia and within the geographical coordinates, 36 00N, 138 00E (CIA Fact book, 2011). Japan’s total area is 377,835 sq km, 374,744 sq km of which is land and 3,091 sq km is water. Islands in Japan in Daito-shoto, Bonin Islands, Volcano Islands, Minami-Jima Ryukyu Islands and Okino-tori-shrima; out of which â€Å"Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku are the four largest† (JapanGuide.Com, 2011). Japan’s climate varies across the country however; there are four major seasons – winter, rainy season, summer and typhoons. ... â€Å"Environmental hazards are defined as extreme events or substances in the earth and its ecological system that may cause adverse effects to humans or things they value† (NRC, 1996). For the sake of this research, risk and hazards that have occurred from 1980 to 2010 are going to be reviewed. The graph below shows the number of natural disasters that have occurred in Japan from 1980 to 2010. Fig. 2: Natural Disasters in Japan from 1980 to 2010 It is worth mentioning that Japan’s earthquakes are accompanied with tsunamis (Prevention Web, 2011). The data above is translated into a yearly ratio as follows Table 1: Yearly Average of Occurrence of Natural Disasters in Japan Disaster Average Occurrence Wildfire Extreme Temperature Volcano Flood Earthquake Storm 0.03 0.10 0.26 0.71 1.00 2.48 Credit: (Prevention Web, 2011). Human Vulnerability in Japan The various risks and hazards that Japan experiences expose the country and her population to high rate of vulnerability. J apan has suffered both economic and human losses through natural disasters. The chart below gives a summary of such losses from 1980 to 2010. Fig. 3 Vulnerability to Humans per Event of a Disaster - Credit: (Prevention Web, 2011). The concept of Community and its Role in Disaster Most communities in Japan are prone to risks of volcanoes and earthquakes. â€Å"The reason for the high number of volcanic areas is because Japan is located along the circum-Pacific volcanic belt. Of the 840 active volcanoes in the world, Japan has almost 1/10 of them† (AsiaInfo.Net, 2010). For this reason, communities in Japan put in a lot of effort to play active roles in disaster management. In the view of Tatum (2011), â€Å"disaster management plans are often

Terrorism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Terrorism - Assignment Example The arson attack was made with the help of a gallon of gasoline, but there was no major damage done to the Church. In the same month, Ellison with another CSA member firebombed ‘the Beth Shalom synagogue’, which also did no major damage (Hamm, 2007, p. 102). On 2nd November, another failed attack was there by CSA members on the natural gas pipeline that ‘crossed the Red River between Mena and Texarkana, Arkansas’ (Hamm, 2007, p. 102). The CSA members used twenty-three sticks of dynamite to rupture it and expected a riot leading to their holy war, but the dynamites only dented the pipeline. Later on, facing the shortage of money, Ellison guided small groups of his followers to do shoplifting, stealing vehicles and doing other kind of robberies for funds generation. Snell and Thomas, two active members of CSA robbed a pawnshop in Texarkana and during their robbery, Snell murdered a proprietor considering him a Jew, while he was not (Hamm, 2007). The CSA was recognized as a Christian extremist group using military training and weaponry to spread terror. The group kept an extremist religious ideology that claimed their superiority over other races. The whole group had racist ideologies due to which, their targeted other religious and social groups. Richard Snell, an active and racist CSA member brutally killed Louis Bryant, a Black and an Arkansas State Trooper on June 30, 1984. After the incident, Snell escaped from the crime scene and upon finding himself circulated by police officers later on, he opened fire on them, after which, he was shot and taken into custody. The investigative team of Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation found weapons, hatred literature from his vehicle and some other future targeted people’s documents (Wong, 2011). The government paid utmost attention to the extremists group and the FBI and other law enforcement agencies categorized CSA as a serious domestic threat