Federal Reserve free essay sample

Paper Federal Reserve Paper by LeAnn Bomar University of Phoenix Eco/372 Principles of Macroeconomics May 16, 2013 I have been asked to prepare this essay to familiarize foreign officials with The United States Federal Reserve. As parties interested in doing business in our country, I understand how important it is for you to inform yourselves on the Federal Reserve and how it operates. In this paper, there will be information pertaining to the federal fund rate, monetary policy, stimulus program, and the current state of money in this economy. First, I will explain the federal funds rate. The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which banks loan money to each other. Banks are required, by law, to keep a certain amount of customer money on reserve. Banks try to stay as close to the reserve amount as possible, without going under, and borrow money from each other to maintain the limit. We will write a custom essay sample on Federal Reserve or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The federal funds rate affects how the banks decide on interest rates because it is used to control the supply of available funds. Raising the rate makes it more expensive to borrow and lowers the supply of available money. Lowering the rate makes it less expensive to borrow money increases the supply of available money (Bankrate. om,  2013). According to  What Is Being Done To Control Inflation?   (2013), the primary job of the  Federal Reserve  is to control inflation while avoiding a  recession. It does this with  monetary policy. Monetary policies are used to either stimulate or discourage consumer spending in an effort to stabilize the economy after booms or recessions. To avoid inflation, the Federal Reserve implements contractionary monetary policy, this slows economic growth. This is typically done by raising the federal funds rate, making it more expensive for banks to lend each other money, thus decreasing the money supply in circulation. According to  Investopedia Stimulus Package  (2013), â€Å"a stimulus package is a package of economic measures put together by the government to stimulate a floundering economy. The objective of a stimulus package is to reinvigorate the economy and prevent or reverse a recession by boosting employment and spending. † By adding money into the economy, and increasing money supply, the idea is that consumers will spend the money, which in turn, will help businesses maintain their operations and keep workers employed. If the money is placed in savings accounts, banks will be able to loan more money to more consumers. If the money is used to pay debts, there are less loan defaults. The increased money supply is intended to keep a healthy economic cycle of businesses employing individuals, and those employed individuals, in turn, spend money in businesses. Based on the most recent information found in the M2 figure, there is an indication of growth in the money supply. This information can be found on the Federal Reserve Statistical release which is updated weekly. If money supply outpaces economic growth, over an extended period of time, inflation could be a likely result. In an instance where money supply seems to be excessive, it is typical of the Federal Reserve to employ a contractionary monetary policy to slow economic growth. Explaining economic matters can be especially complex. There are quite a few factors involved in a constantly moving and changing macroeconomic structure. The information provided in this paper was intended to familiarize potential business partners with economic terms and procedures in the United States. As this information is constantly changing, it is very important to also learn where to find the updated information so your business decisions can be informed, with the most current information available. References Bankrate. com. (2013). Retrieved from http://www. bankrate. com/rates/interest-rates/federal-funds-rate. aspx Investopedia Stimulus Package. (2013). Retrieved from http://www. investopedia. com/terms/s/stimulus-package. asp What Is Being Done to Control Inflation?. (2013). Retrieved from http://useconomy. about. com/od/inflationfaq/f/Control_Infla. htm[pic]

bookreport waller the bridge of madison county essays

bookreport waller the bridge of madison county essays I will tell you the name and the author of the book and who the main characters are in this paragraph. Robert James Waller wrote the book, The Bridge of Madison County. There are two main characters in the book. One of the main characters names is Robert Kincaid and the other is Francesca Johnson. In this paragraph I will tell you about Robert Kincaid and a little about his personality. Robert was a photographer for National Geographic and sometimes just for himself. He photographed in the outdoors. He thought that courage and strength was a big part of human life (nature.) He didnt think that computers and robots are something big. He said, there were things we could do, were designed to do, that nobody or no machine could do. We run fast are strong and quick, aggressive and tough. We were given courage. We can throw spears long distances and fight in hand-to-hand combat. Eventually, computers and robots will run things. Humans will manage those machines, but that doesnt require courage or strength, or any characteristics like those. In fact, men are outliving their usefulness... (100, 101 Waller) I really think that what he said is right. I think that by that he means that soon people will just forget what they are here in the world for and what work is. Everyone will becom e lazy. If everyone becomes lazy than ones everything is dead or you have to do something by hand no one will want to do it. Robert calls himself one of the last cowboys. Cowboys are usually old fashion type and not too civilized. Thats what Robert is. In this paragraph I will tell you about Fracesca Johnson a little about her personality. She was a farmwife. She lived on the farm and didnt work. One day, in the summer, she came out on her porch and was drinking iced tea. She was very exhausted from all her work. All of a sudden a truck drives by. And a man, who was Robert Kincaid, asked her for directions to one of the...

All God's Children (Fox Butterfield) Book Report Essay

All God's Children (Fox Butterfield) Book Report - Essay Example All God's Children is an exceptionally well written and finely researched book, detailing how violence in the African American community and primarily in the Bosket family, saw roots from the violence that was the norm in South Carolina, where the Boskets came from. It is the sobering story of Willie Bosket's family, from his ancestors down to his parents and siblings, explaining how families can be doomed when they remain outside mainstream society and who have no access to opportunity or given any hope. Butterfield does a fine job describing the criminal justice system as it relates to children and how we have come to treat 12 and 13 year old children like adults. In July 1962, while Willie was still in the womb, his father, Butch, stabbed two men in the heart in a Milwaukee pawnshop. Willie's mother, Laura gave birth to him in Harlem, three months before Butch was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders. Willie did not learn his father's history or whereabouts until he was seven years old. By then, Willie had stolen groceries and assaulted an old woman. By age 8, Willie was described as a human nuclear chain reaction, someone very unpredictably violent and aggressive. When he threw a typewriter out of a school window, just missing a pregnant teacher, he was expelled from school and sent to Bellevue for observation. His institutional life had begun. He was diagnosed as depressed. By the time he was 15, Willie claimed he had committed 2,000 crimes, including 200 armed robberies and 25 stabbings. They culminated in seven violent weeks in 1978, when he kicked another boy off a roof to his death, and then murdered two men during subway robberies. Six factors existed in the Bosket family that fuelled this level of violence - alcoholism, physical abuse, sexual abuse, incest, rejection, and neglect. Since the victims of this abuse found it difficult to transfer their anger back at their family, they turned their rage outwards on society. It seemed as though the only way they had learned to fight back was with either weapons or with their bare hands. One of the saddest situations included Butch and the fact that he had raped his girlfriend's 6 year-old daughter, Kristin. The girlfriend's name was Donna, a weak-willed woman, who had actually ignored her daughter's cries during the rape. In the end, because she allowed it to continue, she had lost custody of both Kristin and her twin brother, Matthew. She was so taken by Butch that she seemed to care more about him than her own children. Butterfield shows the weaknesses that existed within the family. This book seamlessly ties two issues together. On the one hand, it is a fascinating and detailed true crime study of Willie Bosket and on the other hand it's a study of the origins of violence in America. With a surprisingly detailed research, the author was able to trace Willie Bosket's ancestry back to his slave ancestors, and follow the escalating evolution of violence and criminality in each succeeding generation of the Bosket family. The book begins in pre-revolutionary era with a study of white violence in the region of North Carolina where Willie's ancestors were enslaved. The author persuasively argues that the primary origin of black violence is the tradition of white violence that was transferred to them from their former slave owners. Butterfield contends that the white Southern mentality of easily aggrieved honor has made its way through time and the descendants

Dream job specification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dream job specification - Essay Example The must allow flexible working hour so that the employees may easily maintain the balance in their professional and personal life. The employees must be granted vacation days, which they must ask for without any reprimand. Design compensation and benefits package related to your dream job. My dream job must provide me with different compensations and benefits. The salary must be enough to pay back my student loan and to fulfill all the basic, social and self esteem needs of my life. The firm must also give accommodation as well as transport facility to all its employees. The compensation packages must include other firm investment in the retirement funds for all the employees. The organization must provide Health care benefits for the employees and their family. The organization must finance an annual vacation of the employees along with limited number of family members, to the location of their choice. This would give a break to the employees from all the business activities and th ey would relax their mind. The organization must also offer the productive employees compensation according to the level of their productivity this would help to foster the growth of an organization. The employee must also be given share in the profit of the organization according to their level of performance; this would encourage the employees to be more productive and would contribute towards the profitability of the organization. Rationalize your compensation and benefits package. Be sure to indicate the research and considerations that went into the design of the compensation and benefits package. Employees’ compensation does not only include the salary of the employees but all the extra rewards and benefits that employees get while working with the... The essay makes sure you rationalize your compensation and benefits package. Be sure to indicate the research and considerations that went into the design of the compensation and benefits package. Employees’ compensation does not only include the salary of the employees but all the extra rewards and benefits that employees get while working with the organization. It is the responsibility of every organization to design benefits and compensation packages for their employees. When an organization has a balanced set of salary, wages, benefits and compensation, so they remain competitive in the respective industry they are operating in. Then the essay makes you imagine this is the only position of its kind in the organization. As an architect there are various factors that may affect my performance in the organization. It is the responsibility of the human resource manager to observe, the external factors that are affecting the performance of the employees. There are several facto rs that may be held responsible for affecting my performance in an organization; these factors may be; dissatisfaction in the working environment, work overload, etc. In the conclution, the essay makes you rationalize your performance appraisal program. Be sure to indicate the research and considerations that went into the design of the performance appraisal program. Performance appraisal is an important aspect of HRM. Performance appraisal is of great importance in the theoretical studies as well as in the practical life.

Anxiety And Negative Emotions In Second Language Acquisition Essay

Anxiety And Negative Emotions In Second Language Acquisition - Essay Example This essay declares that language anxiety is an essential cognitive and affective component that influences almost all the academic and performance areas of foreign language learners inclusive of several skills in writing, reading and speaking as well. As there is strong correlation among perceived language anxiety and performance so it can be justified to acknowledge the relevance of conducting the study incorporating the analysis of anxiety during the second language acquisition especially for ESL students and employed are the methodologies facilitate in minimizing the anxiety and negative emotions. However, the anxiety influences abilities; however the study does not focus on the basic abilities pertaining to the mother tongue especially in the phonological, syntactic and the semantic regimes. This paper makes a conclusion that the considerations of the range of psychological variables either facilitating or inhibiting the efforts made by new learners of English, we should not fail to notice the issue of power. This stems out a cognitive-affective bias perceived by the international learner as the language comprising of a rich and powerful post-industrial society, in contrast, the native language may be perceived as less impressive and less respected. This perceived difference incorporating power and respect for native language in comparison with English language could be expected to worsen the psychological difficulties interfering with language anxiety encapsulating anxiety, low self-esteem, motivation, identity conflict, language shock and cultural shock, which the current research is not taking into consideration.

Nathaniel Hawthorne Symbolism

Nathaniel Hawthorne Symbolism The Mastery of Symbolism in the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the most influential American Romantic authors of the nineteenth century, was born Nathaniel Hathorne on July 4th, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. Nathaniel found interest in reading and writing as a young child and continued his interest well into his late teenage years when he began attending Bowdoin College. While in college, Hawthorne befriended Henry Wadworth Longfellow, a fellow Romantic author of the nineteenth century. Nathaniel Hawthorne changed his surname shortly after graduating from college from Hathorne to Hawthorne. The change is speculated to have been due to Hawthorne tracing his familys lineage back to John Hathorne, a great-grandfather of Hawthorne who was one of the judges involved in the sentencing of many women during the Salem Witch Trials. Out of embarrassment and superstitious of a curse upon the Hathorne family name, Hawthorne added the w to his surname. During Hawthornes mid-twenties and early thirties, he wrote in silence in the family room of his home. It was during this time Hawthorne practiced his craft for writing and spent a great amount of time perfecting his writing. Furthermore, for a short time in Hawthornes life, he joined a transcendentalist utopian society called Brook Farm, but he soon became dissatisfied with its lifestyle and left. The Brook Farm experience, along with his time spent tracing his lineage and time spent alone in contemplative writing, influenced Nathaniel Hawthornes philosophy and writing style, and lead Hawthorne to become one of the most well known authors of the American Romanticism literary movement. Nathaniel Hawthornes philosophy and writing style is a part of the literature style of American Romanticism. Considered the first illustration of American literary genius by Jennifer Hurley, book editor of American Romanticism, the literature of American Romanticism was written between the late 1830s and 1861, right before the rise of the Civil War. American Romantics, like Hawthorne, were unified by a concern with the internal world, the world of the psyche, as explained by Hurley on page twelve. Hawthornes aspect of American Romanticism exemplified the desire to explicate the qualities of human nature, such as its individuality, imagination, and intuition. Hawthorne, like other Romantics, explored the individuals isolation from society by providing complex psychological portraits of his protagonists (Hurley 12). While the United States of America was unstable, transforming from agrarianism to industrialism and political turmoil being at its peak during the nineteenth century, Roman tics, such as Hawthorne, found stability in seeking out the peace, beauty, and simplicity of nature and its relation to humankind. Hawthornes aspect of Romanticism was concerned with the psychological and symbolical analysis of certain types of human character and moral situations. Hawthorne extensively uses the literary technique of symbolism to convey an idea to his audience. Symbolism was a popular literary device of Romantics, where an object represented an idea. Symbols could have been a word, place, character, or any other object in which a meaning extended beyond the items literal context. Symbolism is a technique of the Romantics that has continued to be a popular literary device, and is a broad category in which allegory, a specialty of Hawthornes writing technique, is under its hierarchy. Hawthorne drew upon his personal and cultural history to create his intensely symbolic works that investigated the depths of the national American character. The symbolism of his works focused on isolation and guilt of the individual, the uncertainties of good and evil, and the continual hold of the past on the present. Hawthorne focused on his Calvinist lineage and Americas Calvinist ideological past, as well, in hopes of coming to terms and making sense of it. Hawt horne was deeply fascinated by the shifting and treacherous nature of the Puritan lifestyle, as explained by David Morse, author of American Romanticism: From Cooper to Hawthorne. The Puritans were endlessly attentive for symbolism in their daily lives. The Puritans clothing, gesture, behavior, languageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦all had their meaning which must be deciphered (Morse 182). Hawthornes writing is full of symbolic characters, settings, and objects. Hawthornes characters and settings are not always actually important for what they are, but for what they exemplify. Hawthornes audience finds the meanings of his symbols as they grow among his characters efforts to tell the audience what the symbols represent. Hawthorne uses the development of events in different settings to convey the meanings of his symbols as well. Hawthornes genius was in his technique of developing the symbolism of the story via the characters and events because Hawthorne, by intention, makes the characters and their actions the direct allegorists instead of the narrator of the narrative himself. Hawthornes genius is also in his efficiency to make his symbols so commonly placed and natural that they go overlooked. The meanings conveyed by these symbols become more effective when placed so naturally, they conceal themselves because it requires deeper intellectual and intrinsic thought on t he behalf of the reader. One of Hawthornes least recognized works came from his publication of his short story collection Twice-Told Tales, published in 1837. The short story The Hollow of the Three Hills is one unfamiliar to most. Summarized by Gary L. Pullman, author of The Hollow of the Three Hills: Hell on Earth, as: A young woman who suffers from an untimely blight rendezvous at an appointed hour and place with a withered, old hag (a witch) in the circular hollow situated in the center of three hills, having come to the crone to learn what has become of the husband and daughter whom the young woman abandoned years before. Their fate was intimately bound at one time, she concedes, although they are cut off forever from one another now. The witch, reminding the young woman that their time together is short (there is but a short hour that we may tarry here) and directing her to kneel and lay her head upon her knees, pulls her cloak over the young womans head, thus blinding her to the exterior world. The witch utters a profane prayer, by which she works a spell that enables the young woman to hear the voices of her parents and those of her family, whom she abandoned. Her parents, now old, lament the shame and affliction her desertion of her family has brought them. The witch tells the young woman th at her parents are weary and lonesome. Next, her husband speaks from within the confines of a mental institution, complaining of his wifes perfidy and of a wife who had broken her holiest vows, of a home and heart made desolate. Apparently, his wifes desertion of him and their daughter has caused him to lose his mind. The young woman lifts her head, replying to the witchs question as to whether it seems likely that there could be such merry times in a madhouse by saying there is mirth within its walls, but misery, misery without. The young woman longs to hear one more voice (presumably her daughters), and the witch obliges her, telling her to lay her head again upon her knees. The old woman begins to wave her spell again, but, as dusk deepens toward night, a funeral bell tolls, and a funeral procession approaches, several of the members of which revile the dead, pronouncing anathemas upon the deceased for her having abandoned her husband and daughter. When the witch shakes the motio nless young woman whose head rests upon her knees, to rouse her, she discovers that the young woman has died, and the witch says, Here has been a sweet hours sport! The young woman is portrayed as having left her loved ones because of an unforgivable dishonor or deceit she has committed, therefore, fled into nature, to loneliness and isolation. There she seeks comfort in the lap of the old witch. It is in this moment in the story the question of this allegorical story begins. Is the comfort the young woman seeks from the witch her damnation or salvation? Hawthorne explores an issue of critical summation, the greatest allegory of the story, of whether or not the witch is the womans salvation or damnation in the narrative. Hawthorne demonstrates, though, that the sole way for the reader, through the development of events and the characters courses of actions, to know is through his identification of the context that defines whether the witchs nature is of damnation or salvation for the young woman. To discover Hawthornes brilliance of symbolism in The Hollow of the Three Hills, the audience must only open its mind to understand how Hawthorne may be expressing a metaphor. For example, In those strange old times, when fantastic dreams and madmens reveries were realized among the actual circumstances of life, (The Hollow of the Three Hills 5), hints to the reader that the story is between the border of subjectivity, the inner world of the psyche, and objectivity, the outer world of nature. In another instance, when the witch says to the young lady, Here is our pleasant meeting come to pass according as thou hast desired. Say quickly what thou wouldst have of me, for here there is but a short hour that we may tarry here, the womans death is being foreshadowed. It is also suggested that the two meet because of a greater power which intertwines the fates of the young woman and the witch. Continuing symbolism in the story is found in the third paragraph of the narrative in the word sepulchre of the phrase, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦like a lamplight on the wall of a sepulchre, (The Hollow of the Hills 5) and again when the young womans head is rested on the knees of the witch and covered by the cloak, as described on page six of The Hollow of the Hills. Sepulchre indicates the young lady is near death in the presence of the witch. The darkness of the covering cloak symbolizes and foreshadows what the young ladys afterlife will be like without repentance of her sins. The darkness represents that she will not be reborn into life, but into death, physically and spiritually, and therefore both lives, her mortal and spiritual, will be claimed by damnation of sin. Toward the end of the narrative, Hawthornes symbolism is yet to cease. The golden skirts of day were yet lingering upon the hills, but deep shades obscured the hollow and the pool, as if sombre night were rising thence to overspread the world, (The Hollow of the Three Hills 8), is a representation of the life of the young woman as her life and what little happiness she attempted to retrieve from listening to the voices of her loved ones slips away and is overcome by death and misery. In the last moments of her life, the young woman, troubled with the guilt of abandoning her family, wonders the fate of her family. She seems to want to know their fate more to satisfy her curiosity than because she has come to a position of repentance. After all, the young lady accepts the services of a witch instead of seeking a reverend. By visiting the witch, she is dying on her knees in the spell of a witch rather than in prayer, and as a result, she dies in sin. Both of the womans lives, the physic al and spiritual, are in transgression. Furthermore, in death the young lady is not released of her sins, but is given an eternity of suffering and torment of what the witch pleases. The young woman is not only the servant of the witch, but ultimately the servant of the Power of Evil, the symbolical description of Satan. The bells at the end of the story make the reader aware, as if the bells were an alarm, that the story is a warning that the fate of the woman could happen to anyone. Hawthornes own religious beliefs come through in the story through expressing the need of repentance. The Hollow of the Three Hills examines human nature and its inevitability to fall short of perfection. According to Hawthorne, it is why man sins and must, therefore, repent of his imperfections. The symbolism of this tale related to the moral issues of his time period because while society was evolving into a modern industrial community, Hawthorne used his symbolism to express his opinion that society will unavoidably change, but for its cultural survival, the need for individual intuition and moral s must stay intact, or otherwise face great downfall, like the womans fate in the narrative, because societal perfection nor individual perfection is attainable. The symbolism within the story and allegorical message of the story is timeless because the symbols within the story and allegorical message of the story are still relevant today. American society will never outgrow the need for individuals to express intrinsic thought and need to stay in touch with ones morals and intuition because it is part of Americas philosophical and literary ancestry and one will always draw inspiration from Hawthornes symbolism. The timeless effects of Hawthornes symbols and allegories, along with his brilliance in his technique of developing the symbolism of the story via the characters and events and in his efficiency to make his symbols so commonly placed and natural that they go overlooked, are what make him the master of symbolism.

JFK: Alliance For Progress :: essays research papers

The dawning of the sixties erupted with John F. Kennedy as President, the beginning of an anti-war movement, and the fear of communism. It was a new decade and called for many changes, domestic and foreign. New policies were initiated in the hopes for a better economy and relations with other countries. In 1961, President Kennedy called for the establishment of the Alliance for Progress. The program was aimed towards promoting the social and economic development of Latin America. Kennedy proposed this cooperative program to replace prior failing efforts of the United States to aid Latin America. The intended alliance marked a shift toward a policy of expanded U.S. economic assistance to Latin America in the wake of Fidel Castro’s successful Communist revolution in Cuba. The United States was fearful of a communism spread due to the poverty and social inequities of the Latin American nations. The U.S. felt that the southern continent was ripe for violent radical political upheaval, which would eventually bring forth the spread of communism. The Alliance for Progress program was initially met with open arms by most Latin Americans leaders and immediately boosted U.S. relations throughout the hemisphere.1 The alliance’s charter was signed by all members of the organization except for Cuba at a special meeting at Punta del Este, Uruguay, on August 17, 1961.2 The drafters of the charter emphasized that the twin goals of economic development and social injustice should be pursued simultaneously and that both should be paralleled by efforts to expand political freedom in the hemisphere. One of the most important factors of the program was the promotion of self-help. Under the alliance’s charter, the participating Latin American countries would provide eighty percent of the funding and the remaining twenty would be pledged by external sources, which would be furnished by the United states, other wealthy countries, and a variety of public and private groups. Though created to ensure the improvement of Latin Americ a, there were many dilemmas within the Alliance for Progress. The program was not really an alliance and it did not progress satisfactorily. The wealthy naturally wanted to remain in the position in society and were blind to the fact that it was hastening a Communist takeover. Contributions to the destitute countries of Latin America often found its way into the wallets of the wealthy instead of profiting the poor. The initiator of the Alliance for Progress was the elected 35th president, John F.

Descartes on God Essay

Rene Descartes is a famous French philosopher and is considered as the â€Å"Father of Rationalism. † The aim of his philosophy was to arrive in a solid foundation for knowledge. In order to arrive in this, he used a method called the Methodic Doubt wherein he doubted the senses, mathematics, and even the existence of god. It was only until he arrived with a solid entity called â€Å"the cogito† was Descartes able to discover the center of his existence. Upon finding this center, he was able to use this entity as a means into explaining the existence of the things he previously doubted. In regards to proving the existence of god, we need to tackle first why Descartes needed to doubt the existence of god. This was a very important step in his philosophy because the theories in his philosophy would have a sounder foundation if he was going to use them to explain the existence of God. As what was stated above, Descartes used the Methodic Doubt in order to arrive with the cogito and say his phrase â€Å"cogito ergo sum† or I think therefore I am. This cogito exists in a metaphysical plane because Descartes believed that everything that existed in the physical world were not real. The reasons why he had to doubt the physical world include the fact that the senses deceive us. Examples of these are a pencil which gives the illusion of bending after placing it in a glass of water. Others include dreams which a person would consider to be so real until they wake up in bed. And finally, everything in this world is subject to change which he presented after burning a piece of wax and then asking if the residue of the wax is still considered as wax. After doubting the senses, he soon went to doubt the validity of the physical world. In order to do this, he asserted that there is a malevolent demon that would deceive us into believing that what we perceive is real. Now that he was able to discard god as the foundation of true knowledge, we now shifts his focus to the cogito. However, being left with the cogito could lead to solipsism, a view wherein a person believes that only the individual exists, since everything existed except the cogito. So Descartes needed to prove the existence of God in order to validate the existence of the physical world and free his philosophy from the perils of solipsism. Descartes gave some arguments that led to his proofs of the existence of god. His first proof dealt with the nature of ideas. He classified different kinds of ideas such as those that are innate in a person and those that were received through experience. Being rationalists, he considered ideas cause by the experience doubtful since they do arise from the senses, which he discarded as the means for a clear and distinct idea. So, he shifted his focus to innate ideas, or ideas that have been with a person since birth, and placed the idea of god under this classification. Now, Descartes asked from where these innate ideas came. It cannot be from nothingness since something cannot spring out of nothing. In addition, a perfect idea like that of god cannot come from a less perfect being and so he concluded that there was a first cause that placed the idea of a supreme being in my mind. This argument of Descartes can be compared with that of Saint Augustine’s first cause. However, the difference here is that the arguments of Saint Augustine dealt with motion and change within the physical world. Descartes arguments on the other had, tackle solely with ides and from where they came from. In addition to the argument of a first mover, Descartes was able to prove the existence of god through his own mortality. He asked himself how a person could think of an infinite being, such as god, if there is nothing to compare this form of existence with anything. It is from his own finite existence that he is able to create a distinction between the two modes of existence and prove the existence of an infinite and perfect being that is outside him. His next argument was derived from Saint Anselm’s ontological argument. Here, Descartes tries to justify his argument through describing a triangle. Whenever we would think of a triangle, the first thing that would enter our minds are its attributes, i. e. that it has three sides, all its angles have a total of 180 degrees, etc. Just like whenever we would think of the idea of god, we would usually first think of his attributes which are being omniscient, all-knowing, etc. The difference here is hat although we are able to think of a triangle, thinking about one does not necessarily entail it’s existence. On the other hand, to think of god as a perfect and infinite being must entail that he does exists for to say that a perfect being does not exists would mean that we are depriving god of one attribute and thus making him less perfect. So given this argument, Descartes asserts that existence is needed for perfection for there would be a major contradiction within the assertion of a perfect being that is lacking of any attribute. Finally, Descartes finally says that this god cannot be a deceiving god which he assumed in the beginning. This god cannot be a deceiver for this attribute cannot be found in a perfect being such as god because the act of deceiving someone arises from a certain defect. Upon proving the existence of god, Descartes was able to expand this philosophy by proving the existence of a separate world. He was able to do this by stating that the physical world exists since man was given a certain inclination in order to perceive the world. This inclination was given to us by god and we must believe that the world is true for god would not deceive us with this special inclination that he has given. After reading the proofs of Descartes, I would have to say that his arguments are very solid and logical that it would be hard to think otherwise. However, my only problem with Descartes philosophy is that he used the cogito as a scapegoat to all the problems that he encountered. What Descartes would do is that from the cogito he would begin to explain certain things such as god and the physical world. He would then explore these ideas but when he begins to run of way to explain his arguments he would go back to the cogito. AN example here would be when he tried to explain the existence of the physical world. He simply had to rely on the existence of god and that the inclination he gave man to believe that this world is true. This explanation, to me, seems more as a matter of faith in god as a non-deceiving being rather than a rational explanation.

The Vietnam War and Lyndon B. Johnson essays

The Vietnam War and Lyndon B. Johnson essays On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th U.S. President. He is the fourth President coping with the Vietnam War. President Johnson declares he will not "lose Vietnam" during a meeting in Washington. Johnson came to office convinced that the United States had to honor its commitments to South Vietnam and resist the revolution, but originally he was certain that success depended chiefly on the South Vietnamese. In his view, their government had to carry out the program of social and economic reform and development needed to gain the support of the people, and their army had to do the fighting. He felt that the United States could only encourage and assist the development of the political and military programs. In a Department of State Bulletin, August 24, 1964, Johnson said: "I summarized it on June 2 in four simple propositions: America keeps her word. Here as elsewhere, we must and shall honor our commitme nts. The issue is the future of Southeast Asia as a whole. A threat to any nation in that region is a threat to all, and a threat to us. Our purpose is peace. We have no military, political, or territorial ambitions in the area. This is not just a jungle war, but also a struggle for freedom on every front of human activity. Our military and economic assistance to South Vietnam and Laos, in particular, has the purpose of helping these countries to repel aggression and strengthen their independence." (Internet Source) But as time went on, these initial views changed because the political and military situation in South Vietnam had deteriorated and a Vietcong victory seemed likely. As the government viewed it, such a victory not only would give the Communists control of a significant area but also would suggest that the United States could not protect other countries against enemies employing guerrilla tactics and receiving assistance from the outside....

Cultural Miscommunication essays

Cultural Miscommunication essays America is a country that was founded on diversity. People from all over come to America and become part of the melting pot we call home. Unfortunately, with this blending there are often misunderstandings between cultures. One area that is often misunderstood between different cultures is humor. I have lived in Orange County for five years and over that entire span I have worked in restaurants. In every restaurant I have worked in or been a patron of there have been Mexican men working as the cooks. When I first started working in restaurants I found that the front of house staff (servers, managers) tended to keep to themselves and the back of the house staff (cooks, dishwashers) did as well. Well after awhile at the last place I worked, I began to try to start bridging the gap between the two cultures. I started trying to talk to the cooks at the restaurant because I knew that most of them knew a good deal of English. After a couple of weeks I started expressing my s! ense of humor by teasing them and others that we worked with. Im not sure if making fun of people you are fond of is an American trait or a universal one but we all laughed most of the time so I stuck with what worked. My friends and I would tease each other as one of our ways of entertaining ourselves. Humor in general, certainly is a universal connection-maker. Making those connections isnt always as easy as it seems. In trying to befriend the head cook Juan at my work one night I found out that what is socially acceptable for one to joke about is strongly defined by your culture. One night about three hours into my shift on a slow night myself and another Caucasian male server were in the kitchen at my work. We had been talking to some of the cooks all night and joking around with them. We tossed minor insults back and fourth trying to make each other laugh. Later into the night the cooks started to make jokes that were homosexual in...

"selection questions" investment banking job application Essay

"selection questions" investment banking job application - Essay Example The UBA offers a non-discriminatory and harassment-free workplace, which nurtures stable career growth with room for career development. The bank offers the ideal work environment for all employees while offering them opportunities to develop their professional banking careers. This is why the UBA global bank serves as the perfect bank to work for. The position of Analyst for mergers and acquisitions is a very challenging role, which deals with the purchase, merger, sale or takeover of companies (Iannotta 141). Working in such a globally recognized institution as Barclay Bank would provide a positive career challenge and would boost my experience in the banking career. Careerwise, taking up this role at Barclays would give me the necessary exposure and hands-on experience that is necessary to develop the career positively. The international outlook of the company would offer me a huge opportunity to network with others and help build a solid career base. The main objective of working for the institution would be to utilize this unique platform by maximizing on my talents with the intention of positively developing my career. Additionally, I will maximize on the international platform that the opportunity offers. The Barclays Bank is a leading branch globally, and it focuses on integrating global policies in diverse internation al settings. In addition, the opportunity would help me to bring personal output on an international scale and at the same time boost the merger and acquisitions expertise so as to be able to serve clients better. A chance to be a component of such a dynamic team is indeed hard to find, and this is why being onboard the Barclays fraternity would be such an honor and privilege. Indeed, such added expertise would help in this competitive field, and give it an edge over other banks. The stronger duty of national governments within banking is a catalyst

Literacy Narrative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literacy Narrative - Essay Example This made me have a hard time to establish relationships with my colleagues especially because my parents pushed me hard to maintain good grades while I struggle to resist the diversions like my love for soccer. Because of this, I had to balance my time for academics and at the same time extracurricular activities and make sure not one of which would pull one down. Sooner, I realized that the free society of America was to my advantage because it had given me the freedom that I did not enjoy at home. Whenever I am in school or with friends, I am truly me. However, the price to pay for that freedom would be the fact that I had to be more responsible for my own actions and the consequences of which. During my whole experience, one of the most useful lessons I learned would be learning how other foreign students survive and at the same time enjoy themselves in this situation. This really made my life a lot easier as I would not have to go through the rocky roads instead, walk in the paved ones already. Another would be knowing that practice makes perfect. Thus, to do so, during the weekly get togethers in the Global Heritage Hall of the campus, I threw myself in every conversation I can have with friends that spoke English because I know it would strengthen my language grasp and command over spoken and written English. Aside from that, I even made more friends, two of whom were Americans who had come from Texas. It was the time when I found out that surviving language barrier was not an impossible dream at all. My journey did not stop with just learning new English words and putting it all together to make a sensible statement. One of the important factors in learning a new language would be humor. I consider it as a vital factor that connected people of different walks in life and race not only through words but at the same time through memorable dialogue and helped us to overcome the awkwardness of the language wall. I