Contemporary Issues and Economic Activity

Question: Discuss about the Contemporary Issues and Economic Activity. Answer: Introduction This essay focuses on inflation in Australia and various government measures by the government of Australia. Inflation in a country plays crucial role in determining the aggregate level of demand for goods and services by changing price level of goods and services over a period of time. Maintaining an adequate inflation rate is necessary from the perspective of economic growth of the country in the long run. Inflation can be measured by the consumer price index and the whole sale price index (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). Many economic, non-economic and international factors affect the rate of inflation. Controlling the inflation level in an economy requires time and combined efforts of the concerned authorities. Generally, the monetary measures are implemented by the central bank of the country while the government is responsible for implementing the fiscal policy measures. However, for effective results in controlling inflation in the country, it is necessary that both go vernment and the central bank of the country work in harmony to achieve their common goals. The following essay discusses the scenario of inflation in Australia for the last five years from 2011 to 2015. It seeks to outline the country specific factors that led to fluctuations in the inflation rate of the country. Furthermore this essay also focuses on how the inflation impact on the Australias growth and the living standard of households. Further, the essay discusses different policy measures adopted by the Federal Government of Australia and the Reserve Bank of Australia in addressing this economic phenomenon. The essay also talks about these policy measures by categorizing then into two broad categories of demand side policy and supply side policy. Finally, this discussion tells about the inflation and better government policy that helps the economy to boost the efficiency of business operation and control the inflation. Inflation Scenario in Australia Inflation is a common economic phenomenon experienced by all the economies of the world. It refers to rise in price of goods and services in a particular period of time and is calculated on the basis of consumer price index and whole sale price index (Hubbard, et al., 2014). Consumer price index measures the changes in price of goods and services that present proportion of spending by households (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). A rise in inflation results into decrease in purchasing power of the consumers. This is because a rise in inflation leads to increase in general price level of goods and services in the economy and decrease in value of money. Hence, consumers are able to purchase less for every dollar they spend. Australian economy is the mixed market economy and fifth largest economy in the in the world, according to the World Bank survey. Currently, the RBA targets the inflation rate in the range of 2 to 3% in order to maintain an adequate aggregate demand in the economy. Inflation increased due to many reasons such as supply of money, national debt, demand pull effect and exchange rate of currency. Inflation between 2% to 3% is a positive aspect which persuade consumer to spent more money for goods and borrow money. Furthermore, Inflation is an economic statistics that point out the stability of the countrys economic position. It is measured as the changes in consumer price index over a period of time. Australias inflation rate is 1% in 2016, which is a sign of healthy economic condition. Inflation is calculated using the consumer price index, which shows the changes in the consumer goods and other items. Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the Australian core inflation rate increased in March 2016 as 1.67%. On the other hand, many factors affect the Australian inflation rate such as cost inflation, aggregate demand, higher interest rate, and heavy government tax (Inflationdata.com, 2016). Inflation has major impact on the countrys economy, the impact of inflation includes Economic growth and uncertainty, Wages rate, Income distribution, Unemployment, interest rate and international competitiveness for a country. The inflation rate witnessed by the Australian economy in the last five years is as follows: Fig. 1 Inflation over five years in Australia As shown in above chart, the inflation rate in 2011 was highest as compare to other years. Current base year for Australia is taken as 2011-2012 (Index points= 100). In contrast to this, higher rate of inflation increases the cost of goods and also affect the competitive edge in global market (Statista, 2016). Higher fluctuations in currency of country can impact the economic growth. As compared to other years, inflation rate in the year 2015 was the lowest. Australias consumer price index rose to 1.7% in last quarter of 2015. In this time the price of goods increased faster but the cost of transport decreases it slowdown the cost of housing. In starting of year 2014 that inflation rate was high furthermore it decreases over the year ending. Australias economy is mainly based on the mining and service sector (Finch, 2012). Wages is one of the important factors that affect the price of goods and services. In 2013 and 2014 higher wages paid to the workers it accelerates the inflation b y more purchasing power of consumers (Inflationdata.com, 2016). The oil price and energy prices was very high during the year 2012 and 2013 because of the international conflicts it directly affect the pressure on cost it leads to the inflation. In 2013 when the mining industry of Australia was on the boom then it affected the Australian economy as to appreciation in Australian dollar, industries exposed to trade such as manufacturing and agriculture. At this time the unemployment rate was very low and the oil prices was high it triggered the inflation as the upward movement by 2.48%. Boom in mining industries boosted the purchasing power of households and led to increase the volume of output in Australian economy. In 2009-2011 higher interest was paid in return to the bank loan, it increased the production cost for firms. Rise in government tax also pressured the cost of inflation in Australia. Inflation rate was highest in 2011 as compare to the following years, it was 3.33% (Morr is, 2014). At the same time the inflation rate arose due to the natural disaster in Australia, farms had damaged and the cost for farmers to growing also increased for the vegetables and fruits. High inflation rate affects the nations economic performance and decreases the living standard of people. Recently in 2016 the inflation rate is measured as 1%. Reserve bank of Australia measured the inflation rate between 2% to 3%, because it is the good position to maintain the economy and for cuts the interest rates (Reserve Bank of Australia, 2016). Consumer price index has fallen by 0.2% due to decrease in the price of petrol. The petrol price is an historic fallen in last seven years in quarter march 2016 (The Guardian, 2016). Lower inflation rate positively impact on the overall economic condition which helps in increasing the operation of business at national or international level both. Government Policies on Inflation Inflation is an economic problem that leads to creation of negative impact on many economic outcomes like economic growth, global competitiveness and income inequality. In addition to this, higher the level of inflation, greater is its consequences. Therefore, the major objective of economic policy of a country is to maintain a low level of inflation that leads to creation of benefits in the long run. Government of Australia in partnership with Reserve Bank employs monetary and fiscal policy for maintaining a sustainable level of inflation (between 2 and 3%) in country. These policies can be categorized into demand-side policies and supply-side policies thereby indicating the underlying causes of inflation i.e. demand or supply. Demand-side policies Demand-side policies are used to control demand inflation. These policies effectively try to reduce excess aggregate demand so that there will no longer be shortage of goods and services. Monetary Policy The primary responsibility of formulation and implementation of monetary policy is in the hands of Reserve Bank of Australia. Monetary policy is considered as most important tool for maintaining lower level of inflation in the country. It is effectively defined as process used by monetary authority of country for controlling the money supply. In addition to this, monetary policy is effectively helpful in maintaining long-term growth in the economy (RBA, 2016). The main objectives of monetary policy of Australia include maintaining of stability of currency, full employment level and economic prosperity and welfare of the people of Australia. Moreover, prior to deregulation of monetary policy, the Reserve Bank of Australia effectively worked through direct control on financial institutions and financial market operations. It imposed control on reserve requirements, interest rate charged by banks and other balance sheet restrictions. However, as per present deregulated financial market in Australia, monetary policy effectively works through maintaining bank rate in a way to control the level of inflation in the country. Role of Monetary Policy in controlling Inflation Monetary policy is effectively helpful in controlling inflation level which preserves the value of money and promotes strong and sustainable growth in Australian economy. Furthermore, monetary policy is maintained through various actions which involve increasing the interest rate and changing the amount of money that bank is required to keep in its bank reserve. Therefore, higher interest rate increases the cost of borrowing which decreases spending. This further leads to lower level of inflation in the country. Increased interest rate also makes it attractive for the people of country to save money (Hubbard, et al., 2014). Additionally, increase in interest rate affects the cash flow, supply of credit and exchange rate which in turn affects the aggregate demand in the country. Furthermore, increase in interest rate leads to different impact on both debtor and creditor households (RBA, 2016). It leads to decrease in cash flow for debtors and increase in cash flow for creditors. Debto r households are more affected by change in cash flow due to change in interest rates. This leads to reduction in their total household spending, which effectively helps to reduce the level of inflation. Cash rate has a powerful influence on interest rate to be charged by bank. Cash rate is the Australian base rate. It is the rate charged by the central bank on providing overnight loans to commercial bank as, a large volume of withdrawals and deposits are incurred in the banks every day on a regular basis. This leads to situation of surplus or shortage of funds in the bank. Therefore, if there is shortage of fund in bank then it increases the demand of overnight funds (RBA, 2016). An increase or decrease in the cash rate leads to greater impact on interest rate to be charged by bank on mortgage, savings and loans. Therefore, official cash rate of RBA is used as benchmark by commercial banks for the interest rate that they use to charge their borrowers. For controlling the level of inflation in country, RBA makes decision to raise the cash rate which in turn affects the interest rate to be charged by commercial bank on borrowers. This leads to decrease in demand and a reduction in level of inflation in the country. In addition to this, RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) uses its open market operations for maintaining cash rate as per target (1.5% as per 7September, 2016) set by board for effectively controlling the supply of funds that are available to commercial banks in money market. The cash rate is determined in money market by effectively identifying the relation between supply and demand of overnight funds required by commercial banks. Currently, the cash rate set by RBA to achieve its inflation target is 1.50% (RBA, 2016). Such low level of cash rate points towards the fact that the current monetary policy of RBA focuses on expansionary measures that lead to increase in aggregate consumer demand. This will further help the RBA to achieve its inflation target of 2-3%. Fiscal Policy Fiscal policy can be considered as another economic tool that can be effectively used by Government of Australia for controlling the level of inflation in the country. This policy involves change in government spending and level of taxation by government. The changes in fiscal policy effectively influence the aggregate demand and level of economic activities in country (Enright and Petty, 2016). It is also helpful in stabilizing the fluctuations and maintaining effective level of growth in the economy. Role of fiscal policy in controlling inflation Fiscal policy plays an important role in effectively controlling inflation in country. Adjustments in the expenditure and revenue level of government through its spending and taxation changes leads to budget surplus or deficit. An effective fiscal policy leads to an improvement in government budget deficit by increasing the level of taxation. Fiscal policy in Australia effectively focuses on keeping the debt low and retaining the level of flexibility, for protecting the country from negative impact of inflation (Blanchard and Sheen, 2013). For reducing aggregate demand in the country, fiscal policy involves reduction in government spending and increase in the level of taxation. Increase in direct taxation by government for controlling inflation leads to reduction in disposable income of the individuals in country (McTaggart, et al., 2012). Therefore, decrease in aggregate demand leads to decrease in level of inflation in Australian economy. Supply side policies Supply side policies are government policies which help to increase the productivity and level of efficiency in the economy. These policies are helpful in controlling cost inflation that is caused by increase in production costs. Supply side policies include: Reducing tariff protection that helps to cut production costs High tariff rates leads to inefficiency in business and also reduces the level of competition from imports. Therefore, by adopting the policy of free trade and reducing the general tariff rate, the government helps manufacturing firms to reduce their production costs. Lower tariff helps firm to promote structural changes and also improves efficiency. Moreover, due to reduced tariff, the cost of importing business equipments and material also becomes cheaper that leads to lower cost of production for various manufacturing firms (Sloman, et al., 2013). Therefore, reduced production cost through reduced tariffs helps to decrease cost inflation in Australia. Reducing the rate of company taxes that helps to lower production cost Taxes are defined as production costs for business, which leads to charge more by the firm for their production. Therefore, higher level of company taxes leads to greater level of cost inflation in the country. For cutting the higher tax rates, Australian government introduced tax reforms for controlling the rate of company tax. In this regard, it was also proposed to reduce the tax rate to 28.5% from July, 2015 which will encourage companies to increase their incomes by expanding their operations. In addition to this, low tax rate leads to effective after tax profit generation for the firms, which leads to selling of goods and services at lower prices (Anderson, 2012). Finally, it leads to lowering the rate of inflation in the country and also helps local firms to be more competitive and effective globally. National Infrastructure Projects helps in reducing production cost National Infrastructure projects includes construction of roads, railways, port facilities, power and water grids and communication system that are effectively helpful for business in producing other goods and services. Therefore, the Australian Federal Government introduced new infrastructure projects like rail links, national highways and National Broadband Network (NBN). Improved rail and road transport structure plays an effective role in bringing efficiency, reducing travelling time in providing raw material to manufacturers and finish goods to wholesalers/ retailers that will effectively help to reduce production cost for the firms. Additionally, NBN helps to improve and maintain the speed of telecommunications that effectively helps to reduces cost. Ultimately, the reduced cost helps to promote low inflation environment in Australia as it further helps in reducing the cost of inputs that goes into production of different goods and services. Conclusion From the above discussion it can be concluded that inflation affects the economy of Australia. The inflation rate in Australia has been fluctuation. However, since last two years, the economy is facing low levels of inflation that is lower than its benchmark range of 2-3%. It is also concluded that in year 2011 the inflation rate was 3.33%, which is very high as compared to other years. It is assessed that there are many reasons that impacted on the inflation rate in 2011 such as flood in Australia that damaged the crops of farmers. Due to this, the price of vegetables and fruits had increased. In 2013 and 2014, the inflation rate was moderate reason being the boom in mining industry of Australia that increases the purchasing power of households. At the same time it is also concluded that the Reserve Bank of Australia has adopted certain monetary and fiscal policy measures to increase the inflation rate to required levels. In this context, it was assessed that the government has adop ted expansionary monetary policy by reducing the cash rate to 1.50% to increase the supply of money in the economy. Additionally, its fiscal policy measures include reducing in tax rates, corporate tax rates and tariff rates and increase in government expenditure to promote economic activity in the economy. References Anderson, K. (2012) Australia's Economy in Its International Context. Australia: University of Adelaide Press. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016) Consumer price index, Australia. [Online]. Available at: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6401.0 (Accessed: 19 September, 2016) Blanchard, O., and Sheen, J. (2013) Macroeconomics. Australia: Pearson Higher Education. Enright, M., and Petty, R. (2016) Australia's Competitiveness: From Lucky Country to Competitive Country. Australia: John Wiley Sons. Finch, N. (2012) Contemporary Issues in Mining: Leading Practice in Australia. UK; Palgrave Macmillan. Hubbard, G., Garnett, Anne., Lewis, P. ,and O Brien (2014) Macroeconomics. Australia: Pearson. Inflationdata.com (2016) Annual Inflation. [Online]. Available at: https://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation/AnnualInflation.asp (Accessed: 19 September, 2016) Inflationdata.com (2016) Inflation was Up Slightly in January 2014. [Online]. Available at: https://inflationdata.com/articles/2014/02/20/inflation-january-2014/%E2%80%8E (Accessed: 19 September, 2016) McTaggart, D., Findlay, C., and Parkin, M. (2012) Macroeconomics. Australia: Pearson Higher Education. Morris, R.M.., (2014) Economics Down Under Book 1 VCE Economics Units 1 and 2 9E and EBookPLUS, Book 1. Australia: John Wiley and Sons. RBA (2016) Cash Rate. [Online]. Available at: https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/cash-rate/ (Accessed, 20 September 2016). RBA (2016) Monetary policy. [Online] Available at: https://www.rba.gov.au/education/monetary-policy.html (Accessed: 20 September 2016). RBA (2016) Monetary Policy. [Online]. Available at: https://www.rba.gov.au/monetary-policy/ (Accessed: 20 September 2016). Reserve Bank of Australia (2016) Australian Economy SNAPSHOT. [Online]. Available at: https://www.rba.gov.au/snapshots/economy-snapshot/ (Accessed: 19 September. 2016) Sloman, J., Norris, K., and Garrett, D. (2013) Principles of Economics. Australia: Pearson Higher Education. Statista (2016) Australia: Inflation rate from 2010 to 2020. [Online]. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/271845/inflation-rate-in-australia/ (Accessed: 19 September, 2016) The Guardian (2016) Australian inflation falls to 1.3% in biggest drop for seven years. [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/27/australian-inflation-falls-to-13-in-biggest-drop-for-seven-years (Accessed: 19 September, 2016)

Lawrence Thomas Casey Essays - Pickles, 9, Sweet Pickles

Lawrence: Thomas Casey Richard Sweeney November 29, 1999 Thomas Casey Throughout the fall semester I did community service at a thrift shop and soup kitchen in Lawrence. There I experienced things I have never encountered before in my life. These experiences have taught me a lot, and have truly made me look at Americas underprivileged, in a new light. The hours I put in at the food pantry had a greater affect on me than the thrift shop. On October 16, 1999 another classmate and I were brought to the food pantry in the middle of a poor section of Lawrence. We were brought inside and I was instructed to serve salad, bread, and pickles. My heart really went out to the unfortunate people when they started coming up to me. I felt extremely bad for them. There were people of all ages. Parents with their children, wearing dirt stained clothing filled with holes that did not even fit them. A good amount of the people I had to deal with were Hispanic and very few of them were able to speak English. It was very difficult to communicate with them. The little faces of the innocent children made me really feel for them. I knew these children had insecure families and were looked at as though they were fortunate to be getting food. These young kids seemed to be very appreciative that they were able to get some food in their starving bellies. There was one incident that will always stick with me. There was a mother with her two sons and daughter that had gotten in line to get their food. The two boys must have been around six years old and eleven years old. The girl was probably about nine years of age. The mother had gone first and got all her food and sat down. Then the little girl and her older brother went. The little six-year-old had dirt stains and tares all over his gray sweat pants. His innocent face said nothing to me. He stood there staring at me in the eye with a sad look. I asked him if he wanted to have some salad and he shook his head from side to side implicating no. Then I asked if he would like to have some bread and he again shook his head from side to side. Then the last thing I was serving which were pickles. I asked the child if he would like some pickles and his head immediately started to nod up and down meaning he wanted some. The smile on his face went from one ear to the other. He appeared so tha nkful to have gotten some pickles. I gave the young boy a bunch of pickles. The boy quickly went to his seat and sat there with a huge grin on his face and enjoyed his pickles. After he finished the pickles on his plate he then walk up to the counter that he could barely see over hesitated for a minute and in this very quite voice he asked me Can I please have some more pickles? The voice of the child was so faint that I could hardly hear him. This boy was so shy. I told him he was more than welcome to have some more. I think that I made the little boys day by giving him more pickles. He had a smile on his face for the rest of the day. It made me feel really good that I was able to make the boy happy. At the thrift shop, about ninety percent of the people were Hispanic. One of the workers at the thrift shop I encountered could not talk English so it was very difficult for him to tell me anything. This one time when it was just he and I and we were testing a dryer to see if it still worked, he was trying to tell me to move the dryer near an outlet so we could plug it in. I had no clue what so ever what he was trying to instruct me to do. I just stood there looking at the man and we both felt helpless because we could not communicate

Essay Writing For High School Applications

Essay Writing For High School ApplicationsWhen applying for college or university, you want to be sure that your essays are as good as they can be. Essays are the first thing a potential employer will see and often this is the first impression that a future employer will have of you. Knowing that your writing is top notch makes it much easier to make a lasting impression.There are a variety of essays that you should take advantage of when writing high school applications. You want to be sure that you use the same techniques for essay writing for high school as you do for college applications. You want to create an essay that will be convincing and to show that you are a student that wants to get a job out of high school.For example, you need to show that you care about your academic career and not just your self-esteem. Another example is you need to show that you are learning every day about yourself and about other students in your class. These examples are examples of things that should show a student that they care about themselves and their career. The goal of these types of essays is to show that you want to be able to move on and be successful.This type of student essay is a part of what you will find on any high school application. If you want to stand out from the crowd of other students, you should know how to write a great essay. You will want to get high quality student essay samples for high school applications and this is the best way to do that. Since you will be going into a competitive, high school applying environment, you need to write essays that are unique and that will help you get a better job than you might otherwise get.Writing an essay is not something that you want to overlook. A high school application is a valuable tool in helping you get into a great college or university. You need to take advantage of what your application is for so that you do not look like you are just trying to get a job.Good writing is the key to making high s chool applications the best that they can be. You want to make sure that you do all that you can to have the best possible chance of getting a job in high school. You want to demonstrate that you are not afraid to get up and try new things in high school.The only problem that you may encounter with writing essays is that you do not know anything about it and you may feel a little intimidated by the process. That is why you should always start with writing a sample high school essay so that you can see what the process will look like. By taking a look at this sample, you will know what steps to take and what questions to ask in order to be successful in high school.You will find that writing an essay on your high school applications will be no different than any other type of essay that you have written before. You should just keep in mind that what you want to do is show that you are an interesting student and that you are learning everything that you can about yourself and others. You will be showing that you care about yourself and you want to be able to succeed at whatever it is that you are trying to do.

The Success of Dell Computers essays

The Success of Dell Computers essays Dell computers are one of the leaders within the computer hardware industry. Started in the late 1980s, it was viewed as a small player within the market by powerhouses such as IBM until its proven sales strategy and production mechanism vaulted it to the top of the industry. A careful analysis of its marketing mix will show how it has effectively positioned itself in the market to succeed on a fundamental level. First, an analysis of Dells overall company strategy and its marketing mix in terms of corporate strategy will take place. Then a further detailed analysis of one of its most successful Desktop PC models will be examined, the Dimension Desktop series. Finally we will examine another line of Dell PCs that have not faired very well in its particular sector, their XPS notebook series. Through a careful analysis of the marketing mix, we will be able to identify both the strengths and weaknesses of the Dell product line and corporate strategy. As an overall company, Dells primary strength is reliant on its strong supply chain and pricing. Price therefore is the key to their marketing mix because its both their strongest offering and their branding niche. Dell is known for top of the line desktops at affordable prices. The price not only is directed to their overall products but also to their customer service, warranty policies and other amenities. The bottom line is that Dell maneuvered itself into creating great value at an affordable price. The second key to the marketing mix, product, is a much more ambiguous area for Dell. The reason for this is that there are many higher-grade products on the market within the desktop industry than Dell products. However, it is because they provide respectable quality products at a very reasonable price that it can get away with not being the leader within the industry on product quality. Its overall promotional strategy is very much d...

An interpretation of Love in ChangRae Lee’s “A Gesture Life”

Interestingly, â€Å"A Gesture Life† is certainly not the kind of story that portrays love in a typical manner. It is quite amusing that there are lots of ironies if love was to be discussed in this book . This essay will show the readers that the desire for love in â€Å"A Gesture Life† had ironically hindered the acquisition of love. The novel of Chang-Rae Lee was basically about probably the worst kind of tragedy there is, not being loved by everyone even by oneself. If we are to classify the different forms of love in â€Å"A Gesture Life,† there are lots of technical terms that are always related to the concept of love like agape, pragmatic love, eros, complex chemical reactions and terms like pheromones and dopamine, and lots of scientific terms that few of us comprehends. This essay will only employ types of love that is understandable by all for the purpose of keeping this essay from being too general. This essay will focus on the main character’s love for the other characters and concepts in his life. But the essay will not settle for mere descriptions of the protagonist’s love, it will show the reader how love had been distorted and given meanings by the traumas that the protagonist had suffered during the war. The first kind of love from the novel is the love for acceptance. The protagonist Hata, had been begging (although he didn’t express this explicitly) for acceptance from the people in his life and his neighborhood. Hata was too careful about everything he does in his neighborhood. That is because he doesn’t want to commit mistakes that could get him noticed. He wanted a low-profile life in his neighborhood because he has this assumption that he will be the target of discrimination in the community. But contrary to what Hata is thinking, the citizen’s of his community, Bedley Run, appears to like Hata, but in the way Hata wants them to like him. Hata was treated like an Oriental mascot because the people in Bedley Run seem to like him only for the differences he and most of the people in Bedley Run share. Hata speaks of his love for acceptance in his community, â€Å"†¦my assumption is that once I settle in†¦I will be treated like as people should be treated† (Lee 3).   His assumptions of being accepted was brutally debunked by what had transpired during his stay in Bedley Run, â€Å"It seems to me that people took a weird interest in making me feel that I am unwelcome† (Lee 3) Hata’s love for acceptance didn’t end with his failed attempt with his neighborhood. It appears that Hata’s love for his adopted daughter Sunny, whom he had adopted when he was still in Korea when Sunny was just a child. While Sunny was growing up, she and her father were having endless disputes. In the long run, Sunny ran away from home even when she was just a teenager. Later in the story, Hata will have the chance to make up with her daughter. Sunny went back to Hata and asks for support for she was pregnant. Irritatingly, Hata denied Sunny’s plea for support. Hata had prioritized more his and his family’s reputation more than the well being of her daughter. It appears that even though Hata loves her daughter, his family’s reputation weighs more than the affection of his daughter. This is Hata’s real and unfortunate dilemma. He had stated several times in the narrative that he loves her daughter very much, but still he is quite unable show his love. After this he will contemplate heavily as to why his life is devoid of love, he will contemplate heavily as to why his life is remote to the lives of the ones he dears most. Hata’s weird and unproductive approach to love will backfire at him at the most tragic of scenarios. Hata had accidentally brought his house on fire and he was hurt in the fire and was hospitalized. After that he was caught in a web of nostalgia, he reminisced about the time he served as a paramedic in an army camp in the pacific war. There he had fallen in love with a certain woman whom he calls â€Å"K† who was about the same age as her adopted daughter Sunny. He had loved K as genuinely a man could love a woman. He was even willing to die and kill for K as she had committed murder and Hata was willing to offer help in covering up. But then, just like in the bulk of the story, Hata’s love remains unrequited. K had viewed his love as having ill intentions. K thought that Hata was only after her youth and was only after sex. This tragic memory of Hata had some great effects in later in his life especially the relationships he had, especially with her daughter. In a weird but true manner, Hata’s kind of loves are real and unfortunately remains unrequited. Hata’s situation is what we see everyday happening to real people. That is just the truthfulness that made this story a success. The novel â€Å"A Gesture Life† may have been talking about the tragic life of Hata when it comes to love, but what it was actually talking about is how some people find it very hard to be loved just because they themselves find it hard to love others. In the story, Hata seems to be the kind of person who never knew the feeling of being loved. He has this hunger to be loved by the people around him. This for me is one of the reasons why many people find it easy to empathize with the character of Hata. Work Cited Lee, Chang-Rae. A Gesture Life. CA: Riverhead books. 1999

Roger Shimomuras Artwork Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Roger Shimomuras Artwork - Essay Example Examining the largest painting in the exhibition YELLOW TERROR, it is evident that Roger Shimomura uses the caricatures of Japanese soldiers, which are represented as individuals or types who crash, tumble and collide. Roger Shimomura himself is at the center of this chaos which pushes his eyes into a slant as if creating the nightmare mental picture of the Japanese caricatures done by his sight getting altered. The use of the First World War postcards shows how Roger Shimomura has copied caricatures in a precise manner to show how the postcards ridicule the Japanese army’s enemy as a fox, a snake, a beetle, a pig and a monkey. However, it is evident from the caricatures that Roger Shimomura has only borrowed the human caricatures and they exactly indicate how Roger Shimomura’s art relates to the sources of which they were found. Roger Shimomura has created a composition with the cartoon sources as the satire of a grand manner of the 1950s American art at a time when he was coming of age. However, it must be emphasized that the accumulation of the sources and the sources themselves in Roger Shimomura painting are representing more than a formal reference. The artwork also represents a social context. The YELLOW TERROR is a representation of how the society was racist against the Japanese and the Chinese to a point whereby they classified them into one class and making no good distinction between the Japanese and the Chinese but making the distinction only on racist’s grounds.

Select a firm that is listed in the UK and a competitor that is listed Essay

Select a firm that is listed in the UK and a competitor that is listed elsewhere in the world. Using financial information from THOMSON ANALYTICS - Essay Example Many drugs fail to pass the various drugs administration tests issued by respective government agencies, this leads to heavy research and development costs to be levied on products that could never be seen in the markets. (Bleavins et al., 2010, p.35) Drug testing is a very time consuming as well as expensive process. This is usually disastrous for a company’s results as the R&D investment may not generate any returns in the near future, making it difficult to judge the true position of a financial statement. (Bleavins et al., 2010, p.35) It is because of such reasons why analyzing the results of a pharmaceutical company is considered to be an extensive and taxing task. Furthermore, short-term financial statement analysis may be rendered ineffective because of these reasons, as the numbers will never consider ‘what if’ scenarios (such as what if R&D costs do not provide any return in the future? or provide exceptional returns?) Perhaps the industry with the highest innovation rates, the pharmaceutical industry is an essential element of the financial system. According to Fortune Magazine, 12 pharmaceutical companies have made it in the Fortune 500 list in 2009, amongst these 6 companies were from the US, and 2 companies were from UK; the rest were also from other European regions. (Fortune, 2009, p.27) GlaxoSmithKline (hereafter referred to as GSK) and Pfizer have been close competitors for a long time, although their major focus in terms of type of drug differs substantially, these two companies still compete for top spot within many drug categories. Nevertheless, both these companies are very accomplished: Pfizer is more often in the news as compared to any of its counterparts, mostly it generates media for all the wrong reasons, but it gets lots of free publicity nonetheless. Most recently the company was surrounded in a controversy involving bribing doctors to recommend Pfizer’s