...Mark R. Swieszcz Angeline E. Hutton FI 360 Financial Management 6 March 2012 “The Ascent of Money” Confederate Money Backed by Cotton, What went wrong? In 1861 the American Civil War had begun. The North held most of the industrialized states and the South almost all the agrarian ones. More importantly the North had under its control all of the original gold supply which backed its form of currency at that time. So what did the South have? They had cotton. The South controlled almost all of the cotton produced in the United States. It was Americas leading export before the war and England’s and several other countries primary import. The American South had “accounted for 77 percent of 800 million pounds of cotton used in Great Britain.”(Dattel) It was essential to the European economy that they have cotton. The South decided to back their money and there by their war effort with cotton. It was a great plan which if it had been executed properly might have meant a different country all together then we have today. The South believed that since they controlled most of the world’s cotton supply they could drive up the price of it by imposing an embargo on themselves which would drive up the price of cotton all over the world. The Confederacy also believed that this would force Great Britain, who had declared themselves to be neutral, to side with the South in the war since cotton was the basis for their large textile industry. They were correct in some of...
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...resources they have spent prior to their decision. This is known as the Sunk Cost Effect. According to Arkes and Blumer (1985), the sunk cost effect is “manifested in a greater tendency to continue an endeavour once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made” and this behaviour is based off of the “desire not to appear wasteful”. Both Hall and Fischer made decisions while falling victim to the sunk cost fallacy. Even though there was a defined time in which the team must turn around and start their descent, both leaders chose to ignore their own rules and continue their ascent well beyond their previously determined turnaround time. Hall was aware of the sunk cost effect and how it could alter good decisions, and pointed this out in the Everest case when he commented on Göran Kropp’s, a young Swedish solo climber, decision to descend. To turn around that close to the summit… That showed incredibly good judgement on young Göran’s part. I’m impressed – considerably more impressed, actually, than if he’d continued climbing and made it to the top… With enough determination, any bloody idiot can get up this hill. The trick is to get back down alive. (p.9, para 4) Hall knew how hard of a decision Kropp had to make, considering how much time, money, and effort he had most likely put in, as well as considering that he was only an hour away from the summit. During the climb to the summit, four clients decided to turn around before reaching the summit. These four clients...
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...losing what it was initially supposed to do. Third world countries have focused on short term spending as opposed to long haul investment, which is opposed to what democracy supports. For example, Brazil permits its laborers to resign at the age of fifty-three, however, has done little to make a current air transport system. India pays a lot to customer gatherings, yet puts too little in investment (Hirst, 2000). Political frameworks have been caught by vested parties and undermined by those who are against democracy. Before the occurrence of financial crisis, there was a huge conviction that democracy was not just ethically better than authoritarian types of government, but on the other hand were better situated to manage monetary and money related turmoil. The latest monetary crisis, however, has raised doubt about this suspicion, particularly as some dictator states, for example, China have clearly weathered the storm as compared to its counter parts; Europe and the US. Most business analysts and political researchers still concur that liberal democracy is in reality a superior arrangement of government than all others in delivering a long time open enterprise. It is...
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...Intro In August 2006, Vertu, a maker of premium mobile phones and a subsidiary of Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, announced that it was unable to meet the demand for its luxury phones and would increase its production capacity in the near future. The mobile phones, or personal communication instruments, as they were referred to in the company's communications, were priced between US$ 4,900 and US$ 50,000 (as of 2006). The phones were handcrafted with high quality components including precious stones. The more expensive models were made of platinum Vertu had invested considerable money as well as time in conceptualizing and creating its range of luxury phones. These extremely expensive phones were primarily targeted at young and successful businessmen. Vertu realized early that mobile phones, far from being just a communication device, would also come to reflect the personality of their owners. While the Vertu phones evoked a good response, some analysts doubted whether the interest would be sustained. As the product proved successful, the number of imitators was expected to grow quickly. And sure enough, companies like Mobiado3 and mainstream players like Motorola4, Samsung5, and LG6 launched high-end mobile models in the mid-2000s. Even as Vertu phones won praise for their design and build, they were criticized for being technological laggards. However, company officials did not see this as a drawback, explaining that a typical Vertu customer did not...
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...which he wrote and directed. The film, based on the book by Fortune Magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, opens with a reenactment of the suicide of Enron executive Cliff Baxter, then travels back in time, describing Enron chairman Kenneth Lay's humble beginnings as the son of a preacher, his ascent in the corporate world as an "apostle of deregulation," his fortuitous friendship with the Bush family, and the development of his business strategies in natural gas futures. The film points out that the culture of financial malfeasance at Enron was evident as far back as 1987, when Lay apparently encouraged the outrageous risk taking and profit skimming of two oil traders in Enron's Valhalla office because they were bringing a lot of money into the company. But it wasn't until eventual CEO Jeff Skilling arrived at Enron that the company's "aggressive accounting" philosophy truly took hold. The Smartest Guys in the Room explores the lengths to which the company went in order to appear incredibly profitable. Their win-at-all-costs strategy included suborning financial analysts with huge contracts for their firms, hiding debts by essentially having the company loan money to itself, and using California's deregulation of the electricity market to manipulate the state's energy supply. Gibney's film reveals how Lay, Skilling, and other execs managed to keep their riches, while thousands of lower-level employees saw their loyalty repaid with the loss of their jobs and their retirement...
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...argues that if you are engaged in a happy marriage, then professional setbacks are much easier to endure whilst being reasonably happy, but no matter how many career triumphs you attain they will never feel satisfactory if you are in an unhappy marriage. He describes the relation between happiness and income as complicated, as there in poor nations who grow to become middle-class nations is an increase in overall happiness but with further economic ascent the effect on general happiness is greatly diminished, if it even exists. He bases this in research conducted by the Brookings Institute. It states that USA has become much richer over the past 50 years and has become a very unequal country but neither this growth in overall wealth nor the vast differentiation in income social classes in-between has had an effect on the general happiness of the country. Text 2 takes quite a different approach, looking at which way of spending your money gives most happiness. Stephanie Rosenbloom, the author of the text, emphasizes that using your money on experiences e.g. vacations or cooking-classes will produce a longer lasting happiness than the purchasing of materialistic things. The main reason for this being that experiences nearly always engages you socially, whereas buying things does not. She mentions a study published in Psychological Science which has found that wealth has a negative effect on our ability to enjoy the smaller everyday indulgences, like when you gratify your desire by...
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...“The Damned Human Race” Mark Twain stated that he has been studying traits and dispositions of animals and contrasting them to man. Be he ashamed to report that his findings are humiliating and that the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the lower animals should be called the Descent of Man from the higher animal. (Twain) Twain was involved in experiments and spent a lot of time over seeing his subjects. He begins to talk about how men are ravenous. He tried the same experiment with an anaconda, where he put seven calves into a cage with an anaconda. The anaconda only ate one and let the rest be. Twain thinks that this shows that the Earl is descended from the anaconda rather than the other way around and that the Earl had lost something...
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...Discussion 1 Zenith Taskin 211350345 In the first four chapters of his seminal book “The City in History”, Lewis Mumford demonstrates and outlines various vital issues that intertwine to explain the beginnings of the city and its various institutions, behaviors and social norms that exist within. The three key issues that are the most striking are the reason for the existence of cities aside from animal needs, the dominance of women in Neolithic culture and finally, the developing role of the Paleolithic hunter. Although Mumford dissects each of these issues in isolation, he ultimately demonstrates how they all come together to become part of the earliest of cities. Before cities came into existence, Mumford explains how “there was the hamlet and the shrine and the village: before the village, the camp, the cache, the cave and the cairn” (Lewis Mumford, 1961, 5). Mumford further observes ...
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...University of Greenwich ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION COVER SHEET SUBJECT CODE : BUSI1132 SUBJECT TITLE : CONTEXT AND REGILATORY FRAMEWORKS OF BUSINESS PROGRAMME : BABM YEAR 1 SEGi ID :SCKL 00047599 UOG ID : 000944904 LECTURER’S NAME : MR PRADEEP LEARNING CENTRE : SEGi COLLEGE KUALA LUMPUR SUBMISSION DATE : 17TH JUNE 2016 BOOK REVIW: THE VALUE OF NOTHING: HOW TO RESHAPE MARKET AND REDEFINE DEMOCRACY PAPERBACK 6TH JAN 2011 AITHOR RAJ PATEL the video of Raj Patel’s The Value of Nothing is such a pointed prologue to this testing and critical book, it bears rehashing: "From the 1970s forward, our economy was commandeered by free-showcase fundamentalists whose mantra was eagerness is great, control is awful," Patel says on his site. "But its gets darker still: We were all in the interest of personal entertainment. We purchased, ate and drove more. Furthermore, paid for it with obligation, diabetes and contamination. "We mortgaged our future," he contends. "Also, called it freedom." This book comes at a basic intersection. Amid a period when every Western nation is wagering hard on a full recovery from the considerable worldwide subsidence, this unprecedented attempt to spend our way back to conventional - through numerous billions in bailout and help dollars - is making new danger...
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...Mem fox Quick facts • She was born on march 5 1946 Melbourne Australia • went to Africa when she was six • she got bullied in school • she is currently 68 years of age Early life Family Her mums name is Nancy and her dads name is Wilfred. Both her parents were missionaries. Her dad was the director of teaching training school, on hope fountain mission. Mem is the oldest out of the three children, all sisters of course. Her sister’s names are Jan and Alison. Schools When she was six she went to Africa. She went to an African school called “Mission school”. She was the only white person in her...
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...Sullivan vs Heyer brought about the idea of a single champion, a concept that is paramount to modern sport. Morrissey provided a rags to riches story that few could equal. Parlaying his prize fighting popularity and winnings into an impressive ascent up the social ladder. The most important of the pugilistic trail blazers, however, was John Sullivan. A hot tempered working man who got his start in the sport by trying to supplement his day job income. Discovering he had a knack for beating the tar out of people, he made boxing his full time occupation. He had a flare for self promotion and was willing to fight just about anyone. He embarked on nationwide tours, with an open challenge out to all, and earned enormous sums of money for the day. Known for generous handouts, rampant drinking and partying, the man spent money almost as fast as he earned it. Despite this impressive wealth, he never forgot where he came from. As a result his company was sought by all, poor and rich alike, and he gladly gave it to all. His charismatic personality combined with his unequalled fighting prowess forged him America's first true sports star, and made him one of the most important sporting figures of the 19th century. One could make the argument that he single handedly brought boxing...
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...McCormick-invented the automatic reaper. The reaper enabled one worker to harvest as much wheat in a day as five could harvest using older methods. He patented this device in 1834, established a factory in Chicago in the heartland of the greenbelt in 1847. By 1860 more than 1000,000 reapers were in use on western farms. 4) Erie Canal-was the greatest construction project the United States had ever undertaken. It was a ditch forty feet wide and four feet deep with tow paths along the banks. It had difficult cuts and fills which were required to enable the canal to pass through hills and over valleys, stone aqueducts were necessary to carry it across streams and eighty-eight locks of heavy masonry with great wooden gates were needed to permit ascents and descents. It became an immediate financial success. 5) Factory System—most of the manufacturing occurred in households with people making things by hand or simple machines, technology improved. Entrepreneurs begin to make use of new and larger machines driven by water power that allowed them to bring textile operations together under one roof. The factory system spread rapidly in the 1820’s. 6) Know-Nothings-a strict code of secrecy, which included the secret password, used in lodges across the country, “I know nothing”. Members of this movement became know as the Know Nothings. They turned their attention to party politics and...
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...Is Fitzgerald’s handsome, rich, and well-known Jay Gatsby truly great? Several characterizations of Jay Gatsby demonstrate how Gatsby goes beyond his own descent and creates the impression of being great, which will, however, continue to be only an impression. Readers are exposed to Gatsby’s many great achievements, including his ascent into excessive wealth and reputation, his abiding pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, and of course his tragic, galvanized death. The exposure of his poorly explained fortune and questionable social status, his fading, hopeless relationship with Daisy, and his dreary passing, emerges him from his reality, which is what shatters the glimmering illusion and ultimately establishes that Jay Gatsby, contrary to the novel’s...
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...empire * Separate the East and West, Changez and Erica * Symbolize America’s future fall MANILA * In the East, but more like New York, making Changez resentful, angry and ashamed * Where Changez started to change, realizes that he is play-acting * Separate Changez from America to have a Third World’s view of the 9/11 attacks VALPARAISO * Sense of melancholy, fallen empire * Remind Changez of America’s interfering and destructive nature * America is ‘peripheral’ like Lahore and Valparaiso * Where he chooses to become an exile, his loyalties 2. CHARACTERS CHANGEZ * Novel’s narrator and protagonist * A Pakistanis from Lahore, graduated at the top of his class from Princeton * He had little money, under financial aid, working three-off campus jobs * Polite, sophisticated, he was...
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...isn't about the money. He and his friends are rich, and Socrates is worth whatever price they need to pay to get him out. Crito also tells Socrates that he will certainly be welcome in another city. Then, he lays down his real argument that what Socrates is planning to do is not right, by saying that Socrates is treating himself like his enemies would treat him, that he's letting his sons down, and that he's a coward for not wanting to run from his own death. This is the central argument to the entire dialogue, and the one Socrates is going to focus most on disproving. This is evident as Socrates quickly dismisses the arguments about reputation, children, and the like as "the reflections of the ordinary public" (86, 19-20), and not worth arguing about. Socrates now sets out to prove that staying and dying is right, but first he wants to make it clear why doing what’s right is what he’s after. He likens doing wrong to maiming one’s soul, and just like a maimed body, life isn’t worth it with a maimed soul. The first main point Socrates makes about why this course of action is wrong is that one should never do wrong or do injury in any circumstances. A man must fulfill his agreements in order to be right and just. If he escapes, he won't fulfill his "first agreements” to the state (88, 8). The argument could end here, but Crito doesn't understand, so we have to keep going. Now Socrates takes up both sides of the argument, with Crito merely adding a few words of ascent from time to...
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