State of the Union 2011 Essays - State Of The Union Address

The State of the Union address is the speech the President makes to a join session of Congress at the beginning of the legislative session. This address is in accordance with the Constitution, which provides that the President shall ?from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union?. For 221 years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. On January 25, 2011, President Obama delivered the annual address to a join session of Congress from the House Chamber at the U.S. Capital. He gave a report on the financial condition of our Nation under the new divided government. Since the Republicans won back control of the House and increased their number in the Senate last November, getting support from them will be a big challenge for the President of the United States. He was talking about the past two years being as that as anything the Nation has been threw since the Great Depression. But we are in a different condition today. The economy is growing, there was more than million jobs created last year, stock market is going up, and Corporate Profits are healthy. Even though President Obama stresses that there is so much more to do, there are so many Americans still struggling every day when the costs of living are still going up. Obama accentuates that as a Nation we need to make sure we are competitive and that we are consis tently growing. He proposed five ?pillars?: ?Innovation ?Education ?Infrastructure ?Deficit Reduction ?Reforming Government Barak Obama?s principle focus is on creating more jobs and thereby strengthening the economy. His focus is on making sure that the economy is working for everybody, for the entire American family, making sure that people have decent jobs and benefits. Obama is also proposing on cutting expenses for the next five years. He understands that dealing with deficits and debts needs to be done in a responsible way. He emphasizes on reforming the government and finely making sure to keep America safe. In conclusion, President Obama is promising to work hard to make sure that the American Dream is obtainable to anyone who wants to work for it. He understands that this will take a lot of work and a lot of challenges, but he believes that anything is possible as long as we will come together as people, Republicans, Democrats and Independents. ?As long as we focus on what binds us together as people, as long as we want to find common ground, that what its going to take to built the future ?.

Writing a Thesis

Writing a Thesis Writing a Thesis Writing a Thesis Thesis writing is a common assignment for academic degree programs.   Thesis should include research elements, it is the culmination of several months or years of studying. Writing a thesis requires deep thought, excellent planning and proper organization. Thesis topic must be justified; claims and conclusions must be supported by experiments or reasoned arguments and deductions. Thesis writing requires a careful investigation and deep research as well as analysis of the chosen problem.   It is not easy to write a good thesis and I hope the following tips will give you some ideas on writing a thesis.   Thesis Format Abstract, the introduction, the literature review and the conclusion are the required parts of the thesis format. The abstract provides the reader with a summary of thesis content. It should be brief but contain sufficient details, tell the reader about your motivation to conduct a research, state the project objectives, illuminate techniques employed, mention main results and conclusions. Abstracts should not exceed a page and should be self-contained. The abstract is the guide to the contents of the thesis, and therefore it is important to give the reader a good overview of the thesis topics. Introduction is the first chapter thesis writing. The purpose of introduction is to discuss the motivation of the work, state and define the problem that thesis is intended to solve, state the aim of the work, and tell how the work will progress. Also provide a brief overview of each of the main chapters. In the introduction you shouldn't go into details, you will have the chance to describe them later in other chapters. Remember that writing a thesis introduction is the final step of the writing process. Once all chapters are completed, you will see the structure of the whole thesis and be empowered to write a better introduction.   In addition, at this stage you will have the results of your work and ideas about the contribution of your thesis writing. Literature review section is based on published material. The purpose of the literature review writing is to give details about the motivation for the work, explain why the thesis problem is important. You should show that you have studied thoroughly what others have done. Make sure that you found out the most recent information relating to your field of study. The literature review is obviously a very important chapter because you have to employ good critical thinking skills. The purpose of writing a thesis conclusion is to summarize the main findings of the project, to list the contributions of the work and to give the directions for further research. Custom Thesis Writing Help If you are not sure how to write a good thesis and you seek professional help to write parts of your thesis, you are welcome to ask professional thesis writers for assistance.   We guarantee adherence to the instruction you provide and deliver free plagiarism report proving originality of delivered project.   We are available 24/7 to provide thesis writing help and we guarantee timely reply to your concerns.

Disaster Preparedness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Disaster Preparedness - Essay Example As for the mitigation, the best activity is to have policies and laws necessitating mandatory disaster prevention mechanisms in institutions, companies and organizations (Bradley, 2011). In every county all over the country, the above mentioned activities should be ensured. Training of all the people or at least majority of the people in a country (this is manageable as a country does not have many people and they know each other) on how to respond to different types of disasters is necessary. As a mitigation activity, this should be accompanied by a local law making it compulsory for everybody in that county to be trained so that they can know how to prevent disasters and deal with them in case they are natural. Ambulances (several of them) should be available in the county and situated in various locations that have easier access to all parts of the county and they should be well equipped and fuelled at all times so that in case of disaster, they are ready to move. Lastly, there should be several trained counselors even if they have other careers so that in case of any disaster, they can be called upon to exercise the counseling duties to a lot of people over a period of time. 2. When there is no response action (like an EOC activation), the public usually thinks that emergency managers are doing very little. However, this is not the case. Preparedness actions are always ongoing: preparing a plan, training to the plan, and exercising the plan. Explain how this will help a community in the long run? Ongoing preparedness plans have several advantages to the community in the long run. One of these is the fact that people do not have to rush once a disaster occurs. In most cases, once a disaster occurs, people make rush decisions, look up onto authorities adding pressure to them and laying blame on them and the outcome of this is a slow response, mangled recovery and even a lot of loss of life and property which would otherwise have been

Research project (body scanning technology) Paper

Project (body scanning technology) - Research Paper Example These body imaging scanners can be found in several areas of the security industry, including in commercial loss prevention and in government buildings that require an extra level of security. However, one of the most popularly discussed usages of the technology is in airports, and in 2010 it was announced that these would be put into use at 28 airports in the United States, including New Yorks JFK and Fort Lauderdale International. The use of these has been defended by the US Homeland Security Secretary, who says that these will severely reduce incidences of smuggling, terrorism and on-flight crime. The following essay will discuss the technology in detail, including full details on the benefits that these machines can bring to the security industry. Following this, the privacy concerns which have been raised will be covered, as will the health issues that have been linked to the machines. Particular focus will be on the privacy concerns that have been dominating the media with rega rds to this technology, as it is a particularly pressing issue for those who feel we may be lapsing into a Big Brother state, as well as those who feel uncomfortable with the use and possible storage of these images. Body scanning technology is based on the principle of the millimeter wave. Most materials used for clothing are transparent when viewed under this frequency of radio band, and images taken by these scanners will therefore show any concealed objects that may not be evident to the naked eye. The scanners come in two forms, known as active and passive. The passive form is one that uses the natural energy emitted from objects, and is generally considered to be as safe as a digital camera for the person being photographed. The active scanners rely on directing these millimeter radio waves at the object and then reading the energy which has been directed back (Laskey, 2010). This

The Enlightenment in America Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Enlightenment in America - Research Paper Example American enlightenment started in the 18 century. It reached the country through the port cities. At the beginning of the enlightenment period, only the elite had embraced the new ways of thinking. Famous philosophers spread enlightenment ideas throughout the country during that time. An example of the philosophers was Benjamin Franklin. He spread ideas using cheap materials such as pamphlets and newspapers. The enlightenment ideas started in Europe, but Europeans took a long time to implement the ideas because they had to discuss the implementation of the ideas. Americans adopted the ideas faster than Europe. They started to question the relevance of kings and churches in the era. This resulted into the introduction of the new theology which the educate elite in the society named the rational Christianity1. The rational Christianity theology influenced people from different religions in the society to tolerate each other. This is because new theology made them to accept the idea that God gave human the ability to think rationally. This increased humans’ understanding that enabled them to live according to the moral teachings without considering their religious backgrounds. This made many Americans to embrace Deism that was a belief that is influenced by reason instead of religious teachings like in the past. This belief held that our Creator made the world and the natural laws that are meant to maintain it. It is the duty of humans to ensure that they maintain the world using the natural laws. In the past, people in the country believed that humans were guided by God’s supernatural powers. However, during the enlightenment period, people started to believe that humans are guided by their reasoning ability. The ability is a gift that God gave them, but not supernatural pow ers. Thomas Jefferson was among those who embraced the new philosophy. The beliefs led to the introduction of new laws aligned with the

Imf And The Economic Growth In Cambodia Economics Essay

Imf And The Economic Growth In Cambodia Economics Essay IMF and the struggle increase economic growth in Cambodia. Since emerging from the very darkest period in its history (POL POT regime) almost for four years, Cambodia has traversed a long way. From below ground zero, the country bounced back to rebuild the devastated economy and institutions. After the signing of Paris peace accord in 1991, Cambodia eventually had a formal election in 1993 and Cambodia has took a very important step to change its economy from plan economy to the free market. It was time that Cambodia opened its door to the foreign investors, and enterprises and companies are private own. Regarding the investment law which enacted in 1994, Cambodia attracted many foreign investment companies that created many jobs for Cambodian people. From 1993 up until now, the main export of Cambodia is garments follow by agricultural products. Tourism is also said to be the second largest export industry. Even though Cambodia is a foreign aid dependency country with nearly one thi rd of its national budget coming from ODA (Official Development Assistance), growth in Cambodian economy has run at over 6% per annum, on average, since the early 1990s. According to the IMF, the income per capita in 2008 was $823. Recently, Cambodia has found the gas and oil reserve which estimated to be beneficial for Cambodian economy. Oil production is expected to begin in 2011.The start of oil production in 2011 will give Cambodia an additional source of export revenue to reduce its large current account deficit and provide the funding to boost spending on the inadequate infrastructure and health and education systems. In 1999, Cambodia has successfully affiliated to ASEAN. This accession helps Cambodia to corporate with the countries in the region in order to improve its economy by joining in AFTA, CLV development triangle, GMS, CLMVà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc. As one of the CLMV countries, Cambodia can enjoy positive regional effect in East Asia through two transmission mechanisms. Fi rst, transfer of development experience from Japan and second is the flow of investment from Japan. In addition to the member of ASEAN, Cambodia finally joined WTO in 2004. WTO membership will enable Cambodia to receive non-discriminatory MFN status in international trade, and WTO concurrence is expected to bring substantial trade and FDI benefit to Cambodia. Even though there is a good sign on economic growth, Cambodia economy is still in struggle since Cambodia lack of human resources and as well as infrastructure to improve the economy. Despite the recent heady growth rate, poverty remains widespread and about one third of population are living under the poverty line. Corruption has become a grass root in Cambodian culture that contributes to the unfair contribution of growth between the rich and the poor. The gap between the rich and poor is still high. According to the IMF report, the growth rate has fallen back by 2.7% in 2009 in response to the economic downturn. Both the garment and tourist industries were undermined by the global recession. In the first 5 months of 2009 for instance, clothing exports to the US, which is Cambodias dominant export market, dropped 27% from the same period of 2008. According to the Labor Ministry, around 93 garment and shoe factories closed in the first 11 months of 2009, resulting in the loss of 38,190 jobs and a further 60 factories employing 35,337 people were forced to temporarily suspend operations, The construction sector meanwhile was weakened by the bursting of a property bubble that undermi ned the banking system by boosting non performing loans. The IMF has expressed concerns over the deterioration in the health of the banking sector and has urged the central bank to strengthen its supervision of the financial system. Regarding Foreign Direct investment, Data from the UNCTAD indicate that FDI in 2008 was $815 mn. This was below the $867 mn level in 2007 and represented 37.9% of gross fixed capital formation. The total stock of FDI (book value) at the end of 2008 was $4.637 bn, which was equal to 41.5% of GDP and was 193.5% above the level of 2000. In summary, owing to the latest IMF consultation, In a press release on December 8 that outlined the highlights of the just released Article IV Consultation Report, the IMF noted that after a decade of high economic growth, the economy was undermined by the global economic downturn, which led to a reduction in garment exports, foreign direct investment inflows and tourist receipts. The economy was also restrained by the coll apse of the property bubble, which slowed the construction sector and had negative implications for the banking sector. The economy contracted by an estimated 2.7% in 2009. The weak economy prompted a major fall in imports that narrowed the current account deficit, and stymied inflation. Growth was expected to resume in 2010 with an increase of 4.3% in response to a rebound in the global economy which will spur garment exports. IMF is one of the institutions in the Breton Wood system. As we have already known that the IMF doesnt make project loans and, in particular, it doesnt make loan to finance population on family planning programs. The IMF loans are intended to help the borrower countries stabilize their economic situation and cover chronic deficit in their balance of payment. Generally, a countrys central bank is the borrower and recipient of the IMF funds. In the case of Cambodia, Cambodia has been one of the main recipients of the IMF technical assistances (TA) over the past decades. TA in Cambodia was delivered under the umbrella of the Technical Cooperation Assistance Program (TCAP). The content of the Cambodian TCAP was designed jointly by the authorities, other donors, and the IMF provided a comprehensive program of TA, covering key areas of reform related to economic policy, including fiscal and banking sectors, statistic and legal reform. Over a decade after signing of the Paris Peace Accord i n 1991, Cambodia was still facing many major economic challenges. Tax revenues were very low, the banking system was fragile and a fundamental civil and administrative reform was necessary to improve good governance. In the fiscal area, TA aimed at (i) strengthening tax policy and administration including human resources and improving the design of the tax system;(ii) Strengthening customs administration in order to maximize the return from pre-shipment inspection, enhance enforcement capabilities, modernize and streamline procedures; and (iii) strengthening budget management to improve the quality of budget formulation and execution, along with the design and implementation of effective internal and external audits. These objectives were pursued mostly by three long term resident experts in budget management, customs administration, and tax administration and these three experts accounted for over half of total TA delivered under TCAP. In addition, the overall objective of TA in ba nking sector reform was to help create a robust and efficient banking system through bank relicensing, strengthening regulations, and improving bank supervision. TA in economic statistics was meant to strengthen the capacity to produce statistics for economic policy making and private investment planning by improving national accounts, price and foreign trade data, and balance of payments, government finance and money and banking statistic. The objective of TA in the legal area was to improve the financial sector legal framework. Three years after the start of the TCAP, the impact of TA in these different areas varies considerably. The banking sector reform has been largely deemed a success. The relicensing program implemented by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) revamped the banking system by reducing the number of banks from 31 to 17, helping to restore the banking sector soundness. In response, public confidence in the banking system appears to be gradually improving, reflected in a 22 per cent increase in the deposit base during 2002 and further gains in 2003.6 Furthermore, loan spreads narrowed in 2003 as competition in the market appears to be increasing. Besides TCAP, every year the IMF always conduct the annual article IV discussion with Cambodia. The discussion mainly covers the area of Macroeconomic and financial policies. According to the recent press release, as in August 30 to September 10, 2010, an IMF mission from Washington, D.C visited Cambodia. The IMF mission has projected that real GDP growth will reach 4.5% to 5% in 2010, a significant turnaround from 2009. However, significant risks continue to cloud growth prospects. The fragility of the global recovery exposes Cambodias narrow export base with its reliance on the U.S and European markets. In the aftermath of global financial crisis, many challenges have been arising for the International Monetary Fund as well as Cambodian government to deal with. However, what the IMF have done for Cambodia are not anything new, for it has been working in Cambodia for quite a long time. Anyway, we can classify what the IMF has for and achieved in Cambodia into three main categories: surveillance, IMF-supported programs, and technical assistance/capacity building. In the surveillance area, the IMF has monitored the financial and economic policies of Cambodia and provided necessary recommendation on macroeconomic and financial policy to the Royal government of Cambodia. In doing so, the IMF has kept track of Cambodias economic development and regularly consulted with the government of Cambodia in finding the solution to the problem. For instance, recently, through the surveillance activities in Cambodia, it has observe that the Cambodian banking system is being in problem as the result of global economic downturn, and therefore, it has recommended the RGC to strengthen it banking system. This recommendation was done through a mechanism that has been used by the IMF called Article IV Consultation. In that report of that consultation, the IMFs executive director pointed out like this Immediate priorities should include strict enforcement of the new asset classification regime, prompt implementation of corrective action plans, development of a com prehensive bank restructuring framework, and increased supervision capacity. Regarding the technical assistance/capacity building program, the IMF assists Cambodia as well as other low-and middle income countries to manage their economies effectively by providing practical guidance and training on how to upgrade institutions, and design appropriate macroeconomic, financial, and structural policies. In connection to such TA and capacity buildings, the IMF has made great achievements in Cambodia. For example, the IMF has provided technical assistances to National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) in banking supervision, restructuring of banking system, balance of payment and monetary statistics, operation in foreign exchange and international reserve management, and information and computerization systems. Besides, the IMF has also helped the Ministry of Economy and Finance in fiscal policy management, and it has also assisted the Department of Custom and Excise in strengthening custom administration. Moreover, the IMF has also aided the Cambodians Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Commerce to prepare insolvency law. Furthermore, the Ministry of Planning and the National Institute of Statistic has also received technical assistance from the IMF in preparation of national account and governments finance statistics. Relating to IMF-supported programs or lending programs, the IMF offers credit to the members who have trouble meeting their international payments and cannot find sufficient financing on affordable term. The main objective of this program is to help a country restore macroeconomic stability by rebuilding their international reserves, stabilizing their currency and paying for import. Cambodia like many other low-income countries has received a lot of concessional loan from IMF to develop their economy and reduce poverty. For instance, just to recall the year 1996, in that year the IMF provided a 41 million USD to the Royal government of Cambodia under the enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF) mechanism. As mentioned in previous mini-compositions, the International Monetary Fund has played very important role in global financial system. Its primary role is to help member countries maintain exchange rate stability by providing short term loan to those countries that are in balance of payment difficulty due to trade deficits or other factors. It was created at the end of World War II with an aim to support the global economic structure and financial order. To accomplish this task, the IMF has actively assist Cambodia and many other member states, especially the developing ones, through surveillance, technical assistance/capacity building and supporting program. Despite many success has been made, there are still problem that can be considered as the obstacle for the IMF in Cambodia, but here I am going to raise only two main issues to discuss. The first problem that challenge IMF is the negative consequence of global economic downturn that puts Cambodia economy in a dangerous place. As we have already known Cambodia economy depends heavily on garment, construction, and tourism sector. These sectors are the most hit by the crisis as they largely rely on foreign market and capital. For instance, according to a study conducted by the United Nations in Cambodia in 2009, about 20-30 percent of workers in garment sectors, construction sites and tourism sector have lost jobs since late 2008. This make Cambodias economic growth rate to decline dramatically from double digits in the years prior to the crisis to only 0.1 percent in 2009. This reflect that the IMF, as well as other Multilateral Financial Institutions such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank, to work harder in order to help promote the Cambodian economy in the wake of the global economic downturn. This is not an easy task for the IMF to deal with because the countries, such are the United States, which are the major financial contributors to this organization, are also in financial difficulty due to the impacts of the crisis. The second problem is not related to any other factors, but it is because of the procedures of the IMF itself. Before providing loan to Cambodia or any other countries who are in demand for financial assistance, the IMF first demand Cambodia and those countries to make reform such as reducing public spending, devalue their national currency and privatization . These demands, to a large extend, are consider by the Cambodian government and other assistance recipient government as new burden on their economy rather than something that can help them out of the problem. Hence, those governments do not want to rely on the IMF, they seek to obtain financial assistance from other sources. For instance, instead of follow the demand by the IMF in the sector that the Royal government of Cambodia found not important but would actually harmful the Cambodias, the government would turn to seek the assistance from China instead. Having experienced almost three decades of ravaged civil wars, Cambodias economy was greatly devastated. The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), with the technical and financial assistances from international development partners has been working very hard in reconstructing the war-torn economy. Among those development partners, the International Monetary Fund has also played a very active one. As we have discussed in the previous mini-compositions, the IMF has made significant contribution to the development of Cambodia. Like other development partners, the IMF gets involve in the Cambodias development in three main mechanisms. First of all, the IMF has monitored the financial and economic policies of Cambodia and provided necessary recommendation on macroeconomic and financial policy to the government. Second, it assists Cambodia as well as other low income country to manage their economies effectively by providing practical guidance and training on how to upgrade institutions, and design appropriate macroeconomic, financial, and structural policies. Last but not least, the IMF offers credit to Cambodia and other members who have trouble meeting their international payments and cannot find sufficient financing on affordable term. The main objective of this program is to help a country restore macroeconomic stability by rebuilding their international reserves, stabilizing their currency and paying for import. Through these mechanisms, Cambodia and many other developing countries have benefited greatl y from the IMF. Though everyone agrees that the IMF provides a lot of benefit to recipient countries, many of them do not happy with the IMF. The problem is that the assistance that the IMF offers to Cambodia as well as other low income countries always comes along with conditions. In order to be able to receive IMFs assistance, the recipient countries must agree with the IMF to accept the policies suggested by the IMF. Indeed, the policy suggested by the IMF are the ones already implemented successfully in some recipient countries. With this reason the IMF may expect that those policies must be plausible for every recipient country. However, in reality the same policy does not guarantee the same result for different country. Some policies might work well in some countries, but they might failed if applied to Cambodia or other countries else. For instance, one would expect that increase interest rate for deposit would increase the amount of deposit in financial institutions. Of course, this is true for those countries in which the financial or banking system is popular among the people. However, in Cambodia this policy will never work, for the majority of Cambodian people do not deposit their money in banks, but they just keep their money at home instead. Based on this sense, some possible disagreements between the government and the IMF arise. This makes the Royal government of Cambodia and other recipient countries prefer the assistance from other development partner to the assistance from IMF. For instance, the Cambodian government values the assistance from China the most because when provides assistance to Cambodia, China does not link with any conditions. In short, in spites of considerably succeed in various aspects of development in Cambodia, IMF has been faced and continues to face many challenges. However, the presence of IMF as the global financial governance is still very important.

All Quiet On The Western Front :: essays research papers

The novel All Quiet On The Western Front contains many incidents where the readers can hold characters responsible for their actions, however his novel in particular relates to the clash of values. Though fictional this novel by Erich Maria Remarque, presents vast detail through the conflicts at the Western Front. Corporal Himmelstoss a character in the novel is portrayed as a stereotypical military man, whose actions, when all's said and done, speaks for itself as the reader really does not question his iniquitous behaviour. However, apart from just the reader holding such characters morally accountable for their actions the novel concerns the rejection of traditional values, Paul’s disillusionment, and life opposed to death. Through such clashing of values, Remarque creates a confronting novel where the plot is for the most part articulated around values in conflict. The stereotypical stance of Corporal Himmelstoss, a military officer, is presented as a physically undersized man who wears a waxed moustache, which ideally supports the many defiant occasions where he disheartens the young soldiers. Throughout the novel where he is sent into the trenches we accept his role of breaking the spirits of the young soldiers. However, we understand why Paul and Albert Kropp take revenge beating him up. It is through these instances where the reader can almost understand a character through his right and wrong actions. Remarque’s inclusion of such scenes in the novel acts out the bitter anger and disillusionment of the young soldiers. The constant close companion of death besides Paul and his friends provides such clashing of values. Throughout the novel Paul never really recalls their opponents, the allies, as enemies. We also hardly see the other side other than the time where they took on the French militia; infact it would be appropriate to conclude that their real enemy in the war was the enemy Death. Every soldier in the war wasn’t innocently fighting for his country in an attempt to win, soldiers were fighting in order to survive death – it is only the fact that chance and luck kept them going. Paul and his friends could not comprehend that World War One was simply fought due to some document signed by each side’s respective leaders. These events allow readers to follow through that novel above all was concerned with values of life against death, and peace against war. Perhaps Remarque’s intended theme at the