Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Absolute Poverty Free Essays

POVERTY What is poverty? Poverty is the economic condition in which people lack sufficient income to obtain certain minimal levels of health services, food, housing, clothing, and education generally recognized as necessary to ensure an adequate standard of living. What is considered adequate, however, depends on the average standard of living in a particular society. Relative poverty is that experienced by those whose income falls considerably below the average for their particular society. We will write a custom essay sample on Absolute Poverty or any similar topic only for you Order Now Absolute poverty is that experienced by those who do not have enough food to remain healthy. However, estimating poverty on an income basis may not measure essential elements that also contribute to a healthy life. People without access to education or health services should be considered poor even if they have adequate food. CAUSES OF POVERTY One of the greatest challenges facing many least developed countries especially in the African continent is the worsening scourge of poverty with its attendant effects of unemployment, malnutrition, illiteracy, HIV/AIDS and destitution. There are many causes of poverty complex and multi-dimensional in nature. They involve among many others gender inequality, economical, political and social exclusion. Therefore any intervention measures designed to respond to the challenges above should be judged by their ability to positively make a significant dent on poverty at a micro level (lower levels of society such as the households or individual levels). There should be a clear linkage between macro level policies and micro level impacts in terms of reducing poverty or at least providing an environment for poverty reduction. Such a policy should be able to facilitate the delivery of basic needs to ordinary citizens and these include access to affordable food, health, education, shelter, water and sanitation, public information among many others. No one should be alienated from these basic and fundamental human rights on account of one’s poor economic status. IMPACT OF POVERTY ON BUSINESS OPERATIONS When a person doesn’t have disposable income he/she make purchases of commodities, goods and services. Therefore many cannot increase their sales. Production output drops. Some companies put their staff on short time. This further reduces disposable income. Financial sectors do not grant credit to low- income earners therefore the financial market suffers. Inflation rises. The GDP of the country drops. The price of goods and services increase. The people with low income and those that receive social grants do not have enough many to but commodities. Companies that do not make high turnovers cannot plough moneys back into communities for social upliftment. ALLEVIATION OF POVERTY BY THE GOVERNMENT Aid refers to the net flow of official development assistance provide by governments, international agencies, and public institutions of the industrialized countries. The term is also used to encompass help (both material and technical) provided by non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and voluntary agencies to countries and people in need, particularly for disaster or emergency relief. The overall portfolio of assistance of a donor, or the range of aid I provides to a particular country, is often referred to as its aid programme. The various recognized categories of aid such as: Bilateral aid * Project aid * Grant aid * Technical assistance * Emergency aid/Disaster relief * Food aid * Voluntary aid GLOBAL POVERTY! IS BUSINESS THE ANSWER? When activists discuss the way less developed countries have missed out on the benefits of globalization, Multinational Corporations are often portrayed as the villains. But to some, they are the solution and the only one. CONCLUTION In conclusion I would just like to say that we, as South Africans, need to show the world that we are strong and we are better prepared for global turmoil than we previously were. WE ARE HERE TO STAY!! How to cite Absolute Poverty, Papers Absolute Poverty Free Essays Absolute poverty is a level of poverty defined in terms of the minimal requirements necessary to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, health care and shelter. For the measure to be absolute, the line must be the same in different countries, cultures, and technological levels. Such an absolute measure should look only at the individual’s power to consume and it should be independent of any changes in income distribution. We will write a custom essay sample on Absolute Poverty or any similar topic only for you Order Now The intuition behind an absolute measure is that mere survival takes essentially the same amount of resources across the world and that everybody should be subject to the same standards if meaningful comparisons of policies and progress are to be made. Notice that if everyone’s real income in an economy increases, and the income distribution does not change, absolute poverty will decline. Measuring poverty by an absolute threshold has the advantage of applying the same standard across different locations and time periods, it makes comparisons easier. On the other hand, it suffers from the disadvantage that any absolute poverty threshold is to some extent arbitrary; the amount of wealth required for survival is not the same in all places and time periods. For example, a person living in far northern Scandinavia requires a source of heat during colder months, while a person living on a tropical island does not. This type of measure is often contrasted with measures of relative poverty, which classify individuals or families as â€Å"poor† not by comparing them to a fixed cutoff point, but by comparing them to others in the population under study. The term absolute poverty is also sometimes used as a synonym for extreme poverty. The poverty threshold is the minimum level of income considered satisfactory in a given country. The common perceptive of the poverty line is considerably higher in developed countries than in developing countries. In the past, the common international poverty line has been roughly $1 a day. In 2008, the World Bank came out with a revised figure of $1. 25 at 2005 purchasing-power parity. Determining the poverty line is typically done by finding the total cost of all essential resources that an average human adult consumes in one year. Apartment rent is the largest expense that is required to live, so economists have paid particular attention to the real estate market and housing prices as a strong poverty line factor. Whether one is a parent, elderly, a child, married, etc. are used to account for different circumstances. The poverty threshold may be adjusted each year. National estimates are based on population weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys. Definitions of the poverty line may vary considerably among nations. For example, rich nations generally employ more generous standards of poverty than poor nations. In 2010, in the United States, the poverty threshold for one person under 65 was $11,344 the threshold for a family group of four, including two children, was $22,133. According to the U. S. Census Bureau data released on September 13, 2011, the nation’s poverty rate rose to 15. 1 percent in 2010. In the UK, â€Å"more than five million people – over a fifth of all employees – were paid less than ? . 67 an hour in April 2006. This is based on a low pay rate of 60 percent of full-time median earnings, equivalent to a little over ? 12,000 a year for a 35-hour working week. In April 2006, a 35-hour week would have earned someone ? 9,191 a year – before tax or National Insurance†. India’s official poverty level, on the other hand, is split according to rural vs. urban thresholds. For urban dwellers, the poverty line is defined as living on less than 538. 60 rupees per month, whereas for rural dwellers, it is defined as living on less than 356. 5 rupees per month. Using a poverty threshold is difficult because having an income marginally above it is not very different from having an income marginally below it. The negative effects of poverty tend to be continuous rather than discrete, and the same low income affects different people in different ways. To overcome this problem, poverty indices are sometimes used instead. A poverty threshold relies on a quantitative, or numbers based, measure of income. If other human development indicators like health and education are used, they must be quantified. In-kind gifts, whether from public or private sources, are not counted when calculating a poverty threshold. For example, if a parent pays the rent on an apartment for an adult child directly to the apartment owner, instead of giving the money to the child to pay the rent, then that money does not count as income to the child. If a church or non-profit organization gives food to an elderly person, the value of the food is not counted as income to the elderly person. The official poverty measure counts only monetary income. It considers antipoverty programs such as food stamps, housing assistance, the Earned Income Tax Credit, Medicaid and school lunches, among others, not income. So, despite everything these programs do to relieve poverty, they aren’t counted as income when the poverty rate is measured. Studies measuring the difference between income before and after taxes and government transfers have found that without these programs poverty would be roughly 30% to 40% higher than the official poverty line indicates, despite many of their benefits not being counted as income. How to cite Absolute Poverty, Essay examples

Monday, May 4, 2020

The Lady of Shalott free essay sample

The story itself is very straight forward, but the interpretation of the author’s true meaning are entirely up to the reader. When first read I immediately thought of Plato’s, â€Å"Allegory of The Cave†. It seemed fitting at first, as both the Lady of Shalott and the Prisoners within the cave view the world without full comprehension, they see a world outside of their control. They are both restricted to they place in life, one chained the other cursed. The â€Å"Allegory of The Cave† ends with the fear of change, human natures inability to accept the truth because of the comfort ability of living the lie. The Lady of Shalott ends with the vengeance of a â€Å"curse†. Her inability to control the forces of her own emotions and love drive her to die of a broken heart, drifting down the river towards Camelot. Upon second reading is when the true nature of the poem appeared. We will write a custom essay sample on The Lady of Shalott or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The artist and his or her inability to relate to society drive many to madness and suicide. That idea fits the story quite well. As the lady of Shalott is â€Å"forced† to look at the world from a far, and not only just from a great distance but not even directly, she is forced to view the world through the reflection of a mirror. Like the Lady of Shalott, many artists feel a strong disconnection from the real world, the world in which many of them write about and for. This is a depressing concept, that the inspiration for your own art causes you the most pain. The feeling of isolation is the focal point of the Lady of Shalott and is the inspiration of many artists throughout history. In a time of vast sexual suppression, this poem is perhaps a â€Å"mirror† which reflects the life and internal struggle that the author, Tennyson may have felt at the time of writing this. Being what we would consider nerdy or a book worm today it is possible that the poem reflects his own feelings of love and sexuality in a time of very minimal sexual expression. His curse was an inability to choose, his choices where to explore his own sexual conscious and perhaps grow as an artist or to work to attain the means to be what was expected of a married aged gentlemen in his time. The lifestyles he had before him clashed before his eyes, and it shows within his writing. This apparent indifference to the social standards for sexual morality during the author’s time makes the poem what the struggle we read today. The curse is obviously the social norms which confine the Lady of Chalott within her walls of isolation; the mirror is the way society wants you to view the world, happy, straight forward, without sexual perversion. Yet her weaving artwork is her own, the scenes she creates are how she feels within, without notion of social standards. Both the poet and the Lady of Shalott are prisoners of society, yet through their chosen artistic medium, breathe deep breaths of isolated freedom.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Have the Roles of Women Improved over the 20th Century in Britain free essay sample

A paper that argues that conditions for British women have improved greatly during the 20th Century. The author of the paper argues that the twentieth century has seen significant improvements for women in Britain. The issues and events mentioned in support of this are the Suffragette Movement, the two world wars, the decline of industry and the freedom given to women in all spheres of society. By the end of the twentieth century women can now go into virtually any job they want, they can serve in frontline armed forces, become doctors, scientists, editors, managers and politicians. In the year 2000, 1 in 5 women earn more than their working partner and on average women earn 75% of a male workers hourly wage. In some professions women still say there is a glass ceiling but in time, through the continuing change of peoples attitudes there will be an equal playing field. All this has been made possible because women now have choice, events and people throughout the century have made this possible, from Emmeline Pankhursts militant tactics to mass employment for women during two world wars. We will write a custom essay sample on Have the Roles of Women Improved over the 20th Century in Britain? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page .

Saturday, March 7, 2020

A Path to Forgiveness Student Loans Professor Ramos Blog

A Path to Forgiveness Student Loans When I was younger I met a guy that was about 4 years older then me, his name was Johnathan. We called him Jonny for short. Jonny worked with me at a â€Å"dead end† job, I eventually befriended him and learned his story. Here is his story. Jonny came from a middle-class family in Redlands. He attended Cal State San Bernardino, where he had to get many student loans in order to attend classes every semester and get his degree. He graduated with a bachelor’s in English and $55,000 in debt. Jonny was a very smart guy, but he just could not find a job that would pay him more then the $14.00 an hour he was making now. So eventually his 6-month grace period ended, and he had to start paying his student loans back, soon he started to fall behind on his other financial responsibilities because he had to pay his student loans. He had to move back in with his parents, almost lost his car and in the end his credit score was hit very hard. This was 3 years before I met Jonny. Now at this point Jonny has given up with trying to get a good job and has become as alcoholic due to financial stress which led to depression. Is there really what we want the bright minds of our society to fall into if they can’t afford to pay back student loans? If we forgive student loans, real life tragedies like Jonny would never happen. Student loans are a blessing for many people who would not be able to afford to go to college. They provide financial backing for these people to go to college without having to constantly stress on the thought â€Å"will I have enough money to register for classes next semester?† Student loans come in two forms subsidized and unsubsidized. The former does not accrue interest while the student is attending school. The later does accrue intertest while the student is in school. â€Å"The average student loan debt after graduation is $37,000.† (Gang 4) Imagine yourself just graduating college, what a joyous day! Now you start to think â€Å"I have a degree but roughly $37,000.00 in debt I have to pay back.† I know what you’re thinking $37,000.00 doesn’t sound so bad, but don’t forget the interest which is anywhere from 1-20% on the original amount borrowed. So back to imagining yourself after you graduated, wouldn’t it be nice to only ha ve to pay back some or even none of your student loan? Well, there is, and these programs are known as student loan forgiveness programs to help you with getting rid of your student loans. So, let me show you why we should forgive student loans. As a society we all benefit from people going to college and getting degrees, education helps us move society into the future. Most people do not want to be in debt and student loan debt â€Å"is now the second largest debt balance after mortgage indebtedness.† (McCarthy 1) Overtime people have come up with â€Å"forgiveness programs† for student loans. There are multiple types of programs available. Most of them do not completely pay off your student loans but can cut them down drastically. These programs are a huge incentive for people who want to go to college but must rely on student loans. Let’s talk about the effect of debt, and not just the obvious that you owe money that you sometimes can not pay. Debt has many psychological effects on people. The effects include but are not limited to â€Å"depression and high stress levels† (Chou) These psychological effects can majorly impact college graduates, especially newly grads. Imagine trying to find a job while being stressed out about being many thousands of dollars in debt. It will distract you from being able to completely focus. Now imagine that your going to become a teacher, public servant, doctor or joining the military. If you are going into one of these fields, you can get most of your student loan dismissed. Most of these programs do however require you to work for a minimum amount of time or a make a minimum amount of payments. President Trump has already made changes to student loans and their forgiveness programs. Most of these changes are very beneficially for students, Trump feels that the government should not profit from student loans but does not completely agree with student loan forgiveness. Previously if a portion or all your student loan was â€Å"forgiven† then it would be considered taxable income. For example, when you went to go do your taxes if you made $60,000 from your job and you had $40,000 in student loan forgiven your taxable income would be $100,000. This could leave people with tax debt, what is the point of losing your student loan debt, just to gain tax debt? In the passed bill H.R-1 it states â€Å"(Sec. 11031) This section temporarily modifies the exclusion of student loan discharges from gross income to exclude from gross income certain discharges on account of the death or total and permanent disability of the student.† (U.S. Congress) Before this bill was passed if a student was permanently disabled the student would still owe his student loan debt. If a student were to die, his family would inherit their debt. This bill has eliminated permanently disabled or dead students owing their student loans. Another program that Trump improved to help with student loans is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. This program has long been in place but was in danger of being thrown out. As a temporary measure Trump has extended the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. â€Å"The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer.† (Public Student Loan Forgiveness) I have shown you many facts about student loans and the negative impacts they can have before and after college. It can cause extra stress on top of the already stressful life’s we have that can easily turn into depression as you seen in Johnny’s story. I feel that as a society we can forgive student loans because the people who graduate college are very important to our society. If we did not have higher education, we would be a society filled with unintellectual people. So maybe next time a bill or law comes our way to help forgiveness of student loans. Think about all the negative effects of student loans and vote to help forgive student loans. WORKS CITED Chou, Eileen Y., et al. â€Å"Economic Insecurity Increases Physical Pain.† Psychological Science, vol. 27, no. 4, Apr. 2016, pp. 443–454, doi:10.1177/0956797615625640. Gang, Liang. â€Å"Institutional Factors Influencing International Student Graduation Rates and Debt† 24 August 2018, https://etd.auburn.edu/handle/10415/6339. Accessed 28 October 2018. McCarthy, Irene N., and Benjamin Rue Silliman. â€Å"An Earned Student Loan Repayment Program: A Tax Policy Proposal.† Journal of Business Accounting, vol. 8, no. 1, Fall 2015, pp. 27–50. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=bshAN=112921358site=ehost-live. â€Å"Public Student Loan Forgiveness† https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service Accessed 28 October 2018. PR Newswire. â€Å"Subsidized Versus Unsubsidized Federal Student Loans What’s the Difference? Ameritech Financial Offers Clarity.† PR Newswire US, 9 May 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=bwhAN=201805090800PR.NEWS.USPR.NY90626site=ehost-live. United States Congress. â€Å"H.R.1 - 115th Congress (2017-2018)† 22 December, 2017 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

The industry and business analysis of plant based milk in Saudi Arabia Essay

The industry and business analysis of plant based milk in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example The company will compete in the dairy market since it will also compete with milk derived from animals. Saudi Arabia dairy market includes retail sales of milk, yogurt, soy products and cheese among others. Since 2007, milk consumption in the country has grown by 6%. Ambient milk dominates over fresh milk and makes 62% of the market compared to 38% of fresh milk. In 2016, the market is forecasted to grow by 4,9% (Marketline (Firm), 2000). This paper will analyze the industry using Porter’s Five Forces and PESTLE Analysis. The purpose of the Five Force is to know how attractive the plant based milk industry is to the target customers. The analysis will also help the plant based milk company to understand the profitability of its products and identify strength and weaknesses areas (Philip & Gary, 2010, P.108). This analysis consists of the following competitive forces: According to Pereira, (2013, P. 72) suppliers are in a position to decide the price of milk thus affecting the company’s profit. It is important for the plant based milk to have ways of controlling the power of suppliers. Being a starting company it may face a high risk if the supplies needed for production change suddenly. This risk must therefore be minimized. According to Philip & Gary (2010, P.82), buyers on the other hand may force the milk prices to fall down. The dairy market has many buyers and with the customers of the plant based milk may shift to its competitors like Almaria and Al Safi if the price is not favorable. This may force the company to lower its prices to win the customers back. However, in order for the plant based Milk Company to retain its customers and reduce the power of buyers; it will need to create a brand that is strong and differentiate its products. The plant based milk face a high competition from the existing firms in the dairy market. The high

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Should the companies proclaim policy for protect the worker's family Essay

Should the companies proclaim policy for protect the worker's family and what's the effect - Essay Example Failing to protect the worker and the worker’s family could be very disadvantageous to the company in terms of image and brand because the general public will be appalled with a company’s labor practice that disregard the welfare and protection of its employees and its immediate dependents. When the general public will perceive the company as uncaring, they will be turned off with the company and will cease patronizing its products. When customers no longer patronize or buy a company’s product or service, its sales will decline and it follows that when sales decline, the profitability of the company will also decline and it will not be long before the company will go bankrupt. In addition to customers who would be put off with a company that does not proclaim the protection of its employee and their families, investors and the general public will begin to have a negative perception of its shares of stock and it will follow that its stock price will decline due to the negative perception of the market. When that happens, returns to the shareholders will also decline. When the returns of the shareholders investment will decline, they will withdraw their money from the company and will look for other companies to invest it in where it could be more profitable. Thus, the evil cycle will begin with shareholders leaving the company aggravating the already negative perception on the company. In the end, the company may even go bankrupt just because of the market’s negative perception of the company with its uncaring labor practice with its employees and their families. The refusal or failure of the company to protect the worker and their families come in many ways. For the worker’s family’s refusal or inability to protect them by the company, this could come in the form of non recognition of health insurance coverage and in today’s case refusal to implement Obamacare. In effect, this law mandates that companies are all required to protect all their workers and their families from rising medical cost despite their medical condition. Failure to cover its employees would tantamount to paying fines which the law will impose on the company. This is important to mention because this is the new context that businesses will be operating in terms of providing health insurance to their employees and their employees. It meant that companies will have to cover all of its employees including those who were previously uninsurable and those who have pre-exisitng conditions and that includes their families. This may mean an added cost in terms of paying premiums as employees who were not uninsurable has to be insured now that companies may be tempted to renege it to save on cost. The consequence proved to be more expensive because companies who refused to provide medical insurance protection to their employees and their families were fined heavily such as the case of big companies such as AT&T and Caterpillar who decided to stop providing health coverage for their employers because of its additional cost. As a result, it was slapped with penalty and mandated to pay heavy fines that were very costly (Colvin 125). Big companies are considering this option because the forced coverage of the new law on health insurance on all of its employees including those who were previously uninsurable would mean huge addition of cost due to the scale of its employees. Such, they deemed it more