Black Rook in Rainy Weather Essay Example for Free

Black Rook in Rainy Weather Essay I an infrequently lost for words. I like to think of myself as quite an eloquent and articulate speaker and writer, but there are times when I feel neither. It is ironic that the very subject of this poem, a lack of words, or rather a lack of inspiration, is exactly what is holding me back from writing the things I would like to write. Although I know how this poem makes me feel and I know the emotions it conveys, I cannot bring myself to write about them or to speak about them, I simply cannot find the words. Each time I read the poem a rush of thoughts dash through my mind, so quickly that I cannot recollect them in time to consider them in the detail they deserve. This poem deserves consideration, thought, analysis, it deserves appreciation and admiration, because it describes exactly how even the most expressive and eloquent writers are sometimes at a loss for words. Although the poem is a metaphor and is about many things that lie deep beneath the surface of the words, it is beautifully written even in the most literal terms. Plath uses adjectives to describe every object, every movement of the poem, ‘stiff twig’, ‘spotted leaves’. She uses many other poetic devices, such as alliteration in the lines ‘rare, random’, ‘walk wary’, ‘so shine as to seize my senses’ and personification in the lines ‘mute sky’ , ‘minor light may still lean incandescent’. The poet also uses short phrases broken by commas to increase the tempo of the poem and to give it a rushed feeling. However, these poetic devices are not simply used to embellish a purely literal piece of writing. They are used to demonstrate the beauty of the mundane, the magnificence of the ordinary. The poet says ‘I do not expect a miracle or an accident’ which suggests that she is content with the mundane and can see it’s splendour. But as the poem progresses we see that she could not survive on the ordinary, but needed to express herself in her poetry and needed inspiration to do so. Though Plath tries to persuade herself she survive on the ordinary and the imple, it is obvious that desire for inspiration, ‘the angel’, are the only things that can make these mundane situations bearable. She contradicts herself when she states that ‘miracles occur. ’ She contradicts her previous idea that there is beauty in the ordinary and instead describes moments without inspiration being similar to ‘trekking stubborn through this season of fatigue’ . This suggests that during these periods of time she is not living, but barely surviving. Her entire life depends on the moments of inspiration, ‘for that rare, random descent. ’ She is a poet, and her survival depends on her writing. She can only express herself through her writing, and without it, without her inspiration, she feels nothing. This nothingness, this lack of inspiration is to her far worse than the feelings of depression she felt constantly throughout her life. Her ‘fear of total neutrality’ consumes her and scares her. This ‘fear of neutrality’ refers not only to writing, but also to life in general. If one feels nothing, if life is constantly similar to ‘trekking stubborn through this season of fatigue’ then there is no reason to live in the first place. Life is a constant wait for inspiration, for meaning, for purpose, and often this purpose does not appear. Plath realises, unlike many others, that without purpose, without inspiration, there is no beauty in the mundane. Without ‘that rare, random descent’ of an ‘angel’ there is little reason for life at all.

Corporate Governance on the Capital Investment Decision

Corporate Governance on the Capital Investment Decision ABSTRACT This paper investigates the factors that determine the sensitivity of the investment-cash flow relationship. The Q model assumption is used to relate the investment opportunities available to the managers with its liquidity constraints due to asymmetric information and managerial discretion of internally sourced free cash flow. The result purports that there is a positive relationship between the degree of the Investment-Cash flow relationship and Q, found in low or no dividend paying firms. It is evident that the results are in support of Myers Maljuf (Myers Maljuf, 1984) pecking order theory of the investment-cash flow relationship. Introduction Overview Through various studies over the years, different scholars and financial analysts have been able to establish a relationship of cash flow on firms investment spending. It was significantly proven by (Modigliani Miller, 1958) that a firms financial status is irrelevant for real investment decisions in a world of perfect and complete capital markets, after controlling for the cost of capital. In case of managerial discretion, based on (Jensen, 1986) free cash flow theory, firms increase investment (including projects with negative present value) based on the availability of cash flows with incentive of increasing firms value beyond level of optimal investment. Moreover, an agency costs also appreciate the borrower net worth by charging a premium on the external financing. The discussion above explains that the firms investment decisions are dependent on the availability of internal funds, as cost advantage over external fund is evident. While choosing an appropriate capital structure, there are certain trade-offs which affects the decision. These trade-offs include tax advantage through acquiring debt against the bankruptcy cost which advocates the use of equity. Keeping this in view, various different models have been supported to explain this corporate capital structure behavior. Pecking Order Theory, initially mitigated by (Donaldson, 1961) describes the financing practice as prioritizing the means of financing, which is necessary for the management to counter against asymmetric information. Either they should generate the funds internally or acquire funds externally through debt rather than equity. Implications to the pecking order theory involves the positive impact of leveraging on the market price, which means, financing through debt sends a positive signal into the market about the firms future prospects. Furthermore, intermediaries also undermine the role of management as the financial intermediaries such as investment banks function as the insider to the firm. Consequently, keeping an eye on the firms operations and influencing the firms capital financing decision. However, Pecking order theory of (Myers Maljuf, 1984) argues that the firms operating in imperfect or incomplete capital markets where the cost of external capital exceeds that of internal funds, the financial structure may be appropriate to the investment decisions of companies facing uncertain prospects. Gauging the level of corporate investment in any firm is based on the corporate governance; market position of a firms asset against its book value can be termed as Tobins q ratio. Identified by (Chung Pruitt, 1994), Tobins q as proportion of firms market value to replacement cost of its assets. Tobins q can be considered an effective tool for determining financial performance as the data can be collected readily from a balance sheet. When calculating Tobins q ratio, the replacement cost can be determined approximately by the book value of firms plant and equipment. Approximate q can be replaced with the actual Tobins q to make the calculations unproblematic and data can be readily available without any discrepancies. Problem Statement To study the impact of corporate governance on the capital investment decision through cash flow and Tobins q interaction in relation with Capital Investment HypothesEs H0: Firms cash flow having a significant impact on its capital investment will be linked with high Q values. (FCF Theory) HA: Firms being liquidity constrained due to least payout will have significant investment-cash flow sensitivity, and will be linked with high Q values in the market. (PO Theory) Outline of the study The report contains the contemplation of research data that will study the phenomenon of cash flows and investment discussed earlier in this paragraph. The study categorizes firms according to characteristics (such as dividend payout, size) which will help measure the level of constraints faced by firms. The study will help readers to understand the complexities of Pecking order theory and Free Cash Flows concept with regard to asymmetric information available and corporate governance which influences decision of the firms. To measure the effect that cash flow-financed (internally sourced) capital spending and Q has on firms investment, Ordinary Least Square Regression model will be used to estimate the function. To compute the influence on the Investment, instruments used are: (1) Cash Flow, (2) Approximate q, and (3) an interaction of both variables are created. Through studying the parameter estimates of interaction variable, positive influence on investment will support the Pecking Order hypothesis and negative influence will govern the Free Cash Flow hypothesis. The equation hypothesized in the next part is linear. Definitions Pecking Order Theory: (Myers Maljuf, 1984): à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A firm is said to follow a pecking order if it prefers internal to external financing and debt to equity if external financing is used.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Free Cash Flow Theory According to (Jensen, 1986), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“free cash flow theory, high cash flow and low debt create agency costs associated with conflicts between manager and share holder over the payout of this free cash, which is the cash left after the firm has invested in all available positive net present value projects.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Capital Structure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A careful and systematic analysis of how claims against a corporations assets can or should be determined, assessed, and accounted for.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Riahi-Belkaoui, 1999) Capital Investment Decision à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Capital Investment decisions are those decisions that involve current outlay in return for a stream of benefit in future years.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Drury, 2006) Tobins q à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Tobins q is a measure of investors expectations concerning a firms future profit potential. It is defined as the ratio of the market value of a firm to the replacement cost of its assets.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Strecker, 2009) Literature Review Vogt (Vogt, 1994) explained the capital spending behavior of companies with respect to change in dividend cash paid, cash flows, sales, and market value of assets. The regression equation models the variables to proportion of fixed assets, and distributes the firms data in segments of Dividend Payout Groups and Asset Groups. Primarily, Dividend Cash has a strong negative impact on capital spending; it explains that in order to finance additional fixed investment firm needs to sock cash by reducing their dividend. Cash flow, Sales, and Q Ratio having a positive coefficient demonstrates that with an increase in future cash flows, the firm will improve its capital spending. A relationship has been developed between the firms investment decision and the firms financial status by Cleary (Cleary, 1999), financial status has been studied with respect to the liquidity constraints. The data is classified into groups through a discriminant analysis on basis of dividend payout policy. Groups taken into study have made possible to identify firms which are more financially constrained more likely to be investment-cash flow sensitive, furthermore, availability of internal sources of funds have a greater impact on firms with high credit worthiness, and vice versa. It has been proposed that the various ownership structures make managerial decision based on the interaction between investment and the firms liquidity constraints. The study conducted by Dedoussis Papadaki (Dedoussis Papadaki, 2010) mentioned that the management can be held separate from its ownership, even on basis of the nationality of the company. On the other hand, it also explained that the relative shareholding of CEO and the controlling shareholders can also be the basis of separation. The sample used in the study was separated and grouped on basis of dividend payout, asset size of the firm, age of the firm, source of control, and kind of ownership. On the given sampling criterion; greater asset size firms, older firms, lower Q (high investment opportunity), and high dividend payout firms showed higher cash flow sensitivity towards investment. Findings support that the Low Q, small, and new firms under the generalized model are facing asymmetric information problems. Indeed these firms are expected a priori to face financing problems that affect the cost of their external financing. On the other hand, low Q, old and low dividend firms are more likely to face managerial discretion problems that result to over-investment. The impact of Tobins Q is mainly used to determine the investment opportunity of the firm. In this article, marginal Tobins Q has been taken to evaluate the firms investment and Research Development expenditures. The asymmetric information (AI) hypothesis proposed that firms provided with a profitable investment-project may not be able to source it through internal cash flows and the high financial cost of borrowing funds externally due to lack of awareness of firms investment opportunity in the capital market. On the other hand, agency or managerial discretion (MD) hypothesis constructs the investment-cash flow relationship on the assumption that managers are well qualified in context with proficiency they obtain from managing a huge and fast paced firm and thus exceeding the wealth shareholders beyond their expectations. (Gugler, Mueller, Yurtoglu, 2004) Taking in viewpoint the impact of capital structure on the capital investment decision, firms investment demands is the more susceptible towards cost-of-capital or tax-based capital incentive. Whereas, capital structure seems irrelevant as against internal sources of funds can be effectively substituted with sources of funds generated externally. The size of the investment project can be a deterministic factor towards it. Fazzari, Hubbard, Peterson, Blinder, Poterba (Fazzari, Hubbard, Peterson, Blinder, Poterba, 1988) explicates that cash flow/investment relationship is more sensitive when taken in reference with firms dividend behavior. Comparison based on firms having more or less liquidity constraints can be further improved when compared on a division based on the scale of the firms, i.e. young or small firms versus large ones. This way the researchers can address the problem of firms lacking the asymmetric information. Under the impression where capital investments decisions mainly pertains to the capital structure or choosing the appropriate source of investment, Schaller (Schaller, 1993) conducted three different empirical tests to determine that information asymmetries have a huge influence on the firms investment behavior. Differences among the informational base of investors and creditors was also considered a capital market imperfection. Ownership status and age of the firms has an impact on the cost of equity financing, mature firms pay comparatively less price for it than young firms. Same aspect goes for the firms with concentrated with comparison to dispersed ownership. Borrowing is considered a more rational source for investment-projects. Pledgeable assets generate greater borrowing capacity, which afterwards makes firms invest more in pledgeable assets. As suggested by Almeida Campello (Almeida Campello, 2007), such a phenomenon can be termed as a credit multiplier. In case of financially constrained firms, a multiplier relates to the sensitivity of firms investment-cash flow relationship that is reflected as the increase in the tangible assets of the firm. Therefore, it is proposed that with fewer tangible assets firms are more likely to be financially constrained. The sensitivity of investment-cash flow relationship is evidently influenced by the tangibility of a firm, as latter discussed. Managers while making capital investment decision considers externally-sourced funds costlier, therefore, overconfident managers over assessing the profitability of an investment-project invests more when having abundant internal funds to utilize. However, deciding not to source externally in case where they are short of internal funds to generate. There has been an evidence of significant relationship between the managerial discretion and investment-cash flow sensitivity. Equity concentrated firms are more likely to be influenced by overconfident managers, unless compensation tools can be used to reduce the effects of managerial overconfidence. (Malmendier Tate, 2005) Goyal Yamada (Goyal Yamada, 2004) have explained the impact of asset pricing in the stock market against investment-cash flow sensitivity. Overvalued stock prices triggers an increased in investment spending and are cut back when stock are being undervalued, consequently, inflated prices collateral assets attract higher level of external financing. Inflationary pressures primarily determined by the economic monetary policy impacts on the variation of cost on external financing, though it reflects highly on cost of external financing, marginally impacts less on the investment-cash flow sensitivity. It has been observable that less financially constrained firms have significantly higher investment-cash flow sensitivity. Characterizations of firms based on financial constraint can sometimes create confusion. Firms having unusually high cash holdings can either be characterized as unconstrained based on the opportunities it has to invest or constrained based on the assumption that it needs to have a precautionary savings to invest in future investment projects. Therefore, financial constraints cannot be used as an influential determinant for investment-cash flow sensitivity. (Kaplan Zingales, 1997) Hu Schiantrlli (Hu Schiantarelli, 1998) put into picture the effect of general economic factors and various firms characteristics on the value of the firms net worth. Mainly financial status is the most important determinant for the level of asymmetric information problem that managers face. A strong balance sheet position can reflect good sign of firms performance which enhances the market value of the firms asset to its stake holders, mainly investors and creditors. Q models assumption also assists in determining the sensitivity of the investment-cash flow relationship, where the indicators determine the investment opportunity and the sources of funds to choose from. Understanding the market influence in proxy of q can also give a clear picture to the movements in the firms investment over a period. Net worth of firms helps manager determine if the sourcing of funds externally is a viable option in contrast to the investment opportunity which underlies. (Hubbard, 1998) Research conducted on the investment-cash flow sensitivity addresses many aspects of the firms financial strength. Further study by Calomiris Hubbard (Calomiris Hubbard, 1995) shows that when firms tax taken under investigation also reflected a significant influence on the volume of spending on investment-projects. They explored the impact of surtax margin, as a tax experiment, on the cost of internal and external funds. Surtax when levied on undistributed profits, obligate the firms to incur certain cost on the internal funds. This effects the managers decision to invest and is also reflected on the investment-cash flow sensitivity against the surtax margin. As a result to evade burden of higher cost on internal funds, firms with high surtax-margin exhibits elevated sensitivity in investment-cash flow relationship. Quan (Quan, 2002) discusses the Pecking Order theory with reference to the Modigliana-Miller proposition that works under the assumption of perfect market. Here it is stated that value of the firm is irrelevant and based on a few limitations the choice of financing can be determined via gauging the strength of the firm. These factors pertain to the imperfect market and influence the managers to make their capital investment decision. Once the assumptions are released the financing structure shows a clear picture. The association between Free Cash Flow theory and Agency theory has always been under the limelight when there is a question of retaining the undistributed profits. FCF Theory taken under consideration gives out an option to the management to hold on to excess cash sacrificing the shareholders opportunity cost. These excess funds can be generated to better internal operational efficiency or at managers discrepancy to source its investment-projects. (Wang, 2010) Research Methods The chapter explains the model used in the given research study. The study focuses on analyzing the influence of Cash Flows and Tobins q on Corporate Investment. The equation represented by a dependent variable as a ratio of capital spending to the beginning net fixed asset (I/K) predicted by independent variables: (1) ratio of cash flow to the beginning gross fixed asset (CF/K), and (2) beginning Tobins q (Q). Method of Data Collection Main source of collecting the required data is from secondary sources. It includes the Balance Sheet Analysis of Joint Stock Company listed in Karachi Stock Exchange provided by State Bank of Pakistan consisting of data of our relevant variables. The data was taken in annual terms to conduct this research. Sampling Technique The Convenience sampling or grab or opportunity sampling would be use in this research. Sample population selected because it is readily available and convenient. Sample Size The sample period taken under study covers 8-years period beginning at the start of 2000 and ending at the close of 2008. The data was taken from a sample of 70 (non-banking and non-financial) companies which are listed on Karachi Stock Exchange and included in KSE-100 index. Research Model Statistical technique Ordinary Least Square Regression technique is used to study the impact of variables included in the study. It helps studies the relationship between a dependent variable and several independent variable. It also assumes the relationship to be linear or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“straight line,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? where the values of predictors lies directly proportional to Criterion variable. SPSS Software is used to develop the regression model and evaluate the influence of predictors on dependent variable. Results Findings and interpretation of results Aggregate Sample: Table : Represents the model summary of regression estimates for the full sample of 69 firms The predictors, i.e. main effects of Cash Flow and Tobins q and an interaction variable of both combined, included in the model explains 78.5% of Investment (Table 1) shown mentioned as R Square. Least variation in Adjusted R Square suggests that the variable to observation ratio in the given model is sufficient. Casewise diagnostic was also conducted to eliminate the outliers in the data to improve the results. Table : Studies the F-statistics to test whether the model predicts the dependent variable significantly The F-statistics (Table 2) is significant and it determines the regression model with the given predictors can significantly predict the outcomes at a 0.05 significance level. Table : The parameter estimation for full sample of 69 firms with respect to dependent variable, t-statistics is used to test the null hypothesis ÃŽÂ ²1 = ÃŽÂ ²2 = ÃŽÂ ²3 = 0 The coefficient values of all predators included in the test are significant at a 0.05 significant level (Table 3), which shows that they have a strong influence on the investment of the firm. The standard coefficient shows that Cash Flows have a much greater impact on Investment than market value on the firm, which is exemplified through Tobins q. Dividend Payout groups: Table : Presents the sample statistics for 69 KSE listed (non-banking and non-financial) companies which are included in the KSE-100 index. The three rows distribute the statistics into High, Medium, and Low payout policies. Average dividend-to-income ratios of greater than 0.35, between 0.35 and 0.10, and less than 0.10 define High, Low, and Medium dividend-payout firms, respectively. While studying the dividend-payout groups (Table 4), the descriptive helps to identify characteristics to confirm whether the data being studied has the authenticity and the behavior pattern which commonly related to the groups assigned. The values of Investment, Cash Flow, and Tobins q associated with the groups are in complete correspondence with the hypothetical occurrence. Firms having a higher (lower) dividend payout have greater (lower) market value, and lower(higher) level of cash flows and investments. Table : Represents the model summary of regression estimates of 69 firms split by High, Medium, and Low dividend-payout policies. The model helps explains 81.9%, 66.7%, and 80% data in High, Medium, and Low dividend-payout firms (Table 5), shown in R Square. Least variation in Adjusted R Square suggests that the number of observations is sufficient with respect to variables in each group separately. Table : Studies the F-statistics to test the null hypothesis of ÃŽÂ ²1, H = ÃŽÂ ²1, M = ÃŽÂ ²1, L The F-statistics (Table 6) in each dividend payout group is significant and it determines that each regression model with the given predictors can significantly predict the outcomes at a 0.05 significance level. Table : Shows the parameter estimation for each payout groups with respect to dependent variable, t-statistics is used to test the null hypothesis ÃŽÂ ²1 = ÃŽÂ ²2 = ÃŽÂ ²3 = 0 The coefficient values of predators in High and Low dividend payout groups are all significant at a 0.05 significant level (Table 7), which shows that they have a strong influence on the investment of the firm. Except for Medium dividend payout group, which has insignificant coefficient values of Tobins q, showing no impact on the investment. The standard coefficient shows that Cash Flows have a much greater impact on Investment than market value on the firm, which is exemplified through Tobins q. Hypothesis Assessment Summary Hypothesis Independent Variables B t Sig. Comments Firms cash flow having a significant impact on its capital investment will be linked with high Q values. (FCF Theory) Cash Flow ÃÆ'— Q H0: ÃŽÂ ²3 ÃŽÂ ²3,H = .135 5.295 .000 Rejected ÃŽÂ ² 3,M = .072 .991 .324 ÃŽÂ ² 3,L = .140 5.482 .000 Firms being liquidity constrained due to least payout will have significant investment-cash flow sensitivity, and will be linked with high Q values in the market. (PO Theory) Cash Flow ÃÆ'— Q HA: ÃŽÂ ²3 >0 ÃŽÂ ² 3,H = .135 5.295 .000 Accepted ÃŽÂ ² 3,M = .072 .991 .324 ÃŽÂ ² 3,L = .140 5.482 .000 Dependent Variable: Investment (I/K) Table : Summarizes the results and explains that the hypothesis accepted is directly in correspondence with the aggregate hypothesis. As illustrated (Table 8) capital spending of low payout firms is positively and strongly influenced by the interaction term, consistent with the PO hypothesis, the parameter estimate for the high payout firms are also positive but marginally significant. Conclusion, Discussions, Implications And Future Research Conclusion The results illustrated above demonstrates that the positive relationship between the degree of the Investment-Cash flow relationship and Q represented latter in the aggregate data (Table 3) is concentrated in low or no dividend paying firms. This finding is in further support with the PO hypothesis. Discussions The objective was to study and test the causes of universal relationship between Cash Flow and Investment Spending. Hence, two hypotheses were included in the research to study the source of this relationship: the free cash flow hypothesis (FCF) hypothesis, which works on the assumption that managers prefer investing its free cash flow excessively into investment projects that are not profitable, and the pecking order hypothesis (PO) purports that managers are prone to investment comparatively less than the opportunity provided due asymmetric information-induced liquidity constraint. As advocated in favor of Pecking Order Theory by (Fazzari, Hubbard, Peterson, Blinder, Poterba, 1988) and many others, for groups which consists of small firms with low-dividend payout to fund capital spending, exhibits heavy reliance on cash flow and cash changes. The relationship can be more significantly studied when the impact of larger q value is associated with this group. Evaluating the impact of corporate governance on investment-cash flow relation requires a critical judgment as to how do the firms cash flow and the existing market value influence the investment decision. Financially constraint firms may have a larger impact on liquidity associated matters and managers might take discretion in choosing the right sources to tap. Agency cost may be involved in making such a decision where managers may consider paying dividend as a higher opportunity cost as it reduces the firms free cash flow to exploit new profitable investment projects. Implications and Recommendations In the current market situation where external pressures existing can also be taken into proxy. When managers making a capital investment decision they need to take in view other non-financial aspects that also influences the decisions to a certain extent. Furthermore, financial intermediaries having a certain level of involvement and sharing information sensitive to the market can also be a major factor that might be giving a varying result against Investment. Investing in profitable-investment projects can bring in greater resources to the firm in future and it entails a huge decision burden upon the shoulders of the managers. Shareholders expecting to earn a greater return through investing in them can also be undermined when manager decided to have a low payout policy. Funds generated internally is a possibility where there is a healthy cash flow, but it is also preferable if this free cash is invested into marketable security for allocating the resources into a profitable venture for a time being to make it a positive impression. Future Research In future studies there may be more aspects of cash flow-investment relationship which can be studied for assessing the degree impact it has on this relationship, i.e. sales, debt performance, capital structure, firm size, etc. The research study may also be improved if the observation of firms are increased that will in turn reflect a more clear picture about the relationship in the current scenario.

The Three Little Pigs (From The Wolfs Point Of View) :: essays research papers

The Wolf Who Wanted a Friend One day I was walking through the meadow, feeling very sad and lonely. I wanted a friend to spend time with. My mother sent me out to play, but I couldn't find anyone to play with. I looked everywhere until I came to a house made out of straw. I knocked on the straw door, and a little pig answered and told me to go away! I thought that was very rude of him. I told the little pig that I wanted to come inside and play. The little pig said, "Not by the hairs of my chinny chin chin!" I was so sad. Just as I was about to walk away my dumb allergies started acting up. I sneezed so hard that I blew the house down. The little pig ran away and I ran after him, trying to tell him I was sorry. He ran to his brother's house and I knocked again. This time they both told me to go away. I almost cried! I just wanted to play with them. They told me, "Not by the hairs of our chinny, chin, chin!" I turned to walk away and just then, I sneezed so hard that my hat blew off my head. I turned back to get my hat and sneezed again! This time I blew the house of sticks down. I was so embarrassed! My friends, the pigs, came running out of the rubble, and scampered away. I ran after them to ask if they wanted to play catch. They ran into another house. This one was really nice. It was made out of bricks. I knocked on the door and they told me to go away again! I started to cry. When I cry a lot, I sneeze a lot. I sneezed and sneezed and sneezed some more. I heard them laugh at me! I started to get mad and wanted to tell them to stop, so I climbed on to the roof of their house and tried to yell into their chimney, but I slipped and fell right in.

Genocide :: essays research papers

Genocide After Rodney King was beaten, and the white police officers were aquitted, he said "Why can't we all just get along?" A question asked by many people. Rascist and Genocidal acts such as this have been going on for many years, and should not be tolerated. In international law, the crime of destroying, or committing conspiracy to destroy, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group is known as Genocide. It was defined in the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1948. The crime of Genocide has been committed or attempted many times in recorded history. The best known example in this century was the attempt by Nazi Germany during the 1930's and 1940's to destroy the Jewish population of Europe, known as the Holocaust. By the end of World War II, 6 million Jews had been killed in Nazi concentration camps. The known objective of the Nazi rule was Jewish extinction. In November 1938, shortly after the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris by a young Jew, all synagogues in Germany were set on fire, windows of Jewish shops were smashed, and thousands of Jews were arrested. This "Night of Broken Glass" (Kristallnacht) was a signal to Jews in Germany and Austria to leave as soon as possible. Several hundred thousand people were able to find refuge in other countries, but a nearly equal number, including many who were old or poor, stayed to face an uncertain destiny. When war began in September 1939, the German army occupied the western half of Poland and added almost 2 million Jews to the German power sphere. Limitations placed on Polish Jewry were much worse than those in Germany. The Polish Jews were forced to move into ghettos surrounded by walls and barbed wire. The ghettos were like jailed cities. Each ghetto had a Jewish council that was responsible for housing, sanitation, and production. Food and coal were to be shipped in and manufactured products were to be sent out for German use. The food supply allowed by the Germans was mainly made up of grains and vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, and beets. In the Warsaw ghetto, the amount of food given provided barely 1200 calories to each inmate. Some black market food, smuggled into the ghettos, was sold at a very high price, and unemployment and poverty were common. The population was large, and the amount of people reached six or seven persons in a room. Typhus became common, and the death rate rose to roughly 1 percent a month.

Black Boy Essay -- essays research papers

In the book Black Boy, we see many black people in the south dealing with many hardships. One of the most prominent problems for blacks seemed to be the "Jim Crow" laws. These laws withheld blacks from society, breaking them apart from whites and making it very hard for them to live an even close to normal life. Black people couldn’t express their own ideas at all. They had to call all white men "sirs" and all white women "ma’am". They couldn’t act the slightest bit superior to whites. It was almost impossible for black people to make a decent living in the south, and they also had to take the abuse dealt to them by he whites without even attempting ant resistance. Blacks in the south also had to deal with the separation aspects of the "Jim crow" laws. They had to sit in the back of the buses, they had to use separate water fountains and bathrooms, they were looked upon almost like they had some sort of disease. These are just a few of the "Jim Crow" laws that the black people had to deal with. Richard was not the only one in this book dealing with racism. All the people around him were also coping with it also, friends co-workers and family had to face the challenges of a racist environment. Throughout the book we see these other people dealing with the problems of an extremely racist society. We also see how each person in Richards life deals with it differently. There are a few people and insience that stick out in my mind especially. The first one would have to be an incident with Shorty. Shorty has dealt with racism his whole life, and he has learned to deal with it as he has grown. We see a great example of how Shorty deals on page 269Shorty is faced with the problem of no money, such as many other southern blacks were, and we see that he is willing to do anything for any amount of money. " You can kick me in the ass for a quarter" (269,wright) As this happens Richard witnesses the whole thing and we can see that he is very disappointed in the way Shorty dealt with the situation. He can’t understand how he can put himself in that kind of degrading position, and Shorty simply answers. " But a quarter can’t pay for what he did to you!" But we can see Shorty thinks differently. A... ...urt black skin. By this point in the book Richard learns to deal better with racism, but he still has attitude about being treated differently then the white kids or adults. One final incident the Richard had to deal with was when he was working at the hotel. This incident didn’t completely have to deal with him but he got involved. When the door man at the hotel slapped his black girl friend in the ass as they were walking out of the hotel, Richard got pretty upset that he did that considering that the doorman was white. It was like he couldn’t understand how white people didn’t like blacks, but yet the would use such sexual connotations towards the black women, We see Richard react, as he stops and just looks at the doorman. After Richard decides not react violently, and got somewhat of a threat from the doorman when he just continued. This was Richards way of "scaring" the white man without starting something physical. We see Richards way of dealing with the racism change throughout the book. When he is younger we see how he can’t help but get defensive, and as he gets older he learns to control himself better.

Changing patterns in marriage Essay

Using information from the items and elsewhere, examine the reasons for changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation and childbearing in the last 40 years (24 marks) According to the Office for National Statistics, the highest number of couples in 1972 was 480,000 and was due to the baby boom generation of the 1950’s reaching marriageable age and the fact that people chose to marry at a younger age compared to pervious generations. However the annual number of marriages in England and Wales then went into decline and reached an all-time low in 2005 when only 244,710 couples got married. This decline in the total number of marriages has been paralleled by a decline in marriage rates. In 1994, the marriage rate was 11.4 but has decline to 10.3 by 2004. The male rate declined from 36.3 in 1994 to 27.8 in 2004 whilst the female rate declined from 30.6 to 24.6. Fears about what marriage statistics reveal are exaggerated for four reasons: People are delaying marriage rather than reje cting it. Most people will marry at some point in their lives, but people are now marrying later in life, probably after a period of cohabitation. Women may delay marriage because they want to develop their careers and enjoy a period of independence. The BSAS indicates that most people, whether single, divorced or cohabiting, still see marriage as a desirable life-goal. People also generally believe that having children is best done in the context of marriage and few people believe that the freedom associate with living alone is better than being married to someone. Two fifths of all marriages are remarriages. Evidently these people are committed to the institution of marriage despite their previous negative experience of it. Despite the decrease in the overall number of people marrying, married couples are still the main types of partnership for men and women in the UK. Wilkinson notes that female attitudes towards marriage and family life have undergone a radical change or ‘genderquake’. She argues that young females no longer prioritize marriage and children. Educational opportunities and the feminization of the economy have resulted in young women weighing up the costs of marriage and having children against the benefits of a career and economic independence. Therefore the result of this is that many females, particularly middle-class, are postponing marriage and family life until their careers are established. Other feminist sociologists are sceptical about the value of marriage. Smith argues that marriage creates unrealistic expectation  about monogamy and faithfulness in a world characterized by sexual freedom. She argues that at different points in people’s life cycles, people need different things that often can only be gained from a new partner. Campbell, however, suggests that marriage benefits men more than it does women. A constant source of concern to the New Right has been the significant rise in the number of couples cohabiting. The proportion of non-married people cohabiting has risen sharply in the last 20 years from 11% of men and 13% of women in 1986 to 24% and 25% respectively. In 2007, the ONS suggested that cohabiting couples are the fastest growing family type in the UK. Around 2.2 million families are cohabiting couples with or without children. This family type has grown by 65% since 1997. However, New Right commentators claim that cohabitation is less stable than marriage. A report by the Institute for the Study of Civil Society claimed that cohabiting couples were less happy and less fulfilled than married couples, and more likely to be abusive, unfaithful, stressed and depressed. Although surveys indicate that few people see cohabitation as an alternative to marriage, the fact that cohabiting couples are much younger than married couples suggests cohabitation is seen my many participants as a test of compatibility and an introduction to marriage. Other research suggests that cohabitation is a temporary phase lasting on average for about 5 years. Approximately 60% of cohabiting couples eventually marry. Although cohabitation marks a dramatic change in adult living arrangements – as recently as the 1960’s, it was regarded immoral – cohabiting couples with and without children only accounted for 10% of households in 2006. Reasons for increase in divorce rates: Thornes and Collard: women value friendship and emotional gratification more than men do. If the husband fails to live up to these expectations, women may feel the need to look elsewhere. Hart: divorce may be reaction to the frustration that many working wives may feel if they are responsible for the bulk of housework and childcare. Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (1995): rising divorce rates are the product of a rapidly changing world in which traditional rules, rituals and traditions of love, romance and relationships no longer apply. In 1938, 6,000 divorces were granted in the UK. This figure had increased tenfold by 1970, and in 1993, numbers packed at 180,000. By  2000, this figure had fallen to 154,600 although the years 2001-2004 have seen a gradual rise to 167,100. Flouri and Buchanan’s (2002) study of 17,000 children from families that had experienced separation and divorce found that in families, their fathers were still involved in their children so the children were more successful in gaining educational qualifications and continued to seek out educational opportunities in adult life. In conclusion, the reasons for changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation and childbearing in the last 40 years are due to the fact that conjugal roles within marriages have differed and the ability to change marriage beliefs in an instant. Men and women, especially the middle-class, may fear the need to put their careers before starting a family, which therefore causes problems within marriage.

It’s up in the Air, or Is It Essay

The article elaborates on how individual sociological imagination can connect social structure to life history. In this case, sociological imagination refers to understanding of individual behavior as the product of historical processes that affects a person’s social environment. The rules of social structure are considered to restrict the conduct of individuals and also mould outcomes for them. However, students are not able to see the connection between individual action and structural outcomes. In sociological imagination, social structural explanation can be used to answer the several questions of social stratification. It is evident that other forces than individual characteristics shape the outcome and distributions of societal rewards (Renzulli, Aldrich, Reynolds, 51). Organizations help to reduce inequality in the society by allowing prospective entrepreneurs from different social origins to access to wealth-generating assets. In order to show how social structure of society shapes the results for individuals, the students can be engaged in a multiple rounds of coin tossing game. The game will also include some rules and regulations to be followed. The results of the game will be highly predictive on how the social structures mould the outcomes of individuals. From the distribution of the coins, the students will realize that inequality and personal prosperity are not the result of personal characteristics (Renzulli, Aldrich, & Reynolds, 56). The alteration of the rules of the game will help the students to see how real world processes generate inequality in the community. It is clearly acknowledged that, structures and rules affect a person’s ability to access an opportunity regardless of his or her talent. However, some improvements have to be done on the game in order to give the best results to the students. Therefore, coin tossing game can be used to effectively demonstrate how sociological imagination increase student understanding of the social world.