Universal Healthcare Persuasive Free Essays

The United States is the only developed nation without universal health care coverage, and the current state of affairs is bankrupting millions. the United States spends more on health care per an individual than any other nation, the World Health Organization reports that the United States only ranks 28th for life expectancy and 37th for mortality of children under the age of 5. For immunizations, the United States ranks 67th – Botswana is 66th. We will write a custom essay sample on Universal Healthcare Persuasive or any similar topic only for you Order Now More than 46 million Americans go uninsured each day, 9 million of whom are children. Some believe that universal health care would bankrupt America, but the Congressional Budget Office found that it would actually save $100 to $200 billion dollars per a year, according to the Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care. The cost of health care in the United States is also costing American jobs. To avoid hefty insurance premiums, American businesses have moved offices out of the States. Health Care Statistics in the United States Health Insurance. The United States is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not have a universal health care system. Source: Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences In 2010, the percentage of Americans without health insurance was 16. 3%, or 49. 9 million uninsured people. Source: US Census Bureau Of the 83. 7% of people with health insurance in 2010, coverage was 55. 3% employment-based, 9. 8% direct-purchase, and 31. 0% government funded (Medicare, Medicaid, Military). (Overlap reflects coverage by more than one type of health insurance). Source: US Census Bureau The primary reason given for lack of health insurance coverage in 2005 was cost (more than 50%), lost job or a change in employment (24%), Medicaid benefits stopped (10%), ineligibility for family insurance coverage due to age or leaving school (8%). Source: National Center for Health Statistics More than 40 million adults stated that they needed but did not receive one or more of these health services (medical care, prescription medicines, mental health care, dental care, or eyeglasses) in 2005 because they could not afford it. Source: National Center for Health Statistics Medicaid, which accounted for 15. 9% of health care coverage in 2010, is a health insurance program jointly funded by the federal and state governments to provide health care for qualifying low-income individuals. Source: US Census Bureau Medicare, a federally funded health insurance program that covers the health care of most individuals 65 years of age and over and disabled persons, accounted for 14. 5% of health care coverage in 2010. Source: US Census Bureau Medicare operates with 3% overhead, non-profit insurance 16% overhead, and private (for-profit) insurance 26% overhead. Source: Journal of American Medicine 2007 Since the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was created in 1997, the percentage of children ages 0-17 with health insurance has increased from 86% to 93%. Source: National Center for Health Statistics: December 2011 2. 5 million young adults have gained health insurance as a result of the provision in the Affordable Care Act that allows them to remain on their parents insurance plans until age 26. Source: National Center for Health Statistics: December 2011 Health Care Expenditures Health care expenditures in the United States were nearly $2. 6 trillion in 2010, an average of $8,402 per person. Source: Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services In 2009, national health care expenditures were paid by households 28%, private businesses 21%, state and local governments 16%, and federal government 27%. Source: Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services 75% of all health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, many of which can be prevented, including diabetes, obesity, heart disease, lung disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. Source: Health Affairs Half of health care spending is used to treat just 5% of the population. Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, May 2012 Since 2001, employer-sponsored health coverage for family premiums has increased by 113%. Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, May 2012 The share of the economy devoted to health care has increased from 7. 2% in 1970 to 17. 9% in 2009 and 2010. Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, May 2012 The U. S. spends substantially more on health care than other developed countries. As of 2009, health spending in the U. S. was about 90% higher than in many other industrialized countries. The most likely causes are higher prices, more readily accessible technology, and greater obesity. Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, May 2012 Infant Mortality In 2005, the United States ranked 30th in infant mortality. Singapore has the lowest rate with 2. 1 deaths per 1000 live births, while the United States has a rate of 6. 9 deaths per 1000 live births. Infant mortality is considered an important indicator of the health of a nation. Source: CDC, NCHS Data Brief, Number 23, November 2009 Approximately 30,000 infants die in the United States each year. The infant mortality rate, which is the risk of death during the first year of life, is related to the underlying health of the mother, public health practices, socioeconomic conditions, and availability and use of appropriate health care for infants and pregnant women. Sources: CDC and National Center for Health Statistics, 2008 The main cause contributing to the high infant mortality rate in the United States is the very high percentage of preterm births. One in 8 births in the United States were born preterm, an increase of 36% since 1984. Source: CDC, NCHS Data Brief, Number 23, November 2009 Life Expectancy Life expectancy at birth in the United States is an estimated 78. 49 years, which ranks 50th in highest total life expectancy compared to other countries. Source: CIA Factbook (2011) Lack of health insurance is associated with as many as 44,789 deaths per year in the United States. Source: Harvard Medical School Study, American Journal of Public Health, December 2009 People without health insurance had a 40 percent higher risk of death than those with private health insurance, a result of being unable to obtain necessary medical care. Source: Harvard Medical School Study, American Journal of Public Health, December 2009 Bankruptcy Nearly two-thirds, or 62%, of all bankruptcy filings in the United States in 2007 were due to illness or medical bills. Source: American Journal of Medicine, June 2009 Among the medical bankruptcy filers in 2007, most were well-educated, owned homes, employed in middle-class occupations, and three-quarters had health insurance. Source: American Journal of Medicine, June 2009 Everyone has the right to health, including health care, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Health care is a public good, not a commodity. The U. S. health care system must fulfill these principle s†¢Universality: Everyone in the United States has the human right to health care. †¢Equity: Benefits and contributions should be shared fairly to create a system that works for everyone. †¢Accountability: The U. S. government has a responsibility to ensure that care comes first. If you are against universal health care or don’t have an opinion on it at all, I urge you to read the following. I will attempt to simply and concisely prove why the United States needs to change its current health care system. In the United States of America, 44. 8 million people are without health insurance. Either they can’t afford it or they are denied coverage because the companies do not think they will be â€Å"economical enough†. Even if one does have medical insurance, chances are they will be denied coverage at one point in their life. This is due to the privatized, profit-driven system, which encourages legalese like co-pays, thresholds, limited coverage, and more. Our private system, contrary to popular belief, is incredibly expensive for the state. We give 15% of our GDP to healthcare for a system that is supposedly run by corporations. That’s the highest GDP percentage in the world that is spent on healthcare. Here’s why a universal healthcare system would be better for many reasons. Those who agree that health care is a basic human right (78% of Americans do) would easily list this as the first reason. Universal Health Care would also be cheaper. According to the WHO, the United States spends $3371 per person, per year for health insurance. Look at what these countries pay: Australia: $1017 (#2 in the world). Yeah. We pay three times as much as Australia, the number two country on the list, for a fundamentally broken system. And where does most of that money go? Into the pockets of big insurance company management. As for the doctor pay: Yes, doctors will be paid less. Perhaps as much as 30% less. In spite of this, doctors will still be one of the highest-paid professions in the United States, even with universal health care. Furthermore, under the new system that many are proposing, med school would be partially or completely subsidized by the government. Another argument often heard: â€Å"Taxes would spike†. Not if it’s done right. US government spending is SECOND-HIGHEST in the world per person, for a private system. Countries with Universal Health Care, like Australia, Canada, UK, etc. all have less government spending per person that us, and a better system. Same or less amount of spending means the same or less amount of taxes. Enough of the status quo. It’s time for change. It’s not just about voting with your heart, it’s about voting with your brain. Universal Health Care is the logical alternative. How to cite Universal Healthcare Persuasive, Essays

Larger than life Women in theater changed society Essay Example For Students

Larger than life Women in theater changed society Essay Sarah Bernhardt strides across the pages of Susan Glenns book like a colossus. In her nine tours of the United States between 1880 and 1918 the French-born actress and master of self-promotion made an indelible impression on the American landscape that transcended the stage. Bernhardt and other turn-of-the-20th-century female performers became leaders of and metaphors for changing gender relations, says UW historian Susan Glenn in her new book Female Spectacle: The Theatrical Roots of Modern Feminism published by Harvard University Press. Bernhardt and her sisters in theater, vaudeville, musical reviews and musical comedy exercised a strong influence on public consciousness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and in changing societal concepts of womanhood, Glenn believes. Bernhardt was the touchstone, the spectacle of spectacles. She gave women the power to define their own public image. She legitimized a strong personality for women and gave them permission to say I, which pre viously would have been seen as controversial, says Glenn. This was a woman who made a spectacle of herself. She was larger than life, and there was never anyone like her. Even Mae West, later on, didnt have the same impact. Spectacle, according to Glenn was a popular term widely used at the end of the 19th century by Americans to describe all sorts of changes that were beginning to transform society. One of the biggest changes was the larger public presence of women in the workplace, streets and in the theaters. On and off the stage women were increasingly drawing attention to themselves as they began voicing their rights to education, employment, participation in politics and sexual expressiveness. Bernhardt wasnt alone in creating theatric spectacle. She was joined by scores of other leading female entertainers of the era new women including Marie Dressler, Trixie Friganza, Eva Tanguay, Fanny Brice and Gertrude Hoffmann. These well-paid and independent women helped shape wider social and cultural developments because they exercised a degree of freedom that was rarely available to women in public, according to Glenn. By the 1890s you had the first of the star system. The player became more important than the play, she says. Celebrities had to develop strong personalities to remain in the spotlight. Theater and newspapers had a symbiotic relationship. They encouraged women to have individual personas to attract attention. To grab attention, women had to be outrageous a spectacle because it paid off. This was the P.T. Barnum syndrome of promotion. Only one figure challenges Bernhardt for the spotlight in Glenns book, and its a composite fashioned from hundreds, if not thousands, of young women the Broadway chorus girl. Glenn calls the chorus girl a generic emblem of the new woman. The chorus girl made a spectacle of herself both on and off the stage. While performing, she was a visual spectacle as part of a line of precision dancers that was stage-managed by men in a very controlled way, according to Glenn. Off stage, she had a mind of her own and made a spectacle of her independence. The chorus girl was widely pictured to be an urban adventurer who was young, attractive and dangerous. She was depicted in a very pervasive stereotype as a gold-digger, and the term dangerous chorus girl was a way of talking about a younger generation of urban women who would stand up to men. Historians in general have ignored the theater as a place where new ideas were generated, says Glenn. I hope this book permits people to see it as a place that helped move the world into the 20th century. And, she writes, Theater licensed women to say not only look at me because I am bizarre, funny, critical, graceful, melodic, or beautiful, but listen to me because I have something to say about what it means to be a woman. Shotgun Productions, founded in 1989, is a theatrical production company dedicated to expanding the role, and serving the needs of emerging wo men artists. Our mission is to:1.Provide a nurturing and supportive outlet for emerging women writers, directors, actors, choreographers, video artists, designers and technicians to hone their craft. 2.Offer our community an opportunity to experience the female voice in original works that are both innovative and challenging. Shotgun Productions truly is what Id consider to be the most organized, professionally minded group going. The degree of integrity in and genuine caring for the process as a whole shows every step of the way. Shotgun Productions deserves much more attention and support. .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 , .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 .postImageUrl , .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 , .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7:hover , .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7:visited , .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7:active { border:0!important; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7:active , .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7 .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u7b4418a1714cc10dc853b9de5593e5b7:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Critically examine the proposition that small alli Essay Bibliography:

When I First Saw The Movie Frankenstein, I Realized That Hollywood Was

When I first saw the movie Frankenstein, I realized that Hollywood was still changing the classic novels. In their usual fashion, they changed the names of the characters to be somewhat pleasing to the audience. I guess Henry Frankenstein was a better wholesome name than Victor Frankenstein. Instead they saved the name Victor for the supporting actor because no one would care what they named him. Next they changed Elizabeth to Margaret for some unknown reason. By movie standards today, the monster looked like a man in bad makeup and stiff acting. In Mary Shelley's original interpretation, I envision a monster with pale Caucasian skin color, misshapen limbs and with more vocabularies than Ugh or Ahh. I have come to the realization that the 1931 movie review of Frankenstein and I share the same opinions for the movie. Though I did find the acting and the makeup mediocre, in 1931 it was as the film critic said, "the most effective of its kind." The background and scenery impressed me. Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory was indeed impressive. The elaborate machinery and sound effects added to the sense that life was being created, though they really did go into great detail as to how life was brought back from the dead. The review says that the actor portraying Frankenstein's monster, Boris Karloff, did not portray a robot but a man sewn together with an abnormal brain. However I believed that the monster acted like a robot in the scene with the little girl. The girl presented a set of instructions (throwing flowers in the lake). The monster then copied the instructions like a program. Unfortunately, the "abnormal" brain caused a bug or glitch in his programming which caused the death of the girl. Humans are programmed, like a robot or computer, to follow instruction to perform actions such as walking, talking, driving, or doing simple math. In a sense we humans are highly advanced mechanisms given the ability to comprehend and interpret. After the monster was created, Frankenstein boasts about his achievements. Demonstrating a perfect example of the God complex, he exclaims; " Now I know how God feels." It is man's greatest task to equal or surpass its creator. At the beginning of the novel, its atmosphere is completely different than that of the 1931 movie. First, the novel begins after Victor created the monster that killed Elizabeth. You realize immediately in the novel that there was no happy ending as the movie portrayed. Elizabeth is dead by the monster's hands and Victor has now become obsessed with hunting down and destroying the creature. You also find out in the novel the background information of why Victor is so in love with Elizabeth. The movie also fails to give a very good reason as to how Victor goes on this journey to bring life back to the dead. They forget to mention his studies into Natural Philosophy or Galvanism. The novel also describes a more dark and sinister outlook. The time he brings life to his creation, readers feel a dark chill down their spines. When he describes how the monster haunts him in the shadows, the readers start to feels as if the monster is watching. When it starts to commit other atrocities, shoc k and horror invade the mind. I believe the film was an unjust representation of the novel. The 1931 film gave a lighter representation. It begins to be a little disappointing watching the film after reading halfway through the novel. During the 1920's and 30's, mankind was involved in the search to improve the human race called Eugenics. I believe the 1818 novel and the 1931 film were perfect examples of how the idea of eugenics was so widespread. At this time scientists were working on ways to create life that rivaled God, whether to create perfect children free of disease or to create the super soldier to fight their wars. It was even being suggested to create towns selected with the best of mankind. However, as in the movie and novel, the question of should we manipulate the forces of nature comes into the equation. The movie could be meant as a warning on the evils of eugenics. Though it seems

buy custom The Great Society essay

buy custom The Great Society essay Kennedys presidential campaign plan and a set of domestic programs offered by Johnson were undoubtedly the most comprehensive social initiatives since the enactment of the New Deal federal programs. Both Presidents sought to resolve significant challenges, which America faced at that time, including space race, discrimination, unemployment, and poverty. Despite the fact that the Presidents approaches to the issues and the amount of success and approval of reforms greatly varied when dealing with issues, their programs have played a crucial role in shaping Americas public policy. Today, the USA experiences consequences from the domestic promising programs offered by the authoritative leaders in the 60s. The democrats tenure in the White House lasted for eight years since 1961 till 1969. The Democratic domestic policy was based on important liberal reforms. Kennedy tried to deal with the opposition in Congress concerning his New Frontier plans until assassination, when Johnson took off ice and pushed the proposed reforms of his predecessor under the auspices of what he called the Great Society. John Kennedy used the term The New Frontier in his speech at the National Convention, where he was chosen as the Presidential nominee from the Democratic Party (Conley 147). The term referred to the policy conducted by the Kennedys administration overseas and at home. The most memorable achievement of the internal presidential initiatives was a human visit to the moon in the 60s. Although Kennedy did not live up to this event, the space program has long been considered as a national priority, implemented by his successors. The most significant economic accomplishment of the New Frontier initiatives was the enactment of amendments to the federal statute, Fair Labor Standards Act. In 1961, the passage of these amendments helped to raise the minimum wage from $1 per hour to $1.25 (Vogel 16) and provided more power to government in regulating salaries and labor standards for large business. Other economic achievements meant the reduction of trade tariffs with foreign nation-states and the ratification of legislation aimed at reducing unemployment and creating affordable housing. Other reform efforts were not as successful. Despite the fact that Kennedy proposed legislation that would have promoted the affordability of medical careand other laws that would have provided equal rights to minority groups, the U.S. legislation never ratified these initiatives during Kennedys tenure. Domestic programs proposed by the President Johnson in 1964 were more successful since the Congress passed legislation that could deal with these significant issues. According to DiBacco, Johnsons programs did not end poverty (510). However, the Presidents initiatives significantly reduced them. The Kennedys New Frontier tried to accomplish many of its initiatives. However, the Johnsons Great Society realized most of them passing important legislation freely and successfully. It helped to create social programs and numerous agencies to guide them. Under the Great Society, various environmental regulations were passed. Moreover, the passage of the Voting Rights Act as well as the Civil Rights Act guaranteed that minority groups received the same rights as other representatives of the U.S. society. Though the Great Society programs failed to eliminate poverty, it created a variety of programs and services that Americans use today and take for granted. Therefore, it was the most successful accomplishment. With no doubts, if John Kennedy had lived longer, he would have realized most of his promising programs. Therefore, many ideas left to Johnson, who was more concerned with implementing his own reforms. Lyndon Johnson quickly took the presidential office. Despite the Senates conservative voting, the President re-acquainted with the liberal roots and funded the large reform agenda since the domestic programs introduced by Roosevelt in 1933. After the Kennedys assassination, Lyndon Johnson was supposed to complete the unfinished New Frontier programs. Moreover, he had less than a year before the elections of 1964 to prove to the U.S. citizens his desire and right to become a new President of the U.S. The Congress passed the important legislation. The Civil Rights Bill that Kennedy promised to sign was passed into law after his death. It prohibited discrimination based on gender, race and ended segregation in public places. According to Blaustein, Johnson as the President signed the Economic Opportunity Act in 1964 (85). The law established the eponymous office aimed at eliminating poverty in the U.S. In addition, educational institutions in impoverished regions could get help from teachers and volunteers. Federal funds were sent to struggling and needy communities to fight illiteracy and unemployment. During his campaign in 1964, Lyndon Johnson started his war on poverty. He challenged millions of citizens to build a Great Society that could eliminate woes of poor people. Under the Johnson presidency, the U.S. liberalism was at high tide. In order to pass his agenda, the President as the experienced legislator used his strong personality and connections in Congress. According to Dallek, Johnson was pleased with accomplishments he had made by 1966 (327). However, in the course of time, events occurring in Southeast Asia overshadowed the Presidents achievements. Funds that he was supposed to spend on fighting with poverty were spent on the war in Vietnam. Conservatives slandered Johnson for his domestic policy. Liberals also blamed the President for the hawkish stance on the war in Vietnam. Johnsons hopes to leave a legacy of internal reforms had been in serious jeopardy by 1968. Structural issues in a free market system, mentality among poor Americans, and misconceptions of the middle-class citizens about the issues led to increase of poverty after the Second World War. Moreover, the Johnsons Great Society could not eliminate social problems. The free market system generated poverty as other individuals progressed towards wealth. Johnsons programs failed since they could not manage deficiencies in the system of free market. Postwar poverty led to the demoralized mentality of poor Americans. Ongoing plight was evident. Buy custom The Great Society essay

Ability To Efficiently Process Local Stimuli Psychology Essay

Ability To Efficiently Process Local Stimuli Psychology Essay This study is a replication of Navons third experiment in his 1977 paper Forest Before Trees. Participants are shown a large letter the global stimulus made up of smaller letters the local stimuli. The small and large letters are either consistent or contradictory. Participants were asked to identify the local stimuli. The aim was to determine whether global stimuli affected the reaction time of identifying local stimuli when the two are incongruent. 51 undergraduate students took part in the study which was an opportunity sample. This was a laboratory experiment of a repeated measures design. It was found that a contradicting global stimulus significantly affects the reaction time of identifying the local stimulus. From the results collected it can be concluded that global processing does affect local processing when the two figures are inconsistent and that incongruent stimuli cause a significantly delayed response to identifying the local stimuli. Is our ability to perceive and r ecognise local stimuli affected when local and global stimuli are incongruent? According to the theory of bottom-up processing, the whole is built up from its individual components. This would suggest that we first identify the local stimulus before perceiving the global one, implying that our ability to recognise the local stimulus should not be affected by the global one. However the Gestaltist law of common fate contradicts this in suggesting that we perceive the global stimulus as all of the local stimuli are positioned together to form it. Navon (1977) suggested in his paper ‘Forest Before Trees: The Precedence of Global Features in Visual Perception’ that we initially perceive the global structure and proceed to break it down to identify its components. He tested this by showing participants a large letter composed of smaller letters arranged to form the shape of the large letter. The small and large letters were either congruent or incongruent, and participants h ad to identify the small letter as quickly as possible. In this study, Navon’s original experiment was replicated to test whether the global letter affects the time taken to identify the local letter, comparing between when these letters are congruent or incongruent. The purpose of this study was to compare our findings to those already existing from Navon’s experiment to either corroborate or contradict his findings, and then discuss the possible explanations for the manner of global and local processing and how this can be applied to the real world and implicate possible future research. This study looks at whether global or local stimuli are perceived first and whether incongruence between them affects the speed at which they are recognised. Based on Navon’s findings, we expect that there will be an effect on reaction time when the local and global letters are incongruent, with it taking a significantly longer time to identify the local stimuli compared to wh en all stimuli are congruent. Method Design: This experiment was a laboratory experiment with a repeated measures design, in that the same group of participants performed the task a number of times in a row. The independent variable was the congruence of the stimuli, and the dependent variable being measured was the participant’s reaction time in seconds. The independent variable is nominal and the dependent variable is linear. All participants were tested at the same time under the same conditions, in the same setting; however this cannot account for personal factors such as attention or fatigue.

Ethnic American- History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethnic American- History - Essay Example But the debate on Immigration today involves more complex issues as varied as the issues of human rights to cultural apprehensions to corporate economics. Thus for the second or third generation immigrant the issue is much more complex than the first generation immigrant. The big corporate companies approach the issue of immigration as a source of cheap labor availability. There are ethnic lobbies who want to strengthen their bases of political power, using the immigrants. Even the opponents of immigration don’t have a common platform. Protecting the American culture from getting polluted by immigrants is the concern of the extreme rightists. Depressing wages and disappearing jobs are what are worrying the labor advocates. Thus the immigration debate today is beyond the perception of any single immigrant group like the Mexicans and is much more complex than what the first generation immigrants faced. The most important aspect of the debate about immigration today is the economic aspect of it. The corporate lobby in the United States wants not to stop immigration at all, because these immigrants constitute a source of cheap labor. One can employ an immigrant for meager wages with no other benefits of labor. This helps them to increase their profits enormously. More over these immigrants are ready to work in areas where American workers are reluctant to work. Thus these illegal migrants fill up the jobs which the Americans refuse to take up, because they are unpleasant and physically demanding with bad working conditions, especially in agriculture, construction and service industries. The Pew Hispanic Centre estimates that in 2001 workers with out legal documents comprised 58% of work force in agriculture, 23.8 % in private house hold services 16.6% in business services 9.1% in restaurants and 6.4 % in construction. Almost 90% of the immigrant workers are not educationally qualifi ed enough to be conscious of the price of the work they are

In what Ways Can Political Risk Impact on the Operations of an Essay

In what Ways Can Political Risk Impact on the Operations of an International Company - Essay Example As in its context, political risk is described as ‘the risk of loss of assets, earning power or managerial control due to politically based events or actions by host governments’ (Daft 116). From a similar view, Sharan (2011) notes that political risk is a term used in order to show the response of international companies to ‘political scenarios developed in host countries’ (Sharan 229). The aspects of political risk that international companies are likely to face are presented and analyzed in this paper. Reference is made to a specific company, Shell, which is well established in the global market. The political risk that Shell faces in Nigeria is used as an example in order to show that the specific type of risk is inevitable for firms operating around the world. Moreover, under certain terms this risk can severely threaten organizational activities in the host country, unless appropriate measures are developed in advance. 2. Political risk as a factor inf luencing the operations of international companies The political environment of a particular country can highly affect business operations in all its industries. Foreign firms operating in this country are also likely to be influenced by changes or turbulences in the local political environment. ... Moreover, there are countries, which are most likely to face such problems, compared to others where political instability is rather low. For example, in ‘Indonesia and Sri Lanka’ (Daft and Marcic 88) social conflicts are quite common, increasing the political risk for foreign firms operating in these countries. Moreover, Aswathappa (2010) notes that political risk can affect business activities ‘in different ways’ (Aswathappa 131). For example, in the context of political risk, an international firm may have to face the following problems: ‘a) expropriation of its assets, b) barriers to repatriation of profits, c) loss of technology, d) campaigns against foreign goods’ (Aswathappa 131). The above risks are described as macro – risks, being differentiated from micro – political risks, such as: a) ‘the kidnappings of employees, the increase of taxation or terrorism’ (Aswathappa 131). Moreover, Aswathappa (2010) notes th at political risk can affect business activities ‘in different ways’ (Aswathappa 131). For example, in the context of political risk, an international firm may have to face the following problems: ‘a) expropriation of its assets, b) barriers to repatriation of profits, c) loss of technology, d) campaigns against foreign goods’ (Aswathappa 131). The above risks are described as macro – risks, being differentiated from micro – political risks, such as: a) ‘the kidnappings of employees, the increase of taxation or terrorism’ (Aswathappa 131). On the other hand, Mckellar (2010) notes that important information on the political environment of a particular country can be retrieved through the international organizations, usually non-for-profit organizations, operating within this country. In any case, political risk