Effects Of Technology On Our Lives - 1679 Words

On average people use technology eleven hours of the average waking hours of sixteen to eighteen. That is sixty one to sixty eight percent of waking time on technology. Overuse of any thing is unhealthy, especially overuse with so many adverse effects. Technology has three main categories of unhealthy effects. Physical, Mental/Emotional, and Social/Environmental. Because of its wide range of unhealthy effects on several aspects of life its use should be limited. Technology has unhealthy effects on many aspects of life. Addressing the physical effects of technology, the first to be addressed is sleeping habits. When one uses technology they tend to stay up later, often times not getting enough sleep (10 Negative). This lack of sleep alters†¦show more content†¦One more physically unhealthy effect of technology is bad posture. Maintaining a proper and healthy posture while using technology is difficult (10 Negative). Using technology causes or creates neck pain, wrist problems, and bad posture (10 Negative). Study found that bending your head at a 60 degree angle to get a better look at your selfie is putting 60 pounds worth of pressure on the cervical spine (Firger). This is equivalent to the average 7 year old’s weight (Firger). Proper posture is found to elevate levels of testosterone and serotonin in the body, also it decreases the levels of stress hormone cortisol (Firger). Also a study done on 2,000 people in 11 countries showed 9 postures that have the potential to cause pain and discomfort (Nisen). A fourth physical problem of using technology is eye and ear problems. Technology causes eye strain (10 Negative). Also the volumes used to listen to music is unhealthy, causing ear damage (10 Negative). 70% of U.S. adults have experienced symptoms of eye strain, which include; dry, red and irritated eyes, fatigue, eye strain, blurry vision, problems focusing, headaches, neck and shoulder pain, and alignment issues (Hellmich). The last physically unhealthy topic to discuss is acne and eczema. People’s cell phone are soaked in acne and possible eczema causing bacteria. Even worse there are other insanitaryShow MoreRelatedTechnology And Its Effect On Our Lives1199 Words   |  5 PagesTechnology is helping us to advance in the world. When we talk about technology, most people’s first thoughts would be about phones, laptops, the internet etc. This is because every single argument I found against technology is talking about how we waste so much time on devices and how it is ruining human interactions and real life communication. What they don’t know is that while it does do all of these things, there are some good things that technology has brought upon us. Some examples are thatRead MoreEffects Of Technology On Our Lives1065 Words   |  5 PagesWe live in an age where technology is practically unavoidable if you live in a developed area. We don’t realize how much we really rely on technology in almost every facet of our lives. It’s a known fact that it is almost inevitable it will keep advancing, which is imperative to our development; but what about its social effects? There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that technology has definitely helped keep people in better contact than ever before, but the in-person interaction has actually hadRead MoreTechnology And Its Effect On Our Lives864 Words   |  4 Pages Technology We live in a society that is completely obsessed with the invention of technology, which has both a negative or positive effect on our lives. Technology has taken over the twenty first century, showing us how powerful it actually can be. Coming in contact with the invention of technology every day, it is hard not to excel in how to operate it. Once we have accomplished how to properly perform the duties on certain technology, we may become more addicted to it although most of usRead MoreTechnology And Its Effects On Our Lives1402 Words   |  6 PagesEveryday technology is manipulated and used by many people around the world. Technology describes the usage of technical means to interact with life, society, and environment, through an electronical device that is applied by science. Many people are slowly becoming attached to technology and relying on more of these resources because it makes their life easier. However, technology is slowly hurting a ton of people by being smartphone dependent, reducing our communication skills and disabling peopleRead MoreTechnology And Its Effects On Our Lives Essay1792 Words   |  8 PagesEveryday technology is manipulated and used by many people around the world. Technology describes the usage of technical means to interact with life, society, and environment, through an electronic device that is applied by science. Many people are slowly becoming attached to technology and relying on more of these resources because it makes their life easier. However, technology is slowly hurting a ton of people by being smartphone dependent, reducing our communication skills and disabling peopleRead MoreTechnology And Its Effects On Our Lives1499 Words   |  6 PagesNeuroimaging technology Madeline Johnson 242015 ECH 2025 001 As time has advanced so has technology; the world has watches that along with telling what time it is the watch also tells us who is calling us and how we slept at night. Along with so many other amazing inventions for our daily life there have been miraculous milestones with our neuroimaging inventions; scans range from being able to tell us where our brain is functioning during a task to allowing us to catch diseases such as cancerRead MoreTechnology And Its Effect On Our Lives1756 Words   |  8 PagesI. INTRODUCTION In this day and age, advanced innovation changes so quickly and incorporates into our general public at such a quickened rate, it is difficult to stay aware of it, not to mention consider the impacts it has on our lives. In spite of the fact that Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter did not exist a simple decade prior, they are presently pervasive types of media and correspondence in our way of life. Today s era of young people, conceived in the 1990s, apropos named the iGenerationRead MoreThe Effects Of Technology On Our Social Lives1166 Words   |  5 PagesOur generation is one defined by technology. Every day advances in cellphones, computers, cameras, medical technology, and much more are being made. Because of technology, the way we live our lives, and the way the world functions is vastly different than it used to be. One might argue that all of this technology is making our lives easier, and therefore, better. However, people do not realize all that we are losing, as we gain techn ological knowledge. In the eighties having a cellphone was a luxuryRead MoreEffects Of Technology And Media On Our Lives958 Words   |  4 PagesEffects of Technology and Media in our lives With the advancement in media and technology, almost anything is possible nowadays. Looking back a couple years ago, people did no have cellphones, computers or televisions to occupy and make their lives easier. With the development of these products and more, people are able to communicate and do work much faster and more efficiently. Society has come a long way with technology and media and to say that there are no negatives to them would be falseRead MoreThe Effects Of Media And Technology On Our Lives1828 Words   |  8 Pagesyou can to survive. Notice, I stressed the word â€Å"seem†, because I want us to explore the current generation of growing African American males and the effect of media and technology in their lives. Studies show that media images have a large impact on perceptions when the viewers have less real world experience with the topic. In an age where technology brings together different ideals, cultures and belief systems through the Internet and soc ial media, one can assume that accurate stories are being

Persepolis Free Essays

string(28) " change the way they dress\." In the current international community, the issue of human rights had been one of the main issues that are faced by the different countries in the world. Topics such as the inhumane treatment towards women and children mostly in the Middle Eastern Countries and Islamic communities around the world are the problems that are still in being debated by my leaders today. Although many feminist say that there is inequality and inhumanity in the treatment of women in the Middle East, in reality, women are really torn between deciding to obey their culture or practice their right as a woman. We will write a custom essay sample on Persepolis or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the past, Persian women are given the equal rights with men. These women have their own properties and are able to retain these even after their marriage. Most of them are given the right to their own freedom and are acknowledged as the most important people in the society given their ability to bear a child and such. In an article written by Massoume Price, he stated that based on historical facts â€Å"†¦the widowed wife inherited from the deceased even if she did not have children. A woman could not act as a witness in the drawing up of contracts, but she could act as a contracting party and have her own seal† (Price, n. . ). Women had the same power as men but as the years progress, female rights in Iran have lessened which led to repression and gender inequality. In the book Persepolis discusses such dilemma of a 9 year old child living in Iran during the Iran and Iraq war. The author of the book is Marjane Satrapi who actually is the lead character in the whole s tory and narrates her experiences as a child until now as an Iranian woman. The book is a graphic novel which looks like a comic strip. The book is filled with black and white drawings (The Creole Cat, 1) which I personally think as unique and cool. It is not like a typical book which is filled with words and serious topics that will turn out to be a boring book in the end. Although the book does not present is self as a serious and a complicated book to read, the issues raised in the book has became one of the most controversial concern in Iran and in various countries in the world. (Revolution, n. p. ) The graphic novel narrates the life of Marjane Satrapi who was then living in a chaotic world of politics in Iran. Her family is connected to the political branches of the government which makes her more exposed to the lifestyle of politics in Iran. Her family was communists who generally do not agree with the system of the Islamic Fundamentalists and its actions. Her family usually hosts under ground parties which was a form of rebellion in the government. These parties were not allowed by the government because they are believed to be a western practice which opposes the belief of the fundamentalists. Therefore heavy punishments could be held to them if they are caught participating in these activities. As Marjane lived in a family that was against the Islamic Fundamentalists, she also created measures that imitated the actions of her family. She got interested in punk and heavy metal music and often bought Nike shoes in the black market. Due to the bold actions of the young Marjane, her family decided that she must live in a different country to prevent her from being arrested by officials, â€Å"It would have been better to just go† (Eberstadt cited in Satrapi n. p. ). During her high school life, she was sent to Vienna Austria however, she felt like she was isolated and typically hated the people around her. She believes that Westerners do not put any value to the freedom that they have. After a few months of her stay in Austria she had a relationship with a young man. She became passionately in love with him but after a while, she discovered that he was cheating on her. Due to this, she had clinical depression and almost died of bronchitis. She went home to Iran with a broken heart (Revolution, n. p. ). By the time that she was in college, she went back to Iran. She was hopeful that changes in the society would be present because the war had already ended however; the problem in Iran seemed to have a much bigger issue to solve. Petty issues such as small differences in religion, and group executions due to political conflicts had been a source of bigger complications in the society which lead to a much chaotic Iran. The conflict made the lives of the people much more difficult most especially to the women living in the country. Iran had a much more conservative law which made life for Marjane much more complicated. Freedom of wearing make-up was prohibited. Marjane was almost caught wearing cosmetics but in the end, she got out of the situation for accusing the police for staring wrongly at her body. In addition she married her boyfriend just to avoid the police scrutiny. In the end, Marjane Satrapi separated with her husband after their three years of marriage. Other events happened and finally her parents decided that she must leave the country in order to prevent her from being arrested by the police. Marjane agreed to the plan of her parents however, after her departure from Iran her grandmother died. In the whole story, the role of women was one of the strongest and most evident participation. In some articles that critiqued the book has stated that the graphic novel is about feminism and women empowerment in the Middle East. The book highlights the role and responsibilities of women in a conservative and Islamic community such that of Tehran, Iran. When the Islamic Fundamentalist party one the most obvious changes that the women had to do was to change the way they dress. You read "Persepolis" in category "Papers" Women need to cover their hair in order to not entice the men. In the conservative belief of the Islam religion, women must not show of a body part because it might lead to something sinful for the part of the men. The veil became a mandatory outfit of every woman whether they may be young or old (Creole Cat, 1). Make-ups are also not allowed by the Islamic Fundamentalists for they believe that it is a Western belief and thus is should not be put on by any woman. In the story Marjane was almost arrested by the police but she was able to make an alibi. In addition, women in many ways had created actions in order to prevent men from being caught by the police while going against the action of the government. A scene in the graphic novel where in the police stopped their car for inspection. The police officer inspected her father and suspected that Marjane’s father had drunk wine. Upon inspection, the mother tried to negotiate with the officers pleading that her father just became surprised with the inspection. In the continuing scene, the grandmother excused herself through justifying that she has diabetes. She was understood by one of the officers and through this, the grandmother and Marjane were able to go up their apartment and sneak in. They were able to throw away the wines that they have kept in their apartment. Females in Iran were able to somehow cover up for the men because of their characteristic of being compassionate and patient with negotiations with other people. Marjane’s mother is specifically patient and calm during situations like these. She gives support to her husband but is more composed. Although she wanted to have justice and equality amongst everyone in Iran she does not act as violently as others would do. (Satrapi 107-110) The role of the maid in the story was also an important part of the novel. Although it is given small attention, the scene of the story is proclaiming that there is social construct of limiting oneself from interacting with other people due to the social class. A maid is not a high paying job compared to other jobs available. Maids are also seen as low class citizens and must not go out of their social class. They must not marry higher class people such as the middle class and the elites. It would be immoral and improper because in the Iranian society, any individual must not go out of their social class, like Marjane’s father said â€Å"In this country you must stay within your own social class† (Eberstadt cited in Satrapi n. p. ). Due to this belief and social construct, the interaction of the society becomes limited which creates in equality. However, Marjane stated a line in which makes the readers realize that there must not be boundaries with the relations of people â€Å"We were not in the same social class but at least we were in the same bed†( Eberstadt cited in Satrapi n. p. ). Her line expressed states that everyone is equal with one another, in terms of loving another person. The situation of the maid, demonstrated that class difference is one of the main issues faced by Iran. The main character, Marjane illustrates a child that was born in a family that wanted to have a just world. Just like her parents, she also employs her own belief system which led to many troubles which were narrated in the book. Her boldness and strong belief present a modern Iranian woman that wants to get out of her shell to explore other realities. Marjane advocates the openness to other new experiences such that of the western culture. As a young girl, she immediately had a different sense of desire for freedom and equality. When she was in her younger years, she was already out spoken about her ideas and her dreams. She wanted to become a prophet which is not really a dream for most the girls of her age. Her teacher even called her parents because she got disturbed by the idea the Marjane wanted to be a prophet. Her dream of becoming a prophet evidently makes her represent the female population that wanted freedom and equality from the Islamic Fundamentalists belief. Although Marjane was being bold and was acting against the principle of her belief, she still believed in a higher and stronger being which was shown in her graphic novel. Though, women were repressed and were forced to the will of the fundamentalists, Marjane’s role became an important in the book to show that she was a woman that pursued what she believed is right even though she was held back by the society. She did chase her dream in making the lives of women and other Iranians free from all the difficulties that she had in her past life. Marjane’s life became a symbol of courage and change for many women in the Iranian society. In conclusion, women in the book all have their own roles. The elderly women in the book such as the mother and the grandmother of Marjane played the role of protecting their families through peaceful means. As much as possible, these elders are fighting for what they believe is right however, they do not do the extremes unlike Marjane. They move with grace and caution to make sure that their family is well protected and at peace. The maid’s role in the story is being a woman less powerful than the normal one due to her status in the society. Being a woman and being poor held her back to the lower part of the social system. The Iranian conservative society does not allow a lower class female to marry or be in a relationship with a male who is in the higher social status or vise versa. On the other hand, Marjane’s role in novel changed the perspective of many of the characters. Her rebellion made gave her a little freedom which was needed by most of the women during her time. Marjane showed her strength and courage in battling the norms of her society to prove that women should be given more freedom than their culture allows. How to cite Persepolis, Papers

Self Assessment Of Leadership Practices Essay Example For Students

Self Assessment Of Leadership Practices Essay Self-Assessment of Leadership PracticesAfter completing the required reading of the Seven Habits Profile, I have decided to conduct a self-evaluation of myself which will help me determine my best and worst leadership qualities along with my strengths and weaknesses as a leader. I will go into details by discussing my strengths and weaknesses in this essay, and through this evaluation I will be able to better understand how truly prepared I am to be a leader in the business of healthcare. A thorough evaluation and reflection will be accomplished, and I will be required to be honest with myself so that the evaluation is conducted fairly. Not conducting the evaluation fairly will not help me, but instead hurt me. All great leaders have had to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and it is up to the individual to determine after evaluation what weaknesses need to be enhanced. Seven Habits Profile and FindingsPrior to taking the Seven Habits Profile I firmly believed that the leadership style that fit me the best was cognitive. After a thorough evaluation of the Seven Habits Profile, I came to find out many different things about myself. Better understanding myself leads me to believe my leadership style should be changed to a servant leader. A busy life with a family can certainly cut the time there is in one’s life to truly perform a self-evaluation. In Category 1, I noticed that I seemed to do outstanding. I have never been one to speak negative on others or gossip, and I have always been known to keep honors and commitments. I also value my ability to show kindness and consideration to others, and feel that one should always treat others how they would like to be treated. I gave myself a total score of 18 in Category 1. A. . goals I recommended earlier in the paper will not be achievable overnight. I will slowly have to improve my ability to self-regulate my actions, have more empathy for co-workers and improve on my emotional intelligence in general. Being realistic while understanding achievable goals will help me accomplish goals that I set for myself. In conclusion, after thorough evaluation of myself as a leader using the Seven Habits Profile along with reflection, I now understand what my strengths are as well as my weaknesses as a leader. I plan on improving upon my weaknesses while continuing my education. I know that there are realistic and achievable goals that I can accomplish, I just have to continue maintaining my vision which I feel is strong at the moment. This reflection greatly helped me as a person, and I look forward to becoming a better person and leader every day.

Who is to blame in The rucible Essay Example For Students

Who is to blame in The ?rucible? Essay The Crucible was first produced in 1953 in 1952 in the middle of the McCarthy political witch hunts. Miller was trying to convey the parallel between the witch-hunts in Salem and the witch hunts for communists. The hysteria in Salem can be blamed on the individuals or the whole society. Although many individuals contributed to the hysteria the social conditions the characters, the young girls in particular, had to endure is also to blame. There are a number of characters to which some degree of blame could be attributed. One of these characters is Abigail. Abigail is the character who really gets the whole thing started; Uncle, we did dance We will write a custom essay on Who is to blame in The ?rucible? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now She first openly admits to dancing in the woods and when the pressure is put on her she says that it was to blame on witchcraft. She uses the situation to her advantage and manages to get back at Goody Proctor who has blackened her name in the village. Although she is very manipulative in some ways she is a victim. She is treated as a child even though she is no longer innocent and virginal; Sweated like a stallion Abigail is very forward and speaks and acts like she is much older than she is. She is a young adult but nobody will treat her like one. Abigail had a relationship with Proctor, but still he calls her a child. Abigail seems to want to break free of the stereotype and this is what leads to hysteria. Abigail did not plan for the situation to get out of hand or lead to the death of innocent people, but she could not really stop it once the ball had started rolling. The accusations led to the hysteria to spiral out of control as more and more people were blamed. Society really is to blame though when it comes to Abigail as society put great pressure on her, which led her to try and break free of her stereotype. Another character that contributes to the hysteria is Parris. The way Parris approached his ministry led to problems. His selfish attitude contributes to the reaction of the girls. The way he runs the church leads to resentment and bad blood in the village. He should be preaching about God but instead he preaches about money. He is always thinking about himself too much and does not consider others; I cannot offer one proposition, but there be a howling riot of argument He may have been able to solve the problems but he couldnt be bothered with the hassle of it and would rather deal with his own problems. He is selfish and only really thinks about money. He thinks he deserves luxuries because he is a minister; Dont a minister deserve a house to live in His selfish attitude contributed to the hysteria in Salem. In some ways it is society to blame  for creating the conditions in which man like Parris, who is quite obviously not a very holy man, can lord it over others simply because he has the title of priest. John Proctor also contributes to the hysteria in Salem. His inability to control his lust contributes to events. His lust for Abigail led Abigail to believe that there could be a proper relationship between them; Ill not be comin for you no more He does try to make it clear to Abigail but he has already led her on too much. When Proctor calls her child it makes Abigail want to prove herself to him and she shows him how powerful she can really be. .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a , .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a .postImageUrl , .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a , .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a:hover , .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a:visited , .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a:active { border:0!important; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a { 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; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a:active , .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a .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; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u71c581b5ce82a033e630a0f4bd5e2c4a:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Social and Historical Background to 'Great Expectations' EssayIt seems as though if he had come forward earlier then he could have stopped what was happening. He would not admit to adultery because he did not want his name blackened in the village. Society is really to blame because it condemned sexual impropriety and it made him feel that he could not confess because it is a sin. Putnam is another one of the characters that contributes to the hysteria. He is the prime example of the land owning citizen. He seems to be motivated to make the problem worse. He is very selfish about his land and possessions; You load one oak of mine and youll fight to drag it home He is always fighting and bickering with other people about what belongs to him. As a prominent citizen he could have stopped the hysteria rather than fuelling it. He, instead of dealing with the problems he would rather try and gain more land by getting his daughter to cry rape. Society really is to blame for creating a man like Putnam who is given power through possession of money and use that power for greed. In fact Proctor indicates how the village seems based on money not equality. There is also a collective blame. All the characters build up to create a society, which is prone to this type of situation. The land disputes add to the problems. No single character tries to whole heartedly to solve the crisis because of fear of damaging their own reputation. The way women and children are treated also contributes to the problem. Many of the young women are treated like children and want to demolish the stereotype. There are certain attitudes towards pleasure which means that many of the girls would have had a starved imagination and social life which would have made the witch hunts seem exciting and appealing. The girls were rarely made centre of attention so this sudden interest shown towards them would have also been appealing. It would have seemed ridiculous to them to remove themselves for the spotlight, which they rarely have upon them. Overall it was the whole of society to blame rather than the individual characters. As the village was in the middle of  nowhere there was no escape. This made the situation more intense because everyone was trapped. These external influences slightly contribute to the atmosphere. There are many parallels between the society in Salem and the communist witch hunts. Both conditions are similar; in both cases people are being persecuted without a proper trial or any evidence. Both societies have resentments and jealousies. Miller uses the book to create an absurd situation to mock the McCarthy witch-hunts. It is the individual characters that contribute to the chaos. All of the characters build up to create a society prone to this type of situation.

Steven King in class essays

Steven King in class essays There is no doubt that Stephen King is an incredibly popular author of horror stories and novels. People who have not read his novels have probably seen movies based on these novels or may have seen movies that he has written the screenplays for. Because of his popularity, having his stories as an assignment in a literary class will certainly appeal to even the most reluctant reader. Students will read and enjoy his work. Although most education professionals of literature recognize the motivational quality of King's work, many have not considered teaching any of his works in the classrooms. His often strong language, or the grossness of the horror in some of his stories, may have been a barrier in their consideration. Even though his style of writing may not be acceptable to some people, King has acquired his style from extensive reading of works from the great figures of literature. He is very concerned with incorporating the fundamentals of good writing in his works which means hi s stories are not only motivational, but worthy to study in the classroom. Because many students are already familiar with King's work and are intrigued by the genre of horror, the willingness of these students to analyze his stories will heighten their desire to learn more about literature. In order to study the fundamentals of writing, students have to be attracted to the works they are studying. When introduced as the readings in a unit of horror and suspense in literature, King's short stories can be an excellent springboard to the work of classic novelists. Novelists must use what are known as the elements of fiction in order to make sense of a story. These elements are fundamental parts of all storytelling, and they include: plot and structure, character, setting, point of view, style and language, and theme. While these elements may be discussed separately, they are always acting simultaneously in a s...

Gallium Spoon Tricks

Gallium Spoon Tricks Gallium is a shiny metal with one property in particular that makes it perfect for science tricks. This element melts just above room temperature (around 30Â °C or 86Â °F), so you can melt it in the palm of your hand, between your fingers, or in a cup of hot water. A classic set-up for gallium tricks is to make or purchase a spoon made from pure gallium. The metal has about the same weight and appearance as stainless steel, plus once you melt the spoon, you can reshape the gallium to use it again and again. Gallium Spoon Materials You need either gallium and a spoon mold or else a gallium spoon. Its a bit more expensive, but if you get the mold, you can make a spoon over and over. Otherwise, youll need to mold the metal by hand to re-use it as a spoon. The Mind-Bending Gallium Spoon Trick This is a classic magician trick in which the trickster rests a gallium spoon on a finger or else rubs it between two fingers, appears to concentrate, and bends the spoon with the power of his mind. Youve got a couple of ways to pull off this trick: Rest the spoon on a finger that you warmed up right before the trick. Easy ways to warm your hand are to hold a cup of hot tea or coffee or simply put your hand under your armpit briefly.Rub a section of the spoon between two fingers. Friction generates heat, which will soften the spoon. The weight of the spoon will cause it to bend. The Disappearing Spoon Trick If you stir a warm or hot cup of liquid with a gallium spoon, the metal melts almost immediately. The spoon disappears into a cup of dark liquid or pools visibly at the bottom of a cup of clear liquid. It behaves much like mercury (a metal that is liquid at room temperature), but gallium is safe to handle. I dont recommend drinking the liquid, though. Gallium isnt particularly toxic, but its not edible.

Supervisors at Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Supervisors at Work - Essay Example I believe a supervisor plays a key role in the development of one’s skills, career and growth. It is not only the responsibility of a supervisor to make sure he delegates proper work to those working under him, but also ensure that they are not being over or under worked. Moreover, supervisors also need to ensure the reason behind performance of his delegates and if someone is not performing up to the mark, he needs to sit them down and counsel, and help them in whatever way he can. Besides this, a supervisor should ensure that his team does not get demotivated, and if it does he needs to find out a solution to ensure that the problem is resolved at the earliest. This can be done by linking rewards with performance, and paving a clear promotional structure so workers who work hard know that it will lead them to the next level in the corporate ladder. All these features are portrayed by my supervisor at work and that I have noticed almost all employees working under him are hig hly satisfied with him.Trust, respect and royalty of their seniors is concerned, I have noticed my supervisor does that by keeping two things in check. The first one is ensuring that whatever work is delegated to him, he gets it done efficiently and well on time. The second one is giving an honest opinion to his seniors, despite the fact that they might like it or not. Honest views are highly valued by top management and I have noticed they like people who have the guts to stand by their views and convince others about them.

Psy 200 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Psy 200 - Essay Example In this experiment, a majority of the participants would conform to a social norm or any norm such as in the control experiment. Participants were so irritated especially in the second condition in which they faced a violation of a social norm. they felt like their privacy was being violated when the social was violated with someone standing too close, especially people of the same gender. They emotionally felt so angry and disgusted when asked to violate the norm-standing too close when talking to someone. It is worth noting that, it was especially different for people who somehow knew each other, they tend to enjoy the violation. In the case of condition 1, there were emotional reactions displayed when participants were asked to conform. Not all the participants were comfortable doing norm violation especially for the second condition; but in condition one, the participants asked to violate the norm had no problems. As far as condition one is concerned, on thing was very clear, the participants willingness to go along with social pressures was much stronger than their beliefs to stand up for what their individually know or believe as true. On the other hand, participants in the second condition believed in going along with social norms and were not prepared to go against it. For the first condition, it is apparent that people were willing not willing to violate the social norm because they did not want to feel different from the rest; they were more concerned with what the others might think, and believed that, majority rules. However, in the second condition, people did not want to violate the social norm because they felt it was not the right thing to since it was violating on people’s privacy or making the conversion difficult. It was very easy to approach males than it was to approach ladies who felt enthusiastic to participate. Most men

Utilatarian, Deontology and Virtue Ethics Essay Example for Free

Utilatarian, Deontology and Virtue Ethics Essay Utilitarianism is defined as ethic based on consequences. An act, either it is morally wrong or good is acceptable as long as the end outcome is greater. In this essay on utilitarianism, I would argue Peter Singer’s calculus preferences, equality is for all living being but sacrificing one for greater good is plausible. Counter argument of Immanuel Kant’s moral deontology claim, it is immoral to consider a human being as a means to an end. John Mills’ actions are right as long they promote happiness, wrong if they produce the opposite of happiness as the reply for the counter argument. In conclusion, I would ethically rectify my claim in supporting utilitarian argument. Singer claimed that it is wrong to choose animals as research subjects in order to benefit human beings. Both humans and animals should be considered equally in the moral calculus, if it is morally permitted to use human being in research, then only, would it be permitted to use animal. And, if we were to consider the use of humans as well as animals and the research was considered to have great overall benefit for all, then the animals might be used since the general good is the most important thing. â€Å"Moral law should be universalized†. Kant stated that concept of a good will from morally proper motive is the base for considering any action. If it is the act from some hidden motive or for personal gain it is label immoral duty even if it is otherwise appears morally good. Cruelty to animals reduces the feeling of compassion in man, an immoral duty. Therefore, researching animal to gain cure for diseases is wrong, because it is immoral action to sacrifice another living being for the personal gain of humans, although the end results appear morally good. Kant’s theory is a strict morality. Universalize moral duty is good but some situations are exceptional. The outcome of the act is the reason the act was perform and if the outcome is general happiness then it is a morally right thing to do. Mill supported this as he stated actions are right as long they promote happiness, gaining a cure for incurable disease promotes happiness overall to general public. Therefore, researching on animals for cure will provide a plausible outcome which in this case a general happiness for the entire society. According to Mill, general happiness is the foundation of standard moral deed, overruling Kant’s concept of good will. In conclusion, I have to agree on utilitarian concept on judging the consequences than the action. Although it is immoral act to achieve the morally good, the final outcome is the most important objective in life. Deontology is defined as ethics based on duty or act. Moral value lies in the action, not in the consequences of the action. In this essay on non-consequentialism, I would argue Immanuel Kant’s deontology based on categorical imperative. Counter argument from Mill, general happiness is the foundation of standard moral deed. Replies based on Kantian views and conclusion on disagreeing non-consequentialism concept. â€Å"There is no if in moral action†. An action is considered moral only if one acts out of a sense of duty alone, without bearing in mind the consequences or self-interest. To understand Kant’s imperative, we need to know his description of inclinations and duty. Inclinations are based on desires, passions and emotions, whereas duties consist of reason alone. People are different, emotionally and rationally from animals as they make decisions based upon an inclination, a duty or a combination of the two. According to Kant, the source of moral justification is the categorical imperative and it must be based on reason or duty alone. In order for an act to be categorically imperative, it must be thought to be good in itself. As a categorical imperative, it asks us whether can we universalize our actions, that is, whether it would be the case that others would act in accordance with the same rule in a similar circumstance. If categorical imperative becomes the guiding principle of morality, therefore it becomes the judge for determining an act is moral or not. Mill criticises categorical imperative, stating that it is basically the same as utilitarianism, since it involves calculating the good or bad consequences of an action to determine the morality of that action. Mill argues that we should always aim at ensuring the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people and that, for instance, telling a lie in particular situation is good if telling that lie produces good consequences. As an example, lying to a rapist or a killer the location of the victim, an immoral action but for happier consequences for all. However, a Kantian would argue against this view, pointing out that we have full control only over our motives, not the consequences of our actions, so our autonomous will can only approve or disapprove of motives. An ethics that focuses on consequences, then, is not based in the autonomy of the will. In conclusion, although Kant shaped modern thought on moral decision-making, I’ve to disagree with his deontological system. Some circumstances are different as for my opinion consequence plays a major role in evaluating moral thoughts. A duty is not being ignored but, rather, outdone by the greater need. Virtue is ethics based on character. Theory in which depends solely on the individuals themselves. In this essay on virtue ethics, I would argue Macintyre’s individuals character as the key element of ethical thinking. The two counter arguments will be cultural relativism and self-centred theory. A reply for both counter argument and a conclusion supporting virtue ethics is the best way to go. Virtue ethics identifies the central question of morality in relation with the habits and knowledge about how to live a good life. Macintyre claims that good judgment comes from good character. Being a good person is not about following formal rules. For example, a virtuous person is someone who is kind across many situations over a lifetime because that is his/her character and not because he/she wants to simply perform he/her duty. Unlike deontological and utilitarian theories, virtue ethics do not aim to identify universal principles that can be applied in any moral situation. The first counter argument of the theory is the difficulty of establishing the nature of the virtues, especially as different people, cultures and societies often have very different opinions on what creates a virtue. Second, virtue ethics is self-centred because it’s mainly concern with the individuals own character, whereas morality is supposed to be about other people, and how our actions affect other people. Theory of ethics should require us to consider others for their own sake, and not because particular actions may benefit us. A reply for first counter argument is that any character quality defined as a virtue must be universally regarded as a virtue for all people in all times, so that such cultural relativism is not relevant. Replies on self-centred, virtues in themselves are concerned with how we respond to the needs of others, and that the good of the individual and the good of others are not two separate aims, but both result from the exercise of virtue. In conclusion, virtue ethics is the way to go and is more acceptable in our current society. The decision for each action lies within the individual, and the characteristic of the individual plays a major part in it. This is because certain action may be morally good for one but not for other, and certain consequence may be morally good for one but not another. The term virtue is meant strength or power. The idea of The Golden Mean is that in our actions we must seek the right measure and proportion. Excess or defect is a departure from virtue. For these reasons, the Four Cardinal Virtues exist. The four cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance are interconnected. This means that if you do not possess one of them, all the others are spoiled, and so you do not possess virtue at all. Prudence is the most important of the four cardinal virtues with knowledge being the importance of prudence. Thomas Aquinas lists many different components of prudence, but three main ideas exist. Memory is the order to know the meaning of the present. Docility states the willingness to remain open to reality and to learn as situations change. Lastly, prudence does not mean simply knowing what to do. Justice, we give to each person what is due to him, and we do this consistently, promptly and pleasurably. It concerns right relations with others in society. Divisions of justice can be broken down into legal justice, commutative justice, and distributive justice. Fortitude synonym with courage and bravery but must be based on justice. The purpose of fortitude is to remove obstacles to justice. In its extreme form, it is the willingness and readiness to risk ones life for the sake of that which is just. Aquinas stated that perseverance is undermined by a soft life. The person who pampers in pleasure and always avoids discomfort will be unwilling to put up with the sadness he must experience if he is to stand firm in difficulty. The virtue of temperance rules our appetites for pleasure. By nature we desire the pleasure that is suitable to us. Temperance does not restrain us from the pleasures that are reasonable, but from those that are opposing to our reason. Temperance does not act against our natural human feelings, but works with them. In conclusion, Aquinas thinks the cardinal virtues provide general templates for the most outstanding forms of moral activity.

Solar Power Essay example -- science

Solar Power All life on Earth depends on energy from the sun. Solar energy is the source of energy for photosynthesis. It provides the warmth necessary for plants and animals to survive. The heat from the sun causes water on the Earth's surface to evaporate and form clouds that eventually provide fresh rainwater. Solar energy is the result of thermonuclear fusion reactions deep within the sun. These reactions produce so much energy that they keep the surface temperature of the sun at about 10,300B0F. Even though solar energy is the largest source of energy received by the Earth, its intensity at the Earth's surface is actually very low due to the large distance between the Earth and the sun and the fact that the Earth's atmosphere absorbs and scatters some of the radiation. Even on a clear day with the sun directly overhead, the energy that reaches the Earth's surface is reduced about 30 percent by the atmosphere. When the sun is near the horizon and the sky is overcast, the solar energy at ground level can be negligible. It also varies from one point to another on the Earth's surface. Nevertheless, in the 20th century, the sun's energy has become an increasingly attractive source for small amounts of direct power to meet human needs. A number of devices for collecting solar energy and converting it into electricity have been developed, and solar energy is used in a variety of ways. Solar energy is used to heat houses, and in many countries specially designed solar... Solar Power Essay example -- science Solar Power All life on Earth depends on energy from the sun. Solar energy is the source of energy for photosynthesis. It provides the warmth necessary for plants and animals to survive. The heat from the sun causes water on the Earth's surface to evaporate and form clouds that eventually provide fresh rainwater. Solar energy is the result of thermonuclear fusion reactions deep within the sun. These reactions produce so much energy that they keep the surface temperature of the sun at about 10,300B0F. Even though solar energy is the largest source of energy received by the Earth, its intensity at the Earth's surface is actually very low due to the large distance between the Earth and the sun and the fact that the Earth's atmosphere absorbs and scatters some of the radiation. Even on a clear day with the sun directly overhead, the energy that reaches the Earth's surface is reduced about 30 percent by the atmosphere. When the sun is near the horizon and the sky is overcast, the solar energy at ground level can be negligible. It also varies from one point to another on the Earth's surface. Nevertheless, in the 20th century, the sun's energy has become an increasingly attractive source for small amounts of direct power to meet human needs. A number of devices for collecting solar energy and converting it into electricity have been developed, and solar energy is used in a variety of ways. Solar energy is used to heat houses, and in many countries specially designed solar...

The Issue of Discrimination and Antidiscriminatory Practice

The issue of discrimination and antidiscriminatory practice Discrimination is the unfair treatment of a person or group deemed different from ourselves or society. Discrimination derives from our prejudices towards these groups of people who we have developed negative attitudes towards. Family, friends, workplace and society can affect these attitudes. It is part of your job as a social worker to fight discrimination where you find it and for this you adopt the theory of anti-discriminatory practice. Anti-discriminatory practice is the main strategy in combating discrimination.It takes into account how we behave towards other individuals. All employees in a care setting should promote this practice in the workplace as it is key to combating prejudice, in doing so they are trying to eradicate discrimination and promote equality for service users and for staff. 1. â€Å"Whatever the personal characteristics and needs of the individual, everyone has the same rights. Equality of care is a central value to all caring professions and is written into codes of practice and in the government's patient's charter. † Discrimination takes many different forms so carers must be vigilant.One form of discrimination that can be found in the work place is to do with gender, whereby men are favoured over women for high ranking jobs within a company. Physically disabled people face discrimination everyday when due to their condition they are unable to access facilities in their physical environment. Perhaps one of the biggest forms of prejudice in our society relates to race. People who are racially different from ourselves (e. g. coloured, Asian, Pakistani etc. ) can be deemed in some situations less desirable than a British Caucasian.They may also find it more difficult to get a job and once in this job may be met with much racial tension as with the case study below. 2. â€Å"Mr Singh had been a social worker in a local council's children's services department since 199 1. When he became a target for racist remarks by one member of staff and complained, his manager dismissed the incidents as office banter' and told Mr Singh to ignore them as the offender was due to retire shortly. Because of the way the complaint was handled, Mr Singh was branded a trouble maker', and staff relations broke down.The Industrial Tribunal found that the council did nothing to put matters right. Mr Singh was awarded a total of 16,615 in compensation: 5000 for the racial discrimination he suffered and 11,615 for unfair dismissal. So in one way promoting A. D. P is an individual act, it is important that if you see malpractice happening you should take steps to put an end to it. As a care worker you are instilled with a certain degree of power and it is important that this power is used in the correct way and not abused. A. D. P is an essential practice in the profession of social care and is imperative in ensuring equality for all service users, no matter what their indi vidual situation. Promoting it within the workplace is a duty that should be carried out by all individuals working there and is key to providing equality within the service for staff and service users. To do so staff should be well educated about the different types of discrimination and how easy it is to discriminate against someone. Also they should be alerted to types of discrimination language and how this although seemingly small can affect people.Mainly though you should ensure that you individually are not abusing your role and be vigilant of others who may be abusing theirs. Three values that underpin A. D. P are Privacy, Dignity and worth, and the right to choices. All service users should be given the right to privacy. Be given space to themselves when they need it, a little solitude and just time to be on their own. Every person needs and deserves privacy and it is essential that this right is adhered to. Every individual should also be given their dignity, respected and made to feel they as individuals are worth this respect, in turn giving them a more self-respect.This can be especially important in moving and handling or helping with bathing etc. Another important value in A. D. P is the right to choices. This recognises the individual's right to a choice concerning them or their welfare. Whether it be preferences in clothing or alternatives towards diet these choices should be respected. These values influence how we work in the care profession and when adhered to reduce the risk of discrimination in the workplace. Three examples of legislation which underpin A. D. P are: Sex discrimination act 1975 Disability discrimination act 1995 Race relation's act 1976 3.â€Å"The sex discrimination act 1975 states that: Direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of gender is illegal. † It applies to both male and female and makes it illegal to discriminate in employment, education and housing etc. on the grounds of gender. It aims to ensure t hat neither sex is discriminated against and is key to promoting equality between sexes. 4. â€Å"The disability discrimination act 1995 defines disability and encourages employers, transport providers and others to make reasonable efforts to respond to the needs of people with disabilities. This act takes into account the needs of the disabled and enforces society to respond to their needs whether it is access or care. 5. â€Å"Race relations act 1976 made direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of race illegal. The Commission for Racial Equality was set up to implement and monitor this act. † This act made it illegal to take a person's race into account when considering them for a job and made it illegal for people to be racially discriminated against in their workplace, promoting equality for the different races alongside ours, and helping to remove racial tension from the workplace.Each of these pieces of legislation affect how people work in the care profession, they must be taken into account and affect the service provided. They ensure to a certain degree that A. D. P is upheld and that all service users and staff are free from discrimination and ensured equality of service. However this is not always the case so it is important that with these things in mind each care worker is ever vigilant and always promoting A. D. P in the example of their own work.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Family Businesses

Family ownership or management of business is predominant in different countries. Family businesses exist in different sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and services. Many of today’s prominent business firms that provide popular products and services and own respected brands are family businesses. Some businesses also start out as family businesses before shifting to other forms of business organisation. Family businesses are also significant contributors to economic growth. Firms owned or managed by families can be small, medium or large.Regardless of the size and scale of operation, the sheer number of family businesses translates into a diverse range of consumer products as well as employment opportunities and household income. However, like other forms of business organisations, family businesses have advantages and disadvantages that require consideration to support justifications for suitability in the present business environment.Advantages of Family Businesses Family businesses offer a number of advantages. These advantages explain the predominance of family businesses and the increase in firms owned and operated by families.The first advantage is the commitment towards the business that family members exhibit (Leach & Bogod 1999; Longenecker et al. 2006). Firms established and operated by families enjoy the commitment of family members involved in managing the business.There is a strong attachment to the business, as an outcome of direct and personal efforts. There is also the strong motivation to keep the business going. This leads to prudent decision-making over expenditures and investments (Longenecker et al. 2006). The business has high value to family members as a source of family pride and a legacy passed on from one generation to the next (Fleming 2000).The second advantage is flexibility over a wide range of areas, particularly work arrangements and responsiveness to change (Leach & Bogod 1999). Family members managing the busine ss are flexible when it comes to the time and effort they give to their work. As a highly valued venture, the family business becomes a priority to ensure business success (Fleming 2000). Family businesses also exhibit flexibility in responding to changing conditions in the business environment. Direct involvement in operations supports immediate recognition of problems and emerging opportunities (Sonfield & Lussier 2009).Decision-making over solutions or in tapping into opportunities also happens fast to respond to issues and needs. The third advantage is long-term planning fuelled by the goal of sustainability (Leach & Bogod 1999). The intention for family businesses is to continue across different generations (Fleming 2000). This intention influence strategic planning to ensure the stability and sustainability of the business. There is better anticipation and control of risks. Contingency plans are set in place. There is also high reliance on business knowledge and skills acquire d by the family (Lee, 2004).The fourth advantage is the exercise of direct control over the business by family members (Sonfield & Lussier 2009). The management of the business by family members supports speedy decision-making (Leach & Bogod 1999). Direct knowledge of operations provides information needed to support sound decisions. Decision-making can happen on the spot as problems emerge or comprise an expedited process. Moreover, family businesses are able to transmit family values into the corporate culture to ensure that operations align with the goals envisioned by the family (Fleming 2000).The last advantage is the achievement of employee motivation (Leenders & Waarts 2001). One source of employee motivation is the trust (Tagiuri & Davis 1996) emerging in the relationships within the business adopted from the fiduciary relationship among family members. Employees are extended trust to create the perception of value to the business.Another source of employee motivation is goo d channels of communication (Tagiuri & Davis 1996) that create a pleasant work environment. Communication not only eases work but also ensures the necessary support for the conduct of work. Appreciation and recognition are also easily communicated.Disadvantages of Family BusinessesFamily businesses also have disadvantages. Even if family businesses comprise the predominant form of business organisation worldwide, there are also family businesses that fail when the disadvantages overshadow the advantages. The first disadvantage is the rigidity of business structure and culture (Leach & Bogod 1999). Family businesses have the tendency to stick to tradition. While traditional practices may have led to the success of the firm, the changing business environment may require change.The value accorded to traditions and the fear of losing control may work against needed change. The second disadvantage is the impending conflict between family values and business interest (Leach & Bogod 1999) and conflict between personal life and the business (Longenecker et al. 2006). There is an overlap between family and business interests. Conflict emerges in areas when there is deviation between family and business interest such as in decisions to bring in external investors or change business practices. Decision-making can also become emotional when personal considerations intertwine with business (Fleming 2000).The inability to find a point of compromise can result to serious problems. The third disadvantage is the difficulty of continuity or succession (Leenders & Waarts 2001). Succession is a process charged with strong emotions and high stakes (Fleming 2000). Conflicts can arise when there are different family members aiming to become successors. The process requires consideration of competence apart from membership in the family to ensure not only the continuity of the family business but also the sustainability of the business itself (Lee, 2004). Unaddressed emotional issues can lead to the failure of the business.The fourth disadvantage is the threat of leadership crisis (Leach & Bogod 1999). A problem in the allocation of power can emerge when there is reluctance to allocate greater power to one member of the family to facilitate decision-making. There is likely to be preference for equal sharing of power, which can delay decisions during a deadlock (Sonfield & Lussier 2009). Problems with leadership can also relate to succession. There may not be good leaders in the family but there is preference for family members to lead the business (Fleming 2000).The last disadvantage is difficulties in achieving efficiency and profitability because of the preference for equity to the detriment of efficiency (Lee 2004). The placement of unknowledgeable and inexperienced family members in key positions instead of hiring external experts to take charge, while the family member gains experience, can lead to irrational or rash decisions that affect the performance o f the business (Fleming 2000). Similar situations focusing solely on equity can result to inefficiency that has a direct adverse effect on profitability.ConclusionFamily businesses have advantages and disadvantages. The family business, as a form of business organisation, suits today’s business environment through the advantages that are inherent or prominent in family owned or managed firms such as commitment, flexibility, control, long-term planning, and employee motivation. Addressing the disadvantages can be by finding the strategic balance between family and business concerns or interests that work for the business at present and in the future. In doing so, family businesses can ensure sustainability even in the fast-paced business environment.

An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge essays

An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge essays For as long as videos have been available to the public, there has been the question of whether or not they are as stimulating to the mind as the written story. Ambrose Bierces, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, and the short film it became when director, Robert Enrico adapted it to a visual medium, would be a good set to study to answer this question. They have their similarities, such as preparation, themes, and plot. Both also bring their own tactics to the storytelling table. The two versions of this story give a sense, by placing union troops around a perimeter, that the main character is surrounded, with no chance of escape. He has a love for nature, family, and life in both. This is illustrated by the way that he thinks of his wife and shows love for the earth when he is alive. Both consist of a series of escapes ending with a sudden, shocking death. Time is imaginary, and is warped and deliberately mishandled in both. Both use death to end the warp in time and bring the audience back to reality. The film version of this story adds a definite sense of sound with a soundtrack. This helps to stir emotions, and the lyrics help get a point across. The film also brings into play a bit of symbolism, leading to many parallels with the crucifixion of Jesus. The written story tells us some background of who the main character is, and fills in the story behind his hanging. Both Robert Enricos film and Ambrose Bierces written work tell approximately the same story, but both have their own way of doing it. As for all films and books, the same may be true. Both are beneficial to audiences in their own way. ...

An alien species Essay Example for Free

An alien species Essay An alien species (also known as ‘exotic or nuisance species’) is the entry of any species into the ecology of which in the past it was not a part of. This species can travel to the new ecosystem from a neighboring ecosystem or from another part of the world. An alien species can cause damage or harm to animal, plant and human life thus completely disrupting the ecosystem. Two of the alien species that have seriously affected the other inhabitants of the ecosystem in the US and the other parts of North America include the Green crab and the zebra mussel. In the home ecosystem, an alien species may not be able to thrive well due to the presence of certain factors such as diseases, presence competitors, lack of space, natural enemies, etc. However in the new ecosystem, the alien species is able to thrive uncontrollable due to the absence or restrictive factors. In the past, many alien species have been introduced into various environments. Some have entered due to human factors, whereas other may have entered due to certain natural factors. Some species may have benefited the environment, which they are entered, whereas other may have seriously destroyed the native population. Invasion by alien species can have both, economic and environmental implications. The Zebra mussel is originally from the Caspian Sea and the Green crab is from Eastern Seaboard. These are classic examples of ‘Aquatic Nuisance Species’ (ANS) (ACS, 2007, MDNR, 2006 & NOAA, 2007). The Zebra mussels were identified in the Great Lakes and later spread to the other parts of North America via the major rivers and waterways. They may have spread into the US from ships that have traveled through the freshwaters of Europe. They compete for plankton in the waters and in this way seriously jeopardize the food chain. They also damage parts of boats and ships. The Green crabs had spread into the San Francisco Bay region and later through California and Oregon States. They have a strong appetite for food in their territories and in this way deprive other organisms of food. The native crabs of US have seriously suffered from the invasion of the Green crab into their home territory (ACS, 2007, MDNR, 2006 & NOAA, 2007). An alien species. (2017, Feb 19).

Mergers and Acquisitions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Mergers and Acquisitions - Essay Example When big conglomerates are exposed to excessive risk owing to the fact that maximum investments are made in one or few specific businesses, they choose to diversify business and acquire new firms. Another important financial reason behind mergers is that of achieving economies of scale. The term, economies of scale, refers to cost advantages that a firm is able to enjoy because of its size, scale of operation and output. The cost per unit is lowered with the increasing scales. Thus, the cost of operations is relatively lower in the combined business firm. Berkshire is a US-headquartered multinational conglomerate holding firm that has subsidiaries engaged in different business activities, including property and casualty insurance, energy, finance, food, freight rail and so on and so forth. 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway have collectively acquired the joint control of Heinz by way of purchasing shares. Heinz is one of the well-known brands in the global food industry and has a history of providing tremendous value to its shareholders. Heinz had displayed a strong and sustainable growth over years. Hence, Heinz is a safe and favorable company to invest in. Given that both the acquiring partners were previously engaged in the food industry, the merger with Heinz has added to their existing product lines. Moreover, the companies will be able to gain access to a very strong distribution channel that generates 25% revenue from the emerging markets and approximately two-third of the same from outside the United States. By gaining access to the extensive distribution channels of Heinz, the two companies can in future add more companies to the portfolio, thereby further leveraging the system for bigger and costlier acquisition efforts. The Heinz brand generates about 40% of the sales and has a huge competitive advantage in sauces. The Heinz portfolio has 15 brands that are capable of yielding more than $100 million sales on an annual basis (Stahl, Matzler and

Discuss the film A SEPARATION Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Discuss the film A SEPARATION - Assignment Example One of the ethical dilemmas illustrated on the film is about minor understandings and confusion that lead to separation of a husband known as Nader and his wife Simin. The main reason for the couple’s misunderstanding is the decision of Simin to leave Iran. The film writer depicts that the couple has been married for fourteen years but the living condition in Iran leads Simin to make a decision of leaving. Her main objective is to go in a place where she can manage to offer a better education and life for their eleven years daughter. However, Nader does not support her wife’s decision because he wants to stay in Iran and cater for his eighty years old ailing father. Another issue related to ethical dilemma that the film writer illustrates is dispute dissolution. The couple is unable to solve their disputes and disagreement involved in their marriage. This leads to Simin in filing for a divorce. The family court judges rules that the couple’s disagreement does not weigh enough to consider divorce as the final option. However, Simin had already made her decision and finally moves out. Another ethical dilemma relates to the issue of poverty in the society. The film writer depicts that Razieh moves to work for Nader even without her husband’s permission, as recommended in the society. The film also illustrates various circumstances of emotional upheavals. One of these instances is during the separation of Nader and Simin. The later is mainly concerned of their child’s future life and this creates a difficult moment in her thoughts to the point of making a firm decision of leaving. Nader also depicts to have emotional upheavals in the fact that he has to balance his ailing father’s life to the well-being of his family. Eventually, he makes a decision of staying back with his father rather than moving. The film writer also demonstrates Nader’s daughter, Termer experiencing emotional upheavals because of her parent’s divorce. She loses the

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Coursework

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - Coursework Example Accordingly, H&M spends resources both financial and human to facilitate programs and ideals which are not principally profit making but touch the lives of people and leave a lasting impact on them. They include engaging in activities and outreach programs which would meet the society in their various points of need as would be identified in various points in time. This is a phenomenon where the business seeks to cover the negative effects occasioned to the environment and the society at large upfront to avoid an even larger effect in subsequent times. It could come in the form of environmental protection and conservancy such as H&M providing seedlings to be planted for future benefits while being alive and cognizant about current costs and risks or threats. (OConnor & Shumate, 2010). For instance most multinational are guilty of environmental degradation and pollution which is a negative externality and a direct cost to the immediate environment. Therefore, the immediate community would form a negative perception and bad will towards such a company. However, the case is different in H&M because protection and conservancy is their core mandate in endearing their product to the local community. Therefore, it is part of H&M to appeal to the local community by taking care of the environment Is the instance where companies such as H&M choose to share their abundance with the less fortunate people in the society by articulating and covering their needs and shortcomings (Dean, 2014). Intuitively, the business also markets themselves in the course of the corporate social responsibility. Apart from creating employment for the disabled H&M provide discount offers to disabled community. The aim basically is to show appreciation and concern to people with special needs. H&M has also invested in programs that create awareness of people with special needs. For instance, H&M buys wheel chairs and white sticks to the less

The Theory And Arguments Of Dividend Policy Finance Essay

The Theory And Arguments Of Dividend Policy Finance Essay Dividend is a cash payment made by a company to its shareholders. A companys dividend decision has important implications for both its investment and financing decisions which would what money should be give to the shareholder and how much money should be kept in the firm which may be used in the later years. The dividend decision, which consider the amount of funds retained by the company and the amounts to be distributed to the shareholders, is closely linked to both investment and financing decisions. For example the company with few projects should return the unused funds to shareholder by the way of paying more dividends. A company with several suitable projects that maintains high dividends will have to fund from external sources. In the recent years, the decision what amount to retain and what amount to pay has become an important corporate decision. The Management should take into account the expectation of the shareholders and the capital market when making dividend decision. Theory of Dividend Policy Waston and Head ( 2007) state that there are two main theories of dividend policy which are as follows: Dividend Relevance Theory: Lintner (1956) and Gordon (1959) claim that dividend policy affects the value of a firm, because of shareholder prefer dividend to capital gain. The logic of their preference regarding dividend is that divided is certain but not capital gain. So, dividend policy affects the value of a company. The assumptions of Gordon findings are investors are risk averse and uncertainty augments with regard to whether dividend payments would take place in future. Dividend Irrelevance Theory: Miller and Modigliani (1961) claim that value of a firm is not influenced by its dividend policy in perfect capital market with some assumptions. The assumptions which are needed for the perfect market are as follows: There is no tax effect on dividend and capital gain There is no transaction cost All the investors are behaving rationally There is a perfect market Arguments for and against that a Higher Cash Dividend Payout Increases the Share Price Arguments in favor of the statement: Information content: Waston and Head (2007) mention that a higher cash dividend payment plays an important role to provide favorable information to the investors. Higher cash dividend indicates that the companys financial condition is strength. Reduce Conflict of Interest: Waston and Head ( 2007) states that management tries to ensure their personal benefits, whereas owners are concerned about their own interest which cause agency problem. Higher dividend payment rate decreases conflict of interest, because it indicates that agent (management) is doing all things for the wellbeing of the shareholders. Risk free: Gitman (1997) argues that higher cash dividend reduces the uncertainty of shareholders income, so it leads to increase the share price of a company. Arguments against the statement: Shortage of Cash: High cash dividend payments cause shortage of cash which lead to forgo of making investments in profitable projects and it will act as a fuel to reduce the share price rather than increase. Increase the Cost of Capital: The given company has to manage fund from the external source which is comparative expensive than retained earnings, because of paying higher cash dividend, the capability of the given firm decreases to collect fund from internal source i.e. retained earnings. Therefore, a higher payment of cash dividend increases the cost of capital and decreases the share price. Hindrance of Growth: A higher payment of cash dividend hinders growth of the firm through squeezing the investment capacity. Arguments for and against that Divided Payment is Irrelevant to Maximize the Shareholders Wealth Argument in favour of the statement Homemade Dividend: Dividend is irrelevant to the maximization of shareholders wealth, because of if the company does not pay dividend, shareholders can continue their regular income through selling some holding shares which is called homemade dividend. Profitability: The market price of share depends upon the earnings or profitability of the firm and not the dividend policy of the given firm. Arguments against the statement The Clientele Effect: There are some differences for the different types of investors which invested in the given stock of the firm. Normally, the investors such as Pensioners and Institutional investors expect regular income in order to meet their liabilities. But in case of wealthy investors, they expect capital gain rather than small regular income in the form of dividend. So, dividend payment ratio is relevant to change the share price. Information Content: Waston and Head ( 2007 ) mention that a higher cash dividend payment plays an important role to provide favorable information to the investors . Higher cash dividend indicates that the companys financial condition is strength. Reduce Conflict of Interest: Waston and Head ( 2007 ) say that management tries to ensure their personal benefits, whereas owners are concerned about their own interest which cause agency problem. Higher dividend payment rate decreases conflict of interest, because it indicates that agent (management) is doing all things for the wellbeing of the shareholders. Risk free: Gitman (2009 ) argues that higher cash dividend reduces the uncertainty of shareholders income, so it leads to increase the share price of a company. Argument for and against that Dividend payment should be avoided since it reduces Shareholders Wealth Arguments in favour of the statement Tax effect: Shareholders need to pay tax on the dividend received on the shares which decreases their net income as a result it will decrease wealth. Reduction of investment in profitable projects: Payment of dividend to the shareholders will reduce the opportunity of the firm to invest in the profitable projects. So, the firm should try to avoid the dividend payment to its shareholders and try to concentrate on its investment opportunities. Argument against the Statement Information content: Waston and Head ( 2007) mention that a higher cash dividend payment plays an important role to provide favorable information to the investors . Higher cash dividend indicates that the companys financial condition is strength. Reduce Conflict of Interest: ( 2007) mention that management tries to ensure their personal benefits, whereas owners are concerned about their own interest which cause agency problem. Higher dividend payment rate decreases conflict of interest, because it indicates that agent (management) is doing all things for the wellbeing of the shareholders. Risk free: Gitman (2009 ) argues that higher cash dividend reduces the uncertainty of shareholders income, so it leads to increase the share price of a company. Determinants of Dividend Policy: Samuels and Brayshaw (1995) and Weston, Beasely and Brigham (1996) mention that the following factors affect the dividend policy: Constraints on dividend payments : There are some constraints in the dividend payments which includes Debt contract imposes some restrictions because the interest on debt is to be paid before the dividend and it is the obligatory payment. The face that the dividend payment should not exceed the retaining earning which was mentioned in the balance sheet It is subject to the availability of the cash , because the dividend is paid only with cash. Investment Opportunities: Company which pays more dividends it will postpones the opportunity to invest in the new acceptable projects which might be selected on the basis of Net present value of the project. Alternative source of capital: When a firm want to raise a capital though either debt or equity it have to incur some cost which is known as Cost of capital. Generally, a firm which want to raise money should try to make the cost of capital low. Normally, the Equity cost of capital and cost of debt capital should be referred as external cost and the retained earnings should be mentioned as internal cost. If have retained earning almost, its cost is less when compared to the cost of external cost. If the firms has strong Retained earning it should not depend upon the profit of firm which is not predictable, and you could not restrict your investment opportunities in new projects. Ownership dilution: If the management of the company think that they should not allow any further shares by raising through equity capital or they are reluctant to dilute the ownership it should hold large amount of retaining earning or reserves. If the firm has large number amount of reserves then it need to raise capital for any future projects. Hence, the company which dont like dilution of control should hold sufficient amount of reserves or retaining earning and whenever they need they can use for the Business. Effect of dividend policy: The effect of dividend policy depend on 4 factors this includes :Shareholder desire for current future income; the perceived riskiness of dividends versus capital gains; the tax affect on the capital gain or divided which may depend upon the relevant statues and the information content of dividend. Distributable profits: The companies act stipulated that the dividend should be paid out accumulated net realized profit which includes the current profit and the previous accumulated profit. Because there is no concise definition of the word accumulated profit in the act the Committee of Accounting Bodies issued guidelines on the determination of the realized and the distributable profits and the mentioned that the profit is as per the Accounting standards and Generally accepted accounting principles i.e., Profit available for distribution should be calculated after providing accumulated loosed from the previous year. Liquidity: When the firm announces the dividend it should have sufficient cash to pay the dividend otherwise there liquidity position should be strong. Because, the company may generate more profit its does not mean that it should have it have all the profit realised in terms of cash. It may invest some funds in Projects or investment for returns. So the management should consider the liquidity before announcement of dividend. CONCLUSION The dividend policy is the crucial part of the management decision that need to be handled carefully . If they handled properly they need not to worry about the investment decision and financial decision. According to the dividend relevance theory, the dividend policy plays a vital role in hands of the investors because the wrong decision might affect the capital structure of the firm. We got from the theory that dividend give the signal effect to the investores and it has a clientele effect so we cant avoid the payment of dividend. On the other hand if we pay dividend regularly year by year it will affect the growth of the company and it will create liquidity problems. Big company like Mcdonals they avoid the dividend in the intial year and they will create a Brand name across the world and later they pay the dividend.

Taxing and E-Commerce Essay -- Internet Tax Sales Papers

Taxing and E-Commerce With the advent of the Internet, e-commerce exploded, and in 2003, the estimated value of online sales was 95.7 billion dollars (epaynews). It also is estimated that 30% of online users buy online (epaynews). As e-commerce and the revenues from e-commerce increase, so do the questions and problems concerning taxes. Because of the global nature of the World Wide Web, and more than 30,000 tax jurisdictions in the United States (US), (Internet Taxation) it is easy to see the complications that exist in the taxation of e-commerce. Who do you tax? How is it collected? Can taxes be collected from a sale that was made in another state, and what is considered a substantial â€Å"nexus† in the buyers state. Because 75% of the American population have access and use the Internet (Don’t Tax the Internet) this is an issue that affects the majority of Americans. According to an article published by the Citizens For a Sound Economy, â€Å"State and local access fees could add 20-25 % to the average Internet consumer’s bill †¦ that may not sound like much in Washington, but it could strand millions of low-income Americans on the wrong side of the digital divide† (Don’t tax the internet). Because taxation is an issue that affects most Americans, it is important to understand what types of taxes that there are and that could be levied, the past and current internet taxation policies, and finally the challenges and benefits of internet taxation. There are many different taxes that are being considered at this time, and that could be levied on the Internet and its users. The first type, which is being considered, affects all Internet users, as it is a tax on Internet access. In some states where this type of tax does exist it is ... ...d affect global consumers, I think that it is fair that the consumer be subject to the vendor’s country’s tax. I learned a lot from the research that I did. I learned that those in the government are considering Internet taxation, and whether we agree or disagree, it is important that we get involved. Otherwise, we may end up with an outcome that we disagree with. Work Cited Epaynews: http://www.epaynews.com/statistics/purchases.html Internet Taxation: http://www.pubpol.duke.edu/centers/dewitt/course/internetandsociety/taxation/ Don’t Tax the Internet: http://www.cse.org/informed/issues_template.php?issue_id=1748 Internet Taxation: Which side are you on?: http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol4/internet-taxation.htm E-Commerce and Internet Taxation: Issues, Organizations, and Findings: http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jun00/gordon-murnane.htm

Challenges in Pension Reform

CHALLENGES IN PENSION REFORM A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF NATIONAL UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION NOVEMBER 2012 By James Michael Sandburg Capstone Project Faculty Advisor Gary Geiler CAPSTONE PROJECT APPROVAL FORM I certify that I have read the Project of James Michael Sandburg entitled Challenges in Pension Reform, and that, in my opinion, it is satisfactory in scope and quality for the degree of Master of Public Administration at National University. Approved by: ___________________________________________________________________ Gary GeilerDate ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges faced by public sector administrators as they grapple with restoring pension plans to solvency and sustainability. The objectives are to research and describe how public pension plans have become insolvent over the course of the past dozen years; to discuss legal issues that make reform d ifficult; to suggest how to involve unions in meeting the challenge of reforming pension plans through negotiation with collective bargaining units; to discuss how to chieve pension reform without violating constitutional and statutory protections; to suggest a means of paying off unfunded pension liabilities. Unfunded public sector pension liabilities has become a nationwide problem, with total unfunded liabilities totaling between 1 and 5 trillion dollars, depending upon investment return assumptions. Pension problems have plagued the City of San Diego, California, since the late 1990s. Pension reform became a key element in San Diego’s 2012 mayoral race.The prevailing candidate stood alone among three challengers, as the only one who seemed to recognize the depth of the legal implications of pension reform that will be discussed herein. The idea has become widely held that implementing public pension reform is essential to restore pension plans to financial health and sust ainability. The premise of this study is that it is possible to accomplish necessary reforms without alienating stakeholders, and without exacerbating the problem by doing further battle in the courts.In the end, pension abuses can be eliminated, sound principles of pension finance can be sustained, and the public interest can be preserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS CAPSTONE PROJECT APPROVAL FORMii ABSTRACTiii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURESv Chapter I: Introduction7 Background7 Problem Statement10 Purpose and Objectives11 Limitations of our Study11 Summary of Remaining Chapters13 Chapter II: Pensions in Peril14 Chapter III: Social Security23 Chapter IV: Reform Propositions34 Chapter V: Legal and Constitutional Hurdles43 San Diego Pension Issues:43 ERISA Pension Reform:47 Contracts Clause:48Due Process & Takings Clause:49 The Due Process and Equal Protection Clause:49 The Eyes of a Nation May Be Upon San Diego51 Chapter VI: Union Participation53 The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA):53 The Public E mployment Relations Board (PERB):54 Chapter VII: Pension Obligation Bonds56 Chapter VIII: Conclusions and Recommendations62 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 2. 1 Illinois State Retirement System Rate of Return on Investment†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦.. 16 3. 1 Summary data for 2010 and 2011†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦19 3. 2 Select Unfunded Accrued Pension Liabilities†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 29 Chapter I: Introduction Background.The life cycle in America and most developed countries is to spend the first five years learning to walk, talk, and manage our bodily processes. We then spend a dozen to 16 years gaining an education and figuring out what we want to be when we grow up. Once we determine that, some of us then need to continue with another several years of education to gain an adva nced degree or two, and learn the specialized skills of our chosen occupation. We then spend the next 30 or 40 years working 5 or 6 days a week earning a living to support our families and raise up a new generation to repeat the process.By this point we are 60 to 70 years old and ready to retire in some level of comfort and dignity, without having to work anymore – retirement and our â€Å"declining years,† they say. That lasts another dozen years, give or take a decade. The level of comfort and dignity one enjoys during those final years is measured mostly by the wealth we have managed to accumulate during the 3 or 4 decades we toiled at those chosen professions we spent so many years preparing for. For most of us, that wealth consists mainly in something modern society calls a pension.Because most of us lack the discipline, sophistication, or skills needed to set aside and invest money during our working years, the task of accumulating pension funds is left mainly up to our employers, who in turn hire highly specialized teams of people to administer those pension funds. Some of them do that extremely well; others not so much. Because not all employers offered pensions, in 1935 Congress passed legislation authorizing the federal government to tax workers and their employers, in exchange for guaranteeing a basic pension. That legislation was the Social Security Act.Social Security was never intended to replace employer-provided pensions, or to discourage workers from accumulating their own retirement funds. Rather, the intent was that Social Security would provide a guaranteed base upon which workers and their employers could build. Employer-provided pensions are not gratuities. They are offered as a part of the compensation package designed to entice workers to spend 20, 30, or 40 years working for those employers. In the case of Social Security, once again, this is not a gratuity; but rather something workers and their employers pay for over th e entire course of one’s working life.As such, these pensions are something to which workers are therefore entitled. â€Å"Entitlement† is one of those terms that takes on an entirely different meaning, depending upon who says the word. Some wealthy people tend to use the term in a pejorative sense, as if it is something to which recipients are not actually due. Some people at the opposite end of the social ladder toss the word around as if it represents a basic right that is owed to them by society, like the air they breathe.For our purposes, we use the term to describe a set of benefits one actually does earn through years of working, paying taxes, and making contributions, either directly or as an element of one’s compensation. State and local government employers provide pensions through public sector retirement systems. For reasons we will explore later, many government workers are not covered by Social Security, and hence are not entitled to Social Securit y benefits. Whether or not these workers are covered under Social Security, their pensions have been promised as a part of the compensation package by which they were enticed to work for their employers.Pension funds accumulate from three sources: employer contributions, worker contributions, and investment income. Some States and local government entities have done a better job than others, in administering, managing, and contributing to these retirement systems. Because pension funds generally accumulate over long periods time, the 20, 30, or 40 years of the employee’s working life, the largest part of pension funds have historically come from investment earnings. Indeed, typical public sector retirement systems throughout America rely upon those pension funds earning 7. 5% to 8% or more annually.Shrewd investment strategies have often returned even greater earnings. But during the past dozen years, several things have occurred to interfere with such growth. First was the d ot-com bubble burst in the Spring of 2000. Then came the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Then came the â€Å"Great Recession† and mortgage crisis starting in 2007 and escalating over the following several years. Each of these factors played an increasingly damaging role in depleting pension funds, yet were never anticipated by those who designed and managed the funds, or by the local politicians who exercised control over contributions to the pension funds.In some cases, such as in the City of San Diego, City Councils actually chose to take pension holidays to suspend contributions. San Diego promised pension benefit formula increases in exchange for the privilege of suspending pension plan contributions. In retrospect such a plan makes no sense whatsoever, but to some it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. In San Diego the practice ultimately led to a nationally publicized scandal, involving charges of reckless fiscal mismanagement, and leading the New Yo rk Times to dub San Diego, â€Å"Enron by the Sea† in 2004. Broder) An audit report in 2006, prepared by a New York risk management company, and which cost the City $20 million to prepare, summarized the problem: â€Å"San Diego officials cultivated and accepted a culture of financial management and reporting premised upon non-transparency, obfuscation, and denial of fiscal reality. † (Kroll, p. 3) San Diego may have garnered the headlines, but was certainly not alone in its failure to grasp reality when it came to pension finance.San Jose was another, among countless cities, that promised enhanced pension benefit formulas without committing to the requisite pension contributions needed to support them. Problem Statement. Unsupported promises, together with investment losses, unrealized projected earnings, skipped contributions, and even inaccurate mortality assumptions, have put pension plans in crisis in nearly every State and local government throughout the United S tates. There are a few exceptions, of course, but calls for â€Å"pension reform† are rapidly becoming nearly universal.Public sector pensions provided to employees of state and local governments, like all other forms of government worker compensation, are paid in large part from tax revenues, which suggests to some that taxpayers should have something to say about them. In actuality, that may not be the case, any more than taxpayers should exercise direct control over salaries or other employment benefits. Nevertheless, the political process in both San Diego and San Jose, California, brought major pension reform proposals to local voters in 2012.Proposals call for slashing benefits, and even elimination of defined benefit pension plans. Understandably, such ideas have met considerable opposition from employees and the unions who represent them. The fact that these are the 8th and 10th largest U. S. cities respectively, means that all States and political subdivisions facing similar fiscal problems will be paying close attention to what happens in these two California cities. In the process there has been a lot of finger pointing, largely at labor unions, as politicians and city leaders are slow to admit their own roles in the creation of the crisis.Closer scrutiny may suggest that labor unions are less culpable than the politicians are willing to admit. Purpose and Objectives. The purpose of this study is to explore some of the challenges in pension reform. We will suggest some guidelines for bringing stakeholders together to deal with the problem. Finally, we will suggest a possible solution to the financial crisis faced by states and their political subdivisions stemming from widespread unfunded pension liabilities. Limitations of our Study. We have not gone into excruciating detail regarding San Diego’s pension scandals, though it may have been instructive to do so.Neither have we discussed uncounted millions of dollars in wasted legal fees that stemmed from confrontations that might have been avoided, had the City of San Diego taken a more cooperative approach toward labor. While relevant to the present discussion, these details were a bit beyond the scope of this study. We looked at a thirteen pension plans as a representative sample. Twelve of these were chosen specifically because they were held out as being exemplary in the late 1990s, to support the idea that public retirement systems outperform Social Security.A number of these plans were highlighted in a Pew Institute study suggesting that Social Security should be privatized, rather than run by the federal government. It is noteworthy that, with the exception of just one, all of these non-FICA pension systems are today in serious trouble. Another plan was selected to illustrate just how bad off one State pension system had become, underscoring the magnitude of the nationwide problem. We did not study the intricacies of each plan to discuss why they have togeth er amassed hundreds of billions, or even trillions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities.We presume the reasons were common among them all, and that they represent the majority of public sector pension plans in trouble today throughout the United States. We also did not go into great detail to examine the single non-FICA plan that has managed to operate for several decades without a dime in unfunded pension liabilities. The Galveston County alternative to Social Security plan is quite unique among public sector pension systems, with only two neighboring Texas counties following its lead. The plan deserves further study, but this is beyond the scope of our presentation.Even if its adoption were to become widely accepted in the future, however, it would not address current issues faced by the nation’s other public sector retirement systems. Additionally, this study does not attempt to examine the legislative steps that may be involved in making any solution work. The U. S. Supreme Court has had little to say on the subject of modern pension reform, but we can expect that to change in the near future as current challenges to State and local pension reforms make their way through the court system.Stay tuned, as it is only a matter of time before the nation’s highest court will have an opportunity to weigh in on the topic. Summary of Remaining Chapters. In Chapter I we have introduced the concept of pensions, and their place in society as something to which workers are entitled. We have noted that in today’s tight fiscal environment, State and local governments have become challenged to continue providing pensions. Chapter II discusses the widespread nature of the problems leading to the call for pension reform nationally. In Chapter III we put Social Security in perspective.Chapter IV touches upon some of the proposals put forth in the political processes of 2012. Chapter V notes that there are legal and even constitutional implications s tanding in the way of draconian pension reforms. In Chapter VI we discuss bringing unions on board to seek solutions in cooperation with management, rather than continuing in a pattern of confrontation. Chapter VII discusses one creative way to handle widespread unfunded pension liabilities, and suggests a way to make it work for the benefit of everyone involved. Chapter VIII closes by offering our conclusions and recommendations. Chapter II: Pensions in PerilThere has been much talk in recent months concerning pension reform. At issue is the fact that defined benefit pension plans are unfunded to an alarming degree. This is true nationwide. State and municipal pension funds in many state and local governments currently have less than half of the assets needed to meet their obligations to current and future retirees. The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research conducted extensive research on California public pension systems, releasing its report in February, 2012. They anal yzed the 24 of the largest public pension systems in 20 California municipalities.While most pension systems nationally release financial reports assuming long term investment returns of near 8%, the Stanford study applied a more conservative estimate of 5%. Authors of the Stanford study, Evan Storms and Joe Nation, PhD. , make the alarming finding that these 24 systems, in aggregate, are only 53. 6% funded. To illustrate the issue, as of 2010, the San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) had accrued liabilities of $9. 871 billion. This estimate is based upon Stanford’s assumed discount rate of 5%, a more conservative estimate than the 7. 75% used in SDCERS official projections.The higher the assumed rate of investment return, the lower the liabilities appear. Sugarcoating the issue by making unrealistic assumptions may ultimately make the matter worse. This is money required to meet the obligations due current retirees, as well as to meet vested benefits already e arned by current employees. To meet this nearly $10 billion obligation, SDCERS has assets only approaching $4. 4 billion. This represents a funding ratio of only about 44. 4% of the amount needed to fulfill the City’s promises to its employees. According to Stanford’s research, the City of San Diego’s 2010 unfunded liability was $5. 489 billion. Storms & Nation, p. 38) The County of San Diego was similarly situated, with assets of nearly $8. 2 billion to meet accrued liabilities of $15. 693 billion, a shortfall of nearly $7. 5 billion. (Storms & Nation, p. 28) The City and County of San Diego are by no means unique in the state. The four pension plans for the City and County of Los Angeles have assets totaling near $70 billion and accrued liabilities of over $90 billion, a $20 billion shortfall. (Storms, pp. 19 and 23) The City and County of San Francisco has assets of close to $16 billion against liabilities of well over $26 billion, or a bit over $10. billion in unfunded liabilities. (Storms & Nation, p. 22) The Stanford study included the 24 largest county and municipal pension systems in the State of California and reveals a total aggregate unfunded liability of $135. 7 billion. This represents approximately 46. 4% of the total accrued liabilities of these 24 city and county pension systems. (Storms& Nation, p. vii) The Stanford study examined 2010 results, and suggested that long term investment assumptions in excess of 5% should not be relied upon.On July 21, 2011, the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association (SDCERA) announced preliminary investment results for fiscal year 2011. SDCERA had managed an outstanding 21% gain. This amazing return added $1. 6 billion to the SDCERA pension fund. Surely the SDCERA Board should be commended on such outstanding results. A few such years can do wonders in restoring this particular fund to health. But just as surely, such results cannot be expected to continue each and every year. Neit her can other funds rely upon such results. Indeed, few have ever done so well.In 2012 the SDCERA fund realized investment income at the rate of only 6. 5%. While most State retirement systems have reported billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, Illinois may be the poster child of sickly State sponsored pensions. As of 2011, the 5 Illinois State pension plans report funding ratios of only 43%, with a total unfunded pension liability of $83 billion. The shortfall in 1996 was only $20 Billion. In the intervening 15 years the unfunded liability multiplied 4 times, from 20 Billion to over $83 Billion, well over $4 billion each year, on average. The nearly $64 billion question: How did this happen?This question was studied recently by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. Investment losses, resulting mainly from the mortgage crisis starting in 2007, are estimated by the Committee report to account for nearly 22% of the shortfall. (Civic Committee, p. 11) Investment returns play the major role in pension fund growth, but they are unpredictable, as illustrated in the following chart, taken from the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago report on the Illinois State Retirement System: Another major impact comes from changes in actuarial assumptions, due to an improvement in mortality rates.This phenomenon may be good for life insurance companies, paying less in death benefits, but defined benefit pension annuities cost more to fund when people are expected to live longer, since retirees will collect their pensions for longer periods of time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that, â€Å"In the most recent period from 1969 to 2010, significant progress in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases likely contributed to the 41 percent decline in age-adjusted mortality. † (Hoyert) The drop in mortality rates has been quite dramatic. For all but the oldest age group (85 years and over), mortality risk fell more than 50 percent between 1935 and 2010. . . [F]or persons 65–74 years of age, death rates declined by 62 percent, while death rates decreased by 58 percent for those 75–84 years of age, and declined 38 percent for persons 85 years or more. † (ibid. ) Applying these statistics to pension plans, particularly defined benefit plans with cost of living adjustments (COLAs), it only stands to reason that the costs to keep the retirement checks flowing to retirees who are living longer, will have a major impact on pension funds.According to the Chicago study, in 1970 a 60 year old was expected to live to the age of 78. By 2007, however, a 60 year old was expected to live to the age of 82. 5. Paying benefits to a 60 year old retiree receiving a pension of $50,000 per year, therefore, has thus increased by over $225,000, estimating that he will be receiving that benefit for about 4. 5 years longer than might have been the case 40 years ag o. †Such variances, multiplied across the hundreds of thousands of articipants in the state pension plans and without corresponding increases in employee contributions, can have a significant impact on the plans’ unfunded liabilities. † (Civic Committee, p. 14) The same phenomenon can be applied to other pension plans throughout the United States. Couple improved mortality factors with reduced investment earnings, and catastrophic losses resulting from the â€Å"Great Recession. † Add to this the fact that states and municipalities are also suffering from dramatic the tax revenue reductions. It quickly becomes evident that pensions are in peril.The Civic Committee report states that, â€Å"If Illinois fails to address its pension system through a set of comprehensive and lasting reforms, all of its citizens will ultimately suffer. Participants in the underfunded pension plans will be put at risk. The state’s ability to provide vital public services will be severely hampered. And a growing financial burden will be imposed on Illinois residents. † (Civic Committee, p. 1) Official reports from pension funds throughout the country estimate unfunded liabilities totaling close to a trillion dollars as of mid-2011.That figure, however, is based upon future average investment earnings at the rate of approximately 8%. While there have been years in which pension systems have attained such a return, or even greater, to rely upon such returns long term, in today’s tight economy, may seem unrealistic. Accordingly, such an assumption grossly understates the magnitude of the problem. In July of 2010 the National Center for Policy Analysis estimated unfunded public pension liabilities throughout the United States in excess of 3. 1 trillion dollars. Collins & Rettenmaier) Even this estimate may be optimistic. In July of 2012, Andrew Biggs, Ph. D. , a scholar with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D. C. , released a report suggesting a more accurate calculation for public sector unfunded pension liability may be closer to $4. 6 trillion. (See Table 1) The wide differences among these estimates are accounted for by investment returns, or discount rates, that are more or less optimistic. Andrew Biggs understands pension accounting. He was formerly Principal Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration.Dr. Biggs holds Masters degrees from Cambridge University and the University of London, along with a Ph. D. from the London School of Economics. (Biggs) Whether the actual number is 1 or 5 trillion, either number represents a seemingly insurmountable crisis for public pensions in the U. S. Faced with such a situation, governors, county administrators, mayors, and city councils throughout the nation are seeking creative solutions to handle their part of the shortfall. The urgent call for pension reform has reached crisis proportions in many State and local governments.During the preside ntial primary election in June of 2012, the cities of San Diego and San Jose, California, introduced ballot measures seeking voter authorization to reform the pension plans of their respective municipal employees. In both cities the ballot measures were passed by an overwhelming majority of voters, though one might wonder whether the voters were fully informed. On June 22, 2012, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed hand delivered a letter to the U. S. Treasury Department summarizing his City’s fiscal problems as follows: San Jose's cost for retirement benefits has gone from $73 million ten years ago to $245 million this year.To cope with this increase, we have reduced our work force from 7400 to 5400 employees. We also made many organizational changes to be more efficient, and every employee in the city took a 10% cut in pay. Yet, our unfunded liabilities for retirement benefits continue to grow, and we are facing rising costs for at least another decade. Short of bankruptcy, we have a very limited range of steps we can take to control retirement costs. In addition to layoffs and pay cuts, we can require our employees to pay more for the cost of their benefits.Hundreds of cities in California and in other states have already done so. Starting in June 2013 our employees will have to pay an additional 4% of their pay towards unfunded pension liabilities. That amount will increase annually until it reaches 16% of pay or 50% of the cost of unfunded liabilities. San Diego and San Jose barely represent the tip of the iceberg. The problem, as Mayor Reed suggested, is national. Most State and local government pension programs today sense the need for some form of pension reform. Some have been quick to blame the problem on the greed of labor unions.Labor unions have a responsibility to represent their members, and to bargain for the best possible terms and conditions of employment, including pensions. But the unions are not the ones who write the checks or manage public p ension funds. Labor unions do not choose to take pension contribution holidays. The most highly compensated public employees, those taking the largest pensions, are often not represented by unions. So while unions make wonderful scapegoats, the most grievous of pension abuses that have brought public sector pensions to the brink of insolvency may not lie with unions or their members.Assigning blame to either faction does little to address the problem, and it is not within the scope of this report to point fingers at anyone. Rather we hope to point the way toward a workable solution. Before looking at proposed or potential solutions we should first understand the role of Social Security. While many public sector employees are not covered under Social Security, nevertheless, by law their public retirement systems are required to provide benefits that are at least comparable to those provided by Social Security. Chapter III: Social SecurityNo discussion of pension reform can be complet e without an understanding of Social Security, the basis of pension protection for the vast majority of American workers, though certainly not all. On August 14, 1935, Congress passed H. R. 7260, which came to be known as the Social Security Act, signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The intent was to provide a level of economic security in the wake of the Great Depression, providing protection for workers and their dependents against the loss of earnings due to disability, retirement, or death.The preamble of the Social Security Act describes it as, â€Å"An act to provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment compensation laws; to establish a Social Security Board; to raise revenue; and for other purposes. When first introduced, Social Security covered most private-sector workers. Excluded from coverage, however, were state and local government employees. Prior to 1951, State and political subdivision government employers were not required to participate in Social Security, due to concerns over the constitutionality of imposing federal taxes upon sovereign state governments. The Social Security Act was amended in 1950 to add Section 218.This amendment authorized voluntary State participation through â€Å"Section 218 Agreements,† so named after Section 218 of the Social Security Act: The Commissioner of Social Security shall, at the request of any State, enter into an agreement with such State for the purpose of extending the insurance system established by this title to services performed by individuals as employees of such State or any political subdivision thereof. [42 U. S. C. 418] (a)(1) Prior to 1983, continued participation under Section 218 Agreements was optional, wit h States having the right to withdraw from those agreements.Beginning in 1983, however, those public employers which were participating in Social Security were required to continue that participation. The city of San Diego was among many local governments that opted out of Social Security in 1982, prior to the effective date of that change in the law. Throughout the United States today there are approximately 86,000 public employers, with 23 million public employees, according to the Social Security Administration’s State and Local Government Employers Information webpage.Approximately 5 million of those government employees work for public entities that do not participate in Social Security, but rather provide coverage under public retirement systems meeting stringent â€Å"safe harbor† requirements. Under current law, Social Security coverage is extended to include employees of state and political subdivisions, unless they are covered under a retirement system that p rovides benefits that are comparable to those available under Social Security.The safe harbor requirements are spelled out in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations, otherwise known as the Internal Revenue Code: Under section 3121(b)(7)(F), wages of an employee of a State or local government are generally subject to tax under FlCA after July 1, 1991, unless the employee is a member of a retirement system maintained by the State or local government entity. This section 31. 3121(b)(7)–2 provides rules for determining whether an employee is a â€Å"member of a retirement system†.These rules generally treat an employee as a member of a retirement system if he or she participates in a system that provides retirement benefits, and has an accrued benefit or receives an allocation under the system that is comparable to the benefits he or she would have or receive under Social Security. In the case of part-time, seasonal and temporary employees, this minimum retirement ben efit is required to be nonforfeitable.In simple terms this means that public employers who do not already voluntarily participate in Social Security under a Section 218 agreement, must now do so unless they provide benefits under a public retirement system which are at least as comprehensive and beneficial as those provided under Social Security. This is not a discretionary item, where a public employer may give its employees an option to participate or not. The employer must either participate in Social Security, or provide its employees with a retirement system that provides benefits which are â€Å"comparable to the benefits he or she would have or receive under Social Security. Another consideration is that Social Security OASDI benefits include a great deal more than a simple retirement plan paying retirement income to its participants. Social Security also offers income to a worker’s dependent children until their age 18. There is also a disability income insurance ele ment within Social Security, which is either non-existent or difficult to provide under a typical 401(k) style plan. 401(k) plans are investment vehicles that require the element of time in order to grow. Disability can strike at any time, and may not wait for a worker’s 401(k) plan to gain adequate resources.Disability income insurance costs are occupationally based. The greater the physical demand upon the worker, and the more hazardous an occupation is, the greater the cost to provide insurance coverage. Sanitation workers and safety employees, police officers and firefighters, for example, face physical demands and hazards that do not exist for clerical workers and executive level department heads. To replace the disability benefits guaranteed under Social Security through a plan of insurance, whether self-funded or through commercial insurers, would add a tremendous drain upon the resources of a Defined Contribution plan.In contrast, Social Security spreads that risk acr oss all workers nationally, regardless of occupational hazards. In the private sector nearly all employees are subject to payment of Social Security payroll taxes under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), and eligible for coverage under Social Security’s Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI). But approximately 5 million public employees in the United States are exempt from Social Security coverage, since their employers opted out of Social Security before 1983.As discussed above, Public employees may be exempted from Social Security, provided they are members of a retirement system maintained by a state or political subdivision. To be exempt from Social Security coverage, the retirement system must provide certain minimum retirement benefits. To meet the minimum requirement, IRS regulations require that a retirement system provide benefits to the employee that are â€Å"comparable† to those provided in the Old-Age portion of the OldAge, Survi vor, Disability Insurance (OASDI) program under Social Security. IRS Publication 963) Public employees who participate in a retirement system that meets the minimum requirements are said to have safe harbor. Such a retirement plan may be either a defined benefit or a defined contribution plan, but benefits derived from the plan must be comparable to those available under Social Security. In other words, any public pension plan that fails to provide retirement and disability benefits at least as good as those provided under OASDI, also fails to exempt the pubic employer from participating in Social Security.Drastic changes to public retirement systems may disqualify municipalities from continued safe harbor. Another consideration those anxious for reform may be overlooking is that this is an all-or-nothing proposition. Cities imposing major pension reforms limited to new hires may find that the new employee plan fails the safe harbor test, thus requiring Social Security participation from all employees, including those not previously covered. While this remains to be tested in the courts, the law seems pretty clear on this issue. Social Security has had its detractors from its very beginnings.Many people have believed private investment strategies could produce greater financial security than the government run Social Security program. Some have called for Social Security Privatization. In 1997, William Even and David MacPherson published a study that examined 7 public retirement systems not participating in Social Security, referred to as non-FICA plans. The study suggested that these 7 plans would provide greater retirement benefits than Social Security to the million covered employees. (Even ; MacPherson) In 1999, the Cato Institute published the Cato Project on Social Security Privatization.This study examined several other non-FICA public retirement systems administered by local governments, including the San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) , the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System, the Louisiana Police Retirement System, the Louisiana Firefighters’ Retirement System, the Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio, the Alternative Plan for Galveston County Employees. (Lips) At the time of these studies, each of the dozen retirement systems featured in were thriving, and reportedly capable of providing far greater benefits to their beneficiaries than would have been available under Social Security.They were spotlighted to illustrate that such funds were outperforming Social Security as a means of providing retirement security for public employees. In Chapter II we mentioned that as of 2011, according to a report published by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) only had assets of $4. 4 billion to cover accrued liabilities of $9. 871 billion, an unfunded liability of $5. 489 billion. Due to differences in projected investment returns, the se figures differ dramatically from the official numbers released in SDCERS financial reports.SDCERS reports their unfunded liability at under $2. 2 billion. Either way you slice it, whether $2 billion or $5 billion, this is a great deal of money for any single municipality to come up with. Whichever figure you prefer to accept, the fund is no longer the healthy pension system it was at the time of the 1999 Cato study. The SDCERS fund was then considered among the best public employee retirement systems in the country, an example used to promote the idea of Social Security privatization. Today it has an unfunded pension liability approaching 56%. Select Unfunded Accrued Pension Liabilities Non-FICA Public Retirement System| UAL (billions)| Funded Ratio %| 1| San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS)| 2. 1| 68. 5| 2| Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS)| 3. 7| 72. 4| 3| Maine Public Employees Retirement System (Maine PERS)| 4. 1| 66. 0| 4| Ohio Publ ic Employees Retirement System (OPERS)| 67. 8| 63. 0| 5| State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio)| 40. 6| 58. 8| 6| Colorado Public Employees Retirement System (PERA)| 30. 0| | 7| Nevada Public Employees Retirement System (NVPERS)| 10. 9| 70. 2| 8| California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS)| 65. | 69. 4| 9| Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System | 13. 6| 58. 7| 10| Louisiana Police Retirement System| 0. 3| 55. 6| 11| Louisiana Firefighters’ Retirement System| 0. 4| 74. 3| 12| The Alternative Plan for Galveston County Employees | 0. 0| 100. 0| | | 239. 0| | With the exception of one, each of the other public retirement systems cited in the 1997 and 1999 studies are today facing massive unfunded liabilities. Based on their own 2010 or 2011 financial reports, 10 of those 11 retirement systems are facing total unfunded accrued actuarial liabilities (UAL) of $239. 0 billion. 1.As of June 30, 2011 the unfunded actuarial liability (UAL) of the San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) was 2. 1778 billion, a funding ratio of 68. 5%. Those are SDCERS own estimates. As shown above, however, reducing the assumed investment income rate to 5% changes the funding ratio to 44% and suggests an unfunded liability of between $5 and $6 billion. 2. The Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS), administers pensions for employees of the City of Los Angeles, a city with an annual budget of near $7 billion. As of April, 2012, the fund reported $27 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. source: http://www. calwatchdog. com/2012/04/30/los-angeles-teeters-on-the-brink-of-bankruptcy/] 3. As of May 24, 2011, the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS) reports an unfunded accumulated liability (UAL) of $4. 1 billion in the MainePERS State/Teacher Plan, amortized at a 2-year cost of $689 million on top of normal contributions of $159 million. [as reported by letter to Senator Richard Rosen and Representative Patri ck Flood of Maine’s Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs, May 24, 2011] 4.As of April 2, 2011, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), with its 5 pension plans, including the Highway Patrol Retirement System, the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund, the Ohio Public Employees' Retirement System, the State Teachers' Retirement System, and the School Employees' Retirement System, has a total unfunded pension liability of $67. 8 billion, against assets of $115. 5 billion. That makes Ohio’s pensions only 63% funded. [source http://sunshinereview. org/index. php/Ohio_public_pensions] 5. The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio) reported an unfunded liability of 40. 5 billion, as of November 10, 2011. [https://www. strsoh. org/]: On September 26, 2012 Ohio Governor Kaisich signed the Ohio pension reform bill passed by the Ohio Legilature on September 12, intending to improve the financial condition of its five Ohio pension systems. The bill continues to support Ohio’s Defined Benefit Pensions as â€Å"major economic drivers† for the state, and providing â€Å"a stable retirement income for public workers in Ohio. † [https://www. strsoh. org/legislation/main. html] At Ohio State University, faculty contribute 10% of their salary to the retirement plan, while the university contributes 10. % of the faculty member's salary to his or her retirement plan. An additional 3. 5% of salary is contributed to STRS to reduce unfunded liabilities. [http://hr. osu. edu/benefits/rb_strs. aspx] 6. The Colorado Public Employees Retirement System (PERA) faced a 30 billion unfunded liability in 2010. 7. The Nevada Public Employees Retirement System (NVPERS) has assets of $25. 8 billion, and has generated a net return of 9. 3% over its 28 year existence, exceeding its actuarial objective of 8%. That sounds great, until you realize that returns over the past 5 years average closer to 2. %. The Nevada PERS estimates its funded ratio at 70. 2% for 2011, its lowest level since its 1992 inception. This leaves the plan with an unfunded liability of 10. 95 billion. 8. California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), 152. 2 billion in assets, as of June 30, 2011, had an unfunded liability of $65. 5 billion, representing a funding ration of 69. 4%. [source: Pensions ; Investments Research Center, April 9, 2012, available at http://www. pionline. com/article/20120409/REG/120409899] 9. The Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System has one of the lowest cost o taxpayers, with employees required to fund the greatest portion of their own retirement. New employees pay 95% of the cost of their pensions. But the system still faces an unfunded pension liability of $13. 6 billion against assets of 19. 4 billion, in 2009, with a funded ratio of just 58. 7%. 10. The Louisiana Police Retirement System is a small system with assets of only $360. 9 million, but its unfunded liability is $313 mill ion. Its funded ratio is only 55. 6%. 11. The Louisiana Firefighters’ Retirement System, as of June 30, 2011, had an unfunded actuarial accrued liability of $416,177,743, against assets of 1. billion. This fund has a funded ratio of 74. 33%, which is very good compared to the rest of Louisiana’s retirement systems, facing a total shortage of 18. 5 billion, with a funding ratio of 56%. 12. The Alternative Plan for Galveston County Employees is unique among the reviewed plans, claiming no unfunded pension liability. This plan was patterned after Social Security, calling for the same level of contribution as with Social Security, from the employer and the worker alike. The plan also incorporates an insurance element that improves on the theme from Social Security.In addition to retirement benefits that a near double those of Social Security, Galveston’s Alternative Plan pays a death benefit equivalent to four times a worker’s annual salary. Two neighboring T exas counties adopted similar retirement plans in 1983. The Galveston model stands alone among all of the public retirement systems included in the 1997 and 1999 studies used to support the idea of privatizing Social Security. Galveston County’s approach seems worthy of further study and emulation, as a plan fair to participants, employers, and taxpayers alike.Chapter IV: Reform Propositions In the past dozen years, since the disaster of 9/11/2001, and especially since the mortgage industry meltdown in 2008 and 2009, pension reform has become an increasingly pressing issue. Some municipalities, including San Diego, and San Jose, California, have passed ballot measures calling for pension reform. These were known as Proposition B in San Diego, and Measure B in San Jose. San Diego and San Jose are the 8th and 10th largest cities in the U. S. respectively, so what happens in these communities with respect o pension reform will gain the attention of all cities throughout the nati on that are seeking solutions to the problem of unfunded pension liabilities. San Diego's City Charter included a provision that requires a majority vote of all city employees to approve any changes to retirement benefits. Proposition B called for that provision to be eliminated from the City Charter. (Prop. B) The ballot measure was intended to create a voter-supported mandate, granting the Mayor and the City Council authority to modify the City’s pension plans. These make up a major part of the compensation packages of city government workers.If the City denies its employee’s voting rights over control of their pensions, such a move could have serious property right implications. Implementation of such a plan may lead to very costly legal battles – for reasons we have explored in previous chapters. Among the most fundamental of employee benefits upon which the vast majority of U. S. workers have come to rely is the Social Security system, which we discussed in Chapter III. Social Security ensures a degree of financial stability to retired workers, or in the event of a disabling injury or disease that would prevent a worker from earning a living.This basic employee benefit has been a part of American workers’ life since passage of the Social Security Act of 1935. â€Å"The act instituted a system of mandatory old-age insurance, issuing benefits in proportion to the previous earnings . . . and establishing a reserve fund financed through the imposition of payroll taxes on employers and employees. † (Farlex) But what many voters may not have realized when they supported Proposition B in June of 2012, is that participation in Social Security is among the sacrifices San Diego employees made in accepting careers with the City.As explained in Chapter III, while virtually all private sector employers are required by law to participate in Social Security for the benefit of their employees, only some local government entities are exe mpt. The City of San Diego elected to withdraw from Social Security participation in 1982, and since then has not paid Social Security payroll taxes. Instead, San Diego and many similarly situated municipalities provide retirement and disability related financial security to its employees through the City’s pension plan.San Diego City employees are only eligible to receive Social Security retirement benefits if they worked in covered employment other than for the City of San Diego, or worked for the City prior to 1982. Instead, San Diego’s employees are covered only by the public retirement system provided by the City. Public employees in many other cities across the nation work under similar circumstances. But since the vast majority of voters are covered by Social Security, it likely does not occur to them that local government workers are not eligible.While pension reform became a political football in San Diego’s 2012 mayoral campaign, pension issues have pl agued the City of San Diego for over a dozen years. One of the four mayoral candidates, City Councilmember Carl DeMaio, wrote and promoted Proposition B, which was placed on the ballot for the presidential primary election held on June 5, 2012. Much controversy surrounded this ballot measure, following allegations that the City had circumvented the legally required process of meeting and conferring with its labor unions.Both outgoing Mayor Jerry Sanders and City Councilmember Carl DeMaio openly claimed authorship of the ballot initiative. Mr. DeMaio made it a key element of his mayoral campaign. But when the City was challenged as to its failure to negotiate with the City’s union concerning proposed reforms, they both claimed the initiative was citizen-initiated, and not an action of the City. Since both the mayor and a prominent member of the City Council each played a major role in the authorship and promotion of the initiative, it seems difficult to legitimize the claim th at this was not an official action of the City.As the ballot measure was presented to the voters, however, supporters of the initiative failed to mention or remind voters that San Diego’s pension plan had replaced Social Security for City employees 30 years before. Had voters understood the full ramifications to City workers, and the fact that they are not covered by Social Security, the election results on Proposition B may have been different. Indeed, had the voters who signed petitions to have the measure placed on the ballot known this vital detail, some may have withheld their signature.Promoters carefully avoided any discussion of Social Security as they cajoled voters to pass the measure, while opponents also failed to adequately stress the Social Security implications. Legal challenges were brought in the courts, charging that the City violated its legal obligation under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act to meet and confer with the City’s unions regarding provisions of the ballot initiative. The City won the first round in this battle, succeeding in getting the measure placed on the June 2012 ballot. In San Diego Municipal Employees Association v.The Superior Court of San Diego County (San Diego County Superior Court No. 37-2012-00092205-CU-MC-CTL), the Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District overruled that decision, but too late to have any impact. That decision came on June 19, 2012, two weeks after the election. The suggestion that San Diego’s Proposition B had a questionable legislative history, or that it was improperly brought to a public vote, is not to imply that pension reform is unnecessary, in San Diego or anywhere else. But Proposition B may not be the panacea San Diego voters were led to expect.There may be other actions San Diego can take to address its pension problems – actions that would be both more effective and more fair to City employees and taxpayers alike. Several such potentially more sensible app roaches to the problem were mentioned by Congressman Bob Filner, the only one among San Diego’s four mayoral candidates who resisted Proposition B. Congressman Filner recognized the proposition’s shaky legal foundation, and acknowledged that such a reform plan may meet with constitutional challenges we will explore in the next chapter.Proposition B involved several elements. One part of Proposition B imposes a wage freeze. Curiously, however, even after the wage freeze was announced, Mayor Sanders authorized pay raises for several members of his administration, totaling nearly $45,000 per year. Union officials might wonder why austerity measures like wage freezes apply to represented employees, but apparently not to another class of employees. If serious belt-tightening is called for, the City might do well to apply such measures universally.To expect the burden to be borne by the City’s unionized workers, but not by management employees, does not do much to pro mote labor peace. The proposition also modifies the police pension plan, raising the retirement age and lower the maximum benefit. Pension benefits for newly hired public safety workers would be reduced from a maximum of 90% to a lower cap of 80% of pre-retirement earnings. Key among the changes imposed by Proposition B is replacing the City’s Defined Benefit pension plan with a 401(k) style Defined Contribution plan that make no financial security guarantees.These would be for all new employees who are not a part of the Police Department. As to Social Security, close reading of Proposition B reveals that its author acknowledges the fact that City employees are not presently covered. It is suggested that the City may open the option for employees to become covered by Social Security, but that it is the intention of the City to maintain its safe harbor exemption from Social Security participation. In this respect San Diego’s Proposition B approach to pension reform may have a fatal flaw.Recall from our discussion of Social Security that municipalities can maintain exemption from participation in Social Security, but only if its pension plan provides benefits comparable to those available under Social Security. For the past 30 years the City’s Defined Benefit pension plan has fulfilled that requirement. The question is, will the 401 (k) style Defined Contribution plan proposed under Proposition B, meet the same stringent requirements? Unless the plan provides a level of benefits at least as comprehensive as Social Security’s Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI), the answer is likely no.Defined Benefit Pension plans base pension benefits as a guaranteed fixed percentage of pre-retirement income, determined by a benefit formula that considers both rates of pay and years of service. These benefits are paid for by employer and employee contributions to the pension fund, and also by the investment income derived from the fu nd. When fund investments do well, contributions required from the employer are lessened. When investment income suffers, greater contributions are required from the employer to meet fund obligations.Defined Contribution Plans, in contrast, do not feature benefit guarantees, but rather base their security in a known fixed cost for the amounts paid into the plan. (Bennett-Alexander, p. 774) Defined Contribution plans may seem attractive from the point of view of the employer, but for the worker it means financial uncertainty. Eliminating the financial security features of Defined Benefit plans is a major change from long-standing past practice in San Diego and in cities similarly situated.The principle of past practice may give yet another basis upon which unions may mount a challenge to such a drastic change as to eliminate participation in Defined Benefit plans. Defined Benefit Pension Plans account for nearly 73% of union-negotiated retirement plans across the Nation, particularly in the public sector. (Carrell, p. 329) Income maintenance plans – pensions and other employee benefits such as severance pay, death and disability insurance, wage guarantees, supplemental unemployment plans, and the like – have generally been negotiated over long periods of collective bargaining by employee organizations and unions. Carrell, p. 328). In many cases, such as for San Diego city employees, these negotiated income maintenance plans take the place of programs made available to other workers through Social Security. Based upon one’s term of employment and level of earnings, Social Security’s OASDI provides guaranteed disability and retirement income to covered individuals and their families. Defined Benefit pension plans can be designed to be as good or better than Social Security. Benefits under Social Security are not in any way dependent upon investment returns, and the same is true, by definition, in Defined Benefit pension plans.The very nature of a Defined Benefit plan is that what is defined is the benefit, not the contribution. Benefits are established, and contributions may vary to meet the scheduled benefits. If investment returns fail to fund the plan at sufficient levels to meet plan obligations, the shortfall is simply overcome by making greater contributions to the plan. In a Defined Contribution plan, however, what is guaranteed is not the benefit, but rather the amounts to be contributed. Costs are fixed; benefits are contingent upon the fund’s resources, which come both from contributions and investment earnings.Simply put, benefits are directly dependent upon investment returns, which cannot be guaranteed. Highly compensated employees (HCE) see another attractive feature of 401(k) style retirement plans. Participating in such a plan offers very significant tax benefit, allowing voluntary contributions to accrue free of income taxes. Those workers whose income is lower, however, can neither afford voluntary reductions in pay, nor benefit to the same degree from 401(k) plan participation.From the perspective of lower paid workers, particularly those younger workers who do not sense retirement planning as being pertinent, every dollar an employer pays into a pension plan is a dollar that is not available in this week’s paycheck. While equally true for the highly compensated, that dollar has less significance. As explained in a recent study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, high income workers benefit disproportionately due to higher participation rates, higher contribution rates, and higher tax benefits. Toder and Smith, p. 7) Defined Contribution plans may appear attractive to public employer budget analysts and some highly compensated employees, but they almost certainly fall short of being comparable to Social Security. To make them comparable, contribution rates would likely have to be set so high as to make investment returns unimportant. Sud denly then, Defined Contribution plans lose their attraction, as they may cost even more than the Defined Benefit plans they are intended to replace.That may be even more true considering the attorney and court fees taxpayers may be required to suffer to defend legal and constitutional challenges. During the San Diego mayoral race, candidate Congressman Bob Filner, noted that should Proposition B be implemented, there is a strong likelihood that much of the perceived savings might be spent instead on legal fees defending the lawsuits that would likely follow. Discussing the pension reform problem on the National scene, and the move toward cutting back on pension benefits, Stuart Buck, J. D. as noted, â€Å"[T]he problem is how to do this in a way that is most fair to workers and in a way that is consistent with state or federal Constitutional provisions that prohibit states from impairing the obligations of contracts. † (Buck. ) Chapter V: Legal and Constitutional Hurdles Pow er to grant pensions is not controverted, nor can it well be, as it was exercised by the States and by the Continental Congress during the war of the Revolution; and the exercise of the power is coeval with the organization of the government under the present Constitution, and has been continued without interruption or question to the present time.Justice Nathan Clifford United States Supreme Court United States v. Hall 98 U. S. 343 (1879) The establishment of pensions in recognition of public service is a practice so steeped in tradition as to be considered a right of passage. Any proposal that suggests taking such benefits away from public servants will be met with stern opposition in the courts. There are well-founded statutory, contractual, and constitutional protections that make it difficult for cities or other political subdivisions to impose pension reforms. The U. S.Constitution has several clauses that can be interpreted to protect pensions. Numerous State constitutions of fer similar protections. San Diego Pension Issues: The City of San Diego, California, presents an interesting backdrop for the discussion of the legal and constitutional implications of pension reform. During the past decade the City of San Diego incurred millions of dollars in legal expenses dealing with lawsuits stemming from scandalous pension dealings and futile attempts to make unilateral changes to its pension plans.Such money enriched a few lawyers, but only worked against the interests of the City and its taxpayers. Attempts by the City of San Diego to impose pension reforms again gained attention during the 2012 election year. One of the City’s mayoral candidates, City Councilmember Carl DeMaio, wrote a ballot proposition known as the â€Å"Comprehensive Pension Reform Initiative,† making pension reform the basis of his campaign. Of the four candidates in the 2012 San Diego mayoral race, only Congressman Filner seemed to acknowledge the legal and constitutiona l issues applicable to pension reform.During the campaign, candidate Bob Filner, a 20 year veteran of the U. S. House of Representatives, predicted that should Mr. DeMaio’s Proposition B pass voter approval, its implementation would be met by legal and constitutional challenges that may cost the City dearly to defend. Mr. Filner also noted that, â€Å"Proposition B does nothing to reduce the current pension deficit, it takes retirement security from employees who are not in the Social Security system – and it will result in years and years of more political wrangling and litigation over its legality and implementation. (Filner) Specifically, the legal implications of Proposition may involve charges of breach of contract. Under California law, employers enter into an implied and enforceable contract with employees as of the date of hire, with respect to the terms and conditions of employment. Employee benefits, including pensions, that are promised as an inducement to accept em