Income Inequality and Redistributive Policies Essay Example for Free

Income Inequality and Redistributive Policies Essay This paper discusses the factors that determine the increase in pay gap between top executives and the average worker. Income inequality has continued to be an economic issue in the United States. The changes in income inequality in the United States have been researched and well documented. The findings reveal an alarming state of affairs concerning income inequality in the country. Most labor economic policies have started to focus on the income inequalities in the country. One of the programs that target this issue is redistribution. For Redistributive Policies to work, it is important to know the factors that contribute to the increase in income gap between the executives and the average workers. Its significance in labor economic policies is vast because of its requirement for mobility as well as heterogeneity in the labor market. It is important to know how the factors established play part in income determination (Piketty Saez, 2003). As will be revealed in the paper, these factors do exist and play a major part in income inequality. Literature analysis The main concepts in the topic of discussion need to be defined. Income is defined as the total of all income components that are showed on tax returns. Income comprises of salaries and wages, pensions, gains from business dealings, capital incomes, rents, and realized capital profits. Income is thus defined as the market income prior to reduction of income taxes. Income is very different from wealth, and the main focus of the paper is income (Piketty Saez, 2003). Available literature defines income inequality in a manner that is completely different from the commonly known inequality, that is, poverty and unfairness. Income inequality refers to the unequal distribution of income among players in a specific economy. This could be income distribution in a particular nation or at the global level. Income inequality metrics seek to give a system of gauging dispersion of income. Income inequality in the economy of the United States is evident in different categories of people. There is income inequality between the executives and the average workers, as in the focus of this paper; there is inequality between men and women and inequality between whites and blacks. Income inequality between the executives and the average workers in the United States is an issue that needs to be handled with the seriousness it deserves. One of the efforts to achieve this is income redistribution (Piketty Saez, 2003). Income redistribution is the reassignment of income from some people to others. Studies reveal that there is concentration of income among the executives, that is, this group tends to earn more that the average workers. Therefore the distribution in this case is from the executives to the average workers. There have been many debates as to the rationale behind redistribution. It is clear that with the increase in income inequality something needs to be done (Piketty Saez, 2003). This will be discussed in a later part of the paper. Statistics to reveal income inequality It is evident from statistics that there is rampant income inequality in the United States. Following the reason of the hard work principle, current executives must work more that the average workers. They also work harder than they used to work forty years ago. As a result, their pay is expected to be higher than that of the average workers and also that it was forty years ago. In the year 2000, the average Chief Executive Officer salary was more than 500 times the salary of the average worker. This is a tremendous increase for in the year 1960 the salary of a Chief Executive Officer was only 40 times that of an average worker (Chingos, 2004). For many other reasons other than hard work, the salary of the executives went up tremendously than corporate gains, while that of the average worker increased in proportion to the rate of inflation. While the salaries of the average workers remained more or less constant they continued working hard as indicated from the results in productivity. The economic inequalities between the executives and the average workers can be observed from a broader scale, as indicated in the rise in pay between income quintiles. Between the year 1979 and 2001, the pay of the top quintile went up by 53 percent, while the pay of the lowest quintile increased by a mere 3 percent (Bebchuk Grinstein, 2005). This is the phenomenon that has marked the economy of the United States; the top quintile though earning more is the one that receives higher pay that the lowest quintile despite the fact that it is the one that earns the least (Kopczuk, Saez Song, 2009). Quite a number of the people who belong to the lowest quintile are the poor. Close to 13% of the United States public, which are about 37 million people are poor. More than a third of this group is, which is about 13 million are young people. Trends in the income, wealth and poverty statistics show an increasing gap among classes. The wealthy are getting wealthier, with the poor becoming poorer. There is an increasing gap between the pay of the executives and that of the average workers and there is no sign that this will change in the near future. This is an argument brought up by the Institute for Policy Studies that has been studying executive income since the year 1994 (Kopczuk, Saez Song, 2009). In the year 2007, the mean ratio between the pay for the Chief Executive Officer and the average worker was 344:1. There was a slight decrease in the average ratio to 319:1. There is a probability that the average ratio will continue to rise. The current estimate is almost hitting 400:1. If there is no remedy in place, there rate will continue to go up with a huge stock option gains by the executive. This is a worrisome state of affairs that should be handled immediately by public policies (Kopczuk, Saez Song, 2009). The public outcry about the income of the executives seems to have gone down in the recent past as a result of rallying of the broader capital market. The focus has shifted from the income to other matters like public health. Cavanagh, who is the director of the Institute for Policy Studies, argues that the income inequality between the directors and the average workers in the United States is a serious matter. He claims that the gap is still very wide, in fact wider than in most other nations worldwide (Chingos, 2004). This is considered a problem in a country that is supposed to be an example of a democracy in the world. The director argues that going back only one generation in the United States, the average ratio in the income between the two groups was 30:1. Based on the factors that are discussed later in the paper, it is not possible for the executives to earn the same amount of income as the average workers. Nevertheless a ratio of more than 300:1 is an exaggeration that should be carefully taken care of. The United States seems to be owned by just a few individuals in the top quintile, with the majority living in poverty. The country seems to be experienced very high rate of income and wealth inequality. The wall street journal reported that the average Chief Executive Officer of a sizeable company earns more than 10 million dollars per annum. This is a vast amount as compared to the 10,000 dollars per annum earned by an average worker (Kopczuk, Saez Song, 2009). Factors that determine the increase in income inequality It is a societal feature that people tend to earn differently. The positions held by people determine the kind of payment they receive due to the fact that they tend to hold varying responsibilities. The importance and complexity of the executive position means that they will obviously receive higher pay that the average workers. For the purpose of providing enough motivation for a wider range of occupation to be occupied, with motivated servants, the society requires to offer varying rewards (Chingos, 2004). Partisan politics The executives are the decision makers in any organization. As a result it is expected that they will always make decisions that are in their favor. Incestuous corporate boards of directors on regular bases approve compensation benefits to the CEOs and other top authorities that are unreasonable. While seated in the board, they only think of their own interests without caring about the hardworking average worker. The average workers have no one to defend their interests and as a result their pay rise increase slowly and after a very long time. This is what has led to the widening in the gap in the gap between the incomes of the two groups. Research reveals that, it is possible for the salary of an average worker to remain constant without increase for a decade (Chingos, 2004). Basic salary While job evaluation is used as the basis for determining pay increase for the workers, this is usually not the case with the executives. The pay increase and compensation for the executives is usually determined by the compensation committee. This is a committee that includes a number or all the members of the board within the organization. The decisions of the pay rise and compensation for the executives has nothing to do with the reports from job evaluation. It is also independent of the data on payment within similar organizations. This therefore means that there is no standard in pay and compensation of executives. There are also no standard rules to govern income and compensation for executives. Basically, income for executives is set to compete with pays of other executives in the market. As a result, the payment is always higher as compared to the salaries of the other workers in the organization. Recent researches reveal that the incomes for the executives within all companies are on the increase. A study of 100 major companies in the united states done by Mercer Human Resource Consulting reveled that the mean sum direct compensation for the CEOs in the studies companies was 4, 419, 300 dollars in the year 2004 (Bebchuk Grinstein, 2005). Executive benefits and privileges In the United States, executives are paid their basic salaries plus other benefits. This is what is together known as the Total Cash Compensation. The executives may also be compensated for their efforts with cash plus shares in the organization, which are most of the times subject to vesting limitations. This is what it means to be provided with long-term incentive. After the expiration of the time referred by the vesting restrictions, the shares are transferred. Vesting can be on the basis of performance, time or both performance and time. The incentives are provided to the executives as a way of motivating them to put more effort in running the company. These are some of the benefits that are not available to the average worker, therefore explaining the difference in their income (Bebchuk Grinstein, 2005). Benefits for the executives are obviously different from those offered to the average workers. The executives are the ones who receive higher fringe benefits, insurance and pension schemes. Most of the executives negotiate high packages during the time of employment. This is mostly tied to their education level, skills and experience. In this case, they are able to collect a lot of money from the company regardless of their performance. Executive privileges are special benefits that they receive. These perquisites are mostly paid to the executives and the top managers of the organization. These may be items like vehicles, membership to clubs, special parking among other amenities. It is common for the United States executives to get perks as part of their overall compensation (Chingos, 2004). Executive bonuses In the basic salary of the executives, most of their pay is not constant, they payment may be entitled to a compensation that varies with their level of performance. The intention of this compensation is a motivating factor for the executives to perform better. For example, there can be a reward for achievement of a particular target. One of the most common variable pay is what is known as executive bonus. This is a kind of compensation that is paid on achievement of some short-term objectives. The compensation is on the bases of any number of performance results. The compensation can be based on the judgment of the board or the amounts of profits or market share gained by the business. Nearly all the companies in the United States offer compensation or bonuses to their executives. This is a benefit that is not enjoyed by average workers in these companies. The Mercer research reveals that the executives of the 100 companies had a mean bonus of 1. 4 million dollars in the year 2004. This bonus is equivalent to 141% of their annual basic salary. This indicates that the bonuses are higher that the pay they receive as a basic salary. In other words, even if the ratio of the basic salary of the executives to that of the average worker was low, the bonuses accounts for the increased level of the income inequality among the two groups. It is evident that with this kind of income, there is no way the income inequality between the two groups can be avoided (Chingos, 2004).

Cause and Consequences of the Great Recession

Cause and Consequences of the Great Recession 1.0 Introduction There was a recession in the United States (US) at the end of 2007 (Verick and Islam 2010). McKean (2010) noted that a healthy economy will proceed into a period of high growth, slow growth or no growth. Power (1996) commented that the economy is needed to be contracting and expanding in order for the economy to be healthy. When the contracting period has last for a long period of time (such as at least two consecutive quarters of a year or 6 months in a row), the economy is considered as a recession (Arnold 2008; Brainard and Perry 2001). According to National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) (2010), recession was defined as a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real gross domestic product (GDP), real income, employment, industrial production and wholesale-retail sales. According to Wang (2009), the US recession has leaded to a global financial crisis shattering businesses and consumers confidence in many countries such as in European Union, China, Japan and Asia countries. As a result, it has been named as the Great Recession which has caused financial meltdown in the US and was spread out quickly affecting almost every corner of the world (Kurki et al 2009). The great recession was seen as the worst economic downturn since the great depression that the world was in recession after World War II (Wang 2009; Verick and Islam 2010). According to economists, this episode of great recession was resulted from a sudden busting of house bubble in US, where the house bubble was caused by rapid growth of improper regulation on sub-prime mortgages (Merriam 2009; Wang 2009; Whitney 2007). This episode of great recession have proven and shown the accuracy of Greenspan prediction who was the former Federal Reserve Chairman predicting that US has one-third probability getting into recession at the end of 2007 (Torres 2007). In order to have a better understanding on the great recession, causes and consequences of this recession will be analysed at the following chapters. 2.0 Causes of the Great Recession Apparently, US was faced many severe problems including banks on the verge of bankruptcy, high record levels of public debt, a falling stock market, a plummeting dollar, frozen money markets and imminent threat of a recession (Lyons 2009; Stiglitz 2010; Taylor 2009). According to Verick and Islam (2010), the global financial crisis was greatly affected by global imbalances, perceptions of risks, interest rates, and regulation of the financial system (Figure 1). With references to the Figure 1, causes of the great recession was summarised as below: 2.1 Housing Crash US housing market are a major determinant of consumers spending and rate of economic growth (Congressional Budget Office 2007). There are various factors affecting house price to rise much faster than consumer incomes, and thus it was created overvalued assets (Eklavya 2008). Taylor (2008) noted that US house prices were raised rapidly until 2006 and experienced a fall of house prices after the boom. Figure 2 shows the trend for house price for 1991 to 2007. When house prices fall to correct the imbalance, it had a significant impact on consumers spending where people cannot remortgage to obtain extra capital for spending (Taylor 2008). 2.1.1 Subprime Mortgages Burst According to Eklavya (2008), there was no regulation of subprime mortgages where the mortgage industry was able to sell mortgages without considering whether the buyers could pay back. Global research (2009) was estimated the value of US subprime mortgages at $1.3 trillion on March 2007, but there was over 7.5 million first-lien subprime mortgages outstanding. It was because the subprime mortgage was spiked to nearly 20% of all mortgage originations during the peak of US housing bubble (Smith 2007). In figure 3, it shows that subprime mortgage was expanded significantly during the period of 2004 to 2006. The huge majority of the subprime mortgages were caused massive foreclosures, and thus it was greatly affected the institutions and independent mortgage brokers which were not covered by the Community Reinvestment Act (Pressman 2008). Thus, it was indirectly affected a slow growth or even started to fall on consumer spending and investment (Taylor 2009). 2.1.2 Low Interest Rate Economists commented that US monetary authorities had adjusted the interest rates at unprecedented levels which created a debt-finance consumption boom leading the way in boosting housing bubble (Taylor 2009; Eklavya 2008; Kurki et al 2009). Similarly, some economists argued that interest rates in the US were stayed too low for too long and even stood at just 1 per cent in 2003 and 2004 which activated the great recession (Figure 4) (Elmendorf 2007; Taylor 2009; Verick and Islam 2010). Verick and Islam (2010) criticized that the monetary policy in US was failed to tackle the overvalued asset bubble, and at the same time contributed to the rapid growth in subprime mortgages. 2.2 Credit Crunch McHugh (2007) commented that high subprime mortgage defaults in US had caused credit crunch which referred to a sudden shortage of funds resulting a decline in loans available. According to Bloom (2008), many investment banks and commercial banks were faced huge losses due to the risky mortgage loans. Therefore, banks were reluctant to lend money to anyone and even to other banks leading a shortage of funds in the money markets (Smith 2007; Verick and Islam 2010). Whalen (2007) commented that the shortage of liquidity in the finance sector had caused borrowing to be more difficult and more expensive which had leaded to a lower consumer spending and investment. 2.3 Budget Deficit and National Debt According to GAO (2009), the US national debt was stood at 65% of GDP for 2007 and it was even worst when pension liabilities were included. With such a large deficit, US government had less room for expansionary fiscal policy because demographics worked against fiscal stability and the stage of economic cycle worsened the deficit (Auerbach 2009). Kurki et al (2009) noted that the deficit has caused difficulties in attracting capital flow because Asian investors who were aware of the US deficit had slowed down the capital flow to US and contributed to devaluing dollar. Thus, it indicated that there is a fundamental imbalance between domestic production and consumption which had become a constraint for future economic growth (Auerbach 2009). 2.4 Devaluation of Dollar According to basic economic theory, a decrease in exchange rates will eventually help to increase exports and stimulate growth in the export sector (Grant and Vidler 2003). However, the depreciating dollar had contributed to cost-push inflation and declining in living standards where consumer goods were more expensive leading to lower spending power of individuals (Bloomberg 2010). Bloomberg (2010) argued that decline in dollar was resulted US to become less competitive compared to its trading partners. 3.0 Consequences of Great Recession Since US went into recession at the end of 2007, it had caused a crisis on economies across the world (Verick and Islam 2010). According to Taylor (2008), middle-incomes countries (especially in Central and Eastern Europe, and the Commomwealth of Independent States) were severely affected (Figure 5), where as low-income countries such as Uganda and Ethiopia were able to grow strongly despite the downturn (Figure 6). Verick and Islam (2010) noted that although most low-income countries have evaded from recession, these countries had experienced a slow growth in economy due to the negative implications for poverty. Lockstein (2010) argued that, in overall, the smaller and more open economies countries had been hit stronger, whereas the larger emerging economies countries could be survived by the supporting from domestic demand and government spending. It had been noted that China and India were able to recover faster from the great recession (Taylor 2009; Verick and Islam 2010). Llaudes, Salman and Chivakul (2010) commented that the great recession had caused various impacts to different countries. Thus, an analytical study on the consequences of great recession towards US and India have stated as below: 3.1 The United States According to Gulzar (2010), the great recession had caused a great impact on US labour market. Laibson (2010) noted that although government had adjusted the inflation rate causing the economy grew 2.2% in 2009 Q3, 5.6% in 2009 Q4, and 2.7% in 2010 Q1, the unemployment rate had stubbornly remained high. The unemployment rate had risen from 9.5% in June 2009 to 10.1% in October 2009, before it felt back to 9.5% in June 2010 (Laibson 2010). Altig (2010) commented that the disconnection between the demand and supply of workers which was reflected in statistics such as the hiring rate, the layoff rate, and the unemployment rate can be expressed by the Beveridge curve (Figure 7). Altig (2010) argued that, with the given average number of job opening in April and May, the unemployed were expected about 10.4 million instead of 15 million as stated in Figure 7. Some analysts have commented that the unemployment benefits policies should responsible for abnormally high unemployment rates (Altig 2010; Gulzar 2010; Verick and Islam 2010). Valletta and Kuang (2010) estimated that extended unemployment benefits may have increased between 0.4% and 1.7% of unemployment rate. Krugman (2010) argued that there is a strong tendency of high unemployment to become permanent because those who have out of work for a long enough periods have become less productive and less competitive in the job market. Ball (cited in Krugman 2010) prompted a problem that high unemployment tend to increase the level of structural unemployment, if there is a weak policy, thus inflation will increase much higher unemployment rates than before. 3.2 India During great recession, India economy was turning down because of Indian companies with big tickets dealing in the US were seeing their profits margin shrinking, and majority of Indian companies have major outsourcing deals with US (Malik and Pandit 2010). According to Alex and Kumar (2009), Indias merchandise has been exported to ASEAN (52%), followed by the EU27 (21%), and the US (13%). However, Malik and Pandit (2010) noted that the global crisis has caused the USs share felt to 11% (March 2009), which was even lower than the United Arab Emirates (13%) (Figure 8). Figure 9 shows that all of the products (except gems and jewellery) were experienced a major contraction during the great recession: petroleum and crude products have the largest contraction (about 45%), whereas agriculture and allied products contracted by 28%, engineering goods exports by 22%, chemical and related products by 9%, and textiles by only 2% (Alex and Kumar 2009). Besides, Indias financial market was hit badly from the great recession where share market was fall, rupee was weakening again dollars, and banks were faced severe cash crunch resulting in shortage of liquidity in the market (Eklavya 2008). Due to Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were the main investors for India, the investors (majority based in US and Europe) had withdrawal their money from Indian Stock Markets to meet their liabilities at their home countries (Mohanty 2009). Alex and Kumar (2009) commented that rupee was lost its strength against dollar when FIIs converted their invested money into dollars. However, India was able to recover faster from the great recession due to Indian Banks were escaped from the ill-effects of subprime mortgage crisis where major Public Sector Banks exercising extremely caution in giving loans to needy people or companies (Eklavya 2008). 4.0 Conclusion In the age of globalisation, every country is affected by the fluctuations of world economy where no country can remains isolated (Eklavya 2008). Thus, great recession has caused a vast impact to the world such as fall in demands, shortage of cash, decreasing growth rate, and high unemployment rate (Taylor 2008; Verick and Islam 2010). On the other hand, recession can help to transform country or businesss outlook for the future (Kurki et al 2009). Although the recession has turned down the growth process, it helps to generate ideas and strategies stimulating the economic growth and maintaining stability of the market in order to become more competitive in the world.

Death Of A Salesman - Willys I :: essays research papers

“Willy Loman is destroyed by his own ideals'; Willy Loman is a travelling salesman who has worked for the Wagner firm for 34 years. He is now 61 years old and his job has been taken off salary and put on commission. He has a family and he boasts to them that he is “vital in New England,'; but in fact he isn’t vital anywhere. Willy has many strong beliefs that he strives to achieve. He wants to own his own business and he wants to be “bigger than Uncle Charley'; and especially he wants to be a great success and he tries to emulate Dave Singleman. He wishes to die the “Death of a Salesman'; and have many buyers and salesmen mourn for him. He also tries to be a good father, and husband. However Willy’s aims in life have been useless as he hasn’t really achieved anything. He got fired by Howard, his sons are both failures and they abandoned him in a restaurant toilet. His relationship with his wife is plagued by his guilt for committing adultery. He has to borrow $50 a week from Charley. He can’t even keep his mind on one thing for a long time. He can’t drive a car. Willy gets so fed up with all of these things that he want’s to commit suicide and eventually, he does. This topic suggests that Willy’s deterioration occurs because the principals he believes in. To a large extent this is true. After 34 years of Willy’s life, he loses his job. To a normal person under normal circumstances, being retrenched is a time when you feel useless. But for Willy, since everything else is going wrong at the same time, he feels like a useless old man. Willy thought that just because he named his boss, that he would have a secure future with the company but as Charley said “them things don’t mean anything? You named him Howard, but you can’t sell that.'; Even though Willy wasn’t even getting paid a salary, Howard didn’t want him to even represent the company in case Willy “cracked up'; again. Although Willy is mostly destroyed by his own ideals there are other things that destroy him as well, like Howard, Happy and Biff. Willy is emotionally destroyed when Howard fires him. Then, both of his sons disown and abandon him in Frank’s Chop House. Both Happy and Biff left their father talking to himself in the bathroom while they wanted to have a good night out with the girls.

Skin cancer :: essays research papers

Most parents remembered hearing about the importance of protecting their children from the sun, yet children are still playing in the sun without sunscreen or protective clothing. Many people these days are not taking skin cancer seriously after knowing its significance. Skin cancer has been a growing problem in the United States and millions of people have suffered from it every year. The three most common skin cancers are Melanoma, Basal cell, and Squamous cell, which can cause bumps, sores, growths, etc. Skin cancer is a deadly disease with many causes, but the advantage is that it can be prevented. Problem/Definition Skin cancer is a disease where cancer (malignant) cells are found on the outer layer of the skin (epidermis).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The three types of cells found in the epidermis are squamous cells, basal cells, and melanocytes. These cells in time grow to be cancerous. Thus, the three types of skin cancers are squamous cell, basal cell, and melanoma. Melanoma is the most deadliest and destructive type of cancer. (â€Å"Skin Cancer† infotrac.com) The number of people with melanoma has risen in Scotland from 3.5 in 1979 to 10.6 per 100,000 in 1998 for men and 7.0 to 13.1 for women. (Miller 945) Squamous cell and Basal cell skin cancer can kill up to 2,200 people a year in the United States. (Sommerfield SIRS.com) Basal cell, being the most common type of skin cancer, is the cancer that about 75 percent of the people have. (â€Å"Skin Cancer â€Å" infotrac.com) Melanoma is mostly seen in older men but ever since tanning came in during the 1970’s, it has increased in wom en 60 percent around the ages 15-29 over the past three decades.(Sommerfield SIRS.com) â€Å"And basal cell and squamous cell cancers are increasing at a rate of about 5 percent per year†(Sommerfield SIRS.com). Causes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Skin Cancer is caused by hereditary factors, overexposure to the sun, and weak immune systems. (â€Å"Skin Cancer† infotrac.com) One reason people tend to get skin cancer is when someone in your family has passed their genes down to you, known as hereditary. Normally hereditary is one of the causes in the development of melanoma. For all types of skin cancers, overexposure of the skin to UV radiation in sunlight is the most frequently blamed source of skin cancer. â€Å"Research suggests that sunburns received early in one’s childhood can lead to skin cancer later in life† (â€Å"Skin Cancer† infotrac.com). For example, when someone gets sunburned, you usually don’t know till ten to twenty years after and that’s why people don’t get skin cancer till they reach their twenties.

Hmos: Making A Killing Essay -- essays research papers

FACT: Currently 46 million Americans live without any health care insurance whatsoever. FACT: The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not provide health care insurance for all of its citizens. FACT: The United States spends more money per person on health care than any other nation in the world. FACT: The World Health Care Organization has ranked the United States 37th in the world regarding the health care a country provides for its people. FACT: No country in the history of the earth has provided universal health care coverage for all its citizens under a private health care insurance system. The facts stated above are not only embarrassing and frightening; they are simply unacceptable. How our country, which takes great pleasure in calling itself â€Å"The World’s Only Superpower†, is unable to provide health care for all its citizens is unfathomable. The citizens of countries in Western Europe have benefited from universal health care polices for almost 40 to 50 years now. Why can’t all of the citizens in America enjoy the same benefits? Especially, at a time our country is in the midst of its greatest economic boom to date. The answer is simple enough. What stands between the citizens of America and a fair, equal and effective national health care policy is one basic human emotion, or lack there of, greed. There is a huge disparity in the distribution of health care in America. Most notably between rich and poor but also between the races. 11 percent of the white population lives without health insurance. That is already a troubling number but it pales in comparison to the 21 percent of African-Americans, 21 percent of Asian-Americans and 33 percent of Hispanic-Americans that lack proper health care insurance. Lack of coverage is not the only problem in our current privatized health care system. There are also huge problems in the coverage for prescription drugs, dental, vision and hearing care, mental health care, preventive care for children, and treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. Health care in our nation should be provided directly by the federal government under what is known as a â€Å"single-payer† health care system. It is a program that would cover Americans from â€Å"the cradle to the grave†. In our current system, hundreds of billions of dollars go to insurance company overheads, unnecessary administrati... ...hat come along with any extended stay at a medical facility. Vice President Gore says he is in favor of â€Å"step by step† movement towards universal heath care; the same universal health care that he and President Clinton both promised to provide to all Americans 8 years ago in 1992. Since 1992, there has been an 11 million person increase in Americans without any health insurance at all. Sounds more like a step backwards than a step towards universal care for all. The only candidate that stands firmly behind a single-payer system, the only candidate who stands courageously in the destructive path of Big Business, the only candidate who is willing to take a stand, draw a line in the sand, and declare once and for all that health care is a basic innate human right is the Green Party Nominee, Ralph Nader. The Declaration of Independence states that all people have the rights to â€Å"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness†. Do you think that our founding fathers who didn’t have available to them the amazing health care treatments and techniques that we now have available to us would want us to reserve their benefits only for the rich? If asked the same question what is your response?

Cognitive Behavioral Theory Essay

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a short-term, problem-centered therapy that is used to address psychopathology within the individual (Beck, 1995). This model of therapy is used to address issues of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, relational problems, and drug abuse, and can be utilized when working with individuals, as well as within group and family modalities. The core aspects of this therapy include collaboration and participation by the client, a strong alliance between therapist and client, and an initial focus on current problems and functioning (Beck, 1995). The theory of CBT emphasizes the relationship between the individual’s thoughts feelings and behaviors, which is seen as being the underlying cause of psychopathology in individuals. Therefore, this theory asserts that the identification, evaluation, and modification of one’s negative thoughts will lead to an improvement in one’s mood and behaviors (Beck, 1995). It is important to understand the concepts and theory from which CBT is based in order for it to be efficiently implemented in therapeutic work with individuals, groups, or families. While CBT is used to treat psychological disorders, this theory can be examined by looking at the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individual’s with an absence of psychopathology. Beck (1979) and Beck (1995) present the cognitive model in order to explain the theory of CBT. The cognitive model demonstrates that the emotions that an individual experiences and the behaviors that they exhibit are a result of their perception of a situation or event (Beck, 1995). When in any given situation, an individual’s immediate thought response is their automatic thought (Beck, 1995). These thoughts are an immediate evaluation of the situation, which in turn directly influence the feeling that a person has about the situation. Automatic thoughts are experienced by everyone and occur in the individual’s mind prior to reasoning. These thoughts occur swiftly and often times the individual may be unaware that they have occurred, being more observant of the emotion that they are feeling in the moment (Beck, 1995). Once an automatic thought occurs within the individual, it triggers a feeling, which in turn triggers the individual’s response, such as a behavior and/or physiological response. For example, after a young child begins to pick up his blocks to be put away, his mother rubs him on the back and gives him praise for his actions. His automatic thought may be, â€Å"I am good when I put away blocks,† triggering a feeling of confidence, an increased level of physical energy, and the behavior of putting away the remaining blocks. Automatic thoughts can be neutral, positive, or negative. We all have our own automatic thoughts as we move through our day-to-day lives and interact with others. In regards to individuals with psychological disorders, the cognitive model looks at how negative thoughts influence the individual’s feelings and behaviors (Beck, 1995). From a CBT lens, it is the negative automatic thoughts that an individual has that perpetuate symptoms of psychological disorders, the occurrence of negative mood, uncomfortable physiological responses, and maladaptive or inappropriate behaviors (Beck, 1995). While we all have moments of experiencing negative automatic thoughts, for those with psychological disorders, and more pervasive difficulties in living, negative thoughts are often experienced in situations that are neutral, producing negative feelings that lead to maladaptive behaviors or responses that would not typically be expected from the neutral situation (Beck, 1995). Aaron Beck presents theory of the cognitive model of how depression is rooted and perpetuated in individuals as a result of the interaction between negative automatic thoughts, feelings, and behavioral response. In this discussion, depression is conceptualized in terms of the cognitive triad, which describes three components of negative thinking of the depressed individual: the individual’s negative view of self, their negative view of the others and the world, and their negative view of the future (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). The cognitive triad is maintained via the remaining components of Beck’s cognitive model of depression, the individual’s schemas, or core beliefs, and the utilization of faulty thinking, or cognitive errors (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). Cognitive theory asserts that our automatic thoughts are rooted in our core belief system or cognitive schemas. Core beliefs begin to be developed early in life and are based on experiences that the individual has throughout their life. Because these beliefs are so grounded in how the individual views their life, others, and the world, and begin to be cultivated so early in development, they become a fundamental aspect of the individual, who considers them to be absolute truths (Beck, 1995). Core beliefs are deeply rooted in an individual, so much so that the individual may be unaware of the belief and how it influences their thoughts about themselves and the world. Each belief can have varying levels of presence within an individual’s day to day life, with some core beliefs remaining predominately dormant and only being activated in certain situations, while others may be frequently present in an individual’s thoughts (Beck, 1995). It is the individual’s cognitive schemas that allows for the categorization and evaluation of different experiences or situations (Beck, Rush, Shaw, and Emery, 1979). The core belief system maintains the way an individual experiences and thinks about a given situation (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). While everyone conceptualizes a given situation in their own way, each individual typically conceptualizes similar situations in a similar way based on their own core beliefs (Beck, Rush, Shaw, and Emery, 1979). Within a set of similar situations, the individual’s core beliefs trigger automatic thoughts, which in turn trigger the individual’s emotional and behavioral response. Over time, the individual’s responses to similar situations become more consistent, thereby causing the development of a routine response to these types of situations. As this consistently occurs, the schema connected to particular type of event is further developed and the individual’s assertion that the belief holds absolute truth is strengthened (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). Beck’s theory underlying CBT focuses on the idea that symptoms of depression, as well as those of other psychological disorders, are developed and maintained through to the individual’s negative core beliefs and triggered negative thoughts. In addition to the individual’s negative schemas, Beck’s theory states that the cognitive triad of negative cognitions of self, others, and future is further perpetuated through patterns of faulty thinking (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). There are a variety of faulty thinking mechanisms that are used by individual’s to support their automatic thoughts and core beliefs, even in light of contradictory evidence (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). This type of thinking can be characterized as labeling, over generalizing, personalization, emotional reasoning, magnification or minimization, and all-or-nothing or impetrative thinking (Beck, 1995). These cognitive errors are often extreme and unrealistic ways in which the individual assesses and draws conclusions regarding their problems, which is then used to further support their negative belief system and automatic thoughts. CBT theory declares that the individual can learn to identify their automatic thoughts, thereby creating an avenue for changing the emotions, behaviors, and psychological responses to various situations. When utilizing CBT with a client, it is necessary for the therapist to conceptualize the individual’s presenting problems from the perspective of the cognitive model (Beck, 1995). This can be done through the work of gathering information regarding the individual’s current problems, diagnosis, and how the problems have been developed and maintained. As this information is collected, the CBT therapist begins to assess and identify the inaccurate and unhelpful thoughts connected to the problems, and the behaviors that are exhibited as a result of this thinking (Beck, 1995). As this is done, the therapist can then begin to guide the individual to identify, examine, and correct or modify the negative automatic thoughts, underlying core beliefs, and faulty thinking mechanisms that have sustained the presenting problems (Beck, 1995).

Spykar

The company The Spykar story started way back in 1992, when Mr. Prasad Pabrekar led by ambition ventured into fashion apparels and accessories to make use of his vast repertoire of technical knowledge in processing of denim garments. He started the company with the firm belief that the best investment for the Co. was Human Capital, starting with a just a handful, and slowly built up a company with over 150 employees. He gave them the best possible infrastructure to work within, resulting in a strong & dedicated team.The company is based on strict code of ethics which is evident in its dealing with all its partners; namely employees, trade associates, vendors and the like. Its accent on the quality of its products has been unwavering right from its inception. It has always strived to produce a product, having a global appeal. Denims are the core of the company's business. This has been facilitated by the company's in-house processing unit and gives the company the competitive edge in consistently producing denims of international quality.To continuously innovate, and to bring new styles, cuts and fabric to the market, the company has a team of young and dedicated designers and merchandisers, who are extremely aware of the latest trends in the international market. The company experiments a great deal on new styles and accessories, making them trendy and accessible to the Indian consumer. Since Spykar designs specifically for Indian audiences, it has the best fits and designs in its repertoire. In 1994, Spykar moved beyond denims and introduced Helium's, a collection of cotton casual wear.This was followed by Forays in 1996; a brand with an attitude positioning that caters to the after-office leisurewear segment. SPYKAR products are available at over 500 MBOs across the country, apart from the large format stores like Shopper's Stop, Globus, Lifestyle, Pantaloons, Pyramids, etc. and at the Exclusive Spykar Jeans outlet at Ahmedabad, Ghazi bad, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nasik, New Delhi and Pune. Spykar Jeans currently has 99 Exclusive Brand Outlet and plans to increase that number to 150 by the end of 2008.To mark its foray in the international arena, Spykar has also opened its first exclusive outlet at Glades Mall, London. The brand has always focused on the u: th and their aspirations and built up the product portfolio accordingly. All its marketing efforts are targeted at making the brand relevant at all times to this discerning audience. Strategic Intent The company is committed to being the first choice casual wear brand of the youth. The company’s brand does not have a fixed definition but has always been relevant to the u:th and also to the changing market dynamics.The company’s brand building activities will continue to maintain the premium positioning and make it one of the most inspirational, trendy and obviously the most sought after brand. The Company is compliant, eco friendly, socially responsi ble, evolving, profit oriented, always people-centric and doing justice to those who work for it. Though professional and passionate; the people will have their professional and personal lives aligned. First to the Brands Credit/Milestones Achieved.We revolutionized Cargo's in the country with the very non-conformist look and its innovative presentation. We broke all norms of how a pair of pants should be sold. Rolled and tied by a canvas strip and stocked in this form on the shelves – it defied conventional norms and challenged tradition. Target audience who identified with this Rebellious approach lapped-up the product and yet again Spykar scored in turning the table upside down. We sold nearly 70,000 pants and cargos with not even 60% of the demand fed.To cut the monotonous complacency of basic 5 pockets we stylized denims as flamboyant blues. This fashioned persona of denims was introduced as Actifs (Spykar's Fashion Denim Collection) with 5 fits – Stern, Rebel, Ma verick, Recruit & Renegade. USP Endeavor sustenance as a premium fashion wear brand, providing total casual dressing for the u:th's complete fashion needs. The entire offering is fashion and hence radical at times. The single line to sum it up is Spykar jeans: 18 till I die (ever young).Advertising – Frankly one of the reasons why Spykar has clicked so well is that it has not done much advertising and restricted itself to the Print Media and the occasional Bill Board. I believe that if a Brand overexposes itself than it loses it’s value and if it has just the right amount of advertising and has some good â€Å"mouth-to-mouth† advertising then it actually becomes more â€Å"hep and cool† as in the case of Spykar and this is all the more important on a brand like which is trying to appeal to the 17-25 age group, i. e. , Spykar.What makes it Click – The major thing that makes Spykar click is that it goes adding and bringing in new trends every now and then. They had that shiny jeans I told you about around 6 months back and 3 months back they got the Polynosic short shirt and the maverick wash and now they have the Contrast Stitching Cargoes. Innovation and new trends are what are most important in Garment Business. Without that you are going nowhere except downhill. The best example for this is Wearhouse. For those who do not know this is a retail chain from Bangalore. How the Spykar Franchise OperatesThe Spykar franchise wants to retain its position as the premium casual wear choice of the young generation. The garments retail franchise does not like to associate its brand name with a fixed fashion definition. The  retail services business keeps a close watch on the changing dynamics of market. T The Spykar franchise involves in brand building and other promotional activities, which are needed to maintain its leading position in the garment industry. The retail services business ensures that all its operations are eco-friend ly, people-centric, socially responsible and profit oriented.The garments retail franchise has literally revolutionised the cargo wear industry in India. The retail services business presented cargo materials in an innovative fashion by providing a non-conformist look to it. The Spykar franchise dared to break all conventions regarding the sale of pants. The introduction of the unique cargo style by the garments retail franchise was actually a challenge to the traditional concept of pants. Another milestone in the history of the Spykar franchise was the incorporation of the garment company by name Span Apparels.The quality services offered by the retail services franchise in the field of garment industry were acclaimed by declaring it as the Best Casual Wear Brand of the Year in 2006. The Spykar Franchise Excels in Denim Manufacture The Spykar franchise has been offering fashion wears and accessories since 1992. The retail services business was founded by Prasad Pabrekar who wanted to make use of technical knowledge in processing jeans garments. The garments retail franchise was set up with the belief that human capital as its best investment.The quality service offered by the Spykar franchise slowly resulted in the enhancement of the number of employees. The functioning of the garments retail franchise is strictly based on a code of ethics. It is the absolute adherence to this code of ethics, which has helped the retail services franchise in ensuring smooth relationships with its trading partners, employees, vendors etc. The Spykar franchise always ensures that its employees are provided with the best possible infrastructural facilities in order to enhance their productivity.The garments retail franchise wants a dedicated team of employees who are all committed to the core values of the company. The retail services business has been offering garments of uniform quality standards from the very beginning. The garments retail franchise assays to come out with qu ality dress materials that are of global standards. The Spykar franchise has its focus on the manufacture of denims. The Variety of Products of the Spykar Franchise The in-house processing unit of the Spykar franchise strives consistently to produce denims of international quality.The garments retail franchise keeps on innovating new styles by experimenting with cuts and fabric patterns. The vibrant team of young designers of the retail services business is well updated on the latest trends in denim fashion. The Spykar franchise has introduced many accessories which have become trend setters in the Indian market. It was in 1994 that the garments retail franchise dared to introduce Helium's in the Indian market. These cotton casual wears of the Spykar franchise were well accepted. The success story of helium’s made the retail services franchise experiment Forays, which was a unique collection of leisure-wears.The Spykar franchise has got its outlets opened in all the major Ind ian cities. The garments retail franchise presently has seventy eight exclusive outlets. The retail services business aims at increasing the number of outlets to 150 by 2008. The Spykar franchise has also ventured into the international market by opening a store in London. All the marketing efforts of the garments retail franchise aims at ensuring that its brand name does not lose relevance and its designs are not described as ‘gone out of fashion