Political Instability in Egypt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Political Instability in Egypt - Essay Example Mubarak has been mistreating the ascent of resistance for a long time so as to keep the brought together force. This obviously identifies with Mill’s On Liberty, as the despot is attempting to keep up congruity and the norm. He unmistakably utilizes this to for clarifying the need of a political sovereign state (Mill). Moreover, he demands a sovereign chief with outright force that would carry security and tranquility to individuals. What's more, he himself demands this reality, since he saw a common war that tore his nation. The insidious that sneaks in boundless force is the point of convergence of Mill’s contention. Without a doubt, Mill’s contention for absolutism is because of the way that the condition of nature is undoubtedly war (Mill). Mill’s principle plan is to show that, soundly, men will look for harmony against the condition of nature of contention conduct. Mill’s intense endeavor to persuade the way that men are animals of harmony in a condition of nature is, regardless, a troublesome thing to demonstrate since humankind is battling in consistent fighting (Mill). In this manner, Mill’s clarification of contention is unpredictable and difficult to appreciate since, even in impeccable conditions, certain man will meet people's high expectations to challenge authority (Mill). It’s human instinct to look for pride, brilliance and acclaim; without question, mankind will keep on being charmed in these demonstrations since it can never be fulfilled. Plainly, the author’s task is to show that the idea of men is intricate. Mill’s hypothesis explains that men are instrumentally intended to look for objectivity in all occurrences for their best personal responsibility (Mill). Along these lines, this is the purpose behind the general propensity of humanity to want power after force til' the very end strikes them. The opposition doesn't ascend from the general shortage of assets however Mill doesn 't infer that. He infers that when circulated similarly, regardless of whether lacking for satisfaction of network needs, assets will never be adequate for the fulfillment of certain people’s journey to get more force (Mill). Individuals in their condition of nature will in general have doubt and go after characteristic rivalry of intensity. Along these lines, the individuals of Egypt have revolted in light of absence of free decisions, high joblessness, defilement that torment the nation, and limitation of free discourse. Egypt was not exactly a month from holding parliamentary races after Hosni Mubarak was removed from power not long ago. The normal rivalry for men to choose a pioneer that can ensure their advantage is pivotal for Egypt (Brennan). Plant expresses that if the pioneer under force can't furnish his kin with food, a disobedience can take steps to change the norm (Brennan). Obviously, Mubarak neglected to give his kin the free equitable races he guaranteed befor e. For a long time, the mass lion's share of the crowded was astonished to see Mubarak’s party known as the National Democratic Party win by tremendous edges (Jensen, 2010). Many started to scrutinize the genuine reason for these outcomes and allegations of vote gear, misrepresentation and pay off have been the point of convergence against Mubarak’s crusade. Subsequently, as indicated by Mill, an upheaval is nearly ensured when people have practically zero effect in the governmental issues that oversee themselves (Mill). Another key component Mill examines in his work is splendidly represented in this specific situation. The reality people are probably going to revolt if joblessness plagues the locale. This scene can be splendidly portrayed

University education should be free Research Paper

College instruction ought to be free - Research Paper Example ss measure of cash per open understudy and state subsidizing of the understudies and colleges has been brought or even chopped down to half as in California. â€Å"Education has for some time been viewed as a chief wellspring of monetary versatility. In any case, throughout recent years state funded training, and particularly open advanced education has been under attack† (Reiff). A few instructive changes and money related arranging could be completed to make college training free for the understudies, since it would encourage the understudies as well as help in bringing down the general expense of instructive spending plan. The expenses for educational cost, boarding have been blowing up for as far back as 20 years, inspite of that the state funded colleges need to cause cuts in the different administrations and instructive projects so as to make up for the lacks in the financial plan. Free college degree for each individual would be a potential answer for the present expansion and financial lack. â€Å"Not implies tried, not modest, not died down, yet free. For everybody† (Reiff). This could be made conceivable by actualizing the duty installment, theoretically 6 percent to the college which would give the college degree. The individuals who earned more would pay more and who earned less would need to save money, however toward the end each individual would have the benefit of having a college degree. Understudies won't need to work extended periods so as to back their college degree, which influences their presentation as well as puts them under enormous obligations they can't pay (Reiff). Powerlessness of United States to give free advanced education ends up being a ruin when contrasted with other created nations which give free college degree. College training isn't just a significant determinant of the monetary advancement yet additionally decides the business rate in the state. â€Å"Currently, just 30% of Americans who start school or college wind up graduating, and this speaks to a colossal exercise in futility and money† (B. Samuels). In the event that as

The seed of honesty

The seed of honesty A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.He said, It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you. The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. I am going to give each one of you a SEED today one very special SEED.  I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you.  I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed.Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After abou t three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.  Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.  By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didnt have a plant and he felt like a failure.Six months went by still nothing in Jims pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didnt say anything to his colleagues, however He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil He so wanted the seed to grow.A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.Jim told his wife that he wasnt going to take an empty pot.  But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right.He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes.Jim put his empty pot on the floor and  many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.Jim just tried to hide in the back. My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown, said the CEO. Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front.Jim was terrified. He thought, The CEO knows Im a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed Jim told him the story.The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!Jim couldnt believe it. Jim couldnt even grow his seed.How could he be the new CEO? the others said.Then the CEO said, One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed.  I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead it was not possible for them to grow.  All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you.  Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust. * If you plant goodness, you will reap friends. * If you plant humility, you will reap greatness. * If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment. * If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective. * If you plant hard work, you will reap success. * If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation . * If you plant faith in God , you will reap a harvest.So, be careful what you plant now;  it will determine what you will reap later..Whatever You Give To Life, Life Gives You BackAuthor Unknown Story was submitted by visitor Madhukar

College Is The Middle School - 883 Words

Collà ¨ge: Collà ¨ge is also known as middle school. The ages of students range from 11 to 15 years old. There are four classes (grades 6-9) and are referred to as sixià ¨me, cinquià ¨me, quatrià ¨me and troisià ¨me. The college is supposed to provide students with a necessary core of secondary education. Students are prepped to either continue their education at a traditional lycà ©e or push more towards technical classes. The curriculum for college consists of math, history, geography, technical education, art, music, and physical education. Also included in the curriculum is some science, at least one foreign language, and civic education. ,. Lycà ©e: lycà ©e is also known as High School. The traditional lycà ©e covers the last three years of secondary education. The lycà ©e gà ©nà ©ral or lycà ©e classique, and the lycà ©e technique, are two main types of traditional lycà ©e,. In small towns there is usually no a lycà ©e technique whereas in cities or big towns there is a mixture of both. The lycà ©e main purpose is to prepare students for the baccalaurà ©at(or bac) exam. The bac is needed in order get into universities or prep schools. The term baccalaurà ©at refers to the diploma and the examinations. the baccalaureate is an exam, that students either pass or fail. It is impossible to pass in one subject and fail in others. The weighted average must be at least 10/20 for students to pass. Students who get under that average are passed by the exam board and those who get between 8 and 10 can retake theShow MoreRelatedTransitioning From Middle School At High School Now College888 Words   |  4 PagesTransitioning from middle school to high school now college. Hardships and victories I have experienced it all. I have gone from the shy student to one of the most involved and active student in my school. I remember the beginning of sixth grade, just like it was yesterday. Walking through the doors I had my backpack and lunchbox in hand excited to pass all classes with no problem.Unfortanately that thought was just a thought. Over the course of the year I failed tremendously by receiving my veryRead MoreCollege Is Not For College1486 Words   |  6 PagesMany students do not go to college because of the steep cost to attend. There a lot of students and families that support this claim, with some experts adding that other socio-economic factors also contribute to this issue. Additionally, there are many that think that not everyone needs to go to college. Either way, some students still struggle to pay for their college education. Early exposure to college provides a practical solution to this problem. 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It is often assumed that a person’s college status, as well as their entire life, can be determined by examining his or her intellect, high school performance, and talents. However, C. Wright Mills proposes a new approach to this idea in his work, â€Å"The Promise.† Mills presentsRead MoreThe Importance Of A College Education1511 Words   |  7 PagesAlbio Sires, a New Jersey congressman, said that â€Å"Middle-class families are struggling to send their sons and daughters to school. F or many Americans, a college education is essential to future success.† His statement taps into one of the biggest issues in America. While education is a strong value in this country, after high school, the percentage of people getting an education dramatically drops. Although many people choose to not go to college, there are also many people who do not go simply becauseRead MoreThe Importance Of A College Education1530 Words   |  7 PagesAlbio Sires, a New Jersey congressman, said that, â€Å"Middle class families are struggling to send their sons and daughters to school. For many Americans, a college education is essential to future success.† His statement taps into one of the biggest issues in America. While education is considered to be a strong value here, after high school, the percentage of people getting an education dramatically drops. Although many people choose to not go to college, there are also many people who do not go simplyRead MoreWorking for an Education740 Words   |  3 PagesThe United States is a country where just about every one has chance to attend college. Unfirtantly not every one of those individuals has the oppurtinity to finish college. In Dave Leonhardts article â€Å"The College Dropout Boom†- he claims that there is a wideing gap between the children of the rich and the children of the poor when it comes to education. Dave Leonhardt discusses the factors that goes into the notion that there is a wideing gap between children from poor parents and children of wealthyRead MoreTransitions Of Career Development And Transition Programs836 Words   |  4 PagesTransitions occur throughout life and there are numerous transitions students face within the school setting. Since school counselors support students in academic, career and college, and social and personal development, school counselors are in key positions to provide students with opportunities, equity, and access to programs that support smooth transitions and college and career readiness (Erford, 2015). Career development and transition programs are important because they support they can provideRead MoreCultural Capital Needed For Gain Upward Social Mob ility931 Words   |  4 Pagescome from a family that has had no formal education beyond high school and so I was without the knowledge of how to gain access into the realm of higher education. My family had never gone through the application process and so they did not know how to access and utilize the college help that my school provided. Also, my high school only had fourteen counselors available to provide assistance to the 4,263 students that attended the school (Illinois Report Card 2010). This counselor-to-student ration

Understand How Jp Morgan Ended Up Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2997 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? The infamous Jamie Dimon joined the darling financial institution in 2005 as CEO and also joined the New York Federal Reserve bank board in 2008. 4 Notorious for his squeaky clean reputation relative to many of his contemporaries, his myriad successes in the big banking world landed him four times on Time magazines 100 Most Influential People list. While the whale tale that plays out in the remainder of the paper threatened to tarnish his sterling leadership (and that of the firms), his navigation surrounding the event is one of the reasons JP Morgan surfaced, ultimately, intact. The Set Up Usually, a story of this nature would trigger thoughts of the rogue trader phenomena at UBS or Societe General. However, this story has a twist. What is lurking beneath the infamous London Whale trader, Bruno Iksil, is a whole department enabling the beast. That department was the firms Chief Investment Office (CIO). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Understand How Jp Morgan Ended Up Finance Essay" essay for you Create order The major responsibility of CIO was to manage the firms excess cash reserves through investments that would meet their future liquidity needs and hedge their $350 billion balance sheet. This was primarily done by investing in a diverse portfolio of high credit quality, fixed income securities that had maintained an average rating of AA+. At its helm was Ina Drew, appointed by Dimon in 2005. The following year her team was able to lift the $20 million trading loss limit for their department. In 2007, they started the Synthetic Credit Portfolio to hedge the inherent credit risk in the firms main business lines. (This portfolio is a key character in the story and will be discussed further in the following section.) By 2010, CIO had brought in 25% of JP Morgans annual profits of $20 billion. At this point, with loss limit barriers removed, exotic new products in the mix, and record profits, one might think that more transparent and thorough department reporting would be required. However, according to JP Morgans task force, CIO actually lost its alertness and became less concentrated on the trading details. Focused more on top line risk measurement numbers that, ironically, masked their ever-growing risk exposure; one might say they lost the trees for the forest. In fact, some commentators thought CIO had deflected from its original purpose and become the worlds biggest proprietary trading counter. In other words, it had become a profit center not a risk management center. Because CIO was so actively increasing its exposure to high yield bonds and various over-the-counter derivative products, the risk of its trades became nearly equal to that of the entire investment banking department at JP Morgan. Since the fund-raising cost for CIO was lower than that for the investment banking arm, the regulations were less, and there was a history of successes, Dimon was moving more and more trading business to CIO. It was this sense from the rest of the trading community, of a growing whale, that partially fueled the pressure and cornering felt inside CIO. The Methodology The positions in the Synthetic Credit Portfolio consisted of standardized indices based on a number of credit default swaps (CDS) on debt issuers.[footnote: JP Morgan Report on Trading Loss] A credit default swap is a financial swap agreement in which the seller of the CDS will pay the buyer if a loan defaults. A CDS is a derivative contract, but acts very much like an insurance contract. The riskier a bond is, the higher the price of the insurance will be. There are different prices for different bonds to be insured from defaults. Also, issuers can choose to insure either the buyer or the seller of the bond. The trader language is intuitively a little backwards in the banking world for CDS. Being long a CDS is buying protection and is effectively a short risk position. Conversely, shorting a CDS is selling insurance and creating a long risk exposure. A firm like JP Morgan is in the business of being long on financial risk by way of their principal banking service functions. Hence, the objective of CIO was to have a net long CDS position to mitigate these risks. CIO added a layer of complexity in its Synthetic Credit Portfolio by choosing to trade the Credit Default Swap Index (CDX) which serves as a benchmark for protecting bondholders against default similar to equity value indices. This is what the CDS index of investment grade firms looked like on Apr.18th, 2012. Notice that it doesnt show the price changing over time like stock indexes do. Rather, it shows prices of the swap depending on the period of time the swap covers, more like the yield curve of a bond. Typically, an upward sloping CDX curve means that it is healthy. That is, the riskier a bond is, the higher the price of the insurance will be. Because, as the time period becomes longer, the more opportunity there is for unexpected events to happen, the riskier it is. So, swaps with longer time intervals cost more than those with shorter ones Iskil went on to implement a flattener strategy on the CDX curve, basically, betting the front end (left) of the CDX curve would go up relative to the back (right.) Although there are several ways to do this, CIO chose to do so by buying short term CDS and selling long term CDS. If the CDX curve really flattens, meaning that short-term swap prices rise faster than long-term swaps, investors will make a profit. If the market moves on a small scale, the short/long positions will cancel each other out, making the total position market neutral. With the move by the U.S. Federal Reserve, announced in the third quarter of 2011, to implement a massive Operation Twist agenda, its easy to see why CIO initially adopted their strategy. The aim of the Feds objective was to, indeed, flatten the U.S. Treasury yield curve and CIO seemed to be going with the flow. So, where did they go wrong? The key point is that, to maintain the flattener strategy, you have to keep your long and short positions balanced. As these products continually either shift in value or expire, a trader has to frequently enter into new trades. Also, in order to keep the balance between products that does not move step-in-step, an accurate ratio must be established. As shorter term products are less volatile than longer term products, a one-to-one ratio on rate curves is insufficient. Traders will need a greater amount of the near term product to offset the longer dated maturities. Disrupting this ration degrades the hedge into an outright long or short position on the index, leaving it enormous exposure to the market. 6 Worlds Collide At the Harbor Investment Conference that took place in February 2012, leading hedge fund managers came together and were subjected to the sales pitch for one particular off-the-run CDX, the Series9 IG 10-year Index (where IG is short for Investment Grade.) The products appeal was the existence of several of its bond components that had subsequently been downgraded since the indexs inception in 2007.13 Given the lack of a department Treasurer since October 2011, the introduction of competing top line objectives at the start of 2012 (discussed below,) and the initial losses beginning to occur in January, CIO must have thought they had found the Holy Grail. But, prudence was out the door. Iskil built up $12 billion of shorter term maturities matched up with $20 billion of longer term maturities in the Series 9. Anyone active in calendar spreads would recognize this as an outright directional trade. In addition, Iksils portion of the overall CDS market was so large that he was quickly running out of counterparties to his accumulating positions.12 As soon as JP Morgan couldnt hide its positions any more, due to their overwhelming presence in this niche market (and whatever leaked out at the Harbor conference), hedge fund traders started to collectively move against them. Ultimately, the other market participants were able to alter the price for what JP Morgan was looking for and caused their extraordinary losses. And, it would take CIO several months of mounting losses to accept this truth. 12 A Game of Poker At times, it seems that CIO was infected with many elements of the gamblers psychology including overconfidence and belief perseverance. Up until that point, it appears they had attributed their significant successes to themselves rather than other market factors. In tandem, they anchored their values of the portfolio and preserved their belief of this value by refusing to accept price movements as real and citing leaks of their positions as the source of divergence.16 While CIO was right that there were outside forces putting pressure on prices unrelated to typical market conditions, they were wrong in believing that it wasnt real or sustainable. If CIO had disclosed the position and loss every step of the way, the situation may have been reversible. What was At Risk? 12 On top of all this, they had a major problem with their Value-at-Risk (VaR) model, a statistical risk measure used to base how much a trader might lose in one day. A precise VaR model is important and the one that CIO used was different from the rest of banks. It developed the VaR model on its own and the weight setting was lower. CIO had been petitioning to implement a new model throughout this key period, late in 2011 and early 2012. The VaR number decreased dramatically to $67 million per day from $129 million. Iksils VaR alone was often $30 million to $40 million, sometimes reaching $60 million. Thats almost equal to level for the firms entire investment bank. A minor adjustment in the mathematical calculations (incorrectly omitting a division symbol to create an average rather than a sum), significantly altered the output of the model. 12 In the report released by JP Morgan, there were some risk protocol breakdowns in the models development, approval and implementation process. For instance, back testing was not rigidly required by the firms management as only two months worth was done to gain the models approval. So, it became operational with many technical problems embedded in the system including the increased potential for error by requiring manual data entry. Further, the developer and the operator were the same person which breaches the separation of duties best practice. This combination left CIO depending on a highly inaccurate model. Observations An influential company, like JP Morgan, who prided themselves on being a leader in managing financial risk, took a wrong turn and lost sight of core fundamentals. ÂÂ  In a report released by the Task Force of JP Morgan, there are a few areas where they feel that the CIO failed to do their job in terms of judgment and acting on their concerns. ÂÂ   One such area was how upper management established inconsistent priorities for the Synthetic Credit Portfolio that proved near impossible to follow simultaneously. The priorities included keeping the risk balanced while managing both VaR, gains/losses, and reducing the Risk Weighted Assets (RWA). When trying to achieve these all at once, varying priorities created conflict and fostered a platform to develop their unusual strategies in an effort to meet multiple objectives. ÂÂ  If CIO management had listed these priorities in order of true importance while also developing a way to act on them, there would have been a stronger framework to reconcile front line strategies against top line goals. In addition, a type of fire sale, exit strategy needed to be outlined in advance of the trading positions going awry. ÂÂ   It is no wonder that from this complicated profile of priorities there come even more complex trading strategies. When theyÂÂ  were conceived, the CIO managers, as well as their personnel, did not fully understand how to use these products in a way that managed the risk they were creating. These strategies should have undergone extensive analysis on their impact to the RWA, especially, given their notional amounts prior to trading. Ultimately, upper management was responsible for taking more time to develop comprehensive trading strategies that required the whole department had extensive product knowledge under numerous scenarios. The CIO didnt obtain or even ask for detailed reports on specifically the Synthetic Credit Portfolio. By not having reports generated in real time, the Chief Investment Officer had little knowledge on what the trading activity looked like on a day to day basis. ÂÂ  Instead, she just simply checked the portfolios profits and losses. Even more concerning is the lack of efficient communication between traders and senior members and officers of the department. Reports show that multiple warnings were given by traders to different senior members expressing concern regarding the riskiness and volatility of this portfolio. A catalyst for this breakdown was the significant changeup in managers within a short period of time beginning in late 2011 through early 2012. However, a company of JP Morgans size and history should be able to easily withstand routine shakeups of this nature. Consistent communication, seamless management transitions, and intimate knowledge of shifting valuations are not areas to be lacking in especially when it comes to the scale of assets JP Morgan possesses. Despite numerous attempts to voice concerns during the first few months of 2012, CIO management did not disclose any problems or losses for the portfolio to the board. The Aftermath Internal Impact While the firms share price took a huge plunge immediately following the height of the losses, a year later the stock has more than recovered. Its overall ranking as a world company has dropped, however, from 36 in 2011 to 51 in 2012.1 Many members of the Synthetic Credit Portfolio team, including Messrs. Goldman, Wilmot and Weiland departed the company along with Drew. Dimon took a 50% pay cut for 2012 and the firm was seeking claw backs from various other employees as well. Several additional steps have been implemented to better manage CIO since then. With new faces in CIOs leadership team, such as CIO Matthew Zames and CFO Marie Nourie, the department has upgraded its reporting and modeling. Reports now include detailed trading and positions data and VaR models have automated control features. A CIO Investment Committee meeting is now held weekly and Business Control Committee meetings are held monthly with a cross-reference team with the Risk Committee. New departments to supplement CIO, called Deputy CRO/Head of Firm-wide Market Risk to monitor market risk and Wholesale Chief Credit Officer (WCCO) to assess the wholesale credit risk, were also created. Actions to strengthen the model review group are focused on selecting the most significant models, testing and reviewing risk exposure precisely, specifying different models to different products, and updating the database. CIO also enhanced the limit structure, such as 53 new country exposure limits, also applicable to both CIO and Treasury, as a subset to the Firm-wide Country Exposure Limits (From: JPMorgan Report on Trading Loss). These new risk policies offer specified rules to CIO and require them to limit the risk onto a transparent and controllable scale. Social Impact According to OCCs quarterly report on bank derivatives activities, in the fourth quarter of 2011, the big five banks (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and HSBC) held 95.7% of the U.S. $ 230.8 trillion derivatives in the outstanding balance. After JPMorgans announcement of the huge loss, major banks stock price acted as: Citigroup fell 2.4 percent, BoA fell 1.7%, Morgan Stanley fell 3.2% and Goldman Sachs fell 2.7%. As the Butterfly Storm presents, a small abnormal fluctuation will bring a disaster to the worldwide financial industry. And the amount at stake is powerful enough to destroy it. Standard Poors and Moodys both downgraded the rating of JPMorgan after the firm disclosed its initial trading loss of $2 billion. As we can see from the chart, the last credit rating was lowered and future rating downgrades are possible reflecting increased concerns about the banks hedging capabilities. Macintosh HD:Users:xuli:Pictures:JPMorgan rating from SP.png The next graph shows Moodys rating downgrade in response to JPMorgans London branch problems. It was downgraded from Aa2 to Aa3 since 21 Jun 2012. Macintosh HD:Users:xuli:Pictures:JPMorgan London Branch from Moodys.png The following chart shows the rating for JPMorgan Chase financial strength declining from B to C in the middle of 2012. Macintosh HD:Users:xuli:Pictures:JPMorgan Chase from Moodys.png Whats more, the rating on long-term debt was lowered from Aa3 to A2, which means Moodys regards JPMorgans debt as riskier making it more costly for them to raise funds in the future. In addition, it has altered the risk profile for existing bondholders portfolios. Regulatory Impact Dimon was requested to appear in congressional hearings regarding the loss. The Federal Reserve and OCC called for JPMorgan to improve its risk management team and rebuild the CIO department structure. In addition, federal regulators commanded JPMorgan to improve its money-laundering prevention. Conclusion As Mr.Dimon said to Meet the Press: we have a huge security portfolio, we are a big bank. In fact this security portfolio has unrealized gain of $80 billion, but in how we manage that portfolio we did lose $2 billion. We took far too much risk, the strategy we had built is badly verified and badly monitor. It should never happen. Certainly, Jamie Dimons long-standing reputation and willingness to cooperate in various sentence hearings displays a role model case for handling such crises. Weathering this storm required the collaborative effort of many of the firms top talent. From assessing the damage, to outlining more than a band aid fix. Dimon, speaking as a panelist at the 2013 Davos convention, pointed out that these losses were sustained in an area protected from clients accounts. However, this was a major malfunction in the company, that consults other international firms to avoid this. When a huge $6 billion loss occurs in a department aimed at reducing risk rather than taking it, it comes as no surprise that business leaders began taking notes. The trades and risks were in such great magnitude that it is crucial with true risk management for the officers to have been monitoring this activity closely, accurately and often.

The Argument of Abortion Free Essays

In On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion, Mary Anne Warren discusses a few arguments against abortion, namely bringing into play whether the fetus is actually a person, or â€Å"not a member of the moral community†. She defends that abortion is a morally sound action. Don Marquis, in his essay An Argument that Abortion is Wrong, takes the opposite stance. We will write a custom essay sample on The Argument of Abortion or any similar topic only for you Order Now He claims â€Å"that abortion, except perhaps in rare instances, is seriously wrong†.The first thing we read in Warren’s article is the thought experiment first conceived by Judith Thomson. It’s an analogy that uses a normal person, male or female, and a famous violinist. Let’s say the Society of Music Lovers kidnaps you, and hooks you up to this dying violinist. If you choose to unhook yourself, the violinist will die, but if you let him stay hooked up to you to use your kidneys (for a period of nine months), then he will be cured and both of you will be free.Thomson asks what a person’s obligations in this situation are, and, to be consistent with Warren’s argument, she says it would be ridiculous to be stay in bed with the violinist, and thus you are able to leave at any time. You shouldn’t feel responsible for the death of the violinist. But Marquis, in his essay, points out that, while good for dealing with abortions due to rape, the analogy doesn’t hold up. Thomson draws to our attention that in pregnancy a fetus uses the woman’s body for life-support, but the woman doesn’t use a fetus’s body for life support.Thus, in an abortion the life that is lost is the fetus’s, not the woman’s. This leaves us with a standoff. I think this overall analogy is not significantly helpful for either side of the argument. Warren then discusses whether or not abortion is actually the killing of a â€Å"person†, calling into question when a fetus matures to the point of personhood. She defines the moral community as having some (the more the better) of these six characteristics: sentience (capacity to have conscious experiences), emotionality (capacity to feel sad, angry, happy, etc. , reason (capacity to solve new and relatively complex problems), capacity to communicate (by any means), self-awareness (concept of oneself), and finally moral agency (capacity to regulate one’s own actions). This is clearly very sketchy, because infants and mentally or physically challenged people are still referred to and thought of as â€Å"people†, or â€Å"members of the moral community†, despite a lack of many of these traits. Both articles address this idea of personhood, but neither one really wins.The good thing with defining personhood biologically—saying it’s a person at conception—quantifies it†¦it gives a definitive time, not some subjective date when certain sentient or reasoning qualities are met, and this lessens the confusion. But I still agree somewhat with the view held by Warren that fetuses can’t reason or fend for themselves nor (until cerebral development) do really anything other than exist. So again, I don’t think either side has a stronger case, because both Warren and Marquis have points that basically offset one another. An interesting thing that Marquis then does is go on to talk about FLO, or â€Å"future like ours†. He claims that killing deprives a person of a future that is like ours, and says that abortion is killing a fetus that will have a future like ours. Taking someone’s entire future away from them is the worst of crimes, and he argues that abortion is this kind of deprivation of future. Killing an adult is an awful thing to do because it takes away that adult’s future, a future that is of great value.The same goes for aborted fetuses—they had a future that would be valued but it was taken away from them. Warren also argues that a woman has a right to life, so she can make a decision that she sees fit, since her body belongs to her and only her. In response to this, Marquis says that, except during rape (when he believes it is permissible), a fetus has just as much of a right to life as the woman, and therefore an abortion is wrong. Marquis concludes that abortion is seriously wrong, except in unusual cases (rape, incest, and possible death of the mother).Depriving an FLO shows how wrong killing an adult is, and since fetuses have an FLO, killing them is just as bad. Warren concludes that fetuses are neither persons nor members of the moral community. She does not think that the fetus’s resemblance to a person nor the potential for becoming a person is a good enough claim to say it has an equal right to life. Marquis agrees with Warren inasmuch as the pregnancy is due to rape or other unusual condition, so there is no argument there.The argument over personhood is a much better one, and I think that both sides have a very strong position and arguments. On one side there is the lack of human traits to make a fetus a person, and on the other there is a biological definition of life which occurs at conception. It is nearly impossible to determine who’s argument is stronger, because I can see how both sides can work. As for the woman’s rights, I think again it is two-sided. Neither side really comes away with a clear-cut victory.Warren argues that a woman can do whatever she wants with her body because it is her body but Marquis suggests that that cannot include killing a fetus (with an FLO). Overall I believe that Warren has stronger arguments, although I don’t necessarily agree with them. I think it is morally correct to carry the baby for nine months and then give it up for adoption or something like that, but that is such an unbelievably huge burden to put on someone, so I can understand where an abortion might need to take place.So, I feel that Mary Anne Warren gives stronger arguments only because she explains them in much more detail, allowing the reader to at least understand where she is coming from, whereas Don Marquis just tells us what his views are with li ttle information to back them up. Abortion is a very difficult topic to discuss or write upon, and, even though I disagree with her, I think Warren did a better job to explain what her views on abortion were and where they came from. How to cite The Argument of Abortion, Essays

Westjet Case Analysis free essay sample

Table of Contents Executive Summaryi Table of Contents1 About WestJet1 Market Share2 Domestic2 International3 Market Position and SWOT Analysis5 WestJet Key Financial Ratios7 Accounting, Finance, Legal and Environmental Issues8 Shareholders and Company Ownership8 Accounting Policy and Internal Control9 Legal9 Environmental 11 Investor Recommendations12 Bibliography13 THE COMPANY AND ITS POSITION IN THE MARKET Competitive Landscape Markets where WestJet competes: †¢Airlines †¢Consumer Services †¢Travel Agencies Services †¢Transportation Services †¢Air Cargo Services Direct competitors †¢Air Canada †¢Air Transat †¢Porter Air Central Mountain Air Key Financial Data 201020092008 Profit margin5. 24%9. 23%11. 48% Return on Equity8. 59%15. 16%27. 21% Debt/Total Assets0. 580. 600. 67 Book value$ 10. 54$ 10. 01$ 8. 28 About WestJet WestJet is a Canadian low-cost airline, publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange – (TSX: WJA). Founded in 1996 , it currently is the second largest carrier in Canada, next to Air Canada. WestJet operates in 70 cities across North America, Mexico and the Caribbean and employs over 8000 employees and is non-unionized. The WestJet head office and main hub is located in Calgary, the other main hub being Toronto Pearson Airport. We will write a custom essay sample on Westjet Case Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The airline operates an average of 420 flights and carries 40000 passengers per day. WestJets fleet consists exclusively of Boeing 737s, following the single operating type model pioneered by Southwest Airlines. In 2010 the carrier’s fleet consisted of 91 aircraft. WestJet has maintained a constant focus on customer service, providing low fares, and always-on-time service, allowing them to take a leading position in the Canadian airline industry. Market Share Domestic FIGURE 1 SOURCE: DATA FROM BRENT JANG, WESTJET CLOSING THE GAP WITH AIR CANADA, THE GLOBE AND MAIL REPORT ON BUSINESS, FEBRUARY 18,2010, HTTP://WWW. THEGLOBEANDMAIL. COM/REPORT-ON-BUSINESS/WESTJET-CLOSING-GAP-WITH-AIR-CANADA/ARTICLE1472230/ WestJet’s 2009 domestic market share is 38% which they plan to increase to 45% by 2014. Their current strategy is to increase market share each year steadily by 1%-2%, to which they have been very successful – from 2000 to 2010 WestJet’s market share grew from 7% to 38%. International FIGURE 2 SOURCE: DATA FROM BRENT JANG, WESTJET CLOSING THE GAP WITH AIR CANADA, THE GLOBE AND MAIL REPORT ON BUSINESS, HTTP://WWW. THEGLOBEANDMAIL. COM/REPORT-ON-BUSINESS/WESTJET-CLOSING-GAP-WITH-AIR-CANADA/ARTICLE1472230/ As of December 2010, WestJet had a 15% market share in the Mexico/ Caribbean market and 13% in the trans-border market. International cont’d FIGURE 3 SOURCE: DATA FROM BRENT JANG, WESTJET CLOSING THE GAP WITH AIR CANADA, THE GLOBE AND MAIL REPORT ON BUSINESS, HTTP://WWW. THEGLOBEANDMAIL. COM/REPORT-ON-BUSINESS/WESTJET-CLOSING-GAP-WITH-AIR-CANADA/ARTICLE1472230/ ? Market Position and SWOT Analysis WestJet has positioned itself as no frills airline company offering which offers lower rates and better service than its competitors. When WestJet started operations their plan was to target families who travelled by car. Once WestJet had established its target market, it worked on enhancing customer service to these customers without increasing fares. WestJet markets itself as being different than its competitors. Using its unique slogans such as â€Å"Owners Care† and â€Å"I Care-Antee it†, Westjet enhances the positive image of its corporate culture. WestJet actively markets its staff as â€Å"WestJetters†, with 84% of the WestJet’s eligible employees owning shares in the company . WestJet has also been the awarded the title â€Å"Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Culture† by Waterstone Human Capital for four years . WestJet Vacations, started in 2004, is now a leader in the vacation package industry. It is #1 hotel room provider in Las Vegas, and is continuously growing in the US, Mexico and Caribbean marketplace. [SOURCE ] Recently, Westjet has been expanding the reach of their market by entering into strategic code-sharing agreements with international carriers, such as Cathay Pacific , and American Airlines ? StrengthsWeaknesses †¢Current strategic plan built on four pillars oPeople and Culture oGuest Experience oRevenue and Growth oCosts †¢Canadian based airline, support of Canadians †¢Newer, more comfortable airplanes Numerous code-sharing partnerships †¢Vertical integration with WestJet Vacations†¢Aggressive expansion in extremely competitive international market †¢Canadian based airline may find it hard to find strong support from US and International customers †¢Limited number of markets, many markets are seasonal †¢Customers loyalty may be limited to fares and seat sales OpportunitiesThreats †¢Continual expansion in local market share †¢Continual expansion of code-sharing agreements †¢Expansion of WestJet Vacations to preferred vacation destinations †¢Code-sharing opportunities with Asian carriers and other International carriers New entrants with a similar business model †¢Volatile fuel costs and changes in interest and exchange rates †¢Weather conditions †¢Acts of terrorism †¢Changes in airline legislation and labor laws TABLE 2 SOURCE: ? WestJet Key Financial Ratios 5-year Financial Ratios 2010 2009 200820072006 Profit Margin 5%9%11%14%9% Return on equity 9%15%27%4. 85%4. 89% Debt/Total Assets 0. 580. 600. 670. 200. 17 Interest coverage 3. 272. 023. 353. 152. 34 Price earnings ratio 15. 1916. 749. 44 8. 0515. 49 Book value $10. 55$10. 01$8. 28$3. 42$2. 79 Price to book ratio 1. 351. 241. 583. 514. 89 Table source: Westjet Annual Financial Reports WestJet shows strong overall strength in their financial performance. â€Å"WestJet announced the initiation of a quarterly dividend program in November 2010. The first payment of $0. 05 per common voting share and variable voting share is payable on January 21, 2011 to shareholders on record on December 15, 2010. † WestJet Traffic Statistics YearLoad FactorASM (billions)RPM (billions) 201079. 90%19. 53515. 613 200978. 70%17. 58813. 835 200880. 10%17. 1413. 731 ? Accounting, Finance, Legal and Environmental Issues Shareholders and Company Ownership WestJet shares are comprised of 75% common shares and 25% variable shares. Under the provisions of the Canada Transportation Act, WestJet must be controlled by Canadians. To ensure this the common shares must be owned by Canadians. The variable shares may be owned by non-Canadians. The Company was founded in 1996 by Clive Beddoe and a team of fellow entrepreneurs. In July 1999 the airline went public offering 1. 5million shares @ $10 starting notice. Clive continues to lead WestJet as founding Shareholder and chairman of the board of directors. The President and CEO is Gregg Saretsky, recently taking over the role from Sean Durfy who stepped down for personal reasons in 2009. Gregg was appointed as CEO in April 2010 and had previously been VP of WestJet vacations with over 30 years of aviation experience. The other members of the executive are: †¢Vito Clone, Executive VP, Finance, CFO †¢Bob Cummings, Executive VP, Marketing and Sales †¢Hugh Dunleavy, Executive VP, Strategy and Planning †¢Ferio Pugiese, Executive VP, People and Culture WestJet prides itself in being over 80% employee owned and offers several employee profit sharing and share plans. The risk of this type of ownership position is that should company profits fall, the employees may pursue union representation. Part of the uniqueness of the company is that it is non-union and this move away from the employees as owner could impact the company significantly. Accounting Policy and Internal Control During the latter half of 2010, WestJet implemented a new Human Resource Information System (HRIS). This new platform software combines the majority of human resource and payroll into two new components in their current ERP software. In October of 2009, WestJet also took on a major upgrade to their outdated reservation system, to a new system called SabreSonic. Almost immediately, WestJet encountered major problems. This in turn resulted in increasingly high call center volumes, upset customers, and a significant amount of resources to resolve this issue. WestJet had to also push back several important planned frequent flyer programs and code-sharing plans. â€Å"On February 13, 2008, the Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) confirmed that the changeover to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) from Canadian GAAP will be required for publicly accountable enterprises from interim and annual financial statements, effective for fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2011† Legal There have been two lawsuits of note against WestJet in the last decade . The litigants were competitors Air Canada and Jetsgo. The more famous of the two is a corporate espionage lawsuit that was filed against WestJet back in April of 2004. WestJet was accused of hacking into Air Canada`s employee website to retrieve confidential information. The result of this $200 million law suit was WestJet settled and agreed pay a $5. 5 million settlement and donated $10 million to children`s charities in both of the airlines names. WestJet also announced a public apology to Air Canada and accepted all wrong doing. ? Environmental Since 2001, WestJet has spent over $2 billion in upgrading their fleet to the more fuel efficient Next-Generation Boeing 737-series aircrafts. The airline was the first to adopt Required Navigation Performance (RNP) to land their aircraft. RNP shortens airtime and reduces fuel burn and emissions. They have constructed a new Calgary Campus which was designed in accordance with the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Green Building System. Though the airline industry in as a whole has promised to reduce carbon emissions over the next 20 years, the Aviation Environment Summit (A) found that aviation emissions have accounted for 2 percent of the overall global fossil fuel CO2 emissions in 2005, this number has also been predicted to increase to 3 percent by 2050. The aviation industry faces a larger more propionate problem, as each commercial aircraft fly’s in the upper atmosphere their water vapour contrails from their engines could produce climate variance at a rate that is disproportionate to the overall greenhouse-gas contribution. To simplify this theory, water vapour contrails can increase cirrus-cloud coverage on days that are clear by as much as 30%. Investor Recommendations Our review of WestJet is a company that has no doubt survived one of the largest recessions in our lifetime, rising fuel prices, and corporate espionage case with its largest competitor. Yet, in its resiliency, under new leadership from Gregg Saretsky, the company foreseeable future is that of success. A simple business model based on strong corporate culture, exceptional guest service, and keeping costs low while offering high value . We see promise in WestJet’s management direction to increase airline partnership and to expand their global reach. It is also important that we recognize, WestJet management acknowledging and taking full responsibility for their reservation system blunder in 2009. We trust that senior management will provide full transparency to its guests, employees, and shareholders for any future milestones or changes. With an industry that has significant external controlling factors, we see a major success and accomplishment in WestJet’s 15 years of operation with producing 55 out of 7 profitable quarters. More importantly, we would like to highlight the company’s Return on Equity which is 9% compared to its closest competitor Air Canada at 9%. It is also very impressive with the amount of capital expenditures and operating expenses that WestJet is able to keep a profit margin of 5% compared to Air Canada’s 1%. Value for WestJet is justified by assessing the companyâ €™s strong corporate culture, high brand equity, simple low cost business model, and proven success. It is our recommendation that WestJet be considered a strong candidate for investment. Bibliography Jang Brent, WestJet Closing the Gap with Air Canada, The Globe and Mail report on business, February,18,2010, http://www. theglobeandmail. com/report-on-business/westjet-closing-gap-with-air-canada/article1472230/ Kjelgaard Chris, â€Å"Flying Friendly: Aviation’s Environmental Challenge,† SPACE. com, August 23,2007,http://www. space. com/4160-flying-friendly-aviation-environmental-challenge. html Waterstone Human Capital, †About Canada’s 10† Waterstone HC Website, http://www. waterstonehc. com/cmac/about-canadas-10/10-most-admired-corporate-cultures-2005-2010 WestJet Airlines Ltd. , †Investor Media-Backgrounder,† WestJet Airlines Company Website, http://www. westjet. com/pdf/investorMedia/westjetBackgrounder. pdf Source:[WestJet Competition-Industries where WestJet Airlines Ltd. Competes],via Hoover,Inc. http://www. hoovers. com/company/WestJet_Airlines_Ltd/rffxrci-1-1njea3. html WestJet Airlines Ltd. , †Investor Fact Sheet,† WestJet Airlines Company Website, http://www. westjet. com/pdf/investorMedia/investorFactSheet. pdf WestJet Airlines Ltd. , †Media and Investors Relations-Stock Information†,