Gambling Essay Essay Example for Free

Gambling Essay Essay The difference between gambling and buying stocks of companies is that you are betting on the future of the company and you have records you can research. If something terrible happens to the country, like a natural disaster, stocks will go down. If the country does well, the stock market will most likely go up. The key to doing well in the stock market is to research the companies you are trying to buy stock in. If you just pick a couple random companies to invest your well-earned money in, it would be more like gambling. It is possible to lose a large sum of money buying stocks if a company that was once flourishing has something bad happen. For example, those who owned stock in BP were probably doing all right until they had a vessel drop hundreds of thousands of oil into the gulf. Gambling in a casino, on the other hand is completely different. The house always a edge, and even though the edge is slim it still makes it so that the house will always win in the long run. If you are gambling in Vegas you better be using money you are willing to lose. In conclusion, if you do your homework and research and choose your stock right, more likely than not you will be making money. One thing is for sure I would feel safer tying my money up in the stock market than at the blackjack table.

The Marketing Mix And The Success Of Innocent Marketing Essay

The Marketing Mix And The Success Of Innocent Marketing Essay The marketing mix has been the core of marketing theory and practice since the 1960s (Lehtinen, 2011). The marketing mix represents the controllable elements of marketing which collectively form the ground of an organization in the perception of customers(Judd, 2003). In the 1960s, McCarthy diminished Bordens twelve controllable marketing elements to a four-element framework: product, price, place and promotion(Constantnides, 2006). Since the marketing mix and 4Ps entered the marketing textbooks, they have been treated as the unchallenged basic model of marketing and been universally accepted(Lehtinen, 2011). With the development of marketing management and the business environment, great changes have taken place in mainstream marketing(Grà ¶nroos, 1994). Are the marketing mix and its 4Ps still in power? Does the marketing mix contribute to the success of an organization and how does it perform in the long-term development of the organization? The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the marketing mix contributes to the organization by taking innocent as an example, and to identify the limitations of the marketing mix as a marketing management tool in the long-term development of a company. The debate over the marketing mix as a marketing management tool has been primarily argued theoretically rather than on an empirical level (Constantnides, 2006). While the marketing mix still has its stage, for long-term success, relationship management is the key to stable development in the dynamic business environment(Wahab and Ali, 2010). When involved with modern business trends, customer-oriented economics needs a relationship-oriented approach to marketing(Grà ¶nroos, 1994). The marketing mix and the success of innocent Innocent was set up by three young Cambridge students in 1998 as the UKs only range of natural smoothies(Brown and Grayson, 2008, p.3). In just four years, the turnover rose from  £0 to  £10.6 million(Anonymous, 2004, p.6). Sales boosted to  £80 million in 2006 and roared over  £100 million in 2007(Brown and Grayson, 2008, p.3). The rapid increase in profit made innocent a huge success within the first five years (1999-2003). In the next five years (2004-2008), the expansion was a huge success in the middle of Europe(Innocentdrinks, 2012). How does the marketing mix contribute to the development of the organization in the following four aspects: product, price, place and promotion? Products Keeping introducing new products successfully or services into the market is important to the long-term growth of a company (Tzokas et al., 2004). The first pallet of smoothies (250ml), labeled innocent, was introduced to the public in 1999, when the market for pre-packaged smoothies was still new(Brown and Grayson, 2008, p.5). In the first stage, little effort was made in introducing new products, but the company has constantly launched new flavors and formats to enhance brand awareness(Anonymous, 2004). In the year 2003, the company launched four new recipes for the existing ranges, a range of two super smoothies and three more flavors of a brand new range called Juicy Waters(Anonymous, 2004, p.7). New categories of products were introduced to the market in the second stage, especially the veg pots in 2008 and fruit tubs in 2009(Innocentdrinks, 2012). From 1999 to 2003, innocent focused on extending its existing smoothie product range rather than develop completely new categories s uch as cream or yogurt. Innocents sales benefited from new product development(Baxter, 2010). To some extent, profits can be increased by filling the existed product line(Kotler et al., 2005). Price The 250ml bottle of smoothies was priced  £1.89 when first introduced to the market(Brown and Grayson, 2008, p.4). Their main competitor PJs, UKs biggest smoothies company then, was doing well in the high priced product section and growing very rapidly (Brown and Grayson, 2008). Innocent focusd on being an ethical company, producing green products(Salisbury, 2011), which contributes to its financial performance because potential consumers are willing to pay more for an ethical product, especially manufactured by a company with strong sense of sustainability and social conscience(Anonymous, 2004). On one hand, a company can charge its customers for the value-added factor in the prices (Lancioni, 2005). On the other hand, consumers may consider high price as a guarantee of quality (Huang and Sarigà ¶llà ¼, 2012). Sharma and Lyer(2012) demonstrated that there exists of a segment of consumers who would pay a premium for an ethical product. Place Distribution network plays an important role between the marketing and supply chain interface(Chan et al., 2012). The industry pays more attention to coordination between retailers and suppliers, and a demand chain is preferred to a supply chain(Burt and Sparks, 2003). Research into distribution costs led to the decision that the sales effort should focus on London-based independents channels for the introduction stage, with a movement to multiples later(Brown and Grayson, 2008, p.4). The comparatively higher price of innocent tallied with the high living expense in London, and the place in marketing interacted with the brand image(Dhamija et al., 2011). The distribution infrustration, including the selling network and transportation system, has a close connection with the economic performance(Wilkie and Moore, 1999). Innocents London center set a good starting point for further economic development, as well as for its global expansion. Besides, due to the short shelf life feature, i nnocent innovated new ways of distribution to overcome this challenge: let the retailers dominant the order amount(Anonymous, 2004). Changing power relationships in the channels, from the organizations to the retailers, is a growing trend in the distribution perspective(Burt and Davies, 2010). By transferring the power to retailers, innocent reduced the wastage of products, which solved the thorny problem in fruit drinks and smoothies. Promotion Promotional activity is an essential tool for tempting British consumers to purchase fruit juice, juice drinks and smoothies(Price, 2012). Like many small businesses in their early stage, many of Innocents most successful promotional activities started as one-off, opportunistic events (Brown and Grayson, 2008). These included putting woolen hats on the bottle in winter, the famous campaign called The Big Knit. 2012 takes the tenth year turn for Innocent to run this promotion(Innocentdrinks, 2012). Unlike many brands, relying on traditional advertisements, such as TV commercials, posters, POP, innocent mainly focused on low-cost activities and event promotion to increase the brand awareness, the Fruitstock, its famous annual summer jazz festival held in London, replaced in 2007 with the Innocent Village Fete, is an example(Brown and Grayson, 2008, p.7). These promotion activities link to innocents brand equity: sustainable. The brand equity helped to define the brand value in the beginning stage, and then shaped the sustainability strategy the company adopted (Brown and Grayson, 2008). Besides, the consistency and coherence in brand image, product descriptions and promotion availability played a vital role in the whole process(Edelman, 2010). The limitations of the marketing mix in the long-term development of an organization From a marketing management point of view, the 4Ps may have been helpful at one time, at least for the packaged goods(Grà ¶nroos, 1994). However, the marketing mix and its 4Ps cannot satisfy a market-oriented or customer-oriented definition of marketing(Grà ¶nroos, 1989). Kotler (1992, cited in Lehtinen, 2011) stated that companies must move from a short-term transaction-oriented goal to a long-term relationship-building goal. For innocent, the marketing mix did have its advantage in the introductory marketing, but people-power and the relationship marketing approach also play an active role in its marketing strategy, especially for the development in the secondary stage and long-term success.(Gordon, 2012). People-power It is widely accepted that people is an essential element of the mix ingredients(Baker, 2008). People as the fifth p formalizes the idea that the power of customer-oriented employees does make a difference in the market (Judd, 1987). Staff can help the organization differentiate itself in significant ways in order to gain a competitive advantage and deliver value to customers(Judd, 2003). Innocent created the innocent view of marketing along with the learning and personal development for its employees, compensation packages and incentives were set up to encourage employees to become personally involved in sustainability(Brown and Grayson, 2008). The reflection of these behaviors became a way of advertisement and promotion, and the influence was closely linked to its brand equity. As Judd(2003, pp.8-9) stated, the ability of an organization to meet its external customers needs is a function of how clearly all the people are focused as they perform their respective jobs. Grà ¶nroos(1994) proposed that marketing is to establish, maintain, and enhance relationships with customers and other stakeholders at a profit, in order to achieve the common goal of the parties involved. Almost all the stakeholders are involved in people-power. Apart from the internal staff, media, retailers and distributors are all external people-power. Innocent was once ranked as the UKs best smoothie by BBC(Brown and Grayson, 2008, p.7). The companys blog and the monthly column in the Guardian served as advertisements. Innocents high rate of sale with a premium price also reflected its strong relationship with the distribution outlets. Since its creation, Innocent has invited its retailers to a birthday party every year to keep a close partnership(Anonymous, 2004). Such relationship building contributed to the boost in the quantity of distribution outlets by 265% in 2003, and secured major distribution partnerships with flagship retail brands such as Sainsburys, Starbucks and Boots(Anonymous, 2004, p.9). NGOs and charity organizations welcome the cooperation with Innocent; media advertise this brand even for free(Brown and Grayson, 2008, p.8). Cross-stakeholder integration incorporates the interests of all the stakeholders in the organizations way of communication(Mulhern, 2009). Good people-power management thus guarantees their success not only for the first two stages, but also for long-term operation due to the consistency. The integration of relationship marketing and the marketing mix While there are voices for a shift from the marketing mix to the relationship marketing(Gummesson,1995; Gronroos,1994), the co-exist of different marketing approaches are still acceptable(Lehtinen, 2011). The significance of the marketing mix would not fade out but might be reinforced through an interactive approach(Berry, 1983, cited in Lehtinen, 2011). Researchers have found that three basic types of relationship marketing (database, interaction and network) can co-exist with transaction marketing(Gould, 1998). For innocent, starting building relationship with customers and other stakeholders at beginning contributes to their continuous increase in sales and market expansion. Marketers pay heed to relationship marketing mainly because of customer retention, which values in the competitive environment(Doaei et al., 2011). For the long run, relationship marketing focuses on customer involvement and brand loyalty by setting up a long-lasting bond with the customers(Copulsky and Wolf, 1990). The combination of the marketing mix and relationship marketing should be efficient and effective in the current business environment (Lehtinen, 2011). According to Copulsky and Wolf(1990), relationship marketing integrates elements of advertising, sales promotion, public relationships, and direct marketing to create more effective and efficient ways of reaching consumers. The most basic definition for relationship marketing is to attract and keep customers in the long-term(Leahy, 2011). Organizations intended to encourage continuous repeat purchase through this long-term relationship(Fournier, 1998). Relationship marketing increases repeat purchase and enhance customer loyalty(Wahab and Ali, 2010). Innocent performs well in its corporate business achievement, which is the key benefit from the implementation of relationship marketing. Conclusion It is demonstrated in innocents case that the marketing mix still has its advantage in the early developing period of an organization. For a long-term sustainable success, the combination of the marketing mix and the relationship marketing result in better performance. Innocents consistence and persistence in maintaining relatively good relationship with customers and other stakeholders implies the shift from one-way delivery to interaction. The application of marketing strategies differs from one organization to another. Parallel combination of the best options or systematic utilization of these approaches according to the organizations developing stage, the characteristic of the products or service and the brand equity will make contribution to the long-term success of the organization. Further researches can be done in more specific areas. For example: how to choose the most suitable marketing approach for each company and discovery of new key elements in marketing activities and related measurement. Besides, innocent insists in ethical operation. With the increasing awareness of sustainability, more attention can be paid to the interplay of the ethical issues and the marketing strategies. Word Count: 1996

Hope From a King Essays -- Personal Narrative

Hope From a King â€Å"Darkness cannot drive out the darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.† This quote from a long and memorable list of Dr. Martin Luther King quotes offers some much needed solace, and hope in today’s troubled world. The darkness that Dr. King refers to can symbolize many things today and the hate he mentions is as strong today as it was four decades ago; only we are dealing with a different kind of hate. In today’s world, darkness is apparent every corner you turn, with the daily atrocities being committed in southern Sudan and the ongoing conflict in Iraq serving as prime examples. Over 30 countries are actively engaged in civil war, and there is the constant threat of another and more deadly terrorist attack anywhere in the world. When Dr. King said light can drive out darkness, he was referring to solving crisis in a diplomatic manner. Dr. King preached, and practiced nonviolence during the civil rights movement because he believed in the power of people to make a difference more than he did in the power of arm...

The Representation of Evil in Stevensons Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Essay

The Representation of Evil in Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde This essay will show how evil is represented in Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'. 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' is about evil and the duality of people's personalities. To show this I will focus on Stevenson's use of characterization, setting, historical, social and cultural context, settings, symbols and language. Robert Stevenson lived in the Victorian era, this was a very repressive and strict society where it was expected that middle class men would visit prostitutes. This was because people were not supposed to be like animals and have animal instincts such as lust. This meant that middle class men would only sleep with their wives so they could have children and carry on the bloodline. This society would have influenced Stevenson as he was a middle class man himself and he would have experienced his own stifled emotions and hidden instincts, such as lust and rage. Stevenson may also have taken inspiration for the character Mr. Hyde from the crimes of Jack the Ripper who was committing his violent crimes on women at that time. Stevenson may have also been influenced by Mary Shelly's 'Frankenstein', which also deals with the themes of dual personalities and evil. In the text Stevenson uses a lot of powerful imagery when describing Mr. Hyde. He uses words such as detestable and deformed. These words create a picture in the readers mind and give them a general feeling of horror, evil and mistrust. Through out the play Stevenson refers to Mr. Hyde as an animal "God bless me the man seems hardly human". This makes the reader picture Mr. Hyde as s... ...one is particularley important and relevant due to the advances of science, which have seen scientists able to clone human embryos. As we can see in 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and also in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein" people who play with nature and do not take responsibility for their work and creations ultimately end up creating evil things which they do not understand or know how to control. It could be said that Stevenson wrote the story as a warning to Victorian society about repression and science or maybe it was just an interesting mystery story, which happens to have like many fictions and stories to have become almost true. To conclude I think that evil is effectively portrayed in 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'. Stevenson does this by focusing mainly on the themes of duality and suppression of and in human nature.

From dependence to independence Essay

From dependence to independence – To what degree does Jo mature during the play and become less dependent on other people? Jo was a naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve young schoolgirl, dependent on her unreliable mother Helen, never knowing her father. She was trapped between school, her mother and grotty little bedsits, never really having an outside life. This kept her young, so she was often childish and had a fear of the dark. Jo was desperate to leave her mother and spread her wings. Her life is a roller coaster and the play shows her life with its ups and downs. From meeting the black sailor, to getting ready to give birth, we see her mature and become independent. In Act 1, Scene 1, we find out about Jo’s schooling and talents. When she arrives, she wants to find somewhere to plant her bulbs. As she says, â€Å"It’s nice to see a few flowers.† Helen also finds some drawings that Jo had done and gives her a rare compliment by saying, â€Å"I didn’t realise I had such a talented daughter.† Jo replies by saying, â€Å"I’m not just talented, I’m geniused.† Jo is also intent of leaving school – and Helen – at Christmas. She seems to think that she is mature enough to do so. She hates the flat and when Helen says, â€Å"This is the place,† Jo replies, â€Å"And I don’t like it.† She hates life and doesn’t realise how good it can be because she is always on the move. She also seems lonely. This is most likely because she is never in one place long enough to make any friends. Her mother gives her very little support so she must seek affection from other sources. She is sarcastic, but witty and is always answering Helen back. Although she seems to hate Helen, Jo is very dependent on her and – to a certain extent – Helen is dependent on Jo. She is always making Jo do things for her (getting drinks, cooking, etc). Jo and Helen are mother and daughter but someone who didn’t know them, might think that they were strangers that abhorred each other. The pair are constantly bickering and Jo even says, â€Å"I’m sick of you. You’ve made my life a misery.† Jo blames Helen for her misfortune and, in truth; most of it is Helen’s fault. There is no typical mother / daughter relationship between them. They mainly communicate through bickering and rasied voices. Jo is desperate to leave her mother as soon as she has the chance. The teenager is always criticising Helen and vice versa, although Jo does a lot more, for example, â€Å"You’re knocking it back worse than ever.† Jo never calls Helen ‘mother’. This is probably because Helen never acted like mother and cared for her daughter like a mother should. Even Helen says, â€Å"I know, I’m a cruel, wicked woman,† not using the word ‘mother’. Towards the end of the play, Helen comes back to live with Jo. The readers then think that she has decided to be a good mother before her child deserts her. Instead we see that Peter has thrown her out and Helen has become the dependant party, not Jo. There is total role reversal here as Jo has matured but Helen is immature – perhaps naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve – thinking that she can just move back in with Jo and return everything back to how it was. Peter is a brash car salesman with an eye patch. Helen moved again to get away from him but he tracked her down. He wants her to marry him but Helen declines the first time but agrees when he persists. Jo seems to hate him and even asks if he’s already married. She seems spiteful and full of hatred towards Peter. They are both fighting for Helen’s love. Jo asks Peter, â€Å"Do you fancy me?† and he responds, â€Å"Not yet.† He also has photographs of all his ex-girlfriends. Jo teases him quite a bit, asking about his eye and why he’s marrying Helen. Jo also has a fear of the dark, â€Å"I’m not frightened of the darkness outside. It’s the darkness inside I don’t like.† This could be that she is only scared of her future and not what’s happening to everyone else. Jo lives in a poor, sad life and her needs are not important to Helen and the terrible mother neglects Jo a lot, for example, leaving her alone for a weekend while she runs off with Peter. Helen also makes no attempt to help Jo when she’s pregnant. Because of the lack of motherly love, Jo is determined to become independent. She plans to move out, get a job and marry a black sailor. Her mother disapproves but that makes Jo even more single-minded. She is only sixteen so we see that she is pretty independent for her age. She is growing less dependant on Helen, which is a good thing. Readers may think that she is doing this because she has realised that Helen will never love her as much as her many boyfriends. Jo had a brief love affair with a black sailor. Readers never find out his name but Jo calls him Jimmie. It is a quick relationship as he has to leave but the relationship is quite odd. They both say that they love each other but are very relaxed with each other and Jo doesn’t seem to care that he doesn’t come back. Jimmie offers quite a lot of comfort. He is older than Jo and they could move in together if he wasn’t always on the move. He also asks Jo to marry him. She jumps at the opportunity, probably because it means she can leave Helen. As I said, Jo appears to love the sailor but doesn’t expect him to return and doesn’t panic when there’s no sign of him. This could be because her life is so bad anyway, that she becomes pessimistic and doesn’t expect her life to improve in any way. She has had her taste of honey and it has gone forever. Her ideas about him do change. Jo says, â€Å"Last Christmas I had him,† and she realises that she loves and misses him but only when the baby is due. It seems to her that it was all a dream and she can’t remember the reality. The trouble is, the dream left her pregnant with an unintended baby so it must be real. While Helen’s away, Jo meets Geoff, a gay, art student and the pair move in together, without Helen knowing. In today’s society, there is nothing wrong with this but homosexuals were frowned upon in the 1950’s. Geoff is an ideal best friend for Jo. She is no longer dependent on Helen but is instead dependent on Geoff, probably more than she was on her mother. Jo even says, supposedly to the baby, â€Å"Let’s see what big sisters making us.† Geoff is a friendly carer and is totally different from the sailor. Whereas the sailor wants a sexual relationship, Geoff is content with caring for Jo and making cakes. Geoff even asks Jo if they should get married and also asks her what she’d do if he started something. Jo replies, â€Å"In my condition, I’d probably faint.† He adores babies but Jo is less keen on them. Geoff seems to want, more than anything, to be the father of Jo’s child. To begin with, Jo treats Geoff with little respect, joking around and saying things that could hurt him. As their relationship progresses and they get to know each other better, Jo respects Geoff more and more. Jo eventually realises that the baby will need a father figure and decides to let Geoff stay, but they wouldn’t get married. Jo has mixed feelings about becoming a mother. She is intent on keeping the baby at first because she thinks it is cruel to have them aborted. She does, though, have some doubts. For example, she doesn’t want to breast feed her baby. Geoff brings her a doll to practice holds on. She says the colour’s wrong – the father being black – and explodes. She screams, â€Å"I’ll bash its brains out! I’ll kill it! I don’t want to be a mother,† which makes us think that she may have an abortion after all. Previously though, the baby kicked her and she was overwhelmed. All of these details then leave us wondering if she is ready for motherhood. It is more likely that she is ready to become a mother because she has matured a lot since the beginning of the play when she was dependant on Helen. As the play progresses, we see Jo turn from a naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve young girl to a mature woman. She is no longer dependant on anyone and, although she is probably destined to a life living in small flats and houses, the prospects are bright and, as she sings at the very end, a glimmer of hope shines through and we think she may have a happy life.

Popular, Fine, Folk: Making Do and Thinking Out of the Box Essay

Once upon a time, at the turn of the 20th century, Marcel Duchamp brought a urinal into the museum. As expected, it was banned from being shown in a major exhibition at that time. Today, the urinal is called a ‘found object,† a fine arts category that has become standard practice for contemporary artists, especially those who are working on media and techniques spawned by Duchamp’s rebellion: conceptual art, installations, and the readymade. One of the most famous latter day versions is that of Andy Warhol’s Campbell soup and Brillo boxes – those mass consumer items that found their way into the domain of the fine arts, and in their turn spawned another academic art historical category: Pop Art. Once upon a time, at the turn of the 19th century, the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh, who has not sold a single painting during his lifetime (with the possible exception of one work bought by his brother Theo), died a pauper. In the 1980s, his Sunflower fetched millions of dollars at an auction. Today, he is not only a bestseller; he is also considered one of the best artists of all times. Once upon a time, Madonna was just any other upstart, who with her limited vocal range was singing seemingly superficial songs like â€Å"Like a Virgin† and â€Å"Material Girl. † Today, she and her ‘bad girl’ image, as well as her numerous personas, is the subject of numerous academic papers on popular culture. This and examples from Charlie Parker, as well – Shakespeare, the Shaker furniture, the quilt, Amazing Grace, photography – tell us not only that values change through time, some for the better, others for the worse, depending on one’s point of view. The more important point is that, while terms like popular, fine and folk arts are valuable as terms of convenience, they are unreliable – perhaps even superfluous or unnecessary – as terms of judgment or standards, as in say, low and high art, good and bad art, truthful and false art, among many other boundaries. On one hand, these boundaries are important because they guard against extreme relativism, an intellectual indolence that results in people thinking that anything can be art, and that art is anything and everything that you can get away with. On the other hand, boundaries prevent us from looking at art forms more productively, or think out of the box. As Parker’s essay suggests, it is more productive to suspend our received judgments or templates – if only for a while – and analyze each art form on their own terms: as part of certain domains (popular, fine, folk and their combinations) with their own specific dynamics, gatekeepers, institutions, forms and contexts of production, reception, creativity and artistry and their own specific systems of producing and making meanings. These elements – domain (popular, fine, folk), field (gatekeepers and institutions), artistry (form, content, context) – clash and intersect with each other in an uneven world, characterized by unequal power relations. In this context, extreme relativism – that anything and everything can be art – is problematic. While it is true that anything – say, the urinal – can be art, its transformation required a movement from one domain to another: from the everyday to the museum, where it was lit and put on a pedestal, was signed and given a title (The Fountain) and in the process, became a candidate for appreciation, contemplation, and later, legitimation by the gatekeepers – the people (art historians, critics) and institutions (media, museums, schools) who had the power to rethink its meaning, and bestow on the urinal the term â€Å"art,† under the rubric â€Å"found object,† â€Å"readymade,† â€Å"conceptual art. Such legitimation was later confirmed by artistic, critical and curatorial practice: today, the Fountain, which started out as a rebellion against art and its definitions, is now ironically an academic, art historical and critical orthodoxy. Boundaries between domains are therefore simultaneously porous and self-contained. Everyday objects enter the fine arts, and vice versa. What used to be â€Å"folk† and popular, as in Shakespeare and Bob Dylan are now classics. When the urinal became The Fountain, it ceased to become a mundane object and entered the domain of the museum and the academe, subject to their terms and conditions. When elements of popular culture – the Brillo box, Campbell soup – crossed the boundaries, it became an art-historical category: Pop Art. And when Madonna crossed over from the Billboard charts to academe, her feminist radical potential was recognized, but at the same time, again quite ironically, tamed because her pop rebellion is now academic. Parker mapped the domains according to class – fine arts is a product of the elite, folk, of common folk and popular, of the masses. In real life of course, soap operas (popular) are viewed by different classes and sub-classes; jazz and hip hop, which started out in the ghettos were co-opted by American Top 40s; the Mona Lisa, the epitome of the Classic Masterpiece, found and continue to find its way into t-shirts and tabletops. Thus, instead of bemoaning that standards of excellence are being eroded, it may be more productive to chart these movements of objects and images, not only in terms of content, expression or truths that they contain, as question No. 3 leads us to suspect, but also in terms of how these truths are expressed (form), and the circumstances within which these truths are produced (context). Put another way, instead of persuading the â€Å"masses† that Hamlet is as entertaining as My Fair Lady, it would probably be better to find out why and how My Fair Lady ticks today and why and how Hamlet, which caught the imagination of royalties and subjects alike, clicked during the Elizabethan period and no longer does so today. I suspect this is not because standards of excellence have waned; it is just that each epoch, age, society and culture has its own way of defining, producing, valuing, consuming and receiving art. To be an intellectual therefore does not mean, being the kind of intellectual espoused by Arendt, one who imposes a top-down approach – imposing Hamlet on the masses, for instance. Instead, we need the kind of intellectual who will sit in front of the TV set, watch almost everything – from the seemingly most idiotic sitcoms to the most enlightening art film – and analyze and read the pictures, images and mediums, according to an oppositional and critical frame that works from and within, not from without and from the top. In other words, this is the kind of intellectual that challenges what is and sets out to suggest what is possible, not by imposing so-called alternatives (Hamlet instead of My Fair Lady), but by a process called bricolage – a process of thinking out of the box by making do with, pilfering, borrowing, and reconfiguring what is available, after a sensitive, critical and thorough analysis based on the parameters of form, content, context and domain, field and artist.

Fiscal and Monetary Policy- the Response of Global Economic Crisis Especially in Eu Essay

Fiscal and Monetary policy- The response of global economic crisis especially in EU Introduction Monetary and fiscal authorities across the globe have responded quickly and decisively to these extraordinary developments. In particular, against the background of rapidly receding inflationary pressures and risks, the Euro system has taken monetary policy and liquidity management measures that were unprecedented in nature, scope and timing. Since October last year they reduced the interest rate on the main refinancing operations. They also provided unlimited liquidity support to the banking system in the euro area to maintain the flow of credit. Governments in the euro area have reacted swiftly to stabilize the financial system and to counteract the adverse impact of the financial crisis on the real economy. Both monetary and fiscal authorities will need to remain credible and effective, and to fulfill their respective responsibilities. In so doing, they will lay solid foundations for future economic recovery and long-term economic growth and job creation. The crisis has shown how important it is to have an independent central bank firmly committed to the objective of price stability. At the same time, governments must make a strong and credible commitment to a path of fiscal consolidation and thus comply with the Stability and Growth Pact. But they must also resist the temptation to further increase the size of the stimulus measures, as this could erode trust in the sustainability of public finances and undermine the effectiveness of the measures already adopted. Global economic situation The financial markets, which was triggered by a systematic under-pricing of risk, particularly in the US sub-prime mortgage market, has now developed into a fully-fledged financial and economic crisis at global level. While the world economy continues to face a severe and synchronized downturn, recent international business confidence indicators suggest that the pace of the decline in economic activity is slowing down somewhat. Most forecasters expect that the global economy is likely to recover in 2010. The economic prospects remain fraught with uncertainty. Compared with a few months ago, overall risks to global economic growth have become more balanced. A stronger positive confidence effect than expected triggered by the monetary and fiscal policy measures could lead to a more sustained recovery in global demand and in global trade, and a quicker normalization of financial market and credit conditions. If global policy actions fail to strike an appropriate balance between economic stimulus and longer-term sustainability, financial market conditions could turn unfavorable again. Global inflation rates have continued to diminish rapidly. This is mainly due to lower commodity prices, weaker labour market conditions and greater global economic slack. Risks to global inflation seem to be broadly balanced in the short to medium term. Inflation risks depend on how efficiently the authorities withdraw the policy stimulus. Euro activity In global developments, economic activity in the euro area has also contracted sharply since the second half of 2008. The euro area economy has shrunk by about 4% over the past two quarters, the worst decline since the start of Economic and Monetary Union. For the current quarter, there is evidence that the economy has shrunk further, though at a slower pace. The economy is no longer in free fall; we are seeing the first signs of stabilization. Indicators of consumer confidence and business sentiment have continued to improve somewhat. We are also seeing some encouraging signs of normalization in financial markets. The euro area economy is likely to be very weak for the remainder of past year. The real GDP growth are broadly in line with the most recent forecasts from the IMF and the European Commission. Both institutions expect the euro area economy to contract by 4% or more in 2009, followed by a gradual recovery in 2010. The projected gradual recovery reflects the significant macroeconomic stimulus under way and the measures taken to make the financial system function normally both inside and outside the euro area. Euro price development Inflation in the euro area has declined rapidly since it reached its highest level, 4%, last summer. In May, The decline over this period is primarily  due to the marked fall in global commodity prices, and particularly oil prices. Inflation rates are likely to enter negative territory during the summer, but we expect them to turn positive by the end of 2009. This can largely be explained by base effects from energy prices. These effects are of no concern to the ECB, which aims to maintain price stability in the medium term. In other words, its monetary policy strategy aims to ensure that short-term volatility in inflation rates does not lead to volatility in long-term inflation expectations. It is reinforced by the anticipation that prices will decline further in the future. As a consequence, inflation expectations become disanchored and negative, and firms and households may decide to postpone investments and major purchases. Medium-term inflation expectations remain well anchored at levels consistent with price stability, low or negative inflation rates for a short period of time may help to sustain real income and may therefore stimulate spending. But even if inflation rates to turn positive again by the end of this year, the weak economic outlook for the euro area is expected to keep domestic price pressures contained for some time. Monetary and financing conditions Financing conditions in the euro area, external financing costs have been declining since October last year, and particularly sharply since the start of this year. Following policy interest rate cuts, bank lending rates have fallen significantly. This indicates that the pass-through mechanism from policy rates to the real economy has continued to function in recent months, even though there is evidence that banks’ margins have widened. With credit spreads across all rating classes decreasing from their record highs and with stock prices rising, the overall cost of financing for euro area non-financial corporation’s is diminishing. In general, the recent positive signs from financial markets point to a gradual improvement in confidence among investors. Monetary policy The ECB has acted in a timely, decisive and appropriate manner since the start of the financial market. When the escalating financial crisis led to a rapid decline of inflationary pressures. The interest rate on the main refinancing operations now stands at 1.0%, its lowest level since the launch  of the euro. This level is appropriate taking into account all information and analyses. Money market rates have fallen even further to record lows, and the loan interest rates charged by banks have declined. Substantive monetary policy easing is already being felt in the real economy. In addition to lowering the policy interest rate quickly and sharply, we have resorted to highly non-standard liquidity operations in order to provide the financial system with the liquidity that was so urgently needed. Last October, They adopted a ‘fixed-rate full allotment’ procedure in all their open market operations. This gives banks as much central bank liquidity as they want at our key policy interest rate, against an expanded list of eligible collateral. Coupled with the fact that essentially all financially sound euro area credit institutions can participate in the Euro system’s refinancing operations, these measures have significantly eased the banks’ balance sheet constraints, thereby avoiding a sudden stop in the supply of credit and the emergence of a systemic crisis. Policy measures Both monetary and fiscal policy-makers have reacted in a forceful and timely manner, aiming to restore confidence. And indeed, as regards the Euro system’s monetary policy and liquidity management measures. Confidence has returned to financial markets, and business surveys are picking up. Global and domestic demand to increasingly benefit from the significant economic stimulus and the measures taken so far to bring the financial system back to normal functioning. Fiscal policy measures Fiscal authorities in the euro area have demonstrated their willingness and capacity to act rapidly and in a coordinated manner in exceptional circumstances. It is important to distinguish between measures intended to support the banking sector and fiscal policy measures aimed at stimulating demand. Support for the banking sector Government support for the banking sector was necessary; it has safeguarded the stability of the financial system. The price of this success, however, is that governments have incurred substantial fiscal costs and credit risks that are ultimately borne by taxpayers. Following the adoption of a  concerted European action plan on 12 October 2008, euro area governments announced national measures to support the banking sector. These measures consist of government guarantees for interbank lending, recapitalization of financial institutions in difficulty, increase the coverage of retail deposit insurance and asset relief schemes. Overall, euro area governments committed about 23% of euro area GDP to financial sector support measures. For the euro area, the various support measures adopted so far are expected to have only a small direct impact on government deficits, whereas the impact on debt is expected to be about 3% of GDP. Finally, contingent liabilities related to the financial rescue measures are expected to be about 8% of GDP, excluding government guarantees on retail deposits. These figures, however, do not reflect the very different developments taking place across euro area countries. Rising long-term government bond yields may only have a gradual impact on government borrowing costs, as changes in interest rates only affect the cost of newly issued debt and debt at variable interest rates. However, they may signal both a reduced willingness on the part of investors to provide long-term funding as well as difficulty in accessing capital market funds. So far, most euro area countries have enjoyed relatively low interest rates on new government debt issuance, despite facing considerably more difficult market conditions. Looking ahead, as the economy recovers and competition for financing increases, governments may face higher bond yields again. Use of fiscal policy In addition to providing financial support to the banking sector, euro area governments reacted forcefully to counter the negative impact of the financial turmoil on the real economy. Besides the operation of automatic stabilizers, which provide a significant cushion to the euro area economy by way of lower tax revenues and higher spending on unemployment benefits, the discretionary use of fiscal policy helped to mitigate the effects of the global economic downturn. However, fiscal stimulus measures need to remain temporary and be combined with measures that ensure fiscal sustainability over the medium run. This will preserve trust in the sustainability of public finances and support both the recovery and long-term economic growth. While the recent coordinated fiscal loosening has been broadly accepted as a legitimate and necessary step in the short run, given the exceptional economic circumstances, it also entails a significant fiscal burden. The latest available economic point to dramatic developments in euro area public finances. In addition to a rapidly deteriorating general government deficit, which is expected to be above 6% of euro area GDP in 2010, the euro area debt ratio will increase by about 15 percentage points to above 80% of GDP by 2010. These figures are very high, though they compare favorably with other major economic regions that have also provided a substantial fiscal impulse to their economy. The budget deficit in both the United Kingdom and the United States is projected to be about 14% of GDP in 2010. Against this backdrop, euro area countries must reject calls for additional fiscal loosening. In the current environment, any further fiscal stimulus is likely to be counterproductive as it could hamper the economic recovery in two ways. First of all, even higher fiscal deficits could fuel market concerns about a country’s ability to meet its future debt obligations, thus putting upward pressure on interest rates. Second, increasing budget deficits would also raise concerns about a higher tax burden in the future, thus inducing consumers to save rather than spend any additional income. The financial sector support measures, combined with the Euro system’s enhanced credit support measures, were successful in safeguarding the stability of the financial system. Together, these initiatives have the potential to tackle the crisis of confidence at its root also by taking into account the fundamental role of the banking sector in the functioning of the economy. The restructuring of the banking sector is the top policy priority, and progress in this domain is the key to economic recovery. Given the challenges which lie ahead, banks should take appropriate measures to strengthen their capital base and, where necessary, take full advantage of government support and in particular recapitalization measures. Fiscal policy can contribute to macroeconomic stability also through discretionary actions. When assessing the merits of the different measures  taken, we should differentiate between measures such as (1) expenditure increases and (2) tax cuts, and (3) measures like guarantees and loan subsidies to specific sectors of the economy. Moreover, this type of support would be difficult to reverse and might act as a brake on long-term growth. Turning to the effectiveness of fiscal measures to stimulate demand (spending increases and tax cuts), it crucially depends on the behavior of economic agents, and that in turn also affects the size of the fiscal multipliers (the GDP effect of fiscal stimulus measures). The expectation that higher government spending today may lead to higher taxation in the future would induce both households and firms to save rather spend any additional income, thus reducing the size of the fiscal multiplier. Therefore, the public perception of overall fiscal sustainability plays an important role in the impact of the respective national fiscal stimuli. The effectiveness of fiscal stimulus measures also depends on the extent to which private investors respond positively to tax policy, with their investments likely to be more responsive in the case of ‘temporary’ tax breaks, as they provide an incentive to bring forward future investment plans. At the same time, there is a risk that fisc al stimulus measures may crowd out private investment by putting upward pressure on interest rates. Fiscal stimulus measures should be ‘timely, temporary and targeted’. ‘Timely’ means that the measures take effect when they are needed; any delays in assessing the cyclical situation, in taking decisions and implementing the measures may fail to prevent a drop in output. ‘Temporary’ implies that the fiscal impulse should only last as long as the recession in question. ‘Targeted’ relates to the expected size of the multiplier effect. In addition to these ‘TTT’ criteria, the measures should be consistent with other policy objectives such as fiscal sustainability, long-term economic growth and the functioning of the market mechanism. Implications of policy measures The current crisis has increased the role of the government in the economy. Some bank rescue operations have involved outright nationalizations, so governments now have significant exposure to the financial sector. Similarly, the large fiscal stimuli packages adopted by many countries have led to a large increase in the size of the public sector in the economy. At the same time, the turmoil is being interpreted by some as a crisis of the market economy. It has encouraged critics of the market economy to speak out and demand a much larger role in the economy for governments.The financial system clearly needs a fundamental overhaul. Financial institutions have to take a different approach and adopt appropriate incentives. We need to strengthen the regulation of the financial system, and in particular, we must improve the international cooperation between national supervisors of the financial sector. But the policy-makers must not get carried away by recent events; they should act in a measured way, and not throw the baby out with the bathwater. While governments have had no alternative but to support systemically relevant financial institutions, they should, as a rule, keep their assistance to specific sectors or firms to a minimum. And when they do intervene, they should prepare clear and credible exit strategies. No matter how serious the current crisis is, the market economy remains the best way to organize our economic affairs. An exit strategy is a comprehensive programmed to withdraw and neutralize measures taken during the financial crisis, without causing any harm to the economy. If they have no well-defined exit strategy, governments may get bogged down and the positive impact of the measures taken may be undermined. A well thought-out exit strategy is needed to reassure economic agents that a timely restoration of the level playing field in the different sectors of the economy is the ultimate objective. As such, an exit strategy needs to contain clear criteria about the timing of the withdrawal of the financial support and the reversal of the fiscal stimuli. Euro area governments did not lay out clear exit strategies when they announced the stimuli. Some of their measures do not expire automatically or are not explicitly designed to be temporary. The possible difficulties of reversing the fiscal stimulus packages may hinder the return to sound fiscal positions in the short run. Under these circumstances, the peer pressure mechanism, on which the EU fiscal framework is based, may be weakened thus  making more difficult a return to sound fiscal policies. As a matter of fact, countries with high fiscal deficits may be tempted not to put political pressure on their peers. Protracted excessive deficits may undermine the credibility of the EU fiscal framework, thus casting doubts on fiscal sustainability and jeopardizing the Stability and Growth Pact. The current crisis has taught us an important lesson about the importance of preserving the public’s trust in the soundness of public finances. At the current juncture, euro area governments must make credible commitments to return to sound fiscal policies. Doing so in full compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact is the most credible exit strategy. This requires, first, a full reversal of the fiscal stimulus measures taken so far. This is necessary to ensure an efficient allocation of resources by minimizing distortions in the incentives of economic agents and by avoiding a permanent increase in the size of the public sector. Second, governments must live up to their commitment to maintain fiscal discipline. This means that credible fiscal consolidation plans have to be implemented as early as possible, including a consolidation effort of at least 1% of GDP per annum where necessary. Understanding the monetary policy from the crisis The current crisis demonstrates, once again, how important it is for central banks to remain independent of political influence. Even if we are experiencing the worst economic downturn since the 1930s, long-term inflation expectations in the euro area remain solidly anchored in line with the ECB’s definition of price stability. Although central banks may be charged with additional tasks in the aftermath of the crisis, their primary objective must remain the maintenance of price stability. We cannot allow any conflicts of interest to arise. The high-level expert group headed by Jacques de Larosià ¨re, former Governor of the Bank of France and Managing Director of the IMF, has identified a number of weaknesses in the supervisory framework both inside and outside Europe that contributed to the build-up of the current crisis. The important role played by monetary analysis – and in particular the role of asset prices – when assessing the risks to price stability over the  medium term. Price stability is our primary objective, but this does not imply that we only focus on short to medium-term movements in inflation. Any build-up of financial imbalances which could pose risks to price stability in the longer term could be overlooked under a restrictive short-term approach. The ECB’s assessment of risks to price stability is well equipped to detect these types of risk as it is based on a comprehensive economic and monetary analysis – its well-known two-pillar strategy. The first pillar, the economic analysis, is common to most central banks. This analysis basically consists of identifying risks to price stability in the short to medium term by analyzing the interplay between aggregate supply and aggregate demand in the economy. The second pillar, the monetary analysis, plays a more prominent role at the ECB than at other central banks. The ECB pays special attention to monetary developments in recognition of the fact that monetary growth and inflation are closely related in the medium to long term. Analyzing developments in credit, and in particular loans to the private sector, is helpful in extracting the relevant signals from the monetary developments. This analysis also implies a regular monitoring of asset price developments and their implications. This analysis will become even more prominent in the future. Conclusion The fiscal and monetary authorities have responded forcefully and their efforts are slowly starting to bear fruit. The pace of the economic contraction appears to be slowing down, and confidence indicators have improved somewhat. The crisis has highlighted the importance of sound public finances. Governments need to consolidate during good economic times in order to have room for man oeuvre during not-so-good times. With respect to monetary policy, the crisis has demonstrated the importance of having an independent central bank credibly committed to price stability. The fiscal and monetary authorities have an important role in sustaining the economic recovery. Governments must devise and enact credible strategies to exit from the banking sector and to ensure that the discretionary policy measures adopted during the crisis will be reversed. Their full compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact is the best tool to solidly anchor market expectations. Most importantly, we will continue to deliver on what we are expected to deliver, which is to maintain price stability, and to provide an anchor of confidence in difficult times. The current crisis has shown how important it is for countries to consolidate during good economic times and to build a ‘fiscal reservoir’ from which they can draw in periods of ‘drought’. Many euro area countries failed to do so. They suddenly found themselves in this turbulent environment burdened by high fiscal deficits and debt ratios. As regards monetary policy, it is equally important to draw up a strategy for withdrawing in due course the extraordinary measures that have been implemented or announced. The ECB obviously cannot maintain the current degree of support indefinitely. We are providing substantial short-term support to the financial system and the real economy, and thereby ultimately maintaining price stability. In fact, we are prepared to take appropriate actions once the macroeconomic environment improves. We will ensure that the measures taken can be quickly unwound and the liquidity provided absorbed. This includes, for instance, unwinding the increase in the average maturity of our refinancing operations. Being prepared to exit from our non-standard measures – as soon as the macroeconomic conditions justify such a move – helps to maintain price stability over the medium term and to ensure a firm anchoring of longer-term inflation expectations. References Alan Auerbach and Yuriy Gorodnichenko, 2012a, â€Å"Measuring the Output Responses to Fiscal Policy,†American Economic Journal: Economic Policy,  Alan Auerbach and Yuriy Gorodnichenko, 2012b, â€Å"Fiscal Multipliers in Recession and Expansion,† NBER Chapters, in Fiscal Policy after the Financial Crisis, edited by Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi (University of Chicago Press). Rà ¼diger Bachmann and Eric Sims, 2012, Confidence and the transmission of government spending shocks,† Journal of Monetary Economics Blanchard, O. and R. 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Forthcoming, Journal of Monetary Economics. Daniel Shoag, 2012, â€Å"The Impact of Government Spending Shocks: Evidence on the Multiplier from State Pension Plan Returns,† Harvard Kennedy School. Antonio Spilimbergo, Steven Symansky, and Martin Schindler, â€Å"Fiscal Multipliers,† Staff Position NoteNo. 2009/11, International Monetary Fund. Perotti, R. (2002). â€Å"Estimating the effects of fiscal policy in OECD countries.† ECB Working Paper.