How Investing Became Cool Essay -- Internet Stock Market Essays

How Investing Became Cool Bankers and stockbrokers are not generally viewed as the most exciting people in the world. Traditionally, they have been viewed as those guys who are always reading the Wall Street Journal or talking on their cell phones when they're out in public; they wear the same white shirt, red tie combination every day of the week, and there's no noticeable distinction between work and the rest of their lives. Not exactly the kind of people you'd want to invite to liven up a Christmas party. And if you do invite them, they usually end up standing before a group of bored and confused laymen talking about hedge funds or IPOs. This was a common perception in the past, but within the last decade this image has changed considerably. The field of finance and investments has seen a considerable increase in popularity, and these same bankers and stockbrokers might even be considered cool now. The 1990s saw the climax of the longest bull market in recent history. As John Cassidy pointed out in an article for the New Yorker earlier this year, interest rates were low, unemployment was low, and thanks to the Internet bubble the Nasdaq was climbing at an unbelievable rate. To the average American, it started to become apparent that the stock market was a good place to turn to make a quick and easy profit, and the seemingly infinite growth made it seem like an almost risk-free investment. Soon everybody was talking about stocks like they were the newest and hottest fashion trend, and it was impossible not to notice. In a recent Money magazine article, Joseph Nocera says that in 1994, 34% of American households had some money in the market, up from just 10% in the 1950s, and this number climbed even further to mo... ...rk on Main Street. If you've understood everything I've said without too many visits to a financial dictionary, then you've proven my point. For the most part, the American public has been educated, and stock market lingo has made its way into everday speech. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before a diversified portfolio becomes as much a part of the American Dream as apple pie and white picket fences. Sources cited Ameritrade, Inc. 21 Oct. 2002; Cassidy, John. "Striking it Rich; The rise and fall of popular capitalism." The New Yorker. 14 Jan. 2002: 63; E*Trade Financial. 21 Oct. 2002; Internet Movie Database. 21 Oct. 2002; Nocera, Joseph. "Welcome to the Money Revolution." Money. Fall 2002: 34-38; Perkins, Edwin. Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Analysis on Materialism and Pink Flamingo Essay

â€Å"Materialism coarsens and petrifies everything, making everything vulgar, and every truth false.† These profound words spoken by Swiss philosopher Henri Amiel illustrate the wretched vulgarity and superficiality of the virus-like spread of materialism. In the essay entitled â€Å"The Pink Flamingo: A Natural History† by Jennifer Price, Price examines the popularity of the well-known pink flamingo and how it relates to the ideals and whims of American culture. Using American fascination of the plastic, pink flamingo as her medium, Jennifer Price shows her evident disdain for the superficial materialism present in American society. Jennifer Price introduces her analysis of the flamingo fad by presenting the rise of the pink flamingo in American culture and how society reacted upon the popularization of this cultural icon. Price effectively illustrates the American public’s reaction to the introduction of the plastic, pink flamingo by implementing specific diction that reinforces her own opinions of the â€Å"flamingo boom†. Similar to a mindless flock of birds following each other without much thought as to why, Price writes that â€Å"Since the 1930s, vacationing Americans had been flocking to Florida and returning home with flamingo souvenirs.† Price’s choice to describe Americans as â€Å"flocking† is meant to establish a comparison to a flock of mindless birds; in effect, the author characterizes Americans as bandwagon followers who lack any consideration for the examination of their culture and the conceptual purpose behind their symbolic icons. The author also presents how Americans have rendered the plastic, pink flamingo as symbolic of wealth and luxury. Price states that â€Å"In the 1910s and 1920s, Miami Beach’s first grand hotel, the Flamingo, had made the bird synonymous with wealth and pizzazz.† In the context of the essay, terms like â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"pizzazz† possess a shallow, superficial connotation that consequently translates into the flamingo as not only being a symbol of wealth and pizzazz but also a symbol of superficiality and vulgar ostentation. Price’s introductory paragraph is significant to the purpose of the essay because it illustrates the magnitude of the flamingo fascination and how Americans irrationally react to the flamingo’s popularity. In reiteration of Price’s stance, heavy criticism in the essay of the plastic  flamingo’s intrinsic boldness simply because it represents an exotic creature depicts Price’s severe disdain for the whims of American society. Price utilizes an ironic situation in conjunction with historical evidence when she attempts to establish a connection between real flamingos and plastic flamingos. Americans, Price points out, â€Å"had hunted flamingos to extinction in Florida in the late 1800s, for plumes and meat. But no matter. In the 1950s, the new interstates would draw working-class tourists down, too.† Price bluntly uses facts and historical research about American culture to express her disgust of the irony that the American nation has created for itself with regards to the plastic, pink flamingo. When Price writes â€Å"But no matter,† she reinforces the implication that it is as if American society regards the destruction of the flamingo as trivial b ecause capitalist society would benefit more from the production of plastic flamingos that could yield revenue. Thus, a nation that embraces the flamingo in all its beauty after having been so destructive of the natural population reveals the ironic carelessness and hypocrisy of American society. Furthermore, Price uses the image of the pink flamingo with its natural boldness to emphasize her point about the ignorance of Americans and their culture. The author states, â€Å"The bird acquired an extra fillip of boldness, too, from the direction of Las Vegas with†¦Flamingo Hotel. Anyone who has seen Las Vegas knows that a flamingo stands out in a desert even more strikingly than on a lawn.† The simple fact that a flamingo is a subtropical animal unfit to live in the desert gives Price the justification to illustrate how Americans took the flamingo fad to such extreme heights without giving one regard to the appropriateness of the flamingo in context. In doing so, Price once again conveys the total ignorance and lack of consideration that characterizes American society. The paragraph in which Price asserts her belief regarding the ironic situation American society has put itself in supports a belief that Americans have taken their obsession so far as to having destroyed a population of animals for the sake of wealth and luxury; thus, the pink flamingo, in the context of Price’s essay, is merely a symbol of the vulgar materialism Americans possess because of their ignorance and inconsideration for the appropriateness of destroying flamingos and â€Å"plasticizing† them. Jennifer Price provides further details regarding the plastic flamingo’s image which forces the reader to question if the plastic flamingo is even close to being a valid representation of its real-life counterpart. Price’s use of imagery in her essay and the interpretation that follows shows that she believes the plastic flamingo is obviously not even fit to represent the true flamingo. Price lists the colors, â€Å"tangerine, broiling magenta, livid pink, incarnadine, fuchsia demure, Congo ruby, methyl green,† in order to establish images that overwhelm the reader’s mind with bold colors. The extremely bold colors of the plastic flamingo such as â€Å"livid pink† and â€Å"broiling magenta† formulate the conclusion that the plastic flamingo could never be synonymous with the quiet, demure brilliancy of a real flamingo. Thus, once the reader has interpreted the color imagery and concluded that all of the colors are just â€Å"too much†, the reader can make the connection that society is also â€Å"too much† obsessed with putting on pretenses of wealth as opposed to focusing on issues that really matter such as the preservation of the real flamingo. Price also makes use of repetition in order to express the magnitude of the plastic flamingo’s color in society. Jennifer Price states, â€Å"Washing machines, cars, and kitchen counters proliferated in passion pink, sunset pink, and Bermuda pink.† By stating that the pink fad present in the plastic flamingo was also transferred into household appliances such as washing machines and kitchen counters, Price implies that the materialism and vulgarity of appearing wealthy spread into the home; the infiltration of materialism into the home meant that the desire for wealth and extravagance had also infiltrated the aspects of America n life. Price’s criticism of the flamingo’s color fascination supports the essay’s idea that Americans are only satisfied by boldness and extravagance as evident in the pink coloration of household appliances because pink was the color of the symbolic pink flamingo of wealth; Americans, thus, have difficulty equating modesty and demureness with any sort of wealth. The simple belief is that extravagance and flamboyance are the way to go if one wants to appear wealthy. Americans who desire wealth are therefore subject to the whims of materialism and superficiality. The author concludes by delivering an argument that criticizes American views and ideals, or the lack of, as being disrespectful and insulting towards the  significance of the flamingo itself. Jennifer Price uses cultural evidence from other nations to present the importance of the flamingo. She states, â€Å"People†¦have always singled out the flamingo as special. Early Christians associated it with the red phoenix. In ancient Egypt, it symbolized the sun god Ra. In Mexico and the Caribbean, it remains a major motif in art, dance, and literature.† The author uses these facts to justify that the reduction of the brilliant flamingo in American culture to a mere plastic souvenir attached to grass is a shameful comparison to other cultures that respect nature and revered the bird as a glorious symbol. Price then makes use of parallelism in order to strengthen her criticism of American culture. In the essay, Price states, â€Å"No wonder that the subtropical species stood out so loudly when Americans in temperate New England reproduced it, brightened it, and sent it wading across an inland sea of grass.† By using repeating sentence structures through parallelism, Price emphasizes that Americans have done so many things to the flamingo that the plastic version is so far removed from its original counterpart. Thus, Americans have lost sight of the intended genuine meaning behind embracing the flamingo in the first place. The significance of this section within the essay is important because it not only allows the author to go beyond criticism of the flamingo, but it also shows that, in the grand scheme of things, Price was more intent on exposing and criticizing the true validity of all American cultural values. Jennifer Price allegorized the fascination of the plastic flamingo in order to establish a sort of comparison between obsession with purchasing plastic flamingos that symbolize wealth and the materialism evident in American culture. Although the essay mostly depicts American society as insensitive and inconsiderate according to the author’s tone, the satirical nature of the essay provides a subtle, underlying, hopeful connotation that perhaps one day American society will learn to go beyond their materialistic greed and ascend to a different type of wealth. Bibliography: Jennifer Price’s essay â€Å"The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History†

Expressing Emotions Interjections and Exclamations

You will need quite a bit of experience in, and understanding of, a culture to speak Japanese naturally. If the proper expression does not come to mind instantly, it will sound like you are reading it. When you have a chance to hear the Japanese speaking, listen carefully to the way they speak as well as to their facial expressions. If you are interested in these exclamatory expressions, Japanese comic books (manga), which include many of them, might be good a resource to explore. Here are some of the widely used expressions. Remember that exclamations are used almost always in the  informal style. A, Aa Oh. A, nagareboshi da! Oh, thats a shooting star! Aree, Oya, Maa Oh my! Gee! Maa, kirei na nagame nee! Oh my, what a nice view!(Maa is used by women only.) E What? E, Shigoto yameta no. What, you quit your job? Masaka! No kidding! Masaka sonna koto ga aruhazu nai yo! That cant be! Hee! Really! Hee, sore wa yokatta ne! Wow, thats great! Naruhodo I see. Naruhodo, sou iu koto datta no ka. I see, thats the way it was. Yare yare Oh boy! Yare yare, nante koto da! Oh boy, what a disaster!

A Comprehensive And Insightful Psychosocial Analysis Of...

This book provides a comprehensive and insightful psychosocial analysis of human development across the lifespan. It encompasses a vast array of purported psychosocial developmental theories which are applicable to all practices within the helping professions and in general, corresponds primarily to the course of a human life. This book has 12 chapters where chapter contents include: the birth of a human being: what makes us who we are; a secure base: the importance of attachment; adolescence, identity and change; family systems and their life cycle; growing up with a disability and; themes in old age. Each chapter is supplemented with a brief summary and an activity section which allows readers an opportunity to become more engaged with chapter contents as well as facilitate critical thinking. The book concludes with a references and index section. Beckett and Taylor in chapters 3 through 5 and 8 covered the principles of attachment, cognitive development, behaviorism and the family systems theory respectively. Attachment theory â€Å"is based on the proposition that the way we relate to others throughout our lives is shaped by our first relationship with our primary carer, who traditionally and still usually is the mother† (p. 41). Key to the development of attachment theory is John Bowlby who is affectionately dubbed the â€Å"father† of attachment theory (p. 41). Bowlby’s theory asserts that external factors influence a child’s development; particularly the impact of separation

Unit Title 366-Understand and meet the nutritional...

Learner statement Level 3 Diploma Health and Social Care Learner Name: Queenbe Rose Losaria Unit Title: 366-Understand and meet the nutritional requirements of individuals with dementia. Learner statement Assessor Use Only- Assessment Criteria Met Learner to provide narrative under each statement of how they meet the criteria. You must provide answers to each question that allow your assessor to properly assess what work duties you are doing or what role you have within your work. It expected that you would need approximately 300 words per question. The more detail you provide the less likely your account will be sent back for more clarification. You must answer each question in your own words and written in the first person†¦show more content†¦She became unsteady on her feet, which made her use the wheelchair from time to time. I always tried to give her motivation and encouragement to drink and eat as well as other staff members. It also important for me and other staff members to maintain good nutrition to prevent ill health whilst at workplace. I made sure that I am physically fit, had ate and drink well before going to work because sometimes if carers are unwell and have not eat or drink the level of patience and passion to care for the service users were affected which could make them becoming more agitated and distressed. 1.3 Outline how other health and emotional conditions may affect the nutritional needs of an individual with dementia An example of how other health and emotional conditions could affect the nutritional needs of an individual with dementia is depression, as this could lead to a loss of appetite and also a lack of interest in food and drinks. For example, Mrs B has been depressed for quite sometime due to the death of her husband. She would prefer to be on her own most of the time. As a result of her lack of socialisation she became socially isolated. This affected her nutritional needs, as she didn’t feel like eating. It took a long time until she agreed to go to the dining room at meal times. Once dinner was served she would lose interest in eating and tended to return to the lounge without touching the meal. I consistently done my best to try and encourage herShow MoreRelatedMedicare Policy Analysis447966 Words   |  1792 Pages SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF DIVISIONS, TITLES, rmajette on DSK29S0YB1PROD with BILLS 4 5 AND SUBTITLES. (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 6 ‘‘Affordable Health Care for America Act’’. VerDate Nov 24 2008 12:56 Oct 30, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3962.IH H3962 2 1 2 (b) TABLE TITLES.—This OF DIVISIONS, TITLES, AND SUB- Act is divided into divisions, titles, and 3 subtitlesRead More_x000C_Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis355457 Words   |  1422 Pageswhich includes activities from the textbook plus additional bonus activities for each chapter. ââ€"   Media Enhanced WebAssign (ISBN 0-495-10963-0) Enhanced WebAssign is the most widely used homework system in higher education. Available for this title, Enhanced WebAssign allows you to assign, collect, grade, and record homework assignments via the web. This proven homework system has been enhanced to include links to the textbook sections, video examples, and problemspeciï ¬ c tutorials. Enhanced WebAssign

Benefits and challenges of labour migration Free Essays

Migration of people to other countries in search of employment has occurred all through history and it is by no means a new phenomenon. For many of migration workers, migration is a real lifeline, but all too often, they still face exploitation and abuse. Forced labour, low pay, bad working conditions, virtually no social protection, and denial of freedom of association and trade union rights, discrimination, xenophobia and social exclusion – these are just some of the woes that rob migrants of the benefits they could have gained from working abroad. We will write a custom essay sample on Benefits and challenges of labour migration or any similar topic only for you Order Now The countries in question can be classified according to their status as sending or receiving country in correspondence to their level of social and economic development. Workers move between them, cascading from poorer to richer countries. In each of the countries, they mainly take jobs in labour-intensive sectors with low skill requirements and low pay. These are most of all construction, agriculture, hotel and catering as well as domestic services. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Migrants defines a migrant worker as a â€Å"person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a state of which he or she is not a resident†. But there is considerable conceptual difficulty in defining a migrant. Migration of labourer takes different forms. In one end, the place of working and residence of the labourer may be different, and the distance covered by daily commuting. At the other end, the worker’s may move permanently from their places of birth or usual place of residence, maintaining little or no contact with their places of origin. Between these two ends, people move away for differing periods of time. Based on how long they are away from their place of origin, the migrants are distinguished as ‘permanent’, ‘semi-permanent’ and ‘temporary’. Labour migration belongs to temporary migration, which is likely to stay away from their places of origin for more than a few months in a year. The temporary migrants are also known as ‘short duration’ migrants, ‘seasonal’ migrants or ‘circulatory’ migrants. The decision to migrate for economic reasons can have both positive and negative consequences. Migrants may secure a better income, have access to better social services, and be able to provide a better education for their children or benefit from the enrichment of becoming a member of a transnational community at ease in different cultures. However, migration may also cause family disruption when family members have to stay behind, and may involve sacrificing a familiar lifestyle and becoming a â€Å"stranger† in a new country. The complexity of the present day migration stream has intensified with distinctions between migrant workers, trainees, tourists, refugees and displaced persons becoming increasingly blurred. The term â€Å"migrants† appears to be broader than the term ‘migrant workers’ and is increasingly used in international discussions of human rights. The traditional explanation of migration as a movement from poor to rich nations is too simplified. There are both economic and non-economic factors affecting these flows. International migration has contributed to growth and prosperity in both host and source countries. Migrant worker remittances represent the second largest international monetary trade flow, exceeded only by petroleum. Migrants also provide a valuable source of semi-skilled and unskilled labour to many industrialising countries and provide a source of highly skilled labour to advanced countries, thereby assisting the latter in maintaining economic competitiveness. Labour migration policies differ from other migration policies directed at migration flows that may also have an impact on labour markets, for example refugee and family reunification, in the sense that they do not have humanitarian objectives but apply economic criteria with a view to responding to labour market needs. Governments at all points on the migration spectrum increasingly recognize the potential of regulatory mechanisms to maximize the positive impact of labour migration. Many sending and receiving countries are developing their regulatory capacities to manage labour mobility by considering the interests of respective governments, societies, and the migrant. Positive tensions for receiving countries: raise total output and incomes in the rich, host countries; increase efficiency in the use of the world’s resources all around, in rich and poor countries; increase the supply of entrepreneurship and stimulate the creation of small business; increase savings, investment, and human capital formation in the rich countries; accelerate the pace of innovation; increase the flow of remittances to poor countries; alleviate the economic problems associated with the aging population in rich countries. Globalization is a major driving force of international labour migration. Globalization has made migration much easier through better communications, dissemination of information through mass media and improved transport. Countries are at different stages of demographic transition, with developing countries typically having younger populations than developed countries. One of the most frequently cited costs of migration is so-called ‘brain drain’ — the loss of educated workers with valuable skills, which can impose large losses on governments that bear the costs of education and training. Brain drain is potentially a concern for all economies, both developing and developed, with some developed economies experiencing significant rates of skilled emigration. The greatest global concern in the area of international labour migration is the unprecedented rise in irregular forms of migration that has occurred in recent years. The numbers of unauthorized migrant workers are increasing in virtually every part of the world. A large proportion of labour migration occurs illegally, aided and abetted by a clandestine and often criminal industry. Increasingly, governments of both sending and receiving countries are developing regulatory mechanisms to manage labour migration. These include selective recruitment policies by countries needing labour, and strong marketing and overseas employment strategies by countries supplying labour. Migrant workers benefit host countries in a number of ways. The overall economic impact of all migrant workers to the UK for example suggests that they make a positive net contribution of around  £2.5 billion to the public accounts. There are huge implications for sending countries as a result of out-migration, the most crucial of which are the loss of expertise and skills. This brain drain is particularly acute in developing countries, especially where the move abroad is permanent. Public services, such as health, education and social services, are losing large numbers of skilled workers to migration. Structural changes and decreasing investment in the public sector has increased the pressure on public sector workers to migrate, as shown by trends in the health and education sectors. Although many economic migrants work in relatively low-paid jobs they regularly send money home to their families and relatives. However, it is difficult to estimate the scale of these remittances to sending countries because of the often informal manner in which they are returned, but there is little doubt that they contribute to the national income of the countries involved, and act as a stimulus to longer-term economic growth. Migrant workers who return home bring experience and knowledge from working in another country. This benefits the home country as a whole by adding to its pool of talented workers, particularly where the skills are relevant to the needs of the home economy and the migrant workers are willing to use them upon return. It also benefits the individual worker who will have developed through contact with people possessing a range of human, intellectual and professional skills. Access to educational and language courses in the host country should open up opportunities for career promotion at home and assist the personal development of each worker. Bibliography International Organisation for Migration. 2005. World Migration 2005. Costs and Benefits of International Migration. Kothari, U. (2002). Migration and chronic poverty. Chronic Poverty Research Centre. Institute for Development Policy and Management. University of Manchester. Working Paper No. 16. Linard, Andre. (1998). Migration and globalization: The new slaves. Brussels: ICFTU, July. Stalker, Peter. (2000). Workers without frontiers: The impact of globalization on international migration. International Labour Office, Geneva. World Economic and Social Survey. (2004). International migration trends Chapter11. World Health Organisation. Health and Human Rights Publications Series. Issue No.4 (December 2003). International Migration, Health and Human Rights.    How to cite Benefits and challenges of labour migration, Essay examples

Thesis Statement For Death Of A Salesman Essay Example For Students

Thesis Statement For Death Of A Salesman Essay Death of a Salesman (1985)In Death of a Salesman (1985) one of the main characters is an old rundown salesman by the name of Willy(not Bill, and not William) Lowman. Willy spends his whole life working as an average traveling salesman. What keeps him motivated is the hopes of his sons living a better life than his own. As Willy gets older and sees that he has not accomplished much with his life, and that his son Happy hates him. When his son Happy comes to visit Willy goes into these flashbacks of his good times with his family and job. Willy eventually gets fed up with his life and tries to kill himself on a few occasions. He attempts this by driving his car into the bridge, and making a contraption to hook into his gas line so that he can breathe it in and hopefully become overwhelmed and die. Then his loving wife Linda finds out about the hose in the basement for the gas and she becomes disturbed. Throughout the movie Linda is shown mending her stockings, and Willy yells at her that she does not have to do that, and he will buy her new ones. Later on in the movie viewers learn that Willy has a mistress in another city. To give her thanks he gives her a pair of stockings. This is a big act of disloyalty. In the end peace is made, and it appears everything is going to be ok.