Arranged Marriages Essays (503 words) - Philosophy Of Love

Masterminded Marriages Masterminded Marriages My Stand: I accept that masterminded relationships are a social unfairness. I feel that they deny people of their freedom and conflicts with the main revision the right to speak freely of discourse, press, gathering and above all decision. Marriage is a responsibility of two individuals who have made a promise to cherish each other till death. Well in India, relationships are masterminded and set up by the guardians of the lady of the hour, without her assent. The guardians look for a man they feel is perfect for their little girl, in view of his experience, riches and wellbeing. Envision crying however nobody sees your tears. Envision you can't play music or watch T.V., simply envision your opportunity is taken from you, due to the customs that happen in your way of life. Envision that you need to spend an amazing remainder with an individual you don't adore. I stand up on this issue, based on this rule, as expressed in ?The World Philosophy/A book with perusing?, pg. 263. ?Custom, authority and partiality, every one of the three of these things are vague and one can see them contrarily as a wellspring of mistake or decidedly as the essential backup of all information and experience.? ?Custom is just a type of power.? ?No measure of liberation can liberate one from one's way of life and legacy. Convention, authority and preference are simply words for pre-experience and pre-information which turns out to be in reality the states of all the future encounters and information. These words underline the fundamental accuracy of man, the way that he is naturally introduced to and restricted inside a culture from which limits he can take off, however consistently in a constrained way.? The standard as I deciphered is passing on that, customs are a type of intensity that empowers individuals to rehearse these conventions through the course of the ir lives. Who makes these conventions and for what reason must we cling to them? No amount of freedom can at no cost save or convey a person from customs. It's a lifestyle for them and they must choose between limited options; in light of the fact that your way of life lives by certain custom, that doesn't make these demonstrations just. Custom, force and dogmatism features the imperative records of people conceived, contained by a general public where the voice is spoken, however never fully heard. All in all, and I Quote, ?True love can't be discovered where it doesn't exist, nor would it be able to be concealed where it really does.? This statement, which was gotten through examination, underpins my remain on this issue. Love isn't something that you simply fall into. You might need to cherish somebody however can't verbatim you might not have any desire to adore somebody yet do. Marriage is something extraordinary, hallowed and ought to be imparted to the individual you love and hold near your heart. It is significant that we recognize that social practices, do prompt mistreatment of ladies in this nation. It is a muddled predicament, yet the situation of ladies that are compelled to wed requests consideration. Reasoning Essays

Why did the Bolsheviks Win the Civil War?

For what reason did the Bolsheviks Win the Civil War? BRIEF OVERVIEW The Soviet Union was one of the world’s two super powers during the second 50% of the twentieth century. The possibility that nearly everybody has is that the Soviet state was established in the year 1917, which was the time of the Bolshevik upheaval; in all actuality the state has risen simply after the finish of the common war where the Bolsheviks were a definitive triumphant side. After the foundation of Lenin’s government in 1917, restriction individuals, particularly the individuals who had military situations under the Tsar system, began to show up. General Alexeyev, who was the majestic head of staff under the Tsar, began making an enemy of Bolshevik armed force following the unrest. Not long after that, other driving tsarist military authorities joined that gathering; those included Kornilov, Denikin, and numerous others. General Lavr Kornilov, who was the Supreme Commander of the Russian Army under the Tsar, made a multitude of volunteers that arrived at around 3,000 men in 1918, and that military was the center of what later turned into the White Army that battled against the Reds (the Bolsheviks). Regardless of whether the White Army figured out how to control certain locales, for constrained timeframes, for example, the Ukraine, the Kuban district, Omsk, and Gatchina, and despite the fact that it prevailing with regards to winning a few fights, for example, those at Simbirsk and Kazan, their definitive destiny was rout. The Red Army won and the Soviet state was at long last settled. WHY THE BOLSHEVIKS WON Numerous antiquarians and scientists contemplated the Russian common war, and the explanations behind the thrashing of the Whites they all conceded to were not generally indistinguishable. As indicated by Lee, the explanation of triumph laid in the successful treatment of the war by the Bolsheviks themselves [The Bolsheviks were] defeated toward the east by Socialist Revolutionary systems and encompassed by White military offensives. However this far reaching resistance and obviously helpless position both worked in the kindness of the Bolsheviks, making it feasible for them to make sure about possible triumph. What made this certain was the adequacy of their own discretion, association and military system (80) Some other scientist, nonetheless, battle that the Reds won the war not in view of their uncommon and astute treatment of the war, but since of reasons identified with the misusing of the war, and its different stages and stages, by the White armed force and its military boss. What must be expressed here is that while the Red armed force was a bound together military power under one Bolshevik (socialist) initiative, the White armed force was made out of various gatherings which had diverse political perspectives and, in particular, which didn't concede to what concerned the future they needed for the new Russian state. As clarified by Treadgold, the different segments of the White armed force didn't have a typical productive war methodology. The Whites had needed coordination, and were tormented by close to home contentions among their pioneers. They impugned Bolshevism, however asserted nothing. Denikin and Kolchak were moderates, who needed viable political or financial projects. Their motto: ‘A joined together and unified Russia’ estranged national minorities, and paved the way for Bolshevik schemes. White commanders made military botches, yet their political errors and disunity demonstrated conclusive. (Western New England College) The national minorities framed another factor that the Whites didn't prevail with regards to persuading. Truth be told, those minorities dreaded the Whites in view of their steady require an assembled Russia and felt compromised by them, and this was another positive component for the Reds. The previously mentioned perspective is introduced likewise by Phillips. He expresses that the principle goal of the different gatherings that framed the White powers was to stop the triumphs of the Bolshevik insurgency and to stop Lenin’s desire of making another Russian government and, at last, another face for the Russian state. Furthermore, despite the fact that all the divisions of the Whites concurred on that last objective, they didn't concede to for all intents and purposes whatever else. The Whites didn't prevail with regards to introducing an away from of what should come after the ideal destruction of the Bolsheviks. The Whites were an amalgam of various gatherings joined distinctly by their longing to dispose of the Bolsheviks. On what was to supplant the socialist system they were profoundly isolated. Some needed an arrival to the Tsarist system; others a popularity based republic. There was little in like manner between the Tsarist gatherings and communist gatherings like the Mensheviks. The points of the national minorities were increasingly constrained and regularly at chances with the White heads. The motto ‘Russia One and Indivisible’ did little to keep the minorities battling for the Whites. (Philips 42) Another factor that worked in the kindness of the Reds was the outside guide that the Whites were accepting. This allowed to the Bolsheviks to introduce their body of evidence against the resistance expressing that they were instruments in the hands of outer forces that needed to meddle later on for Russia both strategically and financially. Treadgold states that Associated mediation was of questionable worth: remote arms and supplies helped the Whites, however were deficient to safeguard triumph and let the Reds act like protectors of Mother Russia. Bolshevik promulgation depicted White officers (wrongly) as reactionary apparatuses of Western dominion, and (all the more effectively) as meaning to reestablish the landowners. (Western New England College) For what concerns the remote forces, it must be noticed that their relinquishment of the Whites when the Reds started winning a portion of the fights was critical in deciding the result of that contention. This was a tremendous downside for the White armed force that got itself alone and frail. Habeck affirms that the division of the gatherings that the White armed force was framed of was absolutely a significant component, yet it was not alone. The creator expresses that the Allied powers were continually offering help to the Whites, yet they halted it when the Whites required it the most. At the point when they were fruitful on the front line, the Allied forces (Britain, France, and the United States) gave basic military help, however as the Whites lost, the guide vanished, relegating the Whites to their destiny. The liquid idea of the common war additionally implied that the Whites never made changeless organizations. Matters were not helped by the officers’ hesitance to include themselves in political issues, leaving disarray and banditry to reign in quite a bit of their region. (Habeck 1665) This relinquishment of the Whites, as indicated by Philips, was the aftereffect of the Versailles bargain of 1919. The creator recommends that â€Å"the Allied pioneers may have had no preference for socialism yet neither did they want to carry on fighting.† It is additionally realized that â€Å"the Whites received cash and military hardware from the Allies despite the fact that insufficient to affect the course of the war† (43). The unadulterated military methodologies and truths were not by any means the only immediate motivation behind why the Bolsheviks won the war; another angle was the strategy wherein the Whites directed their different issues and their own way of life undertakings. Debasement was one of the variables; another was the all out reliance on vodka and cocaine among the White fighters. This even arrived at an increasingly genuine level when an authority of the White armed force expressed that his military was made out of individuals who were uninformed and bumbling (Anderson 22). The idea of the common war was, similarly as any war, barbarous and fierce, the White armed force was answerable for some violations: â€Å"White troops were permitted to carry out outrages during the war, for example, massacres against the Jews who lived in White-involved lands† (Habeck 1665) The remainder of the reasons that drove the Bolsheviks to triumph is absolutely monetary; they were in charge of the most significant modern and assembling plants in the nation, while the Whites essentially had far less and, as referenced prior, were reliant on remote guides and on outside assistance to keep their crusade alive. Laver sums up the reasons by expressing that the Reds had numerous points of interest, for example, the brought together administration of the socialists under Lenin, the aptitudes of Trotsky, and the control of mechanical focuses which were profoundly populated territories. The Whites, then again, were isolated, they came up short on a typical methodology, and they didn't have well known help. Also the inadequacy of the constrained outside help that they got (76-77). Works Cited Lee, Stephen J. Lenin and Revolutionary Russia. London, UK: Routledge, 2003. Treadgold, Donald W. Twentieth Century Russia. 1987. The Russian Civil War. Western New England College. 2000. 21 October 2006.â http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/russia/addresses/28civilwar.html>. Philips, Steve. Lenin and the Russian Revolution. London, UK: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 2000. Habeck, Mary R. â€Å"White Army.† Encyclopedia of Russian History. Ed. James Millar. New York, NY: Macmillan Reference-Thomson/Gale, 2004. Anderson, Peter. â€Å"Why did the Bolsheviks Win the Russian Civil War?† History Review 43 (2002): 22 27 Laver, John. The Modernisation of Russia 1856-1985. Oxford, UK: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 2002.

Plagiarism Definition and Effects

Literary theft Definition and Effects One meaning of literary theft as offered by one web article cites â€Å"plagiarize intends to take and go off either thoughts or expressions of another as one’s own. It is the utilization of another’s creation without crediting the source and the submitting of exacting theft.† (What Is Plagiarism?).Advertising We will compose a custom article test on Plagiarism Definition and Effects explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More Many people see the subject of unoriginality as essential ‘copying and pasting’, which veils the truth of such a genuine and prosecutable offense. Considering the idea of how such a demonstration is submitted, it has normal events; a huge sum being in schools, the music business and even the work environment. There has been a fast increment in the measure of unoriginality cases revealed in schools as of late, which is accepted to have multiplied contrasted with two years back. The issue of cheating has made a lion's share of schools begin using literary theft discovery programming to find understudies. (Williams). In spite of having such programming, some very well informed understudies despite everything figure out how to dodge discovery. The event of unoriginality in schools effectsly affects Education which may incorporate; loss of a degree or occupation and poor basic reasoning abilities. When counterfeited work is passed on as unique, the understudy stands an extraordinary chance to lose their degrees and notwithstanding that, they build up a poor capacity to participate in basic reasoning which is significant in being a person. (Corridor) Plagiarism in the working environment or expert counterfeiting is normal basically in enterprises like advertising or some other that includes drawing, composing, taking pictures or simply imaginative reasoning. A case of such an episode occurred at the Researcher’s work environment. The Researcher once clarified a technique for answer for her chi ef; her manager at that point transferred the data to her quick unrivaled and assumed acknowledgment for it. At the end of the day, this episode sufficiently characterizes the subject of literary theft. Literary theft in Music likely has the second most noteworthy number of events behind Education. There have been various reports of celeb artists who have been blamed for and arraigned for unoriginality in their music. Woman Gaga who is an extremely well known pop artist was as of late blamed for counterfeiting in her new hit single ‘Judas’ by artist/musician Rebecca Francesscatti. Francesscatti claims Gaga replicated partitions from her music and is presently looking for acknowledgment for her creation and an undisclosed sum in harms. (Lund) Whether purposeful or inadvertent, ‘Plagiarism’ is a prosecutable wrongdoing which happens frequently in changing situations. As the maxim goes â€Å"prevention is better than cure†, it is smarter to attempt to f orestall submitting such a demonstration than to manage the outcomes. There are various estimates one may take to forestall plagiarism.Advertising Looking for paper on instruction? How about we check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For people especially associated with training, it is basic that you realize how to summarize, statement and refer to sources appropriately. When you realize how to do that, you have altogether brought down your odds of such events. Notwithstanding that, there is a tremendous measure of programming that causes you to effectively refer to your sources and check for counterfeiting. Besides, the Researcher accepts that once an individual comprehends the idea of written falsification and how untrustworthy it is, they will invest more energy to create a unique paper. Corridor, Shane. â€Å"Effects of Plagiarism on Education† ehow.com. n.d. Web. Lund, Anthony. â€Å"Lady Gaga Faces Judas Plagiarism Claims†. Musicrooms. 2011. Web. What Is Plagiarism? Plagiarism.org. n.d. Web. Williams, Rachel. â€Å"Internet Plagiarism Rising in Schools†. guardian.co.uk. 2010. Web.

The Stomach And Digestive System - Free Essay Example

I have selected the Stomach as the digestive organ Ill be talking about with you today. Here Ill go through 4 sections describing the Stomach, also its features. The first section will be about how the organ works helping your body digest and/or absorb the food you eat. Next will be a statement on what jobs and roles this specific organ has. Then well discuss what enzymes or hormones are made and used by the organ and what happens there. Lastly why is the organs importance to the body.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For the stomach to effectively and efficiently digest, the Upper muscle in the stomach relaxes to let food in. Then a muscle below it vibrates and mixes food with digestive juices. After food enters the stomach for around twenty to fifteen minutes, the action of saliva continues. That would be the conversion of starchy foods to maltose. The gastric juice by that time will secrete in a adequate amount and will be mixed with the food. When food in the stomach starts looking acidic by a digestive fluid formed in the stomach and is made up of hydrochloric acid, potassium chloride and sodium chloride, the action of ptyalin( a form of amylase found in the saliva of humans and some other animals) stops, because it can act only upon alkaline medium. Then an action of the digestive enzymes( which break down molecules like fats, proteins and carbs into even smaller molecules that can be easily absorbed)are available in gastric juices and they become active on acidi c medium. This is how the organ works help your body digest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Stomach has a few jobs in the digestive system and some would be like to absorb all the body needs out of what was consumed as well as, terminating whats not needed, being, Secretes acid and enzymes that digest food. Ridges tissue which is apart of a muscle in the stomach is called Rugae which lines the stomach. The stomach contracts periodically, moving about vigorously for food to enhance digestion. The pyloric sphincter is a muscular valve that opens to allow food to flow from the stomach to the small intestine. Like a train station and youre the food, waiting for your Train. The role of this digestive organ works like a train station until the pyloric sphincter opens.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Enzymes and hormones produced by the stomach. The stomach can make Protease (e.g. Pepsin), gastrin, and Cholecystokinin. The protein digesting enzyme pepsin is triggered by vulnerability to hydrochloric acid within the stomach. Chief cells are also found in the gastric pits within the stomach, and produce two digestive enzymes named pepsinogen and gastric Lipase. Gastrin is a peptide hormone that supports development and increased activity in secretion of gastric acid by parietal cells in the stomach and aids in gastric motility. It is released by G cells in the pyloric antrum of the stomach, duodenum, and the pancreas. Cholecystokinin is a peptide hormone of the gastrointestinal system obligated to encourage the digestion of fat and protein. Also Cholecystokinin, is stimulated by the introduction of hydrochloric acid, amino acids, or fatty acids inside the stomach or duodenum. These are the enzymes and hormones used by this organ.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The stomach is important because it manufactures and releases several substances to control the digestion of food. Each of these substances is made by exocrine or endocrine cells found in the mucosa. The main exocrine product of the stomach is gastric juice mixed up of hydrochloric acid, Mucus and digestive enzymes. The stomach is a gate keeper of what can enter our bodies. As well as what can exit them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Without the stomach it would be Everything is in and out with no delay. Or itd be like the saying,   in one ear out the other but instead itd be   in your top hole. Out your bottom hole..

Social Influence - 4418 Words

Social influence occurs when ones emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others.[1] Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. In 1958, Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.[2] 1. Compliance is when people appear to agree with others, but actually keep their dissenting opinions private. 2. Identification is when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected, such as a famous celebrity. 3. Internalization is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately. Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard described two†¦show more content†¦It is the most common and pervasive form of social influence. Social Psychology research in conformity tends to distinguish between two varieties: informational conformity (also called social proof, or internalization in Kelmans terms ) and normative conformity (compliance in Kelmans terms).[4] There are naturally more than two or three variables in society influential on human psychology and conformity; the notion of varieties of conformity based upon social influence is ambiguous and undefinable in this context. In the case of peer pressure, a person is convinced to do something (such as illegal drugs) which they might not want to do, but which they perceive as necessary to keep a positive relationship with other people, such as their friends. Conformity from peer pressure generally results from identification within the group members, or from compliance of some members to appease others. [edit] Minority influence Main article: Minority influence Minority influence takes place when a majority is influenced to accept the beliefs of behaviors of a minority. Minority influence can be affected by the sizes of majority and minority groups, the level of consistency of the minority group and situational factors (such as the affluence or social importance of the minority).[5] Minority influence most often operates through informational social influence (as opposed to normative socialShow MoreRelatedPersonal Responsibility And Social Influence903 Words   |  4 Pages Personal Responsibility vs. Social Influence Personal responsibility is greatly affected by social influence in today’s society. AP by John Updike is a short story which exemplifies this belief. Social influence occurs when one s emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others. In this story, Sammy is a store clerk, tending to his personal responsibility of working and making money to support his household. This is later tarnished as a result of Sammy’s attempt to maintain an image, heRead MoreThe Positive Impact Of The Social Influence Of Sports1486 Words   |  6 Pagesgreat importance. It is good for health and fitness, it is great fun and pastime and is great for learning how to win and dealing with the loss. Many factors influence sports and activities and how and to what extent in which they are performed and the biggest influence is the social influence A positive impact from the societal influence of peers would be their ability to make you feel good, try harder and to participate in more things .At some point any athlete will doubt themselves usually knownRead MoreHow Social Influences Have On Participants1572 Words   |  7 PagesMaterials and Methods This study will focus on the impact social influences have on participants when asked to listen to songs played backwards containing subliminal messages and whether being told that a particular song contains secret messages will impact their responses. This study will take into consideration past studies conducted by researchers Thorne (1984) and Vokey (1985) whom support that the role of suggestion can influence peoples perceptions of secret messages in rock and roll recordingsRead MoreEnvironmental And Social Influences Of A Person s Environment941 Words   |  4 PagesEnvironmental and Social Influences Studies have shown the impact a person’s environment can have on their upbringing, their attitude, their personality, and how they adapt or handle tough situations. No truer words are apparent with adolescents and how their environments can lead to substance abuse. For many adolescents, risk factors, such as family problems and community violence frequently lead to substance abuse (McWhirter et al., 2013). Society is very good at encouraging people just to doRead More Social Influence Research - Do the Ends Justify the Means? Essay865 Words   |  4 PagesSocial Influence Research - Do the Ends Justify the Means? To what extent does the importance of social influence research, justify the methods used in its investigation? The debate about ethics in psychology focuses on two areas: protection of participants and benefiting society. This is a double obligation dilemma as if some psychologists are not allowed to do certain experiments because of ethical restraints; this can cause problems with validity. In social psychologyRead MoreSocial Psychology: Social Influence768 Words   |  3 PagesIntroduction Social influence is a major topic in social psychology and looks at how individual thoughts, actions, reactions and feelings are influenced by other people or social groups. â€Å"Social influence can be seen in our conformity, our obedience to authority, and our group behavior† (Psychology 579). Social influence may also be represented by peer pressure, persuasion, marketing and sales. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to determine how effective social influence is on a groupRead MoreSocial Influence Of Social Media2119 Words   |  9 Pages Section I: social influence Social media is affecting the studies; it is a big social influence on the study in these days. There are different thoughts about the influence of the social media on studies, but this is a fact that this has a big influence on studies and the ways of studies. It is being argued that the social media has changed traditional and face to face teaching methods and introducing the distance learning. It is great influence social media that it is changing the traditionalRead MoreSocial Influence On Social Psychology1870 Words   |  8 PagesSocial influence is a big matter in social psychology which is referred to the ways in which different people’s thoughts, actions and feelings are subjective by social groups. On a daily basis we are deluged by numerous efforts by others to influence us, and that’s why, the study of social influence has long been a dominant matter of analysis for social psychologists and researchers in many other social sciences (e.g. marketing and poli tical science). Social Psychologists focus on the situation.Read MoreSocial Influences on Behavior Essay1300 Words   |  6 PagesSocial Influences on Behavior Rhonda Hager PSY/300 June 25, 2012 Teresa Neal Social Influences on Behavior Introduction All humans’ behavior is affected by social influences to some extent. The level of influence will vary from person to person, depending on the several factors, such as self-esteem, their level of self-awareness, morals, and values (Velden, 2007). People do many things to ensure they are accepted by the people in their group and to keep from being ostracized by individualsRead MoreSocial Influences Of Social Influence830 Words   |  4 PagesSocial influence is an essential focus of study for researchers and social psychologists. Social influence pertains to different methods utilized by individuals to impact the feelings, behaviors and beliefs of others through interpersonal relationship (Fiske, 2008). Also, some key concepts in the analysis of social influence include conformity, compliance, and obedience. Compliance refers to a change in performance in response to an overt or an obscure demand made by a different individual. Hence

The Undeclared War With France - 1152 Words

The Undeclared War With France At the end of the 18th century, an undeclared war was going on between the United States and France because of the recent XYZ affair; triggering a positive reaction by Federalists like Fisher Ames to convince the authorities to make the war official. Not knowing what to do, President John Adams appointed former-President George Washington as commander of the army to hopefully resolve the issue with France through diplomacy (as was Washingtons stance). A close friend of Essex Junto, a group of influential Federalists, Fisher Ames stood out as an offensive speaker to positively press forward with the idea of declaration of war against France. After all, they had begun to cheat the United States from its†¦show more content†¦3 All the thinking had occurred before, whilst the fighting was waiting to happen. In the would-be Quasi-War, the United States would prove to have needed the declaration and full support from the very beginning, and this is w hat Ames had attempted to spread all along. To have such a former ally be so cruel and destructive upon the United States would be a mockery, when just after, France even copied the nations actions by starting a revolution of its own against its brutal monarch. Beforehand, France even tried to take its placement as an empire by making efforts to conquer the new and weak United States after its initial founding. They had helped them break away from Britain, but turned around and stabbed them in the back. Democrats were despised by the Federalists at this time, as they were portrayed as unstable and unsure of their place in the international scheme of things, as they made no actions or preparations to attempt a war declaration against France at this time. It was only by the perseverance of Ames and the Federalists that gained the attention of the public and the leaders of the United States that got the actual war started; had it not been for the democratic idea to cease development of the United States Navy when the opportunity arose, there may have been enough security to ensure a safe passageShow MoreRelatedThe War And The Spanish Civil War987 Words   |  4 PagesBoth conflicts show that civil war was not the limit of the atrocities people were willing to commit in order to stop the influence of opposing ideologies. In both the Cold War and the Spanish Civil War the most significant air operations were carried in order to stop the spread of Communism. One of the factors that prompted the U.S. into dropping the atomic bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima was to stop the war in Japan as soon as possible. Many of Truman’s advisers, such as James F. Byrnes supportedRead MoreThe Greatest President Of The United States920 Words   |  4 Pagespresident of the United States and is in charge of enforcing the laws. John Adams was not only a founding father of our government but was also the second president. Although he may not be the greatest president we have ev er had, Adams prevented a war with France. John Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts on October 30, 1735. He was the son of a farmer and shoemaker. Adams attended Harvard University and became a lawyer with his own practice. He began his political career when the Stamp Act wasRead More Early government Essay1529 Words   |  7 Pagesgovernment can ensure states participation in general good. Therefore representation is distributed more equally a single executive can govern better than multiple executives. They felt federal government provides common defense, raises revenue in time of war, and deals with other nations more effectively than a confederation. Federalists were respectable and embraced the cultured and propertied groups. They lived in settled areas along the seaboard, not in the raw backcountry. They were in outlook ratherRead MoreThe Founding Fathers Of The Constitution1552 Words   |  7 Pageslevel position, they should not have their bias or political view influence their decisions. In Alan Farber article (2) we talks about how the sedition act was for personal gain of one party. The nation during 17898, was in an undeclared war with France (2). The undeclared war caused many people to look at for their own self-interest. Judges should look at the broader context when deciding on laws. Broader context helps lessen the confusion on decisions and make the best decision for all future casesRead MoreEssay on John Adams: A Brief Biography780 Words   |  4 PagesJefferson was a demoract-republican, and it was hard for bills to pass because Adams would approve and Jefferson would not. This resulted in not many laws getting passed. In 1797, during the wake of the French revolution Adams sent of three diplomats to france to negotiate with French forgein minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand- Perigord. This was because French leaders decided to issue an order allowing for the seizure of American merchant ships. So Adams sent Elbridge Gerry, Charles Cotesworth PinckneyRead MoreA Friendship That Was At One Point Strong And Powerful Between Two Of Our Founding Fathers954 Words   |  4 Pagesand liking for one another. They both worked together on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. On 1784 Thomas Jefferson joined Adams in France on diplomatic service. They would work together and keep each other a great deal of company, their bond grew greater while serving as ambassadors to England and France. Jefferson wife had passed away and John and Abigail Adams were there for him to console him, Jefferson was to them as family. In spite of their close friendshipRead More The Road to World War II Essay742 Words   |  3 PagesThe road to World War II In the early days of the First World War, the United States was desperate to stay out of the European war and institute a neutrality policy. However, the two sides fought for U.S. support, often even at a danger to the U.S. The passive stand that America took in involvement in World War I only prolonged the inevitable and came at a price to the U.S. The American public didn’t want to be involved in World War I, and Wilson and the democrats knew it, although neutralityRead MoreWorld War II : A Global Conflict Between The Allied And Axis Powers935 Words   |  4 Pages World War II was a global conflict between the Allied and Axis powers which began to consume countries of the eastern hemisphere in 1939. At this point, Americans were isolationist. To keep the U.S. out of future wars, congress passed a Neutrality Act. On september 1, 1939, World war II broke loose. German tanks destroyed everything in its way. Congress passed the â€Å"cash-and-carry† provision allowing warring nations to buy U.S arms with paid cash and transported with their own ships. Six weeks afterRead MorePresident Woodrow Wilson Was Not Pro War1415 Words   |  6 Pages World War I was probably history’s worst catastrophe, and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was substantially responsible for the unintended consequences of the war. In 1916, President Wilson narrowly won re-election after campaigning on the slogan, He kept us out of war; unbeknownst to the country, Wilson’s slogan would not remain true. Although the U.S. played a significant militar y role only during the last six months of the war, Wilson’s great mistake of joining the war cost the UnitedRead More the last of the mohicans Essay718 Words   |  3 Pages The Last Of the Mohicans The film is set in 1757, the third year of war between England and France for the possession of the continent. The center of the story is the most notorious event of the French and Indian War; the so-called massacre of British troops, women and children by General Montcalms Indian allies after the British surrender of Fort William Henry to the French on 9th August 1757. The Struggle between the French and English for control of North America became apparent in the late

Horizontal Integration free essay sample

Competition G Information, communication and multimedia Medal Vertical and horizontal integration in the media sector and EX. competition law Miguel Mended Premier* The CIT and Media sectors within the E Ponca Framework U. L. B. -SIMI (Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunications) CEASE-Norwegian School of Management, Oslo Telethon Broadcast Brussels, 7 April 2003 OUTLINE Introduction l. Convergence and integration 1 . Technical convergence 2. Economic convergence 3. Efficiencies II. Competition Issues 1. The competitive arena 2.Foreclosure 3. The dominance test Ill. Vertical Integration 1. 2. 3. 4. The gate-keeper issue Foreclosure of input markets Leveraging Network effects IV. Horizontal integration 1. General assessment 2. The Newsroom/Tell; case 3. The MME/Tale Warner case V, Remedies 1. The balance between efficiencies and foreclosure 2. Remedies in the Newsworthiness; case 3. Remedies in the cases Veined/Seagram/Canal Plus, Pizzazz and AOL/Time Warner Conclusion * Administrator, European Commission/G Competition/MedIa unit. Lecturer at the Law school of the university of Lisbon.The pollens expressed are purely personal and only engage the author. Vertical and horizontal Integration In the media sector and EX. competition law M. Mended Premier Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish first of all to thank the SIMI Center and Telethon for inviting me to speak here today. I intend to give you a brief overview of the competition Issues raised by vertical and horizontal Integration of companies In the media sector. I will start by referring to the convergence trend in the media and telecommunications sectors and its link to the concentration wave we have witnessed during these past three years.I will then highlight the main competition issues which his type of operations raise from a theoretical point of view. I will subsequently address the issues linked specifically to vertical as well as to horizontal integration, and conclude by illustrating how the European Commission has dealt with these problems by means of remedies accepted as a condition for the approval of this type of concentrations. In so doing, I will refer to a number of cases recently assessed by the Commission such as Outlet Warner, MME/Tale Warner.Pizzazz, Veined/ Seagram/Canal Plus and, decided just last week, Newsroom/Teller;. L. CONVERGENCE main driving forces behind the recent changes occurred in the media and telecoms industries. However, as it so frequently happens with notions that turn into buzzwords, the many meanings attributed to the term convergence are often ambiguous and, as such, unhelpful in order to describe the evolution of the media and telecoms industries. Let me therefore turn, first of all, to the two meanings of the term convergence that I consider to be most relevant from a competition law point of view. . Technical convergence Technical convergence mainly concerns the possibilities offered by digital technology. Those possibilities are reflected, for example, in the infra-structures required to deliver contents like movies or music. With the current digital technology, huge amounts of data may be transmitted to a high number of users through different networks (mobile networks, Internet, satellite). This allows for the denationalization of media products traditionally sold as physical products newspapers, films, Cads) by transforming them into packages of bytes.At the same time, digital technology allows for the convergence of traditionally separate media into a single product, putting together text, sound, video and voice in what has come known as multimedia. Access to TV broadcasting, or rather webmaster, on the Internet is already nowadays a reality and listening to an MPH music file on a cellular phone is nothing new. 2. Economic convergence Audio-visual products were never cheap but the growing competition induced by the proliferation of TV channels has Inflated production costs.For example, the by now famous saga The Lord of the Rings has had reported costs of ? 278 million. In order to have an idea of the recent increase in the price for audio-visual contents it is sufficient to compare, for example, he price paid for broadcasting rights of the Football World Cups of 199 0, 1994 and 1998 241 million SEC with the price paid for the same rights in respect of the Nor Cups of 2002 and 2006 1,7 billion Euro. Only large companies seem to be able to afford such astronomical costs. Vertical and horizontal integration in the media sector and EX. competition law M.In face of economic barriers of such dimension, media companies have shown a trend towards concentration. 3. Efficiencies What appeared to be particularly new about these alliances and mergers in the media industry was the search of not only he traditional economies of scale but, above all, the search of economies of scope. This translated into an attempt to use the same product in a number of different Nays: pure entertainment and telecommunication, or entertainment and information, or information and telecommunication. From an economic point of view, economies of scope basically translate in lower Average Total Costs as a result of producing a Med range of products. The main feature of this type of concentrations is the vertical Integration of the different levels of production and distribution of media products sister them in DVDs or CDC and distribute them not only to brick and mortar shops but also through the cable, satellite or mobile telephony networks they own. Vertically integrated companies are in a position to exploit their products at every single level of the value chain. Create Once, Place Everywhere! Seemed to be the motto for the media industry during the Internet bubble, illustrating the need for media producers to place their products in the largest possible number of different platforms. This was the underlying reason for alliances and mergers between impasses which are active in sectors of the economy that used to be separate like television and telecommunications. Operations lik e AOL/Time Warner, Veined/ Universal, Veined/Avoidance for the setting up of portal Pizzazz or the acquisition of Dutch entertainment producer Model by the Spanish telecoms company Telephonic clearly illustrate this trend.It should be said that, to a large extent, the ratio underlying some of these operations Nas a deep faith in the Internet potential and a strong belief in the synergies resulting from cross-supply between different technical platforms belonging to the name vertically integrated company. The burst of the dotcom bubble showed how some of these expectations were possibly premature. We now start seeing some of the vertically integrated groups selling off some of their units (AOL/TWO or Veined/ Universal) and witness consolidation caused by heavy losses incurred during these past few years.Such is the case of the pay-TV industry, as illustrated by the merger in Spain of the platforms Canal Satellite and Via Digital and the merger in Italy between the platforms Stream and Teller;, approved by the Commission Just last week. After erred of extensive vertical integration, we now witness a reflux of horizontal Integration dictated to some extent by financial reasons. II. COMPETITION ISSUES 1 . Ere competitive arena Turning now to the competition issues raised by integration of companies, the first step required in order to understand the forces at play is to determine the perimeter of the competitive arena. What do media companies compete for, whom do they try to sell their products to and how do they intend to do t? Media companies compete for essentially three things. First, they compete for content, which is what they will ultimately sell to their customers. Access to content produced by third parties or the establishment of production facilities is a sine qua non condition for entering or staying in business. Secondly, they compete for the best Nay to deliver such content to customers.Access to delivery channels owned by third parties or 3 the possibility to establish their own paths to the customer is what allows media companies to distribute their output. Finally, they compete for the obvious ultimate addressee of all this competition: the customer. But this is a contest which goes beyond the obvious competition for a onetime sale. Some of the businesses in the Edie telecoms sector (e. G; pay-TV, Internet access), like most IT-driven businesses, basis allows for the progressive development of new services and products and for the consequent increase in ARP .Access to potential clients managed by third parties or the build-up of their own client basis is the ultimate target of media companies. 2. Foreclosure Foreclosure of the competitive arena is a central concern of EX. competition policy in relation to vertical agreements and mergers. Restricted access to input markets (copyrights or contents) or to sales markets (customers, at retail level) may limit inter-brand competition. The extreme example is where a company, as a result of a vertical or horizontal integration, succeeds in simply barring the access to a given market to its competitors.However, in real life foreclosure does not arise in such simplistic terms and mostly materializes by indirect means. For example, by raising rivals costs, by raising barriers to entry or by engaging in tying/ bundling. Tying is particularly relevant in the media and telecoms sectors given that it is often present in explicit (and in most cases, legitimate) commercial offers: for example, a bundled offer of pay-TV and Internet access, or both plus fixed telephony Iso called triple play).The ability to raise rivals costs may easily arise where a dominant firm is in a position ROR acquires such position as a result of a concentration) to control the access by competitors to a given infra-structure or input (a technology or a copyright) and Inhere it has the possibility to charge supra-competitive prices for such access. In the media sector one could think about, for example, access to a satellite platform for TV distribution or to a proprietary standard for Conditional Access System. A company in these circumstances is commonly referred to as a gate-keeper. A central element in the assessment of market power of a company and its possibility of foreclosing a given market is the concept of barriers to entry. Where entry barriers do not exist, easy entry will quickly eliminate the problem, even where the incumbent holds large market shares. Entry barriers might be described as the advantages of established sellers in an industry over potential entrant sellers, these advantages being reflected in the extent to which established sellers can persistently raise their prices above a competitive level without attracting new firms to enter the industry2.Although in cost cases barriers to entry will indeed have an economic nature, they may in some cases assume other forms. Regulation may function as an entry barrier when it provides for the establishment of special rights, for example when only a limited number of licenses is foreseen. This is the case of terrestrial TV and/or radio broadcasting due to spectrum scarcity. 3. The dominance test Most competition law Issues related to vertical and horizontal integration in the media sector have been dealt with by the European Commission under the Merger Regulation, I. . In respect of concentrations notified under the SEC Merger Regulations. As I. Pain, Barriers to Competition, H. IS. P. 1965, p. 3. Council Regulation (SEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 on the control of concentrations 4 [o know, pursuant to Article 2 (3) of the Merger Regulation, a concentration which creates or strengthens a dominant position as a result of which effective competition Mould be significantly impeded in the common market or in a substantial part of it, shall be declared incompatible with the common market. The test applied by the Commission when assessing these operations was therefore a dominance test. The concept of dominance used under the Merger Regulation is equivalent to the one fined by the Court of Justice in Article 82 cases: The dominant position ( ) relates to a position of economic strength enjoyed by an undertaking which enables it to prevent effective competition being maintained on the relevant market by giving it the power to behave to an appreciable extent independently of its competitors, customers and ultimately of its consumers4. ( Such a position does not preclude some competition, which it does where there is a monopoly or quasi-monopoly, but enables the undertaking which profits by it, if not to determine, at least to have an appreciable influence on the conditions under which that competition will develop, and in any case to act largely in discard of it so long as such conduct does not operate to its detriment. 5 Ill. Vertical integration The reason why vertical integration is a particularly relevant competition issue in the media sector is because many media companies have during these past years actively sought to take vertical Integration as far as possible. This has been a constant between undertakings, CO L 395/1 , 30. 12. 1989, as amended by council Regulation (SEC) NO 1310/97 of 30 June 1997, CO L 40/17, 13. . 1998. SEC], united Brands, case 2176, ECRU [1978] 207. SEC], Hoffman-La Ruche, case 85/76, ECRU [1979] 461. Feature of the concentrations in the media sector assessed by the Commission. The multiplication of the presence of a company throughout a number of markets along the value chain of the product concomitantly multiplies the possibilities for such a company to foreclose one or more of the corresponding markets where the company possesses market power.In these circumstances, vertical integration may in itself raise barriers to entry. A number of recurrent competition issues has arisen in the asses dealt with by the Commission, and I propose to address the most significant ones. 1 . The gate-keeper A gate-keeper role is played by a company possessing a certain infra-structure, technology or know-how allowing it to exert a significant degree of control in respect of the access to a given market.This degree of control is relevant from a competition point of view only where the market power of the gate- keeper is significant and where the infrastructure is a crucial gateway to the market o r where the technology at stake is an essential input for any potential new entrant. A gatekeeper will be able to engage in exclusionary practices visa--visa its competitors recent Newsroom/Teller; cases, concerning the merger of the two Italian pay-TV platforms Stream and Teller;.As a result of the merger, the new entity would become the gate-keeper in respect of the access to the only satellite platform in Italy for the provision of pay-TV distribution services. Furthermore, it would become the gate-keeper in respect of a number of technical services associated to 6 Case COM/ M. 2876 Newsworthiness;. See prior notification nonce in COCO, CHIC, 23. 10. 2002, p. 0; press release IP/02/1782 of 29. 11. 2002; press release IP/03/478 of 02. 04. 2003. 5 45 pay-TV such as Conditional Access Systems, set-top boxes and Electronic Programmer Guides.A gate-keeper issue also arose in the AOL/Time Warner mergers approved in the year 2000. AOL was the leading Internet access provider in the US and the only provider with a presence in most EX. Member States. Time Warner, on the other hand, was one of the worlds largest media and entertainment companies with interests in TV networks, magazines, book publishing, music, filmed entertainment and cable networks. The Commission found that the new entity resulting from the merger would have been able to play a gate-keeper role and to dictate the technical standards for on-line music delivery, I. . Streaming and downloading of music from the Internet. Consequently, AOL/TWO could end up holding a dominant position on the emerging market for on-line music delivery. This could happen in two ways. First, AOL/Time Warner would be in a position to develop a closed proprietary formatting technology for all the downloads and streaming of Time Warner and Bertelsmann tracks. The formatting language of AOL/Time Warner could become an industry tankard and competing record companies wishing to distribute their music on-line Mould be required to format their music using the new entity technology.Because of its control over the relevant technology, the new entity would be in a position to control downloaded music and streaming over the Internet and raise competitors costs through excessive license fees. Alternatively, AOL/Time Warner could format its music (and Bertelsmann) to make it compatible with its own software WinZip only, ensuring at the same time that WinZip could support and play different formats used by other record companies.By formatting its music and the music from Bertelsmann to make them compatible with its own software WinZip only, the ne w entity would cause WinZip to become the only player in the world capable of playing virtually all the music available on the Internet. By refusing to license its technology, the new entity would impose WinZip as the dominant music player as no other player would be able to decode the proprietary format of TWO and Bertelsmann music. As a result of the merger, the new entity would control the dominant player software and could charge supra-competitive prices for it. 2.Foreclosure of input markets A given company may hold a significant degree control primary input at the top of the value chain of the product. In the media industries, this will generally refer to the company producing the audio-visual product (films, music, TV-programmer) and/or holding the corresponding copyrights. The control exerted at the source will become relevant from a competition law point of view Inhere the amount or breadth of products and/or copyrights is such as to allow the company to gain a competitive advantage by means of exclusionary or discriminatory practices visa--visa its competitors.In AOL/Time Warner, for example, the combined entity would not only possess one of the largest music libraries in the world (Warner Music is one of the 5 music majors) but would also, due to contractual links, have preferential access to the libr ary of Bertelsmann Music Group, also part to the group of the 5 music majors. This would result in the combined entity controlling the leading source of music publishing rights in Europe. 6 case COM/M. 1845 AOL,mere Warner, detections of 1 1. 10. 2000, CO L 268/28, 9. 10. 2001. Ere problem was aggravated due to the simultaneous notification of the projected roger between MME and Time Warner. The preferential access by AOL/Time Manner to the music copyrights of MME, Warner and Bertelsmann would have put in the hands of the new entity half of all the music content available in Europe for on- line delivery. A similar problem arose in the Veined/Seagram/Canal Plus merger in respect of both music and films. Veined was a leading company in the telecommunications and media sector, with interests in mobile telephony networks, cinema production and distribution, and pay-TV services. Seagram was a Canadian company which, among other interests, controlled the Universal music and filmed entertainment businesses.In terms of content, the merged entity would have the Normals second largest film library and the second largest library of TV programming in the EYE. It would also be number one in recorded music combined with an important position in terms of publishing rights in the EYE. The position of Veined/ Universal concerning music rights became particularly relevant in respect of th e pizzas portal, a portal run by a Joint-venture between Veined and Avoidance. The pizzas Joint-venture had itself been notified to the Commission Just some months before the Veined/Universal merger. 3.Leveraging A classic competition concern is the leveraging ability of the parties, I. E. Their ability to transpose their market power given market into a neighboring market, thereby creating or strengthening a dominant position. This problem may become particularly acute in cases where the parties extend their activities into different product or services markets, something that is explicitly sought for by media companies wishing to distribute their products concerns in respect of the ability of the parties to leverage their market power in the market for mobile telephony into the market for mobile Internet access.The stated purpose of the Pizzazz portal was to create a horizontal, multi-access Internet portal, providing customers with a range of web-based services across a variety of platforms PCs, mobile phones, TV set-top boxes). As regards Internet access via mobile phone handsets, the issue arose in respect of the significant market position of Avoidance in the market for mobile telephony in a number of European countries (and of Veined in France). Avoidance and Veined already had a very significant customer basis in these countries and therefore a solid path to the future customers of the JP was already established.On the basis of their client basis for mobile telephony services, the position of the JP-parties in the market for mobile Internet access would be strengthened by the Pizzazz branded and integrated approach to Internet across arioso platforms, which would allow for cross-selling and bundling of offers. This Mould allow the new entity to leverage a strong position in the mobile telephony market into a dominant position on the mobile Internet access market. As regards Internet access via TV set-top boxes, a similarly solid distribution channel was also owned by Canal+ in respect of its customer b asis for pay-TV services.A similar concern therefore arose in respect of the ability of Canal+ leveraging its strong market 7 case COM/M. 1852 Time Warner,Mel, see press Release IP/00/617 of 14. 06. 2000. 9 case COM/M. 2050 Veined/ Seagram, canal Plus, detections of 13. 10. 2000, CO C 311/3, 31 . 10. 2000. 10 Case COM/JP. 48 Avoidance/Veined/Canal Plus, see Press Release Pill )0/821 of 24. 07. 2000. Position in the pay-TV market into the market for Internet access via set-top boxes. He overall concern therefore arose in respect of the ability of both Avoidance and Canal+ to migrate their customer basis from the mobile telephony and pay-TV arrests to the Internet access markets by using the already existing distribution channels. Another clear vertical leveraging issue arose in the Pizzazz case, as regards the buying power of the J-V parties. Already before the operation, Canal+ was an important buyer of content for pay-TV, such as Deprogramming, sports and films. Furthermore, it had a large customer basis accustomed to pay for content.The pizzas portal would combine a powerful new Internet access mechanism with paid- for content. Given the dominant position that the parties would acquire on the Internet access markets which I mentioned before, the operation would allow the arties to leverage their market power in the markets for Internet access into the market for the acquisition of paid-for content for the Internet. Moreover, the structural link between Veined and Canal+ and AOL France (55%) made the concern Ere leverage allowed for by the operation would naturally work in detriment of the parties competitors in the markets for mobile telephony and pay-TV.The concerns Identified in the Pizzazz operation we re strengthened when Veined and Canal+ notified some months later their acquisition of Seagram, the Canadian company owning the music and film business of Universal. The Commission considered that Canal+ would further increase its dominant position on a number of European pay- IV markets at national level. Already before the operation Canal+ enjoyed an almost monopolistic position in respect of the acquisition of the exclusivity on Hollywood films produced by the major studios (in France, Spain and Italy).The acquisition of Universal Studios would further strengthen Canal+s position as purchaser of Hollywood films, not only in respect of Universal itself but also in relation to other studios due to underlying financial links. Due to the vertical integration of Universal and Canal+, Canal+ would be able to average its position in order to secure the renewal of the exclusive agreements for pay-TV with all of the Hollywood studios and in fact also to enter into new deals.The bargaining power of Canal+ visa--visa the film studios would therefore be increased, allowing Canal+ to further foreclose the patty markets where it already was active. 4. Netw ork effects Let me now turn to another issue that often arises in media cases, most notably since convergence with the telecoms industry became a reality: network effects. A network effect may, in simple terms, be described as the self-multiplying power of a network. In economic terms, a network effect occurs when the benefit of an individual who is linked to the network increases with the accession of other individuals.In AOL/Time Warner, the Commission found that the distribution strength of AOL combined with the content of Time Warner and Bertelsmann would create network effects in respect of both content providers and consumers: for content providers, the AOL Internet community would become an essential outlet for the distribution of their products; on their side, consumers, would be deprived of any incentive abandon AOL. The network effects would work both ways: more bickerers would bring more content and more content would bring more subscribers.Newcomers would also be attracted to AOL community because the 8 larger the community, the more the possibilities to chat and communicate through AOL. The reason for this lies at the critical mass of c ontent owned by Time Warner and Bertelsmann (namely their huge music library) combined with the huge Internet community formed by AOL subscribers and the members to its Instant Messaging services. The critical mass of content owned by TWO and Bertelsmann would attract further music from other record companies. Competing record companies would feel obliged to distribute their products through Alls online outlet, which would end up having access to all the available music. Furthermore, AOL would be able to bundle row and Bertelsmann music content (or filmed entertainment content) with Internet that content, allowing for instance its subscribers to access new releases before they Newer made public through other distribution channels. Attractive content such as music or films could also be used as promotional tools or loss-leaders in order to subscribe to Intricateness services.Consequently, the more subscribers AOL would attract, the more important it would become as a carrier for content providers seeking to secure maximum distribution. First mover advantages are particularly strong in network industries. It comes as no surprise that, for example, mobile telephony companies give away, or strongly subsidies, mobile handsets to their customers such as to quickly establish a significant custome r basis leading to increasingly stronger network effects.This circumstance Justifies a particular attention by the Commission when assessing concentrations in the media telecoms Industries. The combination of network effects with a strong market position may significantly raise barriers to entry and consequently lead to market foreclosure. IV. Horizontal integration Competition problems which are specific to the media sector are more likely to be found in cases of vertical integration than in cases of horizontal integration.I would argue that in cases of horizontal integration, the competition issues arising in the media sector are equivalent to the ones to be found in any other sector. The issue basically concerns classic market power and the required exercise translates into measuring such market power with the help of the traditional analytical tools: market shares, barriers to entry, etc. Furthermore, there havent been that many examples of problematic cases of horizontal integration in the media sector dealt with by the Commission.The two most significant examples are probably MME/Time Warner and the recent Newsroom/Teller;. 1 . The Newsroom/ relic; case This concentration was notified to the Commission on 16 October 2002 and was cleared on 2 April 2003, further to the submission by the parties of an extensive package of undertakings. Newsroom, the acquiring firm, is a global media company, which is active in the film and TV industries, publishing (newspapers and kooks) and a number of other areas. It controlled the Italian (satellite) pay-TV platform Stream Jointly with Telecoms Italian.

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Analysis Essay Example For Students

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Analysis Essay E.M. Forster makes a bold statement when he declares that he would rather betray his country than betray his friend. Forster takes a very moral stand on the issue and states that a friendship is often more important than a governments actions or societys beliefs. His opinion regarding the value of friendship is a common theme shared by many authors throughout history, including Mark Twain, and Alexandre Dumas. Mark Twains classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, describes a young boy torn between what he feels his country and society expect of him and what his heart tells him is right. Society believes that slaves should be treated as property; Huck, who had befriended a runaway slave, sees Jim as a person, not property. In the end, Huck Finn decides that he would rather disobey societys teachings about slavery, than betray his friend by returning him to his previous condition of servitude. We will write a custom essay on The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Further reiterating Forsters conception of the proper order of ones loyalty is a product of English folklore, Robin Hood. According to legend, Robin Hood robbed from the rich and gave to the poor in an effort to bring happiness to the peasants of Nottingham in an otherwise dreary time under the tyrannical rule of Prince John. A childhood friend of Robin, Maid Marion places her friendship with Robin Hood above loyalty to the crown. She has numerous opportunities to betray Robin Hood, but she does not. She sees the good he is doing for the land and the lone resistance he and his band of Merry Men provide against the evil Sheriff. Had she been loyal to her country, Robin Hood would have never been successful against the Sheriff of Nottingham and the citizens of her kingdom would have had to endure even greater injustices. Sharing many of the same principles Robin Hood embodies is Alexandre Dumass The Three Musketeers. The famous trio of noblemen battle against the villainy of the Court of King Louis XIII. DArtagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis fight to preserve the honor of their Queen, Anne of Austria, against the Cardinal Richelieu. Their famous motto All for one and one for all! illustrates the value they place on their friendship. Efforts to maintain their close ties of friendship help them in resisting an immoral government. Had they chosen to remain in adherence to the Cardinals oppressive rule, they would have been unsuccessful in effecting change. The value of friendship has been a prevalent theme throughout both literature and history. Authors representing several eras have addressed the moral dilemma of friendship versus loyalty to ones country. Governmental leaders and their policies are transient; friendships last a lifetime.

Willa Cather Essay Example

Willa Cather Essay Example Willa Cather Essay Willa Cather Essay Materialism Murders Nowadays, the new trend is the have the most. People are constantly Judging each other on how much they have or how new it is. Society does not look down upon materialism, but rather celebrates it. But this was not yet the case in the 1920s. During this time period, there was a move toward mass production but the idea was not accepted by all. Many people detested the idea, one of these people being Willa Cather, who valued simplicity and intelligence over money and items. This tug-of-war between old values such as art and history, and the new values of technology and aterial wealth, is a theme Willa Cather addresses in her book The Professors House. The novel is centralized around the St. Peter family: husband and wife, Godfrey and Lillian, and their daughters, Rosamond Marcellus and Kathleen McGregor. One day in the girls childhood, a man named Tom Outland comes from New Mexico and basically lives with the St. Peters, changing their life forever. Eventually, Outland becomes engaged to Rosie and revolutionizes the aircraft, Just before he is killed in combat during World War l. But, Outlands invention is patented and makes a good deal of money, all of which is willed to Rosamond. In The Professors House, Cather uses the ruined relationship between sisters Rosamond Marcellus and Kathleen McGregor and the characters of professor Godfrey St. Peter and Tom Outland to criticize materialism by showing the negative and evil effects of money, such as jealousy and spite, and the content and importance of living life simply. The St. Peter family, which was a functional and loving family, was ruined when all of Tom Outlands money was willed to Rosamond, creating a monetary division and Jealousy between the once close Rosamond and Kathleen. While venting to her father about he hate seething from Rosie, Kathleen remarks that Rosamond has entirely changed and all this money [has] ruined her (Cather 71). The newly acquired money has allowed Rosie to live an extravagant life, in turn making her haughty and condescending. Now that her character has changed, Rosie ruined the relationship between her and her sister, something Cather says is the common result of materialism. As St. Peter was walking home through the park one night, he had a terrifying image of the handsome face of his older daughter, surrounded by violet- dappled fur, with a cruel upper lip and scornful half-closed eyes and Kathleen , her white cheeks actually becoming green under her swollen eyes (Cather 74). The color imagery of purple and green presented by Cather are used to represent the growing materialism and its negative effects. Rosamonds face is spiteful and contemptuous, surrounded by the dark wealth that she has been given; and Kathleens innocent face has become green with the enw caused by her sister. Cather uses the example of the ruined relationship between Kathleen and Rosamond to show her disapproval of the growing importance of materialism. Professor St. Peter is constantly battling with materialism: his family builds a new ouse, his daughter inherits a giant sum of money, and his wife always wants youth and materials; yet, he yearns for a simpler and more natural way of living. During the professors trips to work at the old house, he would examine the workspace and wonder why he didnt replace certain things, only to come to the conclusion that he was by no means an ascetic (Cather 17). St. Peter does not wish for the newest things, and yet is still content with how he lives. In portraying the professor this way, Cather argues that material items do not make a person happy. After coming face to face with his depression, St. Peter realizes that he had never learned to live without delight [but] he would have to, and that life [would be] possible, maybe even pleasant (Cather 257). The professor had always lived a life full of enjoyment, mostly from material items, but now he realizes that he must and can go on without those essentials. This is Cather saying that most people dont understand the importance of living without possessing everything. Through the professors plain yet happy life, Cather proves that materialism is an evil that is not needed for contentedness. Embodying ideals almost opposite from materialism, Tom Outland lives simpler nd earns what he deserves based on what he can do, a motto that allows him to give and receive the most. After kicking out his best friend Rodney Blake for betraying him, Outland returns to the mesa alone, and awakes each morning feeling like he had found everything, instead of having lost everything (Cather 226). Out alone in the wilderness, Tom is able to find peace within himself. Although he has no physical materials, he has gained everything spiritually and mentally, which Cather shows can be the most rewarding. When Tom was faced with a dilemma over selling artifacts, he ealized that there was never any question of money with [him], where this mesa and its people were concerned (Cather 220). Outland valued beauty, integrity, and leaving something to its rightful owner over money. Through these character traits, Cather voices her approval of virtues and her disapproval of materialism. Using the character of Tom Outland, Cather shows the importance of living honest and simple as a way to gain from life. Willa Cather believed that materialism was the root of all evil, and that by following that path, human themselves will become evil as well. She used her haracters to portray a larger message: that the world is not one that appreciates a persons ideals. But that doesnt necessarily matter so long as the ideals allow the escape from human superficiality. By living simply, that idea of inner peace can be achieved. Many people keep running around, being busy, doing everything at once, because they believe that is the only way to get things done. But Cather says the contrary. She says that once a person values thought and simplicity of the mind, happiness can be achieved. Work Cited Cather, Willa. The Professors House. New York: Vintage, 1990. Print.

Development and Poverty Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Development and Poverty - Term Paper Example The concept, however, has been in existence in the West for centuries. Modernization, Westernization, and especially Industrialization are other terms people have used when discussing economic development. Although no one is sure when the concept originated, most people agree that development is closely bound up with the evolution of capitalism and the demise of feudalism.† (University of Iowa's Center for International Finance and Development) To improve the economic stability, the government of a country must aims at directing its policies in the right directions. It should endeavor to achieve some basic objectives, such as price control, increasing employment and trade opportunities. The government should strive hard to improve the civil and social infrastructure, like highways, affordable housing for its people, so that the overall economy of the country booms and its benefit is transferred to the people at grass root level. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a compound a nd complex guide to rank the countries of the world by their level of human development. It differentiates the countries into four categories, which are "very high human development", "high human development", "medium human development", and "low human development" countries. ... Poverty The unavailability of material possession, finances and basic human need such as shelter, food etc refers to the poverty of the people of a particular country. Basic human necessities, such as food, water, shelter, education, health, nutrition etc are the responsibility of the government. But when the government fails to provide its people these facilities then the people are forced to live a life of poverty. The poverty threshold or the poverty line is the minimum level of income which is required to access these basic needs. People who are not even able to access these fundamental needs are said to be living a life below the poverty line. It is estimated that about 1.7 billion people across the globe are living their lives below the poverty line. Poverty is the worst form of violence. (Mohandas Gandhi)   There are many ways of measuring the poverty of the people of a particular region. Among them are the Gini Coefficient and the Headcount Index. The Gini Coefficient was d eveloped by an Italian statistician Corrado Gini. It is a measure of the statistical dispersion and measures the inequality of a distribution. It tells how wealth is distributed in a particular region, or among the different classes living in the society. The Headcount Index gives the proportion of the people who are forced to live a life below the poverty line. If â€Å"p† people are considered to be living below the poverty line in a population of â€Å"n†, then the Headcount Index â€Å"H† can be calculated as H=p/n. To calculate the Headcount Index, the estimates of the individual economic condition and the poverty line of that particular region is required. Poverty in South America South America is a region of the world which has a very high poverty rate even

China has excellent environmental policies on paper. The problem is Essay

China has excellent environmental policies on paper. The problem is that the policies are not implemented do you agree with this - Essay Example â€Å"The high-growth, resource-intensive development strategy China has pursued, coupled with the norms and institutional relationships designed to support this development strategy, have no doubt played a critical role in the deteriorating quality of the environment† (Jahiel, n.d., p. 34). The decentralization of economy has provided the officials both operating at the provincial level and at the regional level with incentives and means to develop and advance the local economies. There has been a pervasive emphasis on the consumerism, development, and profit in the proclamations of the government as well as throughout the society. This has made the local governments feel justified in intervening against such regulations as environmental protection since they are considered unfavorable to the growth of economy. Rapid growth of economy has been the major goal of the Chinese state since the 1990’s. This goal has been supported by the state by means of institutional arran gements like creation of the consumerist and growth-oriented social norms, and the decentralization of political economy that spurs local initiative. ... ild pursuit of economic growth, and failed to avoid some of the worst pollution scenarios we, as policymakers, had predicted† (Geping cited in King, 2013). In its attempt to maintain the economic boom, the enterprises owned by state in China that account for the employment of up to 110 to 115 million workers need to be shut down or streamlined, which would result in the ruse of social dislocation as well as unemployment (Knup, n.d., p. 9). There is a lot of tendency of growth in the social unrest as the urban centers teem with the unemployed people providing them with no previous benefits. Demands of more consumer goods and food have increased because of the rising standards of living at the same time, that have increased the pressure on the government to sustain further growth of economy since the expectations of the people have to be satisfied. Indeed, the biggest challenge that the Chinese leaders are facing today is how to sustain the growth of economy and simultaneously ad dress the rising social challenges. China faces significant environmental challenges-what is it doing to head them off? Transformations in the environmental policies of China are a fundamental component of the Scientific Outlook on Development that is amongst the major national strategic theories of China. With the frequent occurrence of natural disasters and climate changes on a global scale, the whole world has paid attention toward China’s environmental policy, since it is a major power of the world in the present age. China induced major changes in its environmental policy in the 1990s. The environmental policy was integrated into the growth strategy of China. China went on board with a comprehensive approach to the environmental policy as the administration of Hu Jintao commenced in the

Great Depression Paper 3 Study Questions Essay Example for Free

Great Depression Paper 3 Study Questions Essay 1. The effect of the Great Depression on the society of any country in the Americas. The Great Depression brought a rapid rise in the CRIME RATE as many unemployed workers resorted to petty theft to put food on the table. Suicide rates rose, as did reported cases of malnutrition. Prostitution was on the rise as desperate women sought ways to pay the bills. Health care in general was not a priority for many Americans, as visiting the doctor was reserved for only the direst of circumstances. Alcoholism increased with Americans seeking outlets for escape, compounded by the repeal of prohibition in 1933. Cigar smoking became too expensive, so many Americans switched to cheaper cigarettes. Higher education remained out of reach for most Americans as the nations universities saw their student bodies shrink during the first half of the decade. High school attendance increased among males, however. Because the prospects of a young male getting a job were so incredibly dim, many decided to stay in school longer. However, public spending on education declined sharply, causing many schools to open understaffed or close due to lack of funds. Demographic trends also changed sharply. Marriages were delayed as many males waited until they could provide for a family before proposing to a prospective spouse. Divorce rates dropped steadily in the 1930s. Rates of abandonment increased as many husbands chose the poor mans divorce option — they just ran away from their marriages. Birth rates fell sharply, especially during the lowest points of the Depression. More and more Americans learned about birth control to avoid the added expenses of unexpected children. Mass migrations continued throughout the 1930s. Rural New England and upstate New York lost many citizens seeking opportunity elsewhere. TheGREAT PLAINS lost population to states such as California and Arizona. The Dust Bowl sent thousands of OKIES and ARKIES looking to make a better life. Many of the MIGRANTS were adolescents seeking opportunity away from a family that had younger mouths to feed. Over 600,000 people were caught hitching rides on trains during the Great Depression. Many times offenders went unpunished. 2. The effect of FDR’s domestic policies in the 1930’s on the power of the presidency, the power of the states attitudes towards government regulation of the economy. 4. The success of one government of the Americas to try solve the problems of the Great Depression. 8. Success of programs of governments of the Americas to deal with the Depression. Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered the White House in 1932 at the darkest hour of the Great Depression, promising a new deal for the American people. The package of legislative reforms that came to be known as the New Deal permanently and dramatically transformed the politics and economy of the United States. Shortly after taking office, Roosevelt explained to the American people that his New Deal program would seek to deliver relief, recovery, and reform—the so-called 3 Rs. In the field of relief, the New Deal proved to be highly successful. Millions of Americans, unable to find work in an economy that was still badly broken four years into the Great Depression, might have literally starved to death if not for the government checks they earned by working for new agencies like the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration. FDR created other policies such as the AAA which paid farmers to destruct crops and reduce production to keep prices from falling, National Industry Recovery Act which established a minimum wage and maximum working hours. In terms of reform, the New Deal legacy may have been unmatched in American history. For better or worse, Roosevelts program drastically altered the relationship between the capitalist market, the people, and their government, creating for the first time in this countrys history an activist state committed to providing individual citizens with a measure of security against the unpredictable turns of the market. Whether this vast enlargement of the governments role in American society helped or hurt the countrys long-run prospects remains a question of great political controversy to this day, but there can be no denying the magnitude of change wrought by FDRs presidency. When it came to recovery, however, the New Deals performance lagged. It was certainly successful in both short-term relief, and in implementing long-term structural reform. However, the New Deal failed to end the Great Depression. Throughout the decade of the 1930s,unemployment remained brutally high, while economic growth remained painfully slow. Recovery only came about, at last, in Roosevelts third term, when the heavy demands of mobilization for World War II finally restored the country to full employment. Ironically, then, Adolf Hitler probably did more to end the Great Depression in America than Franklin Roosevelt did. Still, despite failing in its most important objective, the New Deal forever changed this country. Roosevelt built a dominant new political coalition, creating a Democratic majority that lasted for half a century. The structural stability and social security provided by the New Deals reforms underlay a postwar economic boom that many historians and economists have described as the golden age of American capitalism. And Roosevelt permanently changed the American peoples expectations of their presidents and their government. 3. The achievements limitations of Mackenzie King as Prime Minister of Canada. In the initial six months following the stock market crash, King took little action to address problems like unemployment. When asked where the proceeds of raised taxes would go, King answered â€Å"I would not give them (a Tory government) a five-cent piece.† King took a ‘hands-off’ approach to the situation because he believed the economy would fix itself. He appeared unwilling to address the problems of the depression. He began a policy of freer trade. Within three weeks of taking office he had signed a trade agreement with the United States (1935). This marked the turning away from the ever-increasing tariff barriers between the two countries which had reached their peak with the Hawley-Smoot tariff and the Bennett tariff, both in 1930. A further trade agreement was signed three years later involving Great Britain as well as the United States. Soon after taking office King appointed a National Employment Commission, which was assigned to reorganize the administration of all relief expenditures, and recommend measures which to create employment opportunities. The NEC was ineffective. Most of the relief was administered by provincial and municipal governments and, even though the federal government was providing much of the money, there was little the federal government could do to change the system. The 1938 budget included $25 million in additional expenditure after pressure from the NEC. This was a turning point in Canadian fiscal policy—for the first time a government had consciously decided to spend money to counteract a low in the business cycle. This was the application of Keynesian economics, which saw that governments should deliberately invest into the economy during times of depression in order to counterbalance the deficiency, because private enterprise was not in the position to do so itself. In addition to the expenditures in the budget the government also offered loans to municipal. Nationalities for local improvements and passed a Housing Act to encourage the building of homes. Consistent with this Keynesian approach, the government also reduced some taxes and offered some tax exemptions for private investors. 5. The causes of the Great Depression its effects. Great Depression: Causes Stock Market Crash of 1929: The stock market crash took place on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929. It was one of the major causes that led to the Great Depression. Two months after the original crash, the stockholders had lost more than 40 billion dollars. By the end of 1930s, the stock market started to regain some of its losses. However, it was not sufficient and America was in the state of the Great Depression. This situation was worsened by firming of money rates to the commercial interests. Bank Failures: Throughout the 1930s, a huge bank failure took place and more than 9,000 banks failed. Most bank deposits were uninsured. As a result, a number of people lost their savings due to the bank failures. Because of uncertain economic situation and problems of bank survival, people were not willing to go for new loans. Reduction in Purchasing Across the Board: With the stock market crash and fears of economic woes, people from all classes stopped purchasing any items and avoided expenditures. As a result, production of a number of items was decreased. It ultimately resulted in a reduction in the workforce. As numerous people lost their jobs, they were unable to pay for the items they had bought on installment plans. As a result, their items were repossessed. There was an accumulation of more inventories. About 25% of people were unemployed. American Economic Policy with Europe: As the businesses begin to fail, the government created the Hawley-Smoot Tariff in the year 1930 in order to help protect the American companies. A higher tax was charged for the imports, leading to a reduced trade between the U.S. and the foreign countries. Drought Conditions: The drought that occurred in the Mississippi Valley in 1930 is also regarded as one of the major causes of the Great Depression (though not a direct cause). As a result, several people were not able to pay their taxes due to other debts. Therefore, they had to sell their farms without gaining any profit. They moved to the cities in search of jobs. Many farmers lived on charity, along with their families. Economic Effects: As it was a major economic phenomenon it had serious and widespread economic effects. Trade Collapse. The Depression became a worldwide business downturn of the 1930s that affected almost all countries. International commerce declined quickly. There was a sharp reduction in tax revenues, profits and personal incomes. It affected both countries that exported raw materials and the industrialized countries. It led to a sharp decrease in world trade as each country tried to protect their own industries and products by raising tariffs on imports. World Trade collapsed with trade in 1939 still below the 1929 level. It set the wheels rolling towards the end of international gold standards and consequently the emergence of the fixed exchange rate system. Reduction in Government Spending. Governments all around the world reduced their spending, which led to decreased consumer demand. Construction came to a standstill in many nations. As a consequence of government actions, the real Gross National Product of nations like United States and Britain fell by 30.5%, wholesale prices fell by 30.8%, and consumer prices fell by 24.4%. Employee Distress Wages were scaled down to 20 percent, whereas 25 percent of the workforce was left unemployed. This led to decrease in the standard of living pushing the economy further into the depth of the Depression. Breakdown of the Financial Machinery. Thousands of investors lost large sums of money and several were wiped out, losing everything. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of people jobless, penniless and homeless. In 1929, 659 public sector banks were shut and by the end of 1931 this number rose to 2294. Many people came to depend on the government or charities to provide them with food. Effect on Agriculture. Due to lack of subsidies and loans, farmers were unable to support mass produce leading to under-capacity output. Textile farming faced the major blow. The period served as a precursor to one of the worst droughts in modern American history that struck the Great Plains in 1934. Although a few segments under agriculture e.g. cotton benefited from the crisis, in general the whole agricultural sector experienced a setback. Political Effects. The Depression had profound political effects. In countries such as Germany and Japan, reaction to the Depression brought about the rise to power of militarist governments who adopted the aggressive foreign policies that led to the Second World War. In Germany, weak economic conditions led to the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. Germany suffered greatly because of the huge debt the country was burdened by following World War I. The Japanese invaded China and developed mines and industries in Manchuria. Japan thought that this economic growth would relieve the Depression. In countries such as the United States and Britain, the government intervened which ultimately resulted in the creation of welfare systems. Franklin D. Roosevelt became the United States President in 1933. He promised a New Deal under which the government would intervene to reduce unemployment by work-creation schemes such as painting of the post offices and street cleaning. Both agriculture and industry were supported by policies to limit output and increase prices. 6. Factors of world trade finance that caused the Great Depression in the Americas. In the 1920s more people invested in the stock market than ever before. Stock prices rose so fast that at the end of the decade, some people became rich overnight by buying and selling stocks. People could buy stocks on margin which was like installment buying. People could buy stocks for only a 10% down payment! The buyer would hold the stock until the price rose and then sell it for a profit. As long as the stock prices kept going up, the system worked. However, during 1928 and 1929, the prices of many stocks went up faster than the value of the companies the stocks represented. Some experts warned that the bull market would end. Buying on credit was a huge problem in the 1920s. Since the 20s was a period of great economic boom, not many people took the future into consideration. Many people bought refrigerators, cars, etc. with money that they did not have. This system was called installment buying. With this system, people could make a monthly, weekly, or yearly payment on an item that they wanted or needed. This happened until Black Tuesday, when the stock market crashed. The two systems, installment buying and buying on credit, left millions of people in debt. When many lost their jobs, they could not pay back the debts they had incurred. Supply and demand helped bring about and also lengthen the Great Depression. The American farms and factories produced large amounts of goods and products during the prosperity before the Depression. On average peoples wages stayed the same even as prices for these goods soared. People who lived on farms had even less than urban dwellers. Because people had no money, they stopped buying these products, but factories and farms still continued to produce at the same rate. As the farmers and industry leaders realized fewer people were buying, they cut back production. To do this, they had to lay off more and more workers. These unemployed workers didnt have money to buy anything, so the factories continued to lay off people. This trend continued in a downward spiral until twenty-five per cent of the population was unemployed. In the summer of 1929, a few stock market investors began selling their stock. They predicted that the bull market might end soon, leaving them in debt. Seeing these few investors begin to sell, others soon followed creating a domino effect. The sudden selling caused stock prices to fall. President Herbert Hoover tried to reassure the investors saying the countrys economy was fine and that they had no reason to worry. The words of the President were not enough, however; the selling continued. Many investors in the stock market had bought large amounts of stock on margin. Nervous brokers asked investors to pay their debts, and when they couldnt repay they were forced to sell, causing stock prices to fall even more. On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, stock prices plummeted because there were no buyers for the stock offered by desperate sellers. Millions of dollars were lost that day due to the decrease in stock prices. Black Tuesday, as it was soon called, led directly to the Great Depression in the 1930s. 7. The relationship of business government changed by the Great Depression in the Americas. In the early years of American history, most political leaders were reluctant to involve the federal government too heavily in the private sector, except in the area of transportation. In general, they accepted the concept of laissez-faire, a doctrine opposing government interference in the economy except to maintain law and order. This attitude started to change during the latter part of the 19th century, when small business, farm, and labor movements began asking the government to intercede on their behalf. By the turn of the century, a middle class had developed that was leery of both the business elite and the somewhat radical political movements of farmers and laborers in the Midwest and West. Known as Progressives, these people favored government regulation of business practices to ensure competition and free enterprise. They also fought corruption in the public sector. Congress enacted a law regulating railroads in 1887 (the Interstate Commerce Act), and one preventing large firms from controlling a single industry in 1890 (the Sherman Antitrust Act). These laws were not rigorously enforced, however, until the years between 1900 and 1920, when Republican President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), Democratic President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921), and others sympathetic to the views of the Progressives came to power. Many of todays U.S. regulatory agencies were created during these years, including the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Trade Commission. Government involvement in the economy increased most significantly during the New Deal of the 1930s. The 1929 stock market crash had initiated the most serious economic dislocation in the nations history, the Great Depression (1929-1940). President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) launched the New Deal to alleviate the emergency. Many of the most important laws and institutions that define Americans modern economy can be traced to the New Deal era. New Deal legislation extended federal authority in banking, agriculture, and public welfare. It established minimum standards for wages and hours on the job, and it served as a catalyst for the expansion of labor unions in such industries as steel, automobiles, and rubber. Programs and agencies that today seem indispensable to the operation of the countrys modern economy were created: the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates the stock market; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees bank deposits; and, perhaps most notably, the Social Security system, which provides pensions to the elderly based on contr ibutions they made when they were part of the work force. New Deal leaders flirted with the idea of building closer ties between business and government, but some of these efforts did not survive past World War II. The National Industrial Recovery Act, a short-lived New Deal program, sought to encourage business leaders and workers, with government supervision, to resolve conflicts and thereby increase productivity and efficiency. While America never took the turn to fascism that similar business-labor-government arrangements did in Germany and Italy, the New Deal initiatives did point to a new sharing of power among these three key economic players. This confluence of power grew even more during the war, as the U.S. government intervened extensively in the economy. The War Production Board coordinated the nations productive capabilities so that military priorities would be met. Converted consumer-products plants filled many military orders. Automakers built tanks and aircraft, for example, making the United States the arsenal of democracy. In an effort to prevent rising national income and scarce consumer products to cause inflation, the newly created Office of Price Administration controlled rents on some dwellings, rationed consumer items ranging from sugar to gasoline, and otherwise tried to restrain price increases. 9. The political economic changes in the Americas caused by the Depression. The Great Depression was a period in History when business was weak and many people were out of work. The Great Depression began on 29th October 1929, when the stock market in the United States crashed. It quickly turned into a worldwide economic slump owing to the special and close relationships that had been developed between the United States and European economies after World War I. It was the industrialized western worlds longest and most severe depression ever experienced. It ended with the arrival of the War Economy of World War II which began in 1939. Economic Effects: As it was a major economic phenomenon it had serious and widespread economic effects. Trade Collapse. The Depression became a worldwide business downturn of the 1930s that affected almost all countries. International commerce declined quickly. There was a sharp reduction in tax revenues, profits and personal incomes. It affected both countries that exported raw materials and the industrialized countries. It led to a sharp decrease in world trade as each country tried to protect their own industries and products by raising tariffs on imports. World Trade collapsed with trade in 1939 still below the 1929 level. It set the wheels rolling towards the end of international gold standards and consequently the emergence of the fixed exchange rate system. Reduction in Government Spending. Governments all around the world reduced their spending, which led to decreased consumer demand. Construction came to a standstill in many nations. As a consequence of government actions, the real Gross National Product of nations like United States and Britain fell by 30.5%, wholesale prices fell by 30.8%, and consumer prices fell by 24.4%. Employee Distress Wages were scaled down to 20 percent, whereas 25 percent of the workforce was left unemployed. This led to decrease in the standard of living pushing the economy further into the depth of the Depression. Breakdown of the Financial Machinery. Thousands of investors lost large sums of money and several were wiped out, losing everything. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of people jobless, penniless and homeless. In 1929, 659 public sector banks were shut and by the end of 1931 this number rose to 2294. Many people came to depend on the government or charities to provide them with food. Effect on Agriculture. Due to lack of subsidies and loans, farmers were unable to support mass produce leading to under-capacity output. Textile farming faced the major blow. The period served as a precursor to one of the worst droughts in modern American history that struck the Great Plains in 1934. Although a few segments under agriculture e.g. cotton benefited from the crisis, in general the whole agricultural sector experienced a setback. Political Effects. The Depression had profound political effects. In countries such as Germany and Japan, reaction to the Depression brought about the rise to power of militarist governments who adopted the aggressive foreign policies that led to the Second World War. In Germany, weak economic conditions led to the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. Germany suffered greatly because of the huge debt the country was burdened by following World War I. The Japanese invaded China and developed mines and industries in Manchuria. Japan thought that this economic growth would relieve the Depression. In countries such as the United States and Britain, the government intervened which ultimately resulted in the creation of welfare systems. Franklin D. Roosevelt became the United States President in 1933. He promised a New Deal under which the government would intervene to reduce unemployment by work-creation schemes such as painting of the post offices and street cleaning. Both agriculture and industry were supported by policies to limit output and increase prices.