What are the major functions of congress are these based in the Term Paper

What are the major functions of congress are these based in the constitution or are they a function of the shifting balance of political power - Term Paper Example The Congress has also the authority to pass the ‘appropriate legislation’ incorporated in the legislative powers of the Constitution. The Constitution further states that ‘Congress shall have the power to provide for the common defense and the general welfare of the United States’ (Palekar, 121). However, the US President has the power to veto a bill passed Congress but this veto power is not absolute. The Congress can override it if the two-third majority of the Congress passes the same bill. From this perspective, we may say that the legislative powers of the US Congress are granted by the Constitution. The role of the Congress and the President shows that the Constitution of the United States ‘provides for a balance of power between the executive and the legislative branches’ (Ethridge and Handelman, 204). In Mexico and Latin America, we had seen the existence of powerful presidents and weak legislatures. The role of the Congress is vital on the amendment procedures of the US Congress. The recommendation for amendment of a particular law or article will not stand valid unless the two-thirds majority of the members of the Congress support it. The US Supreme Court generally does not intervene in the approval or the interpretation of the Congress regarding any bills or laws (Palekar, 122). Therefore, we may conclude that the Congress plays an important role for amending the Supreme law of the nation. A joint session for both the Houses of the Congress is held after every four years to’ Count the electoral votes for the President and the Vice-President’ (Palekar, 122). If no candidate gets a majority of votes for the Presidential role then the House of Representatives has the power to select three candidates with the maximum numbers of notes. In case of the Vice-President, The Senate decides on the issue and makes a choice between the two members with the highest votes. In 1837, the Vice-President was chosen in

Taxation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Taxation - Essay Example Taxation in essence is a system created in order to fuel the society, a manner of giving back to society for its protection. This however is not the case in modern times. Governments use taxation to run the national affairs. One thing which has still not changed is using taxation to fund wars. This practice was carried out by empires thosands of years ago and is still in pratice today. An income tax is a tax levied on the income of corporations or individuals. The amounts of tax is determined by not a fixed amount but by a percentage. This means that the tax would increase as the income increase. In most economies there are different tax brackets. This would mean that a certain percentage would be charged for an income of a certain level, however as the income would cross that threshold the tax rate would increase. There are four different types of income taxes based on sources of funds accquired i.e. personal income tax, corporate income tax, capital gain tax, payroll tax and inheretence tax. The idea of income tax is not just to aquire money to run the society (government) but also to keep a check on earnings of the rich. This system of check and balance ensures that a share is given back to welfare of state. Inflation is also controlled through this mechanism. Moreover incomes taxes can be progressive, regressive or proportional. Sales tax is a form of consumption tax. Unlike the income tax it is not applicable when you earn but only when you spend. This is because although the tax is paid by sellers of commodities, it is not in fact actually paid by them. A typical example can be buying your favorite perfume from a shopping mall. When the payment is made there is a few extra pounds charged above the selling price. This is the sales tax; the perfume seller will pay this amount to the government. The income tax would still apply on the seller on his profits and would be collected separately. Adam Smith

Starbucks Introduction of Kind Bars Essay Example for Free

Starbucks Introduction of Kind Bars Essay â€Å"A Small Player Breaks Into Starbucks,† Starbucks has recently started a campaign to provide more healthy products to its consumers. This is considered quite the change since coffee, Starbucks primary product, is not necessarily thought of as healthy. To help start of this campaign it has agreed to start selling KIND bars, which are â€Å"combinations of dried fruits and nuts bound together by honey (NY Times). KIND bars seem to fit in great with the direction Starbucks is going, but they did not always. It took Daniel Lubetzky, owner of KIND, over five years of promoting his product to Starbucks to even get his foot in the door. 2. ) SWOT Analysis-Starbucks Strengths Coffee industry market leader * Customer satisfaction and strong brand loyalty * Free Wi-Fi available for customers * Innovative operations and a strong financial position * Strong product diversification Weaknesses * Although a diversified company, still strong reliance on coffee products for profit * High operating costs Downsizing * High prices on products * Competition is rising in their growing market Opportunities * Coffee Beans to be sold in stores * Brand Extension * Expansion to South Asian Markets * Provide more cost-and health-conscious products Threats * Competition * Rising number of health-conscious customers * Corporate giant image * Resistance in foreign countries due to political and cultural issues * Variation in coffee price in developing countries 3. ) Identification, Evaluation and Analysis of Alternatives KIND bars are not the only thing Starbucks is going to be offering in its new campaign. They plan to revamp the menu, introducing a variety of lighter and healthier foods such as salads, smoothies and fruit muffins. So why did Starbucks choose to introduce the KIND bar when it could of chosen Clif bars or SOYJOY bars, both more established than KIND. Clif is currently the market leader in nutrition bars and SOYJOY is widely international with distribution from Singapore to Belgium. It could be due to Mr. Lubetzky’s determination, or maybe because of KIND’s marketing mix. 4. )Recommendations and Conclusions KIND would be very appealing to Starbucks consumers for numerous reasons and this makes it obvious to Starbucks that it will be a good investment. KIND donates five percent of its profit to the PeaceWorks Foundation, â€Å"which strives to bring peace to Middle Eastern countries by building commercial food ventures (NY Times). † This makes the consumer feel good about their purchase because they feel as if they are contributing to a good cause. Also, Yale did a pilot study indicating that two KIND bars a day can help consumers lose weight. This is attractive to buyers due to the fact that around two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. KIND also promotes there products to be, â€Å"a brand of delicious, natural, healthful foods made from wholesome ingredients you can see amp; pronounce ®(KINDsnacks). † In a world where it seems that everything you consume has preservatives and who knows what else in them, KIND stands out in the crowd. Finally, with the price of $1. 5 at Starbucks, the deal cannot be beat, especially compared to relative prices of coffee at Starbucks. With all these advantages there is no question that Starbucks made the right decision in choosing KIND. This collaboration with to help offset Starbucks threats such as the rising number of health-conscious consumers, which is the basis of its campaign. An additional threat that may be counterbalanced is its image as a corporate giant because of their acceptance of a small business. Source Links: http://www. nytimes. om/2009/07/01/business/smallbusiness/01snackbar. html? ref=marketing http://www. kindsnacks. com/kind-store/buy-kind-bars Periodical Exercise 1. ) Problem/Decision Statement According to an article in BusinessWeek in 2012, titled, â€Å"Taco Bell introduces Doritos taco shell†, on March 8th Taco Bell introduced Doritos Locos to over 5,600 stores nationwide. Doritos Locos are like regular crunchy tacos but, it has a shell made with nacho cheese Doritos. This is considered one of the biggest product launches in the history of the company. Taco Bell has already confirmed their budget of $75 million to promote their new launch (BusinessWeek). This is over three times more of a budget than for previous new products. Doritos Locos is just the latest of many things Taco Bell has been trying to do to improve their menu. But the question is whether or not this is the right time to be taking on such a big market introduction, with the recent bad publicity caused by lawsuits attacking the quality of their beef. 2. ) SWOT Analysis- Taco Bell Strengths * Huge popular brand name and high brand loyalty Adopted a healthy trans-fat free formula which is a key competitive advantage over other competitors who has not yet switched to the healthier recipes. * Has the acknowledgment as the best Mexican style fast food restaurant in the U. S. * Owns over 5600 restaurants across the nation and 250 outlets internationally * Strong parent company, Yum! Brands, owns Pizza Hut and KFC as well * Open very late Weaknesses * High fat and high calorie food not good for health conscious people * Lost goodwill when customers were hospitalized due to traces of E. oli bacteria * Bad publicity due to lawsuits against quality of beef * Also lost goodwill for human rights protest in ’05 and rodent problem in ‘07 Opportunities * New flavors and recipes should be introduced especially focused on more health conscious ingredients in their menus * Introduce home delivery * Venture into new markets such as India, like Pizza Hut and KFC, that has a growing consumption of fast food Threats * Research and the raised awareness among consumers about the harmful health impacts of fast food consumption. The trans-fats, sugars, oils and salts which are ingredients of the fast foods being offered, are thus consumed in low proportions by the aware and educated consumers * Highly labor intensive which increases the subjectivity involved in the delivery of services * Threats from competitors of Taco Bell such as McDonalds and Subway 3. ) Identification, Evaluation and Analysis of Alternatives Since the Frito Lay Corporation is obviously the market leader in any type of corn chip, tortilla chip or any chip for that matter, there are not really any big alternatives that would be better than Doritos. Even if Taco bell would have gone with Tostitos or Santitas, other tortilla chip brands, instead, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference because they are still owned by Frito Lay. An alternative that Taco Bell should have considered is the Baked Doritos in place of regular fried Doritos. For the reason that many empty calories and trans fat comes from â€Å"hidden† oil and Baked Doritos might help with Taco Bell trying to gain an edge on the competition through the health conscious route. 4. ) Recommendations and Conclusions Doritos Locos would be very appealing to Taco Bells consumers for numerous reasons and this makes it obvious to Taco Bell that it will be a good investment. Honestly I believe that Taco Bell’s decision to launch Doritos Locos is an incredible idea for many reasons but at the same time it does have some drawbacks. Doritos are one of America’s top favorite snacks and to combine that with Americas top Mexican style fast food restaurant just seems like the great idea never before had. Doritos come in many flavors and so should Doritos Locos, such as Cool Ranch, Smoky Chipotle BBQ and Fiery Habanero (Frito-Lay). This new rollout may also shift consumers focus from the negativity of the recent lawsuits and bad publicity to the positivity of this inevitably delicious and profitable collaboration. Then again, because of the large percentage of overweight and obese Americans and a strong desire to switch to health smart ingredients, Doritos Locos may just be perceived as another fattening product line put out by the gluttonous fast food industry.

Is The State Still The Most Important Actor Politics Essay

Is The State Still The Most Important Actor Politics Essay In the traditional perception, the state plays the leading role in international relations. However, after the World War , with the rise of communications technology, the deepening of international division of labor and the expansion of global trade, a good deal of international organizations was established. The international environment was changed due to globalization. It becomes easier for states to communicate with each other, which influence international political, economic, military and culture to a great degree. The increasing number of these organizations is parallel to the increasing levels of political, economic, military and cultural transactions between individuals, societies and states. These kinds of non-state actors challenge the state- centric perception. Therefore, in this essay, three sections will be used to discuss whether the state is still the most important actor in international relations. Firstly, it will cite two theories about the role of the state plays in contemporary international relations. Following this, it will give an account of whether the position of the state in international relations will be replaced because of globalization. Finally, it will illustrate the role of the state plays in international economy, politics and climate. There are two prevailing theories about the role of the state in international relations. Neorealism emphasizes the state plays the most important role in international arena. On one hand, the state possesses sovereign power to insure domestic security. On the other hand, neorealism also stresses the state influence economy in international relations. Neoliberalism not only indicates that the state is the main behavior body in international system, but also affirms the role of non-states, such as international organization, transnational organizations and other kinds of social organizations. As a by-product of intensified globalization process, these kinds of organizations have become more significant determinants of foreign policies of the state (Ataman, M., 2000). Globalization influences the position of the state in international relations By looking at globalization, the proliferation of non-state actors is gaining international influence and position. Non-state actors can be divided into international intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and transnational or international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (Ataman, M., 2003). International intergovernmental organizations are created by states. They have official document of government agencies. On the contrary, transnational or international non-governmental organizations are established not by the state, but by some group of businessmen, individuals and other societal units. They have no legal connection with the state, so they are genuinely transnational (Oyugi Walter O., 2004). But the state can restrain the activities of these kinds of organizations. There are a number of powerful organizations such as the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations. Though these organizations own strong power in the international relations, they are entire operate by states. Along with the intensification of globalization ¼Ã…’the growth of so many kinds of non-state actors is bound to influence the status of the state in international relations. But they can not substitute for the state. The state is still the most important actor in international relations. The role of the state in the international economy, politics and climate Globalization can be found everywhere, such as economy, politics and climate (Clapham and Christopher, 2002). Whether the role of the state in international relations can be replaced due to globalization, it will be discussed as follows: Globalization has brought about the biggest influence to the economy. Globalization can run businesses, business also can run globalization. That is to say, if a boss of any company wants to make a profile, he has to deal with the government of the state. The state can suspended any operating company. Under this circumstance, the state proves to be the most important actor in international relations on account of it has a right to determine whether a new company can turn into the country business. International politics is very important to coordinate international relationships, safeguard the world peace and make successful businesses. The state is responsible for international politics. The peace of the world is an eternal theme in the international politics. How do the state and the world peace affect each other? The world peace is not able to be achieved only by one state. This utopian goal is only brought out by the endeavor of the whole world. Even though most of international organizations are making great efforts to prevent chaos caused by war, the state is also play the major role in international relations. The United Nations calls on every country should work together to fight against warfare. The relationships between peace and development are interdependency, interrelationship and inter-advance. It requires the state to play the leading role to coordinate the world circumstance, protect the world peace and then promote common development of the whole world. Global warming is gradually become a significant topic in the world due to climate globalization, it persecutes nearly everybody. Because Global Warming could lead to glaciers melt, and sea level rise. Therefore, people are starting to take actions to deal with this problem. For example, in order to protect the environment, an international agreement the Kyoto Protocol is formulated. The purposes of the Kyoto Protocol are to cut down pollution and prevent greenhouse effect. However, the Kyoto Protocol is not formulated by individual or international organization, but drafted by states. It further proves the state play the most important role in international relations. Conclusion In conclusion, the state is still the most impotent actor in international relations. There are several strong points can be listed to get this conclusion. First of all, international organizations govern the globe, and these organizations consist of states. The state influences and powers over international organizations. Following this, globalization changes the international environment and lead to many kinds of non-state actors spring up. To a degree, these non-state actors are gaining status and influence in global economy, politics and climate, but it impossible to replace the position of the state in international relations. Any international affair is not a problem of one state but of the whole world. Taking into account the whole of these reasons, it can be concluded that the state is still the most important actor in international relations.

Changes vs. Improvements :: Social Issues Government Essays

Changes vs. Improvements Intolerance, war, inequality and poverty - these are just a few of the issues found in the texts that we have read this semester. Even though some of them were written hundreds of years ago, the same problems still exist in our world today. Many things have changed over time, but they have not necessarily improved. Today, we are still involved in wars and violence with our continued presence in Iraq, Afghanistan and other foreign countries. We still persecute the poor by raising taxes and cutting funds to the programs like Medicaid and Welfare, while making it easier on the upper classes. We are very intolerant of the practices and beliefs of others whether it is homosexuality, different religious beliefs or opinions on abortion. Most of these issues have been problems in the past, and unless we do something to change them, they will continue to be problems in the future. There is no better place to find examples of today’s social problems than the newspaper. In the April 15 issue of the Creightonian, the April 14 and April 18 issues of the Omaha World Herald there were an abundance of articles about problems today. Despite the fact that writers and other artists were dealing with them hundreds of years ago, these problems are still on the forefront in today’s society. In the Omaha World Herald, there were many articles related to war. They were primarily about the involvement of the United States in Iraq. In one, it referred to a kidnapped American man and how he was videotaped at gunpoint, holding his passport to his chest and apparently pleading the U.S. to withdraw its troops from Iraq. In response, President George Bush’s spokesman said, â€Å"Our position is well-known when it comes to negotiating.† This seems to be a prime example of the idea of â€Å"One man, or many?† meaning it is better to sacrifice the life of this one man rather than risk the lives of many. This makes the Bush administration seem cold and heartless and shows our stubbornness when it comes to leaving Iraq. Instances like this reaffirm that it will undoubtedly take a major event for us to exit their country. Another article from the Omaha World Herald was about keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Comparing Company Website Design :: Internet

Microsoft I have been to this site fairly recently, and it has been updated since then. It is pretty colorful, and is easy to navigate. All of the different Products and Downloads are listed on the sidebar of the page. This reflects the company well, because they are a computer company, so I would hope that their website would be the best that I went to. And it was. There was a lot on the website but it was very organized. At the bottom there is a link to contact them, and even a link for Journalists. This page had a lot of product news and consumer news. This was a great site. World Health Organization The WHO website could have been a little more organized, but it was fairly easy to navigate. The picture on the home page made you very sympathetic to the cause. It also made you want to learn more. There were links for 6 different languages, and that was easy to find. There was also a search tool at the bottom just in case something was hard to find. It was hard to find a Contact Us link. I liked that the home page had news releases and other featured sites involving World health. Intel The Intel site was very animated and 3-D looking. While it wasn’t as organized as Microsoft, it was still easy to navigate. It had resources for businesses and personal separate, and also news was readily available. The also had a Site Map link at the bottom, which was very organized, just not as colorful. There was a lot of advertising on their home page, which was a great idea. There is a Contact Us and Press Room link at the very top of the page, which is great for consumers and journalists. Apple The Apple/Mac website was a little cluttered, but still easy to look around. They have very colorful â€Å"hip† looking pages, that appeal to younger people. You had to log in for some stuff, but most things were accessible. It was hard to find a Contact Us, or Journalist link. They focused a lot on the store and selling accessories and iPods. (I can imagine this is more during the Christmas season) This website is updated a lot, because I visit it frequently. It looks like a lot of effort is put into this site, and it is very aesthetically pleasing. Dell Dell went a step further in separating information .

B.F. Skinner’s Contribution to Psychology

B. F. Skinner’s Contribution to Modern Psychology Ian K. Connelly Oklahoma State University B. F. Skinner’s Contribution to Modern Psychology As I began to study the history and beginning of psychology there was one man who stood out to me clearly as a powerful force of influence and contributor to the direction psychology has taken in its still very young life. What does it mean to be a major influential contributor to the science of psychology? This man shows us with his groundbreaking theories, inventions and experiments as well as his over 200 books and articles on the field of psychology.He is Burrhus Frederic Skinner and he is one of the reasons psychology is the profound and crucial science that it is today. (New World Encyclopedia contributors, 2008) B. F. Skinner was born in 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. His early life consisted of his efforts to become a fictional writer. He attended Hamilton College where he received a B. A. in English literature in 1926 . Afterward he spent some time living with his parents attempting to write fictional books. Cherry, 2013) It was during this time that he began to wonder about how an author was supposed to understand the behaviors of the characters he portrayed without knowing what psychological processes and thoughts lie beneath. His research led him to discover the work of John Broadus Watson who proposed behaviorism for the first time. (Shacter, Gilbert & Wegner, 2011) This seemed to interest him much more than fictional writing did so he applied for the psychology graduate program at Harvard University where he received a doctorate in experimental psychology in 1931.In 1936 he began his teaching career at Michigan University and was married in the same year. He finished his first book, â€Å"Behavior of Organisms† two years later. (Browse Biography, 2011) Throughout the rest of his life Skinner made breakthrough after breakthrough in the field of psychology and behaviorism. In 1945 he be came the Psychology Department Chair at the University of Indiana and in 1948 joined the psychology department at Harvard where he remained for the rest of his life. (Cherry, 2013) Throughout his impressive career he received many more outstanding honors and awards such as theNational Medal of Science, the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation Award and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine award for excellence in psychiatry as well as many more books and a few inventions. He eventually passed away in 1990 after contributing countless knowledge to the science of psychology. B. F. Skinner is perhaps best recognized for his study and contribution to a particular type of psychology called behaviorism. Behaviorism was first proposed by John Watson who believed that studying the private experience a person has in their mind was too hard of a thing to observe and speculate.He believed psychology had to be studied more as something an organism does that is physically observable by anyone watc hing. Watson, as well as Skinner, was influenced greatly by the experiments done by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov observed that the dogs he had were becoming accustomed to salivating at the sound of a bell he rang each time he fed them. Eventually he didn’t even have to have food to observe the dogs salivating every time he rang the bell because they had learned to respond a certain way to stimulus.The studies done by Pavlov as well as the work of Watson built the foundation upon which Skinner based the rest of his career in the field of psychology. Skinner observed that in the wild, animals have learned ways to find shelter, food and mates all because they have been conditioned by stimuli to do so. He famously tested this theory by inventing something called an â€Å"operant conditioning chamber†. In this chamber he placed a rat and fixed a lever so that when the rat pressed on the lever it received a pellet of food.He found that after a short time in the c hamber, the rat learned that he was given food each time he pressed the lever so he began pressing it over and over until he was no longer hungry. This experiment furthered his approach towards behaviorism and also added to what Watson had proposed. (Shacter, Gilbert & Wegner, 2011) Also slightly contrary to what Watson and Pavlov believed, he proposed that the behavior of an organism did not depend upon the preceding stimulus but on the reward that occurred after the behavior took place. Cherry, 2013) This led Skinner to state in his book, â€Å"The Behavior of Organisms†, what he called the principle of reinforcement. Reinforcement basically stated that when an organism does something that causes it to benefit in some way, it is likely to repeat the action in order to receive the benefit again. This allows organisms to adapt to their environments and the conditions they live in, in order to survive. (Shacter, Gilbert & Wegner, 2011) Skinner went on to use his ability to inv ent and his interest in behaviorism to try and benefit society in many different ways.He invented such things as the â€Å"Air crib† which was an enclosed chamber to put a baby inside that would allow you to closely monitor and modify the temperature and humidity of the environment. Unfortunately this didn’t quite catch on after people started to compare it to his earlier invention, the operant conditioning chamber, and wonder whether or not it was too cruel for a child. Another quite interesting invention that he proposed was a pigeon guided missile. During world war two, before the U. S. Navy had a practical way to guide a missile, Skinner found an interesting, almost unbelievable method to guide the missiles.He proposed they incased pigeons within parts of the missile. The pigeons would have a screen in front of them showing the view in front of the missile and they would be able to peck towards the target, therefore guiding the missile in that direction. Amazingly this idea proved to be successful in testing, however, the military found it too eccentric and impractical to be used and never took the idea seriously. (New World Encyclopedia contributors, 2008) Not only was Skinner known for his strange, ingenious inventions but he was also known for proposing an idea which gained him much criticism.In his books â€Å"Beyond Freedom and Dignity† and â€Å"Walden II† Skinner talked about a society completely controlled via behaviorism principles such as reinforcement. Theoretically this society would be made perfect using scientific planning to reinforce all the individuals do behave in the correct ways. In these books he claimed that free will is subjective and only an illusion because we are all accustomed to behaving in the ways we do because we have been reinforced by society over the years to behave that way.This was not a popular statement among critics who said he was giving away humanities free will and thought his goal was t o use his science to manipulate people. These claims seemed to be taken to the extreme however; Skinner merely meant to emphasize the importance reinforcement could have on society. (Shacter, Gilbert & Wegner, 2011) Although behaviorism is no longer looked at as the most important way to view psychology, Skinner had a great impact on society and what we know as psychology today.His work with the conditioning chamber is still considered vital information to psychology today. Professionals in the field of mental health still use his operant techniques today on their clients. (Cherry, 2013) The information in his book â€Å"Verbal Behavior† is still a topic of interest in experimental and applied settings currently. (New World Encyclopedia contributors, 2008) Even teachers and animal trainers use his concept of reinforcement and punishment every day to shape the way kids in their classroom or the animals they train behave. (Cherry, 2013)In a 2002 survey, Skinner was voted to be the number one most influential psychologist of the 20th century by psychologists. His honors, awards, positions, titles and honorary degrees are almost too numerous to even count. I think the evidence as well as the opinions of other psychologists show just how much of an impact this man made on the psychological science. There is no doubt psychology is the science that intro to psych students such as myself are learning about today because of the numerous contributions and influence of B. F. Skinner. (Shacter, Gilbert & Wegner, 2011)References Browse Biography. (2011, January 25). B. f. skinner biography. Retrieved from http://www. browsebiography. com/bio-b_f_skinner. html Cherry, K. (2013). B. f. skinner biography (1904-1990) . Retrieved from http://psychology. about. com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_skinner. htm New World Encyclopedia contributors. (2008, April 4). B. f. skinner. Retrieved from http://www. newworldencyclopedia. org/p/index. php? title=B. _F. _Skinner&oldid= 687766 Shacter, D. , Gilbert, D. , & Wegner, D. (2011). Psychology. (2nd ed. , pp. 16-18). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.