Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Art - Essay Example While in the additive process, the sculptor starts with a limited quantity of material but as the work proceeds, he adds material to give sculpture the desired shape. Modeling, construction and assembling of different materials are all examples of additive process. 2) Explain the difference between 'craft' and 'fine arts', giving examples of works that you would classify in these categories. Include in your answer examples that you think could be classified as both ‘craft’ and 'fine art' depending on one's viewpoint.   Craft actually refers to any kind of artwork that requires a skilled use of a person’s hands. Woodworking, glassblowing and pottery are few examples of craft. Craft serves a utilitarian purpose because the product like basket, cup or bowl eventually ends up being used by the consumer. Fine arts on the other hand refer to a form of art meant only for aesthetics. Unlike craft it does not have any ‘practical’ application and is only for the pleasure of its viewers. A wide variety of arts come under the classification of fine arts. These include painting, drawing, sculpture, calligraphy, mosaics and many others. However there is objectivity in deciding whether certain forms of art should be considered craft or fine art. A beautiful hand-woven basket could be considered a craft as well as an art.

Jasmine Revolution Essay Example for Free

Jasmine Revolution Essay Leadership or Tyranny? Summary: Within just 28 days, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali had no alternative but to step down from his 23-year presidency in Tunisia. A single spark set by Mohamed Bouazizi turned out to be a prairie fire across the whole country. Economic Growth Paradox Although the economy of Tunisia has been growing steady at an average rate of 5% for the past 23 years, the unemployment rate has been standing at over 10% since 2003, which is indeed alarmingly high. The rate is double for the young Tunisians, and even higher for the fresh graduates. A recent survey has shown that the unemployment rate stands at 25% and 44% for male graduates and female graduates respectively. If the economy is growing every year, why are there so many people out of job and struggling to survive against serious inflation? What is going on behind the scene? Surrender to Dictatorship In addition to the economic factors, the political situation in Tunisia has played a crucial role in this Jasmine Revolution. The Tunisians have been silent for years: minimal (if any) freedom of speech, deprivation of other political rights and stringent censorship over information and the press. Rampant corruption at the top tier level of the Ben Ali regime, as revealed by Wikileaks, is another burning issue. On the other hand, the Tunisians had to confront the unreliable and abusive police force from the government. Instead of being protected by the local police force, Bouazizi (who was operating as an unlicensed hawker) had his produce confiscated and his subsequent complaints entirely ignored, which eventually led to his self-immolation. Transactional Leadership The exchange relationship between the Ben Ali government and the citizens in Tunisia did not seem to be balanced. Prior to a series of protests and demonstrations and subsequent abdication of Ben Ali, the Tunisians had been resigned to the dictatorship of Ben Ali in exchange of a decent life. However, are the Tunisians getting what they are supposed to obtain? Undeniably, Tunisia has become one of the most stable countries in Arab. True, the slow yet steady economic prosperity and gradual increase in basic health care and education have made the Tunisians look better-off than their Libyan and Algerian counterparts. Nonetheless, they are also under constant threat of unemployment, corrupt officials and violent police force instead of what guarantees a decent life – law and order. Media in Play? While some critics have also partially attributed this revolution to Internet social media, Twitter and Facebook in particular, caution should be exercised in order to avoid playing up the actual influence of social media. No doubt, the speed of information transmission has been greatly enhanced with the introduction of the Internet. In the case of Tunisia, some have named it as â€Å"Twitter Revolution†. However, all social media are better seen as a vehicle or a catalyst of the protests and subsequent overthrowing of Ben Ali. In other words, they are not the sole enablers of such revolution. After all, the crux lies with the fact that when the leader realises his self-interests and benefits at the expense of the interest of the other party, such transactions can no longer be deemed as satisfactory or fair in the eye of the exploited party. What’s Next The single spark in Tunisia has already started a prairie fire in Egypt, with the flame spreading to Libya and China at a great speed. How should the leaders faced with similar dilemmas react? Adopting an even more high-handed approach on the people helps very little at best, and aggravates the problem further at worse. Stricter censorship and control over the information flow to the citizens might sound plausible, yet people can always find means to overcome such barriers. On the other hand, people do not seem intimidated by the dire consequence of their protests – arrest and torture. The self-immolation of Bouazizi is a case in point to show the ‘make-or-break’ determination of the people when pushed to the dead alley. Fair Deal If the transactional relationship is to be maintained, the leaders should identify, understand and respond to the true needs of people. Marginalizing any segment of the society is the last thing to do – frustration and disappointment of the people can evolve into a fatal blow to any regime. If people’s basic welfare were not well taken care of, could the government rest assured that social peace would be maintained? What can go hand in hand with the above is that the leader should create a vision for the people and motivate the people to pursue and actualize the same version, not for themselves only but for others as well.

The Changing Role Of Women

The Changing Role Of Women Gender inequality is one of the enormous puzzles of contemporary society. In last several decades, a significant alteration has happened in higher education throughout much of the industrialized world. For the first time in history, females are completing their educational studies more than males are. However, the university majors are still highly gender separated. Nonetheless, the creation of womens studies programs at university level helps women to reach the gender equality. Also women have to overcome many restrictions connected with the business issues. Despite the fact, that in general, women participation in the Fortune 500 board seats has grown, on the average, the rate of increase is quite slow. Moreover the wage gap and the glass ceiling issues are still exist. Furthermore gender disparity in family remains an issue, despite the fact that the inequality has shifted and became less pronounced in the family life. Keywords: gender inequality in education, college majors, womens studies, sex disparity in business, Fortune 500, wage gap, glass ceiling, gender inequality in family, households, childrens gender, child custody. Gender Inequality: The Changing Role of Women throughout the Last 30 Years in U.S. Gender inequality is one of the enormous puzzles of contemporary society. Gender inequality refers to the unequal perceptions of individuals according to their gender. Males and females are unequal in every possible way in infinite circs, both immediate and enduring, by both objective aspect and subjective practice. Thus, what we can count as gender inequality? Can we describe it in methods that let us surely and fairly assess when there is more or less of it? Gender disparity occurs in the all areas of modern world. Education, business and family evoke the enormous amount of controversy in terms of gender disparity. Gender inequality in education has received significant consideration during recent years from researchers and educators. There are three main points that describe the gender inequality in education: preponderance of women who graduate from university compared to number of men, gender gap in terms of college majors and creation of womens studies. Although women overcame many restrictions connected with the business issues, however the gender gap in the managing positions, wage gap and glass ceiling are still exist. Moreover, gender disparity within the family remains an issue. Despite the fact, that women and men try to share all households, eventually females still doing more than males. Also the sex disparity appears in the perception of childs gender. In addition, the decision-making that refers to childrens custody after d ivorce shows the changing tendency that connected with gender inequality. Gender roles: are they really changing? Gender inequality in education In last several decades, a significant alteration has happened in higher education throughout much of the industrialized world. For the first time in history, females are completing their educational studies more than males are. Up until the 1990s, men have surpassed women in the number of undergraduate and graduate degrees that were completed in US. Since the 1990s, women have begun to attain greater equality with men and, in many cases, have exceeded men in regards to their educational achievement. According to a recent study by the U.S. Congress, females are now prospering as well as, or better than, males on many of the indicators of educational achievement. Interestingly, the huge gaps in educational achievement between males and females that once prevailed have been generally eradicated. In the United States, women currently earn 67 percent of all bachelors degrees. In a recent study McDaniel(2010) found that the demographics were that 61 percent Hispanics, 61 percent Native Am ericans, 54 percent Asians, and 57 percent White females attained college. Changing educational achievement rates for men and women could reinforce gender gaps in salary, the involvement of women in the labor force, and a huge variety of other labor market issues. The increasing ratio of college-educated women compared to men could change social tendencies in marriage: more women delay marriage, divorce or completely deny marriage. As we can see now, the traditional roles of woman are being altered because of the impact of educational access for women. The tendency for increasing numbers of women in higher education should explain not only how females have caught up to males in graduating from college, but also why the female percentage of the population surpassed and continues to increase as compared to the male rate for college graduation. Researchers have looked at sociological and economic ways that the study of educational achievement has evolved. The significance of women increasing their educational opportunities shows in changes in the labor market, where women need to have a higher degree than men to have an equal wage, or the goal to develop their special skills and talents. The second determinant of educational achievement is access to resources. The numerous studies confirmed that family-based financial, social, and cultural resources all play an important role in educational attainment (McDaniel, 2010). Research has begun to concentrate on a females advantage in education in the United States, but it is necessary to emphasize that womens rising tendency of graduation does not mean that the parity in the area of education has finally been reached. University majors are still highly gender separated. In most cases, women choose fields of study which usually bring in less money. The fields that are predominated by men are engineering, law, medicine, natural science and mathematics. The majors that are predominated by women are nursing, social science, teaching, and the humanities. The variety in choices of university majors between males and females is highly striking. In 2007-2009, among recipients of bachelors degrees in the United States, 13% of women majored in education compared to 4% of men, and only 4% of women majored in engineering compared to 14% of men (Evertsson et al., 2009). Unfortunately, in different mens majors women face the problem of gender inequality that connected with the gender perception. The sex differences in choice of major have recently been at the top of disputes on the reasons behind womens under-representation in science and engineering (Evertsson et al., 2009). Females are still considered as being less capable in succeeding in mathematics and natural sciences than males. However, the gender gap in math and science achievement tests is quite insignificant. It is also known that the gender gap has been declining over the past 20 years. One more important change that is connected to gender inequality in education is the creation of womens studies programs at university level. Since the first womens studies program was founded in the 1969-1970 academic year, over 600 schools have established programs (Carell, Page, West, 2010). Undoubtedly, the number of womens studies courses has continued to increase, from 449 in 1984, to 626 in 1994. Colleges and universities now offer about 2,000 womens studies programs (Carell et al., 2010). Today, womens studies are offered in many countries, though the extension of its institutionalization varies widely. The researchers state that the rise in high rate of womens studies has occurred due to the fact that women were always treated as a minority in the society, whose rights have been violated. So now it is considered as a great opportunity to learn about women. An appraisal of the disciplinary impact of womens studies will necessarily be continuous process, as womens studies and associated academic fields further develop. The researchers state that womens studies majors help females to enhance their feminist consciousness and personal self-esteem. Some researchers also point out that females who take part into womens studies changed their attitude towards the perception of men. Women became more likely to compete with men, despite the existing gender disparity. Its important to expand end develop womens studies in order to displace the harsh oppression often made regarding women and reduce the gender inequality. Gender disparity in business One substantial indicator that a society has achieved gender equality would be the existence of approximately equal number of males and females in executive positions. Despite the fact that in Western countries females have far more access to management positions than at any other period in history, equal picture is surely not present. Nonetheless, in recent decades the number of women entering the executive, managerial, or professional ranks in the U.S. has increased. However, these females are concentrated at lower levels of management. Across all economic areas, compared to males, females rarely occupy positions conferring major decision-making authority and the ability to affect others salary or preferment (Duehr Bono, 2006). During the last fifteen years, progression wasnt fast for females in the boards of the largest 500 US firms. The Fortune 500 is the rating of the top 500 United States publicly traded companies as measured by their gross incomes and is complied per annum by Fortune magazine. Women held 9.6 per cent of the Fortune boards seats in 1995, though by 2011 women held 19 per cent seats (Van Der Lippe, De Ruijter, Raub, 2011). Despite the fact that in general, women participation in the Fortune 500 board seats has grown, on the average, the rate of increase is quite slow. According to this rate of increase, it may need at least 70 years for women to attain equity with men on Fortune 500 boards. Females actions can encounter with greater examinations and their performance may be more sharply judged as long as women are not well represented on the board. In spite of the progression women have made, gender pay parity in the workplace is still a problem. In 1990 women earned only 60 cents for every dollar that men earned, implying a gender pay gap of 40 cents (or 40 percent). Although the gender pay gap had stood at roughly that level for decades, the 1995 a striking thing happened: the raw pay gap shrunk rapidly, and it has continued to shrink to this day ( Dey Hill, 2007). Economists analyze the gender wage gap using wage regressions-that is, statistical analyses specifying the relationship between wages and productivity- related characteristics for men and women (Hoque, DuBois, Fox- Cardamone, 2010). The survey concludes that some of the raw wage gap is due to varieties in the measured characteristics of males and females. The gender pay gap has become an essential attribute of the U.S. workstation and is so wide spread that many people believe that it is normal. In most fields college-educated females still earn less than their male co-workers earn, despite the equal working conditions that connected with hours, occupation, parenthood, and other factors that are normally associated with payment system. Women tend to work in the nonprofit and local government areas, where salaries are statistically lower than those in the for-profit and federal government areas (Hoque et al., 2010). The pay parity is particularly a question of fairness. Women dont have enough resources to provide themselves and feed their families, when they are paid less compared to men for equal work. A lot of women experience deficiency is terms of savings as a result of the wage gap, especially when they reti re (Van Der Lippe et al., 2011). The pay inequality is an obstacle for females opportunity to negotiate in the workstation. Most couples tend to prioritize the higher-earning husbands well-being in child care, selection of residence, and other household decisions, because women earn less. The term glass ceiling was used in 1984 by the author of the Corporate Woman column in The Wall Street Journal to describe the process in the work area in USA and other countries. This author reported that an invisible obstacle serves to prevent all but a disproportionately few females from reaching the highest levels of the corporate hierarchy, oblivious of their achievement and merits ( KepHeart Schumacher, 2005). Researchers state that the glass ceiling in corporate America shows a few cracks now, but it is still firmly in place. The point is that the glass ceiling is not a hurdle for a person based on an individuals failure to cope with a higher-level job. It refers to females as a group who are kept from promoting because they are women. Unfortunately, many women who plan their promotion and expect high work positions may not be promoted not because they cant handle the higher-level job, but because they are women. This refers to a special kind of gender discrimination connecte d with the working area. Many researchers also report that despite the glass ceiling there is one more hurdle for female leaders today. That is the peculiar wall that exists at the top, in other words when women succeed in the process of the destruction of strong glass ceiling, then she face another barrier, which is the brick wall between their success and the traditional male hierarchies on the other side. Sometimes as a result, women are choosing to leave the workplace on their own consent, to participate only in family matters, or because they do not want the burden of the leader positions. Actually, women choose to leave corporate America, not so much because of the obvious obstacles previously outlined, but because they choose to establish their own businesses. In fact, the foundation of the owning a business is a very prosperous way of avoiding the glass ceiling concepts. Researchers state that 23% of the women interviewed providing disillusionment with the glass ceiling as the incentive for establishing their own businesses, also between 1997 and 2008, the number of women-owned companies increased by 19 % nationally, in addition, since 1999 there has been a 190 % increase in construction businesses and a 130 % increase in manufacturing businesses started by women ( Terjesen, Sealy, Sinqh, 2009). Moreover, over 2.46 trillion dollars in commerce are generated from female owned businesses. Females are also owners of 12.6 million privately held and majority owned corporations (Terjesen et al., 2009). Its impressive that women serve as employers to 19.5 million employee s; it means that the quarter of all employees work for a woman entrepreneur. These indexes prove the tremendous shift in direction of women entrepreneurism as the chosen approach to crack through the glass ceiling. Sex inequality within family During the last decades womens responsibilities within the family have changed a lot. Therefore, gender inequality acquired a new form due to participation of women in the labor force. The researchers claim that womens employment leads to more equal participation regarding households. Presently, females dont have enough free time to participate in a household as before. Thus, gender inequality has shifted and became less pronounced in the family life. Actually, it took a lot of efforts for women to acquire the same status as men have today. There are two aspects that underlie this change. The first aspect is connected to the womens position of power that she reached as a result of getting independent income. Women now have access to money resources, the opportunity to negotiate the allocation of responsibilities and tasks and became an important and reputable participant in the process of the decision making within the household (Minques, 2012). The second one refers to the females limitation of free time that led to the increase of mens participation in child care and other activities connected with the household. However, researchers state that the disproportional share of the burden of household still exists. Females are assigned more labor-intensive and time-consuming chores. Despite the increase of males participation in a household, men tend to be responsible for familial obligations that take less time and concentration (Mi nques,2012). It means that in spite of the fact that men share the households with their spouses, women still spend a lot of time doing their domestic duties. Another factor that shows the gender inequality within the family is connected to the gender of children. In spite of the statement that the contemporary families are less concerned about gender of their children and tend to have one child of each sex parents still have some preferences. Dahl and Moretti (as sited in Raley and Bianchi, 2006) argues that a number of pieces of evidences suggests that there continues to be a preference for sons, at least among fathers in the United States. For instance, they investigated that couples with two daughters proceed to a third birth than those with two sons. The researchers consider this finding as consistent with a preference for boys over girls. Whether or not parents have a preference in terms of gender of their child, they subconsciously set more hopes on boys than girls. Given past gender differences in adulà Ã‚ µ economic achievements, parents may assume that one gender, most often sons, will have higher economic achievement in adulthood (Raley Bianchi, 2006). In spite of the fact that a lot of couples emphasize that girls will be caregivers for them in the future, parents also suppose that their sons will help them financially, while daughters will spend most of the time in their own families doing households and taking care of children. The presumption that girls will devote the life to their own families as caregivers leads to another area in which couples seem to differentiate the involvement in house-work activities by sex ( Raley Bianchi, 2006). Although parents state that they allocate chores equally, girls do more household work overall. Because girls do more feminine households like cooking and cleaning and boys do more masculine chores as household repairs and outdoor works, its obvious that daughters will do more chores, because cleaning and cooking is a kind of everyday activity, what we cant say about repair. It is an obvious fact that during the long time in US gender inequality in terms of custody of children after parents divorce was in favor of women. However, that tendency has endured a huge surge of changes 25 years ago. National estimates in the 1970s and 80s indicated that women had sole custody of the children approximately 85% of the time, and men retained sole custody 10% of the time, with the remaining 5% spread over a variety of custody arrangements, including grandparent, split or joint custody ( Kalmijn, 2007). The rights of males in this issue has increased and changed for the better over time. Affected by fathers complaints of gender discrimination in custody decisions, constitutional concerns for parity protection, the feminist movement, and the entry of large numbers of females into the labor market, most states had replaced the standards that were based on the gender. Women lost one of their few benefits that refer to gender inequality. The researchers state that the fact that women became more independent and anxious about their career played not a good role for child custody decision-making. In 1980, 2.9 million mothers got sole custody of their children; by 1995 that situation had almost tripled. Nevertheless, by 2007 the number of fathers with sole custody increased by 4 times, while the number of mothers who got the sole custody decreased (DeGermo, Patras, Eap, 2008). Although the number of mothers who have the sole custody substantially prevails, the number of fathers who get the sole custody of children unceasingly grows. Despite all the changes and reforms, gender inequality still exists. Women are trying to avoid many obstacles that they face on their way to success and power. Unfortunately, women need to prove their capabilities in all areas much harder than men do and it does not matter if it is an education, or business, or family scope. Today women still face the gender inequality in terms of leadership positions, pay gap and glass ceiling. They also are unequal with men in area of different college majors and family responsibilities. Nevertheless, due to tremendous efforts, the gender disparity gave a crack in point of womens attendance to college and establishment of womens studies programs. It is well known that the modernity is a time of change and it is obvious that change in gender inequality will continue. But the question is how much time and efforts it will take and will we be satisfied with the results that we will finally receive?

Hieroglyphic Symbols Essays -- essays research papers fc

Hieroglyphic Symbols One of the many contributions that the Egyptian Empire gave modern society was the beginning of a complex alphabetic system. This system also set the foundation for the development of many other systems used by us today such as an accurate calendar and the mathematical formulas used by architects and doctors. The Egyptians named this system Hieroglyphic Symbols. Hieroglyphic comes from the Greek â€Å"hiero glyphica† which means â€Å"sacred carving†. Hieroglyphics were the first form of written communication in the Western world. The developments of hieroglyphics happened about three thousand years before Christ. Egyptians referred to Hieroglyphics as â€Å"the words of God†. But how did the Egyptians develop such a system? Well, the Egyptian traders noticed how helpful a written language was while they conducted business in the Land of Sumer and they brought some ideas to their land. The growing government and bureaucracy made it necessary to have some sort of system that could help society to keep track of history and business. It took a lot of time and effort for the Egyptians to develop their own hieroglyphic system. One of the main problems with hieroglyphics was its complexity. The system was so complicated and hard to learn that only royalty, scribes, priests, and government officials were able to understand the system. Hieroglyphic symbols began with pictures. At first the symbols represented only objects, but later they were also used to express ideas and ...

Cultural Perspectives of the Country of Italy Essay

Italy has been a democratic republic since 1946 and it has a population of about 58 million. It is surrounded by Tyrrhenian Sea on the west and Adriatic Sea on the east. France, Austria are some of the countries that border Italy to the north. Italy is covered by sea and mountains â€Å"While Italy has a huge range of climates and natural features, ideal for mining, cultivation of crops, fish, livestock, and other natural resources, the majority of raw materials its industries require are imported† . The country of Italy has gone through many changes throughout its history and has been in the forefront of the European economic and political unification for a long time now. Though it has faced many obstacles, it has however remained patriotic and keen for union. Culture and lifestyle of Italy Italians are warm and welcoming people, who adore relaxing, celebrate and socialize with family and friends. Their celebrations and relaxations regularly happen around the table either at home enjoying their cuisines or out in a restaurant. â€Å"One thing visitors in Italy notice right away is the people’s openness and sociable nature. Italians have a love of life and enjoy life’s pleasure to the fullest† (Winter & Jermyn, 2003) Family is the guiding force and the focus for loyalty and this make the family very fundamental. Many families put a side a special day to spend time with other relatives for a special meal. The father is always regarded as the provider of all needs and interests and maintained his powers with firm orders. The mother was seen as subordinate and had the right to be heard in family plans and meditated between the father and often numerous children. The Italian’s family structure, food, native costume, music, and religion all play a major role in creating a definite culture that allows them to convey their behaviors in the general public as a whole. Italy is a country in Western Europe that is well known for its food and it is no accident that Italian cooking is so popular due to its rich flavor cuisine. Italians value home cooking so much and especially their pasta as their favorite cuisine. â€Å"Italians remain the largest known European consumer of pasta and cereals. â€Å"They have greatly eliminated such culprits as fats and animal proteins from their diets, as well as reduced their annual consumption of alcohol† (Mure. N. S. , 2008). Italians value the way they dress and it is a priority to them; their dressing is normally very conservative for both men and women. These dressing are always accompanied with elegant accessories which compliments their costumes very well. Religion The Romans worshipped many gods and goddesses before Christianity gained a firm grip on the Italians and that’s when the Roman Catholic Church came into existence and became the most powerful church in Italy. Catholic is the major religion with a majority of 85 percent of the population and just about 20 percent attend worship services unless there I any religious celebrations. The head of the church is the Pope who has full lawful, executive, and judicial powers and at the same time lives there. Their constitution allows for the freedom of religion and worship which is respected by the government. There has been a good relation among religions which has highly contributed to religious freedom. The history of the Roman Catholic Church is based as much on politics as it is on religion, and in some ways this holds true today. To expand the faithful, the catholic Bishops were confident to make their existence known among the ordinary people, and there were more urge to train more clergy and build more churches. â€Å"Though the mixture of religion with all the common events of life is anything but an error yet I could not avoid regretting that like heathens ancestors, the modern Italian had supplied the place of one great Master mover by a countless host f inferior agents† (Blunt 1823). The Vatican City is the head of the Catholic Church in the world that gave the region both spiritual and temporal power and that makes majority of Italians Roman Catholics though very few of them attend mass regularly. Rome has the most beautiful art of architectural and the best ancient churches are situated there. Cultural Holidays and the celebrations Italians always have a reason to celebrate in, whether it’s an historical event, holiday, or other festival. Italy has a large number of public holidays during the year and some of these have a religious background. The way they celebrate their holidays is one of the greatest tourist attraction worldwide. All this festivals are always accompanied by their cuisine which is always an essential part of the celebration. Sacred holidays like Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving Day usually have their special foods that have been practiced over the generations. Same applies to other holidays that have also developed their own cuisine based on their tradition. These festivals are marked not only with indulging in good food but also share with the less fortunate in the society. Compared to other countries in the world, Italians public holidays are celebrated with parades that color the country and display their patriotism. Economy of Italy During the years, Italy’s economy has extremely prospered in that the country is able to import raw material for the countries industrial sector which has encouraged labor flexibility. â€Å"An economic miracle has indeed occurred in post way Italy, manifested by on of the highest growth rates in the world unbroken in its advance for nearly two decades and unmatched in its vitality in any previous period in its industrial history†(Hildebrand, 1965) Even though inflation has usually been a key test for Italy, it has been able to bring it down to levels that can be managed. Italy has very little to boast in agriculture but its economy has been highly lifted by the services and industrial sector which contributes the highest percentage of the economy. Growing family owned business has been the backbone of the economy and the northern part of the country concentrates with capitalistic economy, where the private sector companies account for the total productivity and profitability. Italy has the best world paintings which they exhibit and has been a good boost to the economy. †Venice is a beautiful sight to behold. Anyone wanting to linger in its romance, architecture and canals can find themselves immersed in Venice through the eyes of artist Marco Sassone† (Mure. N. S. , 2008). Industrialization of modern Italy from it inception until today, has been a classic case of even development. Italy has been known to be the largest producer of selected wines. People are invited to the wine tasting event which has attracted many people around the globe just to come and enjoy the art of grape cultivation and processing of the wines. Being a member of the European Union, Italy has taken an active role in European trade and has been the chief trade partner of majority of the European countries as well as America. Italy has the most favorable conditions for business investments and trading that has been able to attract many investors even though much of it is curbed by high levels of corruption and the mafias. Though since Italy adapted to the economic and monetary union requirements, it has experienced very low inflation rates. â€Å"Metals, fuel oil & railway equipment are fastest-growing Italian exports to U. S. while pharmaceutical preparations & precious metals lead American imports into Italy† (Workman 2007). Employment services have been customized recently and government has enacted a law that different organizations have to act as employment offices. Most Italians work for low wages and without any social benefits and protections; the most affected are women and the youth who experience higher rates of unemployment. This is going to create an aggressive room for the employment service and advocate to the public employment services to increase their effectiveness and to create networks with private organizations. Italy has a very well-organized and modern infrastructure and it has failed to come up with subways and more railways to facilitate the movement of goods. While most goods in Italy are always transported by road, the upgrading and improvement of the systems is a major interest to the government. â€Å"The government of Italy has began to address reform on the rail sector and has advanced more quickly than many European countries† (O. E. C. D. 2001). The railway system is also highly developed and this has made it the most preferred way of travelling for its punctuality, comfort and affordable to all commuters. The country’s impact on the US It is generally normal these days for other countries to adapt to the American culture and the introduction of this western culture to Italy has been very pervasive. Italy and America enjoy a warm and friendly relationship because of their efforts to fight terrorism. Most of the Italians have welcomed the American culture but despite all that they have been able to save their cuisine from the changes because they believe that their foods are healthier than the fast foods. Fast food restaurants have gained the peak in Italy which was mostly a common place in America. Italians have also tried to change their dressing and fashion which is most fancied by the young generation. Italy holds the most famous fashion designers in the world but despite all they still go for the American fashions because their clothes are very expensive for every citizen to afford. Most Italians went to America to escape poverty and they believed they would find a better life for their families and other went to work in search of better jobs to get enough money to go back to Italy. The ones that settle were able to completely mix with the Americans and were able to change their cultural behaviours in a way; some turned to criminals especially the mafias who decided to settle in America. There is so much to learn about Italy, their welcoming spirit and the wonderful and the architectural beauty of the country. The many musicians, the operas and even the painting are some of the things that make Italy a beautiful county. References Mure S. N (2008). Abbondanza: Specifically for those with a Passion for Everything that is Italian p. 1 Winter K. J. & Jermyn L. (2003). Italy: Cultures of the world, Volume 4 p. 57 Hildebrand H. G. , (1965). Growth and structure in the economy of modern Italy, p. 3-4 Workman D. (2007). Top Italian Exports & Imports: Most Popular Products Traded Between Italy & America. Retrieved December 9, 2009 from http:// international-trade-leaders. suite101. com Blunt J. J (1823). Vestiges of ancient manners and customs, discoverable in modern Italy and Sicily p. 2 Kwintessential: How Italian holidays are celebrated in Italy. Retrieved December 9, 2009 from http://www. kwintessential. co. uk Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2001). Regulatory reform in Italy, p. 31

Week 1 Discussion 1 Essays

Week 1 Discussion 1 Essays Week 1 Discussion 1 Essay Week 1 Discussion 1 Essay Essay Topic: Discussion From the e-Activity, evaluate at least two companies’ financial statements that have received a negative rating from one of the financial rating agencies. Determine which financial ratios most likely impacted the rating decision. Compare and contrast at least two financial ratios that support the rating agencys claims. Speculate on how the ratios are likely to change considering the economic environment in which it operates. Support your position. The two companies that I choose for this discussion are the American Express, Inc. and the General Electric Company.Both of them received negative rating from the Thomson Reuters Stockreport + and both of them is under the -2 category. As I research on the ratios that these rating companies might use, I discover that they love to use the leverage ratios as an indicator. Take American Express and the General Electric as an example. Both of them carry more than 400% Debt to Common Equity while the Long Term Debt Percent to Common Equity are both more than 250% which consider very high in comparing to those obtain positive rating like Boeing, whose total Debt percentage to Common Equity is only 201. 5%! Other than these leverage ratios, the assets per employee ratio seem to be another key factor to determine the ranking. Company has positive rating like Boeing has assets per employee ratio at $397,262. 38 per employee while both GE and American Express have over 2 million per employee! If a company’s debt to equity ratio is more than 400%, it means that the company relies heavily on debt than equity. It is true that interest expense is tax deductible and which will help to improve the net income as a result of this benefit.However, this ratio will tell the investor that the company might get into cash problem if the growth in sales is slow plus the collection rate is low. In addition, when the assets to employee ratio is over million, it tells the investor that the company is ineffic ient in generate profit. Any changes in the economy, the company is likely to encounter a lot of problems. Change in economic environment would hardly help the American Express as they are well known for high service charge to both merchants and consumers.It would be difficult for them to improve the ratio unless they stream down and change their policy on charging. As for the General Electric, they have to wait till the economy bounces back in full swing then, the assets turnover rate will be improved immensely. In addition, with the help of the growth in sales, they will be able to pay-off some debts and thus reduce the debt to equity ratio. Imagine that you are a chief financial officer with $150,000 of idle cash that you must invest to increase earnings for your company.Select at least two companies and the ratios you would use to determine your investment strategy. Based on the companies you choose, speculate on how the ratios are likely to change over the next five years. I wo uld like to make an investment on Apple, Inc. and Boeing Company in a ratio of 6:4. The ratios that I use for the evaluation will be the growth rate in sales, the return on earning assets ratio, cost of goods sold to sales ratio, the debt to common equity ratio, and the dividend payout in the past 5 years. If the economy remains the same, the cost of goods sold to Sales ratio for Apple, Inc. ill drop proportionately as they have the costs under good control while the sales remains growing at 40% rate. In addition, the return on earning assets will grow a little bit due to the increase in sales. Other than that, other ratios will pretty much the same. As for Boeing, unless there is a sudden demand in new jets, the sales will pretty much the same. As they are pretty good at streamlining, I do not expect a dramatic change in its ratios at all. Reference: Financial data retrieved from www. thomsonone. com ;amp; www. scottrade. com.