SIG Interview Questions Essay - 3036 Words

SIG Interview Questions 1. Torpedo question: 2 torpedoes, each with 1/3 probability of hitting/ sinking a ship 2. I have 20% chance to have cavity gene. If I do have the gene, there is 51% chance that I will have at least one cavity over 1 year. If I don’t have the gene, there is 19% chance that I will have at least one cavity over 1 year. Given that I have a cavity in 6 months, what’s the probability that I have at least a cavity over 1 year? 3. What is the probability of 5 people with different ages siting in ascending or descending order at a round table? 4. We are racing, and can at any time signal to the other that we would like to double our bet. Weve put down 100 to start and during the race I signal to you I want to double†¦show more content†¦Also, cards worth less than 5 are now valued at $0. What is the maximum price you are now willing to pay for the game? 19. Marble weighing questions 20. How many ways can 5 different people sit down at a round table? How many ways can 5 different people sit down in a line of chairs? What if they were seated at a long table with exactly five seats (the 5 people will sit side by side)? 21. I want to have a birthday party outside this weekend (i.e. need sunny weather). On Saturday, the chance of rain is 60 percent, sun 40 percent. On Sunday, rain is 80 percent, sun is 20 percent. From there, the interviewer can ask an array of questions: What are the chances I can have my party this weekend? If I have my party, what are the chances my party is on Saturday/Sunday? Variation: You can hold a party only if there is no rain on either saturday or sunday. The probability of rain on a saturday is 80% and 60% for sunday. What is the probablity you can hold a party at the weekend? Given that you held a party, what is the probability that that it rained at the weekend? 22. Two blind men are carrying 3 pairs of red rocks and 3 pairs of white socks. They hit each other in the mall and have to redistribute the socks so that they receive the same amount of each color they had before. They cant receive any outside help. How do they do it? 23. If i toss 3 pieces on a tic-tac-toe board at random, and I pay you $9 ifShow MoreRelatedLow Attendance Culture at NYUAD1602 Words   |  6 Pageswho are financially constrained from joining an event. In an attempt to have students’ attention and guarantee consistent attendance, SIG leaders and event organizers within the university offer attendees Indian food from the infamous local restaurant Al Ekram or sushi from Sushi Central. This has become a common practice among SIG leaders, who seduce members with food. Therefore more people are starting to figure out ways to get around the attendance issue by getting food. HoweverRead MoreInfluence Culture On Career Decision Making As Well As Determine The Level Of Satisfaction And Excitement1144 Words   |  5 Pagessatisfaction and excitement of students. 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The various factors included promotional offer, brand equity, packaging, price, utility etc. 3.2 Data collection: Through our literatureRead More The Pros and Cons of Pornography Essay951 Words   |  4 Pagespornography, I will conduct interviews based on the strategies that Sterk used when interviewing prostitutes. Sterk made it easier for the women to speak about this difficult topic by first building relationships with them. She also promoted conversations and candid responses from the prostitutes by asking open-ended questions, instead of â€Å"structured questionnaires.† I plan to use this same method during the interview process. Like Sterk, I will use open-ended questions that encourage conversationRead MoreBM0421 Essay3616 Words   |  15 Pagesdesign a questionnaire, one is self completed including Internet and Intranet mediated questionnaire, postal questionnaire and Delivery and collection questionnaire, another is interviewer completed including telephone questionnaire and structured interview. As the researcher concluded â€Å"Researchers in a variety of disciplines may find the Internet a fruitful area for conducting survey research†(Wright, K. B. 2005, p.00). Due to the cost of computer hardware and software continues to decrease, and theRead MoreQuestions On Pharmacy Discourse Community1560 Words   |  7 PagesPCAT in order to get into our desired pharmacy school. Another discourse community I wish to be a part of after completing my pre-pharmacy program is the field of Pharmacy. 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Analysis Swot Tows and Financial Herman Miller Free Essays

Financial Ratios and Analysis of Herman Miller Liquidity Ratios Liquidity ratios for a company help whomever is analyzing the data determine the company’s liquidity. When a company has good liquidity they are able to pay off their short term debt without having to take out any additional financing. We will look at Herman Miller’s current ratio for 2009 and 2010. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis Swot Tows and Financial Herman Miller or any similar topic only for you Order Now The current ratio is calculated by taking the company’s current assets and dividing it by the current liabilities. It shows how many times the current assets can cover the current liabilities. 2009 current ratio | 2010 current ratio | 50. 9/282. 2= 1. 597| 394. 7/313= 1. 261| Herman miller’s current ratio in 2009 of 1. 597 shows they have approximately $1. 60 of current assets to ever $1. 00 in current liabilities. In 2010 they had $1. 26 of current assets to ever $1. 00 of current liabilities. This is a bit of a drop from 2009 to 2010. With the ideal point for the current ratio being above 1. 0; Herman Miller can cover their short term debt without any financing but, the ratio is still mediocre. Debt Management Ratios Debt management ratios show to what extent a company uses borrowed funds to finance its operations. These ratios are important to a company because creditors use them to determine the riskiness of the company’s financial position. Using the debt ratio we can determine how much of Herman Miller’s assets are provided through debt. The debt ratio is found by taking the company’s total debt and dividing it by the total assets of the company. Here is the debt ratio for 2009 and 2010 Debt Ratio 2009| Debt Ratio 2010| 759. 3/767. 3= . 99| 690. 5/770. 6= . 896| From the debt ratio we can tell that Herman Miller has nearly as much debt as assets in 2009. This could shy away some creditors. In 2010 they improved y about 10% which really helps their potential ability to gain more financing from creditors. With ideal ratio being below 1 Herman Miller is ok here but far from good. Profitability Ratios Profitability ratios are used to determine how profitable a company is during a specific period of time. These ratios are important because most investors will look at them when deciding whether or not to take stake in your company. High profitability shows that your company is strong financially, and, can also show that your company is growing. We will look at the return on assets ratio for Herman Miller. The ROA is found by taking the net income and dividing it by the total assets of the company. The ROA shows how well a company can turn the money it has to invest into net income. Here is the Herman Miller’s ROA for 2009 and 2010 ROA 2009 | ROA 2010 | 68. 0/767. 3= 8. 86%| 28. 3/770. 6= 3. 67%| Herman Miller has pretty good ROA considering the industry they are in. according to statistics posted by Fortune 500 on money. cnn. com Herman miller was one of the few profitable companies in their industry with many of the top competitors losing money from 2007-2009. So looking at the industry this is a strong ROA. http://money. cnn. com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/industries/216/index. html) SWOT Analysis Strength The first strength we will talk about is that Herman Miller is a profitable organization. In the two years that we looked at (2009 2010) Herman Miller had a positive ROA. This shows that even during the harsh economic times in the United States over the last four years Herman Miller has managed to make a profit where a lot of their competition struggled. Another strength that Herman Miller has is its management. The best example of this being a strength is the fact that Herman Millers top executives are illing to take pay cuts before the general workforce in 2009 they took a 10% cut in January and another 10% in march when they cut all other employees 10%. Showing your workforce that you are willing to make the sacrifices to stay employed before they bottom of the totem pole makes the employees feel appreciated and more willing to go along with a pay cut when necessary. The third strength we recognized is that Herman Miller creates an empowered and positive workforce. Employees at H erman Miller feel empowered they have no problem telling a supervisor that they are breaking the rules and also feel like they can make some decisions. Empowering your workforce even just a little boosts morale and makes workers feel like they are important to the company. This in The last strength we will mention is Herman Miller’s production. Herman Miller implements the process of lean manufacturing. They call their process the â€Å"Herman Miller Performance System†. They maintain efficiencies and cost savings by minimizing the amount of inventory on hand by using â€Å"just in time† inventory process in the case they mention that some suppliers deliver to Herman Miller multiple times daily. Weaknesses The first weakness would be how close their debt ratio is to 1. Having such high debt ratio could chase away creditors. When you have a small amount of creditors to choose from then you lose the power to choose between different creditors depending on interest rates and other variables. This could greatly increase things like interest expense. Another weakness Herman Miller might have is also a strength. The manufacturing strategy and using just in time inventory can be very efficient but, it can sometimes create problems. If a supplier ran out of material or some other type of crisis could cause Herman Miller to lose out on orders and in relation lose out on sales. The third weakness is their participative management style. Although this could be considered a strength if this style isn’t used appropriately it could affect the company in a bad way. If managers take too much time making decisions because they want to have their employees participate in all decisions then it is extremely difficult to make the quick decision when needed. Sometimes in business managers need to make this quick decision and, with participative management if made fully participative some employees may feel different emotions about a decision being made without them knowing it was being made. The last weakness is they are in somewhat of a specialty market during a harsh economy. Being the manufacturer of high end office furniture during a recession is a big weakness when it comes to growth. Not many consumers are looking for high end products right now although they are still profitable with the strategy they have it could take a serious downturn if things were to get worse. Opportunities One opportunity that Herman Miller has is to become totally green. This means having next to no waste and using renewable resources. Herman miller has been working a little bit towards this in the past years. With the demand of environmentally friendly products on the rise this would open up the opportunity to break into and dominate a new market segment. Another opportunity is the increased amount of time spent by people in front of their computers. This is an opportunity because it opens up the idea of making ergonomically superior office furniture that would make the consumers time in front of their computer more comfortable and reduce the risk of injury. The third opportunity is the growth in the Mexican economy. With the Mexican economy rapidly growing this opens up a whole new country that Herman Miller could potentially do business in. the possibility of a whole new demographic of customers along with the possibility of opening a new location. The last opportunity Is the rising demand of senior housing in the United States. The baby boomers are getting older every year and with senior housing overflowing all over the US there will be more housing opening. These housing centers will need office furniture along with household furniture to furnish the units. Threats The first threat we will mention is the rise in telecommuting. With more and more people and business using telecommuting the demand for office furniture will see a hit. This could potentially hurt the sales for Herman Miller. Another threat is the possibility of new entrants in the market from overseas. Having international competitors enter the market can really hurt Herman Miller because of their ability to obtain low cost material while still creating a quality product. The third threat is the possibility of another economic downturn. With the economy on the downside right now Herman Miller is remaining profitable but would they be able to take an even harsher recession. The last threat is the shortage of skilled workers in the US. With skilled workers declining steadily in the US it is starting to effect manufacturing companies. Without skilled workers you have a higher turnover rate and longer training periods. This will boost up cost and will lose Herman Miller money in the long run. TOWS Analysis Strengths and Opportunities Herman Miller’s strength of an empowered good willed workforce could help them take advantage of the opportunity of the growing senior housing demand. With a workforce that is happy and willing to work they would have no problem taking on the extra hours and work needed to keep up with the added demand. Another strength that Herman Miller could use to take advantage of an opportunity is their production strategy would work well with the opportunity of a growing economy in Mexico. Using their production strategy and opening a new location in Mexico could help them benefit from the rapid growth of the Mexican economy. Strengths and Threats The strength of having empowered and good willed employees could help with the threat of declining skilled workers in the US. If the employees you get that are skilled are less likely to leave you company if they feel empowered and enjoy working there. This will lower your turnover rate and your demand for more skilled workers. Another strength that Herman Miller has is their management willing to take pay cuts. This could help during the threat of an economic downturn. During economic downturn most companies need to cut cost for the decrease in demand of their product having top executives take 10-20% pay cuts really helps the cost cutting process and, could be the difference between going under and staying afloat during a recession. Weaknesses and Opportunities A weakness for Herman Miller is operating in a high end market during a harsh economy. They could open up a new location in Mexico where the economy is booming to help balance the loss of demand in the United States. With a dollar going a lot further in Mexico than it does in the US having a plant there would be more beneficial than exporting their goods from the United States. Using the same weakness Herman Miller could break into the rise of senior housing demand. Even with the economy being in a recession there are still customers that want your product it’s just a matter of getting the contracts and, having the willingness to make a product that suits the customers’ needs and wants. Weaknesses and Threats Herman miller has some weaknesses and threats that a related the goal is to turn them into opportunities and strengths. Every company tries to do this and the successful companies are good at it. Herman Miller needs to use their strengths as a counter when they see a weakness or a threat arise. They have done a good job at it thus far and will continue to stay a profitable company in the future. How to cite Analysis Swot Tows and Financial Herman Miller, Essay examples

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Essay Summary Example For Students

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Essay Summary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in Austria, the son of Leopold, Kapellmeister to the Prince-Archbishop ofSalzburg. By the age of three he could play the piano, and he was composing by the time he was five; minuets from this periodshow remarkable understanding of form. Mozarts elder sister Maria Anna (best known as Nannerl) was also a gifted keyboardplayer, and in 1762 their father took the two prodigies on a short performing tour, of the courts at Vienna and Munich. Encouraged by their reception, they embarked the next year on a longer tour, including two weeks at Versailles, where thechildren enchanted Louis XV. In 1764 they arrived in London. Here Mozart wrote his first three symphonies, under theinfluence of Johann Christian Bach, youngest son of Johann Sebastian, who lived in the city. After their return to Salzburg therefollowed three trips to Italy between 1769 and 1773. In Rome Mozart heard a performance of Allegris Misere; the score ofthis work was closely guarded, but Mozart managed to transcribe the music almost perfectly from memory. On Mozarts firstvisit to Milan, his opera Mitridate, r di Ponto was successfully produced, followed on a subsequent visit by Lucia Silla. Thelatter showed signs of the rich, full orchestration that characterizes his later operas. A trip to Vienna in 1773 failed to produce the court appointment that both Mozart and his father wished for him, but didintroduce Mozart to the influence of Haydn, whose Sturm und Drang string quartets (Opus 20) had recently been published. The influence is clear in Mozarts six string quartets, K168-173, and in his Symphony in G minor, K183. Another trip in searchof patronage ended less happily. Accompanied by his mother, Mozart left Salzburg in 1777, travelling through Mannheim toParis. But in July 1778 his mother died. Nor was the trip a professional success: no longer able to pass for a prodigy, Mozartsreception there was muted and hopes of a job came nothing. Back in Salzburg Mozart worked for two years as a church organist for the new archbishop. His employer was less kindlydisposed to the Mozart family than his predecessor had been, but the composer nonetheless produced some of his earliestmasterpieces. The famous Sinfonia concertante for violin, violo and orchestra was written in 1780, and the following yearMozarts first great stage work, the opera Idomeneo, was produced in Munich, where Mozart also wrote his Serenade for 13wind instruments, K361. On his return from Munich, however, the hostility brewing between him and the archbishop came to ahead, and Mozart resigned. On delivering his resignation he was verbally abused and eventually, physically ejected from thearchbishops residence. Without patronage, Mozart was forced to confront the perils of a freelance existence. Initially his efforts met with some success. He took up residence in Vienna and in 1782 his opera Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail (The abdication from the Seraglio) wasproduced in the city and rapturously received. The same year in Viennas St Stephens Cathedral Mozart married ConstanzeWeber. Soon afterwards he initiated a series of subscription concerts at which he performed his piano concertos andimprovised at the keyboard. Most of Mozarts great piano concertos were written for these concerts, including those in C,K467, A, K488 and C minor, K491. In these concertos Mozart brought to the genre a unity and diversity it had not hadbefore, combining bold symphonic richness with passages of subtle delicacy. In 1758 Mozart dedicated to Haydn the six string quartets that now bear Haydns name. Including in this group are the quartetsknown as the Hunt, which make use of hunting calls, and the Dissonance, which opens with an eerie succession of dissonantchords. Overwhelmed by their quality, Haydn confessed to Leopold Mozart, Before God and as an honest man I tell you thatyour son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. The pieces are matched in excellence in Mozartschamber music output only by his String Quintets, outstanding among which are those in C, K515, G minor, K516 and D,K593. Critical Thinking EssayWhat sort of person was Constanze Weber?Mozart, who nicknamed his bride Stanzerl,described her this way, She is not ugly, but at thesame time, far from beautiful. Her entire beautyconsists of two little black eyes and a nice figure. She isnt witty, but has enough common sense tomake her a good wife and mother . Sheunderstands housekeeping and has the kindestheart in the world. I love her and she loves me. . Constanze Mozarts life was far from easy. FromJune 1783 to July 1791, she bore six children. TheMozarts first child, Raimund Leopold, died at theage of two months of an intestinal cramp while hisparents were away on a visit to Salzburg. Theirthird, Johann Thomas Leopold, lived less than amonth, their fourth, Theresia, six months, and theirfifth, Anna Maria, only one hour. The Mozarts were left with only two surviving children, whomWolfgang barely had time to know. When he died, the eldest was seven years old, and theyounger only six months. After Mozarts death, Constanze met and evetually married Nikolaus vonNissen, an official in the Danish Embassy, and it was he who raised Mozarts sons. von Nissendied in 1826, and Constanze in 1842. The two boys led fairly uneventful lives. The elder, Karl Thomas (b. 1784), ended up as a minorofficial on the staff of the viceroy of Naples in Milan. He died in 1858. The younger, Franz XaverWolfgang, inherited his fathers musical inclinations, if not all of his talent. He composed andconducted extensively throught Europe, but perhaps the last word on this Wolfgang AmadeusMozart the Younger was best spoken by George Bernard Shaw in a letter he wrote in 1897. Doyou remember the obscurity of Mozarts son? An amiable man, a clever musician, an excellentplayer, but hopelessly extinguished by his fathers reputation. How could any man do what wasexpected from Mozarts son? Not Mozart himself even.Wolfgang and his father, Leopold had never regained the closeness they had shared in earlier days,but they reached a peace with each other, and maintained a steady corresponence. Leopold diedin Salzburg on May 28, 1787, at the age of 67. Wolfgang had news of his fathers illness in April,at which t ime Constanze was ailing as well. This turn of events left him greatly depressed, and hisown health took a turn for the worse. His music from the preceding decade was only sporadicallypopular, and he eventually fell back on his teaching jobs and on the charity of friends to make endsmeet. In 1788 he stopped performing in public, preferring to compose. Mozart may have died of a number of illnesses. The official diagnosis was miliary fever, but thetruth is that the physicians who attended him were never quite sure what Mozart died of. Hesuffered from rheumatic pain, headaches, toothaches, skin eruptions, and lethargy. A commontheory today is that Mozart died of uremia following chronic kidney disease. Another possibility isrheumatic fever. Regardless of the cause, Mozart became bedridden for the last two weeks of hislife. He died at shortly after midnight on December 5th, 1791, aged thirty-five years, elevenmonths, and nine days. Mozarts legacy is incestimalbe. A master of every form in which he worked, he set standards of excellence that have inspiredgenerations of composers. Some of his representative worksSymphonies Nos. 25, 29, 38, 39, 40 41 JupiterPiano Concertos Nos. 19, 20 ; 27sinfonia concertante for violin and violaString Quartets: the Hunt, the DissonanceString Quintet No.4 in G minor, K516Le Nozze di Figaro

Social welfare policy that facilitates reduction of poverty and inequality in US

Introduction In the past two decades, the international community has made poverty eradication as their number one priority. Over a decade ago, Breton wood institutions came up with an objective of minimizing cases of income – poverty in less developed countries from over 30% to less than 15% by 2015 (Bourguignon 2).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Social welfare policy that facilitates reduction of poverty and inequality in US specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Escalation in global poverty has led to emergence, fusion, and dispensation of new economic models which focuses on economic stability, liberalization, privatization of public institutions, and exploration of market solutions in supplying public goods. These approaches marked the era of policy making in both developed and developing nations in their effort to promoting living standards of the poor nations and the eradication of poverty globally (Bour guignon 3). Most studies investigating inequalities between countries assume all citizens from these nations have similar mean income. Most of these studies suggests that majority of the Asian countries grew first towards the mean income while the rest of developing nations are moving further away (Glazer 3). These studies show that the income of the richest members of the population which constitutes of about 20% has rose to over 80%. Therefore, the increasing global inequality has been a constant feature over the past three decades, with a noticeable scenario from 80s to date and there is diminutive evidence that this condition will change (Glazer 4). With exclusion of china, the reduction of inequality in the global arena has not been realized since 1975. Since the end of 70s, US have experienced spectacular increase in economic inequality. United States is considered to be the most unequal nation among the world richest economies. In spite of the scale of the increase in the ine quality, the political class in the US rarely discusses this subject in the public. Throughout the history of the United States of America, its populace has struggled considerably with the paradox of poverty amidst riches (Weil and Kenneth 2). This has left many people wondering why a nation endowed with such magnitude of wealth still witness its own citizens struggle while there are enormous opportunities and excellent economy. Are the poor to be to be blamed or they are just victims of social inequality dogged with racism and bigotry, or economic system that favors the affluent over the struggling population? The paradox of the American poverty runs down to a long time and the only news is the amount of public policy concentration aimed towards the poor. A lot of attention is being paid now than before and one of the major reasons for this is the restructuring of the welfare system.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your fi rst paper with 15% OFF Learn More The American income safeguarding system is categorized into two based on their relationship with the workers; one of the category is the social security which includes unemployment compensation program, disability insurance among others which is linked to the payroll deduction or contributions from the income to the public programs. The other category is the social welfare programs whose suitability is centered on the welfare earning and accumulated affluence. Welfare programs are mostly for the needy and the poor people in the society (Glazer 3). Personal Responsibility and Work opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 led to the overhaul of the welfare system. One of the major reform programs was the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). This program offered cash incentives to the families which had children but earned low income (Weil and Kenneth 4-5). There were other legislations that sought to terminate all of the abo ve government programs that assisted the low-income earners/ the poor by encouraging self-reliance and personal responsibility. PRWORA put in place stringent measures that limited the cash assistance, enforced work requirements, and promoted matrimony and nuclear family as a basis for raising children (Trattner 6). Welfare reforms in the US have been a big achievement, in any case by considering the reduction in the welfare problems. The number of families that got assistance from the welfare programs decreased by more than half between the year 1994 and the year 2000. By the year 2000, only 2.1% of the US populace was receiving support from the government welfare program known as the Temporary Assistance for the Needy Family program (TANF). Successes of these programs were promoted by the flourishing economy at that time. This welfare programs helped in poverty caseloads reduction even in the single families with women as the head. The year 2002 saw the re-authorization of the welf are reform bill as a result of the protests from the poverty and welfare rights group. The right group argued that PRWORA placed a lot of focus on minimizing caseloads instead of prioritizing poverty reduction (Glazer 3). Statistics of the poor Americans According to the studies carried out in the year 2000 it was established that the poor Americans constituted of about 11% of the population. This study was carried by the US office of management and Budget. This was the lowest rate since 70s and only 4.4% lived below the poverty line.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Social welfare policy that facilitates reduction of poverty and inequality in US specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is diminutive evidence to support the critics who opposes PRWORA claiming that it has impoverished the populace more. In a matter of fact, the average income of the American families within the bracket of bottom 20% increased from 1 2600 dollars to over 14000 dollars. The growing incomes among the poor and the rich reinforced the euphoria over the improving economy and authenticating claims that welfare reform was successful (Glazer 3). Activists representing the poor argue that income benchmark used by the federal government to measure poverty was too low to cover the basic needs. In the year 2000, single mothers with two children required only 14000 dollars to be counted out of the poor population while a nuclear family with two children required 17500 dollars. In contrast, the median income for the American families was approximately 51000 dollars. Analyst argues that personal income at or above the economic poverty income threshold cannot support an individual in the world biggest cities like London, Washington D.C, among others since housing is beyond their reach (Bourguignon 2). Considerable difference in living costs in different geographical regions forms the basis for criticism against a single nationa l income standard for defining poverty. Other limitations on the official definition of poverty are its failure to account for other source of income or support such as food stamps (Trattner 6). Child poverty rates dropped by almost 20% in the early 1990s to the year 2006 according to the national survey carried out in 2007. About 11.5 million children and 3.4 million adults of age 65 and above live in poverty making almost half of the poor population in America. Children and elderly persons are considered as eligible poor who deserves state’s assistance. They cannot be held responsible for their poor status. America’s racial minorities still constitute the poorest in the American society (Glazer 3). The racial structure and composition of the poor Americans have not changed over the past ten years. In early 90s, 50% of the poor populations were non-Hispanic white. This figure went down by 3% in the year 2000 to 47%. America’s increasing racial diversity has tak en place at the same time with the waning poverty rates across racial and ethnic minority groups. Between 1990 to date poverty, rates have gone down from 28% to 19% among the Hispanic, and from 12% to 10% among Asian and Islanders.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reduction in poverty rates dropped steeply among the African American from about 40% in the year 1990 to about 20% in the year 2006. However, poverty rates among the African American and the Hispanics is still about twice the national average (Trattner 7). Wage inequality between male and female have persisted coupled with the escalation in single motherhood. This has underpinned the perception that the growing poor Americans are women (Bourguignon 2). In the year 2000, the poverty among women was 25% higher than men and this gender difference has remained constant over the years. The sex difference has persisted despite of the increasing female employment rate, increase in income and reducing wage difference between male and females (Trattner 6). About half of the America’s poor families are headed by women although families headed by women only represent quarter of the all families with children. In the year 2000, the rate of poor families headed by women was six times high er than the rate for married couple (Trattner 6). After the enactment of the PRWORA, this rate started to decline from 47% to nearly 30%. The main goal for this welfare program was to encourage work and economic self-reliance among the poor particularly among the unwed mothers with children. Therefore, welfare reforms forced large percentage of female beneficiaries into the labor force. Although employment does not protect an individual from poverty, people who area employed are likely to be less poor (Glazer 3). The personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) The personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was signed by President Clinton in 1996 into law to fulfill his promise of ending the welfare problems facing the poor Americans at that time. This law transformed the entire national welfare system both substantially and administratively. This law also eliminated the previous welfare system which had been advocated against by peop le from all walks of life since it was increasing state expenditure while leaving the poor on the mercy of the government donations (Caraley 5). The main purpose for the introduction of personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was to minimize over dependence on welfare, bringing forth children out of wedlock and promoting nuclear type of families. In line wit the above preconditions, the act required that the beneficiaries to look for job opportunities within two years of receiving support, and placed a five-year limit on the lifetime a person should be entitled to these benefits. In addition, the act (Weil and Kenneth 7) Brief history of the law PRWORA eradicated the previous welfare program known as the AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) which was enacted in 1935 following the great depression that engulfed the US and the global financial arena. AFDC welfare benefits were based on eligibility. This means that families who met their conditions wer e entitle to the benefits for as long as they needed it. In addition, the federal share of the AFDC funds fluctuated in accordance with the caseloads. At first people saw the program as a helping hand to the justified widows as it helped them to raise their children. On the other hand, critics felt that this program encouraged dependency among the escalating class of single mothers, besides creating inflated and incompetent bureaucracy (Weil and Kenneth 9). In 1970s large number of women started joining the workforce as the Americans started becoming hungry at the single mothers whom they viewed as undeserving the benefits of the program. Besides, the welfare beneficiaries stated to grow at an alarming rate thus increasing the cost of the program. Racial subjects also played a big part in the switch as the African-American women became stereotyped as welfare mothers (Weil and Kenneth 7). The US government in the year 1980s, started to issue waivers to the to some of its states that considered to test their own welfare programs. Some of these states enforced work obligations and limited time for receiving benefits thus tried to transform the behavior of the beneficiaries by granting or denying benefits inline rules set in their programs. Some of the American conservatives also argued that the welfare programs increase d poverty instead of reducing it since many people became over-dependent on the program (Bourguignon 8). When President Clinton was elected he continued to support states that wanted to test their own social welfare programs to replace the then entitlement program.However, when the republicans won the majority sits in congress in 1994, they proposed a plan to introduce their own principals into the welfare program. This pressurized President Clinton to pass a considerable welfare restructuring legislation so as to demonstrate his record as a moderate politician (Bourguignon 9). However, President Clinton rejected two republican welfare-restructuri ng bills in the year 1995 that he felt were too inconsiderate. In the year 1996, both the republicans and the democrats were under pressure to conclude the welfare reform agenda before the forthcoming general election. As a compromised bill, congress submitted PRWORA to the president who signed it into law despite of his doubts over certain clauses. A number of high-level officials resigned to protest the signing of the bill arguing that the bill would cause escalation of poverty and inequality during recession (Weil and Kenneth 7). Main provisions of the personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act The act creates Temporary Assistance for the Needy families (TSNF). TANF substitutes previous eligibility program for instance Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The act devolves responsibility of welfare programs from federal government to the state/ local governments and non-profit making private organizations. The act uses time restrictions and work conditions to stress the move from welfare to work. The law stiffens entitlement standards for Supplementary Security Income (SSI) child disability benefits. The act also requires state to impose strict child maintenance programs for collecting child funds from the absent fathers (Weil and Kenneth 5). This act restricts entitlement and other public benefits to the newly immigrants. The act also denies illegal immigrants most of the benefits except under emergency cases. The state is required to provide federal cash support to the legal migrants in the country and to use government funds to assist immigrants not entitled to federal funds. PRWORA provides funds for foster care data system and national child welfare custody research. The law provides for unit fund to enable states to offer childcare for the working parents. The act transforms entitlement criteria and benefits for child nutritional programs. The law has put forth strict standards for food stamps and other benefits. PRWORA minimiz es benefit level and refutes most benefits to able persons unless they are working or in school. Finally, the law limits entitlement for TANF beneficiaries. The law sets up five-year deadline for beneficiaries and deters persons convicted of drug related crimes from accessing this program in their lifetime (Weil and Kenneth 7). Assessing Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) Before the enactment of the bill, the number of people under the welfare program had already fallen. This number continued to fall significantly after signing of the bill into law. Between the period when the bill was signed and the year 2000, the figure of the people under the welfare program went down by almost half, even though caseloads in majority of the states started to go up again by 2001 and continued to vary moderately. Besides, the rate of poverty fell to the lowest recorded level of 19% from 22% in 1994, though this rate never went down remarkably as the figure of t he beneficiaries (Trattner 14). In spite of the encouraging figures, the welfare of those under the PRWORA program was never clear. By the end of 2002, many people who were former beneficiary of the welfare program were by then working low paying jobs with minimal benefits. These people were no longer granted food stamps or medical cover even in cases where they were eligible. In most cases, the underpaying job opportunity for the poor meant loss of the benefits from the welfare program. Majority of the former beneficiaries thus lingered beneath the poverty line. Almost half of the former beneficiaries who left the program in search of jobs went back within a year since they were not able to access jobs or consistent child care (Trattner 15). In addition, almost half of the people who left the welfare program did not have jobs or were not working at all. Some of these people got discouraged from applying for the program; majority had their benefits cut trimmed down or terminated by failing to meet the required threshold while others just vanished from the system (Carale 2). Majority of the beneficiaries of the former welfare program (TANF) had considerable obstacles for employment including illiteracy, health problems, and drug / alcohol problems among others. Even though PRWORA provided no apparent policy guidelines to assist these people overcome such obstacles, beneficiaries faced set time deadline on assistance (Weil and Kenneth 9). Lawful Challenges that pretentious the personal accountability and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act PRWORA brought about a welfare system which was triggered by the level of reforms, though its execution was met by several challenges of the law. Supreme Court ruled against the lesser benefits that was being accorded to the citizens who were moving from state to state since it violated their right of movement. In addition, there were cases of successful petition against the unjust Welfare officers who were mistreating the ben eficiaries. These cases revolved around those officers who were trying to discourage the needy from applying for help, denying them access to the program or giving them unfair hearing in cases where they violated the law. (Weil and Kenneth 10). Nevertheless, some of these court petitions never bared fruit. Examples of such cases include incidences where the applicants tested positive for illegal drugs which is against the law. Other legal challenges have focused on the aid organizations of choice. The law requires the state to include religious organizations when contracting out welfare administration (Trattner 25). The reorganization of the PRWORA It was back in the year 2002 in the month of October when PRWORA mandate expired, but was later on reauthorized by the congress. Within the same year, President Bush increased the working hours for the employees under the program. In addition, President Bush laid down a plan to increase the number of beneficiaries in the work force from 5 0% to70% before the end of his term. The president also offered to finance state programs that encouraged marriage and unmarried adolescent from engaging in premarital sex. The president’s proposals were passed in May the same year (Trattner 5). June 2002 saw the senate finance committee passing a more accommodative bill that raised childcare funds, widened the description of work activities, and allowed state to provide welfare benefits to the legal immigrants. On the other hand, the senate refused to pass the bill. Being unable to reach a compromising ground on the same subject, the Congress passed an abiding resolution to retain TANF until 2003 thus leaving the bill to the subsequent congress (Caraley 5). Conclusion United States is considered to be the world richest economy ad has the greatest share of money in the international monetary fund. With all that wealth it is unbelievable to realize that some of the American citizens still live in poverty. This is a paradox sin ce the median income of the Americans is about 59,000 dollars. This inequality led to a number of social welfare programs to help the poor and the needy. These efforts started in the late 30s following the great depression but the turning point in the America’s welfare reforms took place when President Clinton signed personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act into law in the year 1996. This was a major milestone in the quest for welfare reforms although the act also had some loopholes. The rate of the poor Americans have dropped significantly since the introduction of the bill. Work Cited Bourguignon, Francois. The Poverty-Growth-Inequality Triangle. Washington D.C: World Bank, 2004. Print Caraley, Demetrios James. Ending Welfare As We Know It: A Reform Still in Progress. Political Science Quarterly 116, no. 4 (2001): 525. Glazer, Sarah, Are Former Welfare Recipients Better Off Today? CQ Researcher 11, no. 27 (Aug. 2001). Trattner, Walter. From Poor Law t o Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America. 6th ed. New York: Free Press, 1999. Weil, Alan and Kenneth, Finegold. Welfare Reform: The Next Act. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 2002. Print. This essay on Social welfare policy that facilitates reduction of poverty and inequality in US was written and submitted by user Sister Grimm to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Realistic Hero Essays - English-language Films, Free Essays

The Realistic Hero Essays - English-language Films, Free Essays The Realistic Hero Tom Sawyer, the main character of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, written by Mark Twain, is an average boy who is bored with his civilized life and escapes these constraints by pulling pranks, and pulling other mischievous things. The character of Tom, in the most part, is presented as a realistic and convincing boy. He is kind and loving, but also cruel, stupid, and hypocritical of others at times, as well as, he shows maturation throught the story. The story of Tom Sawyer,as well as being about a realistic character, is a story that is intrusive to adults and children. Tom is shown throughout the story as a typical boy of his time and place. He has a loving, happy home, with his devoted Aunt Polly to care for him. He is mostly restricted by his home routine of prayers, meals, chores, bedtime, and things like that, but when his routine life gets to dull, he has the nearby river and woods, where he can go to escape. Though Tom is not " the model boy" of the village, he even hates the "model boy." He plays boyish pranks on Aunt Polly, Sid, his friends, and everyone in town. He steals, lies, plays hooky, fights, and goes swimming secretly, but he is a normal boy and this is what normal boys do at his age. Tom is a clever, imaginative boy who has a good knowledge about human nature and knows how to use it. He continually outwits his Aunt Polly, and also persuades other boys to do his work for him without them even knowing of his trickery. One example of this is in the whitewashing scene, when his Aunt Polly makes him whitewash the outside fence before he is allowed to play. He slyly conviences the first boy by saying "...I don't see why oughtn't like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence everyday?" (21) With this cunning use of words he manipulates the boy to whitewash the fence, which leads to others also joining in to help. In the end, Tom has made a tidy profit as well as got the whitewashing done without actually doing it. As well as Tom being known as a strong boy, he also has fears. He is afraid, at various times in the book, of being harmed by Injun Joe, starving to death with Becky in the cave, of witchcraft, and of death during the thunderstorm when he is ill with the measles. Some of his fears are based on real dangers, such as with Injun Joe. Others are just simply fears in his mind. Partly by luck and partly by using his mind and courage, Tom is able to eventually triumph over his fears. Tom , who is usually a spirited guy, sometimes goes off by himself to be alone and think about his death. Ususally these dark moods only last a very short time, then he is back to his rowdy self. For example, after being rejected by Becky, he goes off into his comforting woods and thinks about ways to get back at her, and even thinks about running away. Though he gets into these moods occasionally, a quick visit from his friends he totally forgets his depressed mood, and resorts back to his spirited self. Although Tom likes to rebel against society and its restrictions, he is basically respectable. He is the nephew of a woman who is the soul of suitability and who is instilled him with these values. When Tom calculates his pranks and adventures in term's of society's reactions. At the end of the story, he even persuades his best friend Huck, who is an outcast in the town, to become "respectable" by telling him "Well, everybody does that way, Huck." (243) Tom also conviences Huck to "be respectable" by telling him he won't let him join his robber gang " if you ain't respectable." Also another aspect of Tom that is realistic is how he grows throught the story. Tom starts out acting childish and irresponsible and ends up acting more mature and responsible. The story of Muff Potter begins with Tom and Huck going to a graveyard to try

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