Reaction Paper of World Economic Forum Essay

Child labor refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labor. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries. Child labor was employed to varying extents through most of history, but entered public dispute with the advent of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during the industrial revolution, and with the emergence of the concepts of workers’ and children’s rights. This definition is from the Wikipedia. Why does this exist? To whom will be the blame be given? Is it the parents, who raised their children to work, or the children themselves who decided to work to overcome hunger and thirst for survival? Is it the government that has to be responsible to this or this is all because of the inevitable poverty we are now experiencing today? For me, I have to blame all because in each problem of the society we encounter, it is not always that it is only a problem of one but rather it is a problem of all. We tend to forget that the ones affected to this kind of problem are also of our kind, Filipinos. We should always remember this statement, â€Å"One for all, and all for one.† I have mentioned above that are the parents to blame for this kind of problem. I say yes, a big yes for me. Why? It is simply because the parents are the first people that the child may know and they are the one who nurtures the child. Moreover, the parents are the one responsible if ever their children have nothing to eat and wear for everyday living. The parents in the society are expected to provide all their children needs for the bore them not to be slaves in the family. The parents are expected to give the right to education for their children to earn knowledge and not send them to factories that would bring them sickness just to earn money. But now, all the expected things turned out wrong. Some parents even do not mind if their children are already at the streets asking alms, some are into drugs, and some engage to crimes such as robbery and prostitution. If I were the parent, I had rather just send them to DSWD and see them eating and playing than watching them earn a living at the young age. I do not say that putting the child to DSWD is another irresponsible act the parent had made but it will be the best alternative answer to the problem. Are the children also to blame? I can say that the children have also something to deal with this. Even if the child is only four years old and has no sense of maturity yet, the child has something to play with this. Sometimes, it is the children’s decision to work for their families. They are working not because they want to eat, but rather gave the money to their parents, hoping that this money results to something that is good for their stomachs. In some cases, the children also are the ones that decide to leave the family because they see that the family cannot give the happiness they are asking for. So, the children have no choice but to leave independently and find their own living. The worst is that the children may engage into crimes such as killing, stealing, and prostitution. This is really happening in the society today. I can share an experience of one of our maids of our family. I admit that we hired her at her minority age. She was only 15 when she entered our home. After months of working in our house, we had already given her our trust. One day, we invited her to come into our lola’s house for the fiesta. She agreed to come rather than staying at home alone, and we wanted her to come because maybe she will be stealing anything from the house without our knowledge. We cannot give all our trust to a certain person right? Anyways, we had the time to go to the beach. The tide was so low that the sea was very far from the shore. Our maid never knew that the water was shallow. The dived and end up with bleeding wounds in her face. We immediately went home to cure her wounds. When we went home to back in Tacloban, she was not feeling easy. I think that the scars in her face made her actions limited and a little bit more conservative. After 3 days after the said incident, she left our house without any permission. We immediately reported this to her parents. Time passed but still no news was heard. We have now a new maid but of legal age. Years passed, and suddenly our roads had crossed each other. I have seen her near the seawall in the city but the thing that stunned me most is that she was already carry with her a child. This story is just one example of what can happen to children in our society. Is the government part of the problem? I’ll answer this question with a yes again. The government is expected to implement laws for this and make sure that these laws are nationwide followed. The government should play as the provider of the needs that the households cannot provide. It is sometimes reasonable that the government cannot provide them all but at least they will show that they are concerned to this problem. I can see that some policemen maltreat these children. Better if we just leave them alone and just catch them if they are now doing beyond the limitations. I’m disappointed to those government officials who did not do an effective action to eradicate this problem in our society. I am not an anti-government individual but I guess this is reality. Man is a power-seeker according to Thomas Hobbes so man really has the tendency to retain his power when he is in power and the outcome is that the poor will always be poor. Lastly, the poverty we are facing is the best reason why the children are into this action. Poverty is the reason why the parents cannot send their children to school, where the children are expected to learn and to socialize with our children. Poverty is also the main reason why the parents cannot provide the quality of happiness each child is longing for. The conception of poverty because of overpopulation is quite wrong. It some points it is true that this overpopulation can affect the way of living in a family but what now for China that contribute a big fraction to the world’s population. China is a big country in both economy and population. If China can make a difference why cannot we? As a conclusion, I am really against to this kind of problem in the society and besides who are happy watching children working not for themselves but to others. I am really thankful to my parents that I was raised efficiently, providing me anything that could bring to a better outcome. Time will come that I will be a parent. I am hoping that somehow there will be changes in our society that is concerned to this problem. It is still not the end for this. The solution is just there. All are aiming that this can be totally eradicated in the future.

Othellos Sad Misreading essays

Othellos Sad Misreading essays There are many interpretations of William Shakespeares play Othello. Many see him as a victim and many see him as a jealous fool. Both of these assertions are true. However, when Othello speaks at the end of the play, we find it difficult to believe he loved well. Othello reads himself incorrectly here. Interestingly, the truth allows him to see something that does not exist. He did not love wisely or well because he acted like a fool throughout the entire play. The goodness of Othellos nature is only reflected upon by others early in the play, but unfortunately, we never get to see any of that goodness. Instead, we are confronted with a very jealous man that is not capable of seeing any good characteristics in his wife once a bad thought is planted in his mind. He was a fool for love in the absolute worst way. Othellos first mistake is choosing to believe Iago over his wife. We see the worst side of his character when he dismisses Desdemona at every turn. Othello is short on faith. Sadly, he never gives her an opportunity to defend herself. Instead of communicating with her, he decides to obsess about everything, which only compounds the situation. The obsession feeds the jealousy and vice versa. He cannot let go of the thought of a cheating wife and allows his mind to consider murder. We know that he is too far gone when he contemplates this act because he thinks it might actually be good for him to do so. For a man that claims to give his wife all the love in the world, Othello truly misses the mark with her. Had Othello moved toward his wife instead of away from her, we might have seen an example of one of Shakespeares strongest couples. While it pains us to admit that Iago is correct, we must agree with him in that Othello can be led by th nose/As asses are. (Shakespeare I.ii i.395-6). This characteristic makes Othello naive, not wise. Had Othello been wise, he would have be...

Marijuan issue essays

Marijuan issue essays Californias Medical Marijuana law Under federal law using marijuana in anyway is illegal. But starting on 1996 California passed proposition 215 making it legal to smoke marijuana if you have a serious illness and you need to obtain a doctors recommendation first. This law was passed because marijuana lessens pain and stops nausea from resulting from serious diseases. It also lowers the internal eye pressure associated with glaucoma which slows the process of blindness. It reduces the pain of AIDS patients plus it makes them hungry because of those suffering malnutrition because of AIDS wasting syndrome. It also reduces muscle spasticity and chronic pain because of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and spinal cord injuries. In 1998 the U.S. government sued the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative (OCBC) in federal court for violating the Controlled Substances Act. They want to do this because proposition 215 is very loose. For example to be order to get marijuana you would have to have a illness but it also say that you can use it for any other type of illness for which marijuana provides relief which could be stress, headaches, upset stomach, insomnia....or anything else. You wouldnt even need a written prescription to get it. Anyone with a oral recommendation or approval by a physician can grow, possess, or smoke marijuana. Even little kids can smoke pot legally if they have a prescription. Plus there is no FDA approval for marijuana. The quality, purity and strength of the drug is unregulated. The Government wanted the OCBC to be ban from distributing marijuana to patients. But the OCBC in there defense said that it acted out of medical necessity because of seriously ill citizens, and that such a medical necessity should be an exception to the law. But the district court favored the U.S. government, which caused the OCBC to shutdown. But In May 2001 the Supreme C ...

Discuss how the credit crunch could affect corporate decision making Essay

Discuss how the credit crunch could affect corporate decision making over the next few years - Essay Example Taking the Asian example, in the years succeeding 1997, both the demand and supply were determined to have been affected by the credit crunch. Demand for credit declined as consumption and investment were sharply reduced due to uncertainty, overcapacity, weakening economic conditions, and the negative wealth effect arising from a fall in asset prices. The borrowers lost credit worthiness, which made banks reluctant to lend, even at higher interest rates. The financial system will also be affected in such a situation, resulting in the decline of supply of credit, which further weakens its demand (Lindgren, 1999, p. 24 - 25). According to Jubak (2007), in a credit crunch, lenders stop lending and credit becomes tough to obtain. Credit crunch is a crisis that feeds on fear and uncertainty. A lender can compensate for fear by raising interest rates, tightening credit standards or writing more protective covenants into the terms of a loan. But if the size of the losses is uncertain enough, lenders cant compensate for the additional risk because lenders dont know how large that risk might be. Credit crunch is characterized by extremely depressed liquidity and deteriorated balance sheet positions for households, corporations and financial institutions; sharply increased interest rates as all sectors scramble for remaining available funds; rising yield differentials as investors sell risky investments and switch to safe assets; a severely depresses stock market; and the inability of many borrowers to obtain funds at any cost (Wolfson, 1994, p. 22). The supply of funds is restricted not only because of the tight monetary policy by reducing bank reserves, but also due to smaller deposit inflows to financial institutions and reduced savings flows (Wolfson, 1994, p. 22). In order to study the causes of credit crunch, Clair and Tucker (1993) focus on the Texas banking industry and the credit crunch phase of seven years starting 1986. The authors

Christian Smith, The Emergence of Libertation Essay

Christian Smith, The Emergence of Libertation - Essay Example The movement was formed when in 1962; Pope John XXIII called the Vatican to try adapting Christian message to the world, which was coming modernized at high rate. The council was also called upon to rethink on the nature that the church had and the relationship that was between the two. In the conference, there was redesigning of the roles that were to be played by the church. The church was then seen as people of God who had different capabilities but those who shared humanity and similar destiny in the eye of God. Through the conference, Vatican II called for the church to get involved in the fight against poverty. They thought that when there was development of a humble role, the poor would be easily reached. There was rejection of the idea that the church was to be aligned with powerful elite and stressed on the need of a more just world. The bishops that were from Latin America were not much satisfied with the Vatican II; it became a lesson to them. When the bishops went back to Latin America, they took a close look at the social order in the numerous countries (Smith, 58). The concepts of Vatican II were applied in Latin America in 1968. The outcome that was got was a document that was to be the basis for liberation theology. The document also gave the church power to get involved in social change. There was argue that the church was to be involved much on liberation rather than focusing on developments in dealing with the problems that faced by Latin America (Smith, 83). There are theologians that played a major role in making sure that liberation theology was developed. The people include Segundo Galilea, Gustavo Gutià ©rrez, Juan Luis Segundo, and Lucio Gera. In 1964, Gustavo Gutià ©rrez described the theology as a critical reflection on praxis. The line of though was then developed further by meetings that were carried out in Havana in 1965. After

Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Terrorism - Essay Example Fifth, the group may also be in pursuit of boosting itself. For ensuing struggle, the group may stage attacks to motivate itself. Sixth, they may be attempting to counter a government’s military power. This exposes the weaknesses of the government. Lastly, they may be attempting to take advantage of a unique historical opportunity. Such opportunities determine the existence of the group in future. According to O’Ballance, there are six characteristics of a successful terrorist. Firstly, they are dedicated to a belief of cause and follow the uncompromising demands of terrorism unconditionally. Secondly, they are always willing to sacrifice themselves since terrorism is dangerous and the individual can be killed at any instance (O’Ballance, 1979). Thirdly, they have an ability to repress emotions because they are usually required to commit heinous crimes such as killing innocent people. Fourthly, they have high intelligence because planning of attacks requires intelligence and cannot be conducted by anyone. Fifthly, education is critical because their missions demand unsuspicious travelling to foreign countries. Lastly, they have access to required resources that include money to use in travelling. Groupthink is a form of collective thinking that provides the terrorists with an opportunity to acquire the mindset of the organization. The main symptoms involved include invulnerability feeling, certainty of organization’s morality, intolerance with regard to internal dissent, and viewing the enemy as simply evil (Holmes & McConville,

Hybrid Cars Essay Example for Free

Hybrid Cars Essay Americans today do not realize that hybrid cars are not cost efficient to buy. This is caused by many factors, many having to do with price of production and gas prices. The cost of production for many hybrid cars is too high causing the car to be to expensive for consumers to buy. They end up paying so much more for a car that promises to save them money. These cars turn end up not fulfilling that promise and leaving people short on cash. It is true that a hybrid car will save money at the pump, but not enough to cover the cost of buying and maintaining the car itself. Gas prices are another reason why these cars arent worth it. The prices of gas today are around 3 dollars which is nearing a record high. Even with prices this high, people will not save enough money with less gas consumption to cover the extra costs of owning such a high maintenance and highly complex car. The math works out that spending more on a hybrid car over a similar small car will end up costing the owner more money. The only way to make the car cost efficient would be to own it for an abnormally long period of time, which most people do not do. Many people are not willing to pay this extra money on a car that is supposed to be good for the environment, but some people do. Hybrid cars are better for the environment because they produce less greenhouse gasses. These are the emissions that specifically hurt the layers of the atmosphere and are among other emissions that are bad for our earth. Hybrid cars burn less fuel and they burn it cleaner, so they produce less exhaust that can potentially cause smog in cities like Chicago, or that can hurt the atmospheric layers such as the ozone layer that so many people talk about being in danger. To some people, the extra cost of owning one of these vehicles is worth helping the environment, but to most it is not. People want fast cars that are fun to drive and that get decent gas mileage. Or a mom might want a van that can haul a lot of people and weight and still get decent gas mileage. A dad would want a truck that can pull a heavy load and do the heavy duty work and wouldnt care about gas mileage. All of these are reasons why people dont want a small, meek, gas sipping hybrid. The first thing that makes most people shy away from buying a hybrid car is the price tag. They see that extra five or six thousand dollars and they say, NO! People want a durable car that gets good gas mileage and has room for a family and that is safe. All of these features can be purchased on a regular car that costs much less than a hybrid. The perfect example for this is the Honda Civic. This car comes in many trim levels, one for each type of consumer, minus the person looking for the truck. The Civic Sedan, a four door car with room for five people, starts at 15k and is the perfect car for a small family. This car gets 30mpg city and 40mpg highway which is very good by todays standards. The Civic Hybrid, the same size as the Civic Sedan, costs 22k, thats 7 thousand more, and gets an increase of only 19mpg city and 11mpg highway. This means that they would not save enough money on gas to cover the 7k increase in price in under 10 years. Since the car gets better gas mileage, one would go to the pump less, but not enough to save that much money. The third is the Civic Si, this is the sporty version of the Civic that only comes with a manual transmission and is very quick. This car costs 21k, one thousand less than the hybrid. It is much faster is only has two doors. This car gets 23mpg city and 32mpg highway, not much worse than the Civic Sedan or hybrid, and is much faster and more fun. Why would a student pay one thousand dollars more for a car that is slower and more boring when the mileage increase isnt that much, they wouldnt. People want fun cars that get the job done and the Civic does that with great gas mileage and a low price, without having to be a hybrid car. Another example of this concept is the Toyota Camry. This is the best selling family sized sedan in the United States. This car comes in many trim levels but the ones we will look at are the base Camry and the base Camry Hybrid. For 2007 this car got a gorgeous remodel as well as a new engine in the base Camry and they added the Hybrid model. The base Toyota Camry costs 18k and has many features needed for a small family to fit in the car along with a lot of luggage. Do not be confused though, this car can be seen driving down the road pimped out with 20 (thats really big) rims and banging sound systems by college guys. It can also be seen with pick stickers and fuzzy dice in the window being driven by a couple college girls on the way to the beach. This is a very pretty, versatile car. The base Camry gets 24mpg city and 34 mpg highway. This is very good for a full sized car and will get the owner a long distance before having to refill the tank. The Camry Hybrid costs a pretty penny, but some say its worth it. This car gets 16mpg more city and 4mpg more highway than the base Camry. The huge gain in city mileage is due to the way Toyota makes their hybrid cars. They have the ability to switch fully from electric to gas power whereas the Honda Hybrid drive train can only go from minimal usage of each, but never fully switches. Toyotas is called Hybrid Synergy Drive and uses the electric engine most when accelerating and charges the batter when braking. The braking actually charges the battery more than the gas engine, so the car is able to shine when driving around the city because of the constant starting and stopping, the car uses almost fully the electric engine. This is why the Toyota Camry Hybrid gets such good gas mileage in the city. Lets face it though, a car that big wont be found driving around the city, most people will be office executives taking long drives from offices to home or to customers and they will not benefit as much. The Camry Hybrid only gains 4mpg over the base Camry on the highway so many people do not agree with spending eight thousand dollars more for the hybrid. This is definitely not cost efficient for the owner. People will like the 18k price of the base Camry because it comes with so many standard options and is ready to fulfill any soccer moms fantasy. When talking about Hybrid cars, there is one that stands above the rest in durability, functionality, style, price, and ability to save gas. That car is the Toyota Prius. This car could be the only argument one could make against this paper. It costs 22k and it does not come with a non hybrid counterpart. This car does cost more than say, a Corolla, but it has more room than a Corolla, and slightly less room than a Camry. It is in a class of its own and its only close competitor is the Honda Insight. The Prius is able to get 60mpg city and 51mpg highway. This is the best mpg rating of any production car and it actually is selling. You can see a Toyota Prius on just about any trip that you take and it does have unique styling that always turns heads. Although it costs more, the mpg rating of this car are almost double that of the nearest non hybrid competitor making it almost worth the extra price tag. However, the cost of maintaining such a highly complex car is greater than that of the base Civic or Corolla and will end up costing more. The Honda Insight, the other close competitor, costs 21k and gets 60mpg city and 66mpg highway. Those numbers were only the estimated numbers and consumers found them to be too high and actually got less mileage than that. Also, Honda doesnt make this car anymore so a customer would only be able to buy it used. These cars all shown, people will not save money on buying a hybrid car. The gas prices right now are not high enough to allow people to save money at the pump if they own a hybrid car. They will get better gas mileage and they will go to the pump less but they are only saving a small amount of money each year. If somebody spends 30 dollars every two weeks on gas in a regular car, that would cost them about 780 dollars a year. A hybrid car could probably go an extra week without needing gas so that would cost them 520 dollars a year on gas. They would be saving a mere 260 dollars a year on gas. If the hybrid car costs 7k more, then they would need to have the car for about 26 years to cover the extra cost of the car. No way would somebody own a car for that long this day and age. That is only covering the cost of the actually sticker price and not the extra costs of owning the vehicle, like fixing it and stuff, which would have to be done since the car would need to get fixed in the 26 year period. Many websites do a calculation of the cars which would be the lowest true cost to own. One website listed the Prius and the Camry Hybrid under their list of cars costing around 25k that would be the lowest true cost to own. This is excluding how long one would own the car for and how high the gas prices are. Also they did not list any hybrid under the coupes which are lowest cost to own and they dont say customer reviews on how fun these cars are to drive. The fact is that most people do no see it necessary to buy a car that costs so much more when they could get a car for less money that will cost them less money in the long run. People also want fun cars that will cost the same, but be much more fun to drive, even though they arent amazing at gas mileage, they still succeed in getting decent gas mileage, so people buy them. Also the hybrid drive train is not good for hauling heavy loads that is why there arent many pickup truck hybrids out there if any. Hybrid cars may cost more causing people to shy away from buying them, but they are better for the environment. People dont realize that driving a car can be the largest form of pollution. We drive by a paper mill and see all the smoke coming out of the stacks and say to ourselves how bad that must be for the air. Meanwhile we are sitting in a car, that when grouped up with many cars, is much worse than the thing we are complaining about. Pollution from cars causes smog, which deteriorates the ozone layers closest to us. This can cause for major extremes of hot and cold in the seasons. The atmosphere helps moderate the temperatures on earth by holding in heat during the winter and shielding out heat during the summer. Big cities have problems with smog which is a constant haze in the air caused by so many cars in one place emitting gasses bad for the environment. Cars also have toxins in their exhaust that can cause acid rain or global warming, and even cause cancer in some people. The water supply on earth is never growing or shrinking, the water we have is all that we get. When there is acid rain, that water has to go somewhere and may sometimes end up in drinking water or people who have wells might take showers in it. This is how it can cause cancer in as many as 1,500 people a year. There are many bad gasses that come from motor vehicles, but the three main ones are hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. Hydrocarbons react with nitrogen. The best times for this to happen are in the summer when there is lots of sunlight and really high temperatures. This reaction causes something called ground level ozone. This is a type of gas that is supposed to be in the atmosphere but is in our breathing air. This can cause many things such as eye irritation, wheezing, and even permanent lung damage. Nitrogen Oxides also cause the formation of ground level ozone and are major factors in causing acid rain and water pollution. Finally, carbon monoxide, which is an odorless and invisible gas, causes a slowing of oxygen in the bloodstream which can impair ones senses and cause permanent mental damage. Cars are responsible for around 90 percent of the carbon monoxide in the air in most urban areas. All of these gasses can be reduced by driving a hybrid car, but the best way to reduce them is public transportation. Studies show that a person who uses mass transit, such as buses or subways, for a year, instead of driving to work, can keep about 9.1 lbs of hydrocarbons, 62.5 lbs or carbon monoxides, and 4.9 lbs of nitrogen oxides from being put into the air (Emissions). Other ways of reducing pollution from cars in the air are things such as driving at steady speeds, buying newer cars that have fewer bad emissions, keeping your car in good running condition, or even not topping off at the pump. People can help the environment by buying a hybrid car, but that isnt the best way. Using public transportation or even riding a bike if possible, would do a lot more good, and save somebody a lot of money. By using public transportation and by carpooling, people can save an estimated three thousand dollars a year (Emissions). Other numbers show that idling and stop and go traffic alone use 753 millions of gallons of gasoline per year (Emissions). People dont realize how much better it would be to just use public transportation. Instead, we want to go on our own schedules and have the freedom to go where we want when we want, and that costs money and causes pollution. The cost of a hybrid car over a regular car is too much. People will not buy a hybrid car when they can get a vehicle with very good gas mileage for much less money. They can get all the bells and whistles of a hybrid but spend around seven thousand less. Teenagers dont want a slow gas sipping car, they want a fast car with a loud exhaust. They cant get this from a hybrid car so they wouldnt spend the money to buy a slow hybrid when they could have a fast sports car. A dad needs his truck to haul stuff around and hybrid cars dont offer that. The mom needs the van to have a safe car for her family that can fit them and their luggage. The cost of gas prices right now is not nearly high enough to benefit the consumer who owns a hybrid car. There is some small benefit, about 300 dollars a year, but that would take 20 years to equal just the increased price of owning a hybrid, not to mention the added costs of the upkeep of such a complex car. People want the lowest price with the best package, and hybrid cars dont offer that. While they do offer benefits to the environment, people dont realize how important the environment is and they wont spend the extra money for benefits they wont see in their lifetime. Overall the hybrid car is not worth buying because the cost is just too great. Not only is it not worth it, but people are not buying them enough to make a difference to the environment anyways, further diminishing their value. Hybrid cars are not worth buying right now and will not be for many years to come.