The social consequences as a result of EU expansion Essay Example for Free

The social consequences as a result of EU expansion Essay The accession of ten nations of Eastern Europe will increase the existing social crisis in these nations and also the entire EU. The Eastern Europe population has already suffered a lot as a result of increase in unemployment levels, poverty decreased wages, the destruction of various social provisions in the region in an attempt of fulfilling the membership requirements of EU. There has been introduction of conditions of a free market, the enterprises which were formerly being controlled by the governments have been privatized and also taking up measures which are quite radical by various states in order to join the EU has left the economies and social conditions of their countries very much devastated (MCCORMICK, 2007). The wage levels in the countries that are seeking to be admitted to the EU community are currently lower by 5 to 8 times as compared to the wage levels in the EU. The per capita average of the gross domestic product in EU countries is currently about twenty four thousand two hundred and fifty euros which is quite high when compared to that of states that are seeking to join the EU community such as Hungary and Latvia that only have a gross domestic product of seven thousand and eighty euros and three thousand seven hundred and forty respectively. The main cause of poverty in most states seeking admission into the EU community is unemployment; it has increased drastically in these countries over the last one and a half decades. A good example is that of the republic of Czech where it has increased from about zero point seven percent in 1990 to about six point five in the year 1998 and it is currently about eleven percent. On average, this percentage is twice as much in EU (Fischer, 2000). Although, the figures given above do not give a true reflection of the comparison, since there exists a lot of regional disparity. But the quest for countries to become members of the EU community and thus trying as much as they can to fulfill the conditions set is an obvious factor that has made these countries to experience some of these devastating problems like increased levels of unemployment and deterioration in the social amenities. In Bratislava which is the Slovakian capital, which is about sixty kilometers away from Vienna, the levels of unemployment are about four percent. This increases to approximately sixty percent in the rural regions which are about two hundred kilometers to the east. A comparable range of unemployment can be observed in the state of Hungary. Although, the unemployment levels are very minimal in the Budapest City, in the rural areas it increases to more than forty percent (MCCORMICK, 2007). The enterprises of the Western Europe consider the regions in the east of Europe as a paradise for their investments. This has made the states in the Eastern Europe to reduce their taxes in an attempt to make of making these regions attractive to the Western Europe investors. Czech Republic has reduced the rate of business taxes by about seven to twenty four percent. Poland has followed the steps of Slovakia and has introduced a tax rate which is uniform of nineteen percent which is applied uniformly whether one is just as ordinary employee or is a millionaire (MCCORMICK, 2007). The tax incentives together with massive differentials in the average wages has made several corporations to rapidly shift their production plants to the Eastern Europe states. This will in future make the states in these regions such as Slovakia to become the major car producers in the world when computed per person of the Slovakian population. Information and Technology as well as service industries are also being moved to these regions this will in future mean the creation of massive jobs in these regions as well as development of infrastructure (Roney, Budd, 1998). However, despite the major benefits that is likely to arise as a result of the tax incentives in these regions, the tax experts are warning the governments of these states that these measures are likely to be insufficient to enable these governments adequately cater for all their needs. They will also never be fully compensated for the shortfalls they will experience from the decreased revenues arising due to the reforms. These tax measures will leave several big holes in their budgets and as a result they will not be able to provide their citizens with all the necessary social amenities (MCCORMICK, 2007). In part, this state of affairs has been achieved already in the countries that wish to become members of the EU community. As far as the economists are concerned the foreign trade and budget deficits are the real potential crisis to the economies of these accession states. A good example is the one Estonia where the deficit in its budget rose to about fifteen percent in 2003. This is higher by about five times when compared to the deficit in the Argentinean budget in 2001 which was responsible of provoking a massive financial crisis. In 2004 Hungary, there was massive pressure on the forint as a result of the increasing deficit in the country’s budget. At that time the deficit in the foreign trade was about fifty eight percent while in Latvia it approximated sixty four percent of the total gross domestic products (Hofmann, Turk, 2006). Contrary, the accession countries will not improve the state of affairs even after they become members to the EU community. All the relevant economic indicators show that the disparity in wages between the west and the east will continue to persist for more than a decade after their accession. Again the reforms being undertaken by the states in the east of Europe will continue even after their accession. For example, the government of the Republic of Czech revealed that more reduction in pensions provision and health sector were necessary. Considering the prevailing welfare condition in the country, such a move can only be equated to privatization (MCCORMICK, 2007). Most likely, the Western Europe conditions will be modified with the conditions of states that are seeking accession. Even more attacks which are very comprehensive on the social standards and wages will be required to continue being competitive. According to an economic research study that was conducted by the University of Munich, indicated that the cut in wages that has been proposed in East Germany should be implemented. This is because after the accession of the Eastern Europe states, the regional financial support that was coming from the Brussels will decrease and this will lead to increased unemployment which will be a major threat to the economy of these countries (MCCORMICK, 2007).

Macbeth: Destiny of Each Character is Pre-determined :: Macbeth essays

Macbeth: Destiny of Each Character is Pre-determined In the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, each characters destiny seems to be predetermined. This raises the ultimate question: who, or what, controls fate? Existentialism is the belief that each person defines their future by their decided actions: that the future has not yet been written. Fatalism is the belief that the outcome of all events is preordained, and therefore, unalterable. Throughout Macbeth, the character Macbeth makes many decisions which clearly affect his future, but are they truly decisions? Or, are his decisions examples of fatalism, where another force is guiding his actions to their predetermined conclusion? Many of the characters, events, and much of the imagery in Macbeth indicates that fate plays a prominant role in advancing the plot. The characters most easily identified with having supernatural powers are, obviously, the three witches. The Witches' ability to see into the future is demonstrated when Macbeth becomes thane of Cawdor. The line, "What? Can the devil speak true?" showes Banquo's surprise at the realization of the prophecy. But, would the Witches' prophecy of Macbeth's royal promotion have come true had they not made Macbeth aware of the possibility? There was no reason to warn Macbeth of the fate in store for him, since it is most likely impossible for a person to alter their destiny. It is quite possible that the witches have no real power at all, beyond that of suggestion. They may have only planted the idea within Macbeth, feeding off his already present ambition. Perhaps the only true controlling power comes from Lady Macbeth's uncontrollable greed. Once Lady Macbeth had learned of the witches' prophecy, she immediately concluded that Macbeth would not, with his present persona, be able to attain that which fate had bestowed upon him. "...Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal." Lady Macbeth believed that it was her duty to induce Macbeth to carry out the necessary deed (Duncan's murder) to fulfil the prophecy. However, if Lady Macbeth had not influenced him, it is doubtful that Macbeth would have taken any action towards his Royal future. This substantiates the idea that the strength of the witches' words lies in the power of suggestion. Although Lady Macbeth stated her belief in Fate, she felt compelled to help it along. During the banquet, Macbeth realized that the path of his life was coming to a "fork in the road", and

Hbs Case “Marriott Corporation: the Cost of Capital”

Marriott Corporation: Questions for HBS case â€Å"Marriott Corporation: The cost of capital† 1)Are the four components of Marriott's financial strategy consistent with its growth objective? In my opinion, the four components of Marriott's financial strategy are consistent with its growth objective. As we find in the case, the four components of Marriott's financial strategy: Manage rather than own hotel assets, Invest in projects that increase shareholder value, Optimize the use of debt in the capital structure, and Repurchase undervalued shares; are aligned with the growth objective.Marriott wants to remain a premier growth company. This means aggressively developing appropriate opportunities within our chosen lines of business—lodging, contract services, and related businesses. In each of these areas, their goal is to be the preferred employer, the preferred provider, and the most profitable company. 2)How does Marriott use its estimate of its cost of capital? Does t his make sense? In the case is stated that Marriott required three inputs to determine the opportunity cost of capital: debt capacity, debt cost, and equity cost consistent with the amount of debt.The cost of capital varied across the three divisions because all three of the cost-of-capital inputs could differ for each division. This is the most logical approach due to the fact that the projects related to a particular division should be evaluated using the division’s WACC rather than the corporation’s WACC. 3)What is the Weighted Average Cost of Capital for Marriott Corporation? In order to calculate the WACC for Marriott’s Corporation I’m going to use the following formulas: 1. Weighted Average Cost of Capital: 2. Levered Beta: Marriott’s structure: D= 60% E=40% Marriott’s corporate tax:Tc= 175. 9 / 398. 9 Tc=0. 441 Marriott’s Pre-tax cost of debt: Debt rate premium above government= 1. 30% U. S. Government Securities Interest Rates : Maturity 30 years = 8. 95% Kd = 0. 0895 + 0. 013 Kd= 0. 1025 Marriott’s after tax cost of equity: Leverag. TcAsset BetaEq. Beta MARRIOTT 41%0. 4410. 7991. 11 MARRIOTT 60%0. 4410. 7991. 47 Ke = rf + Beta * (MRP) Rf=8. 95%(U. S. Government Securities Interest Rate) MRP=7. 43%(Exhibit 5) Ke = 8. 95% + 1. 47 * ( 7. 43%) Ke=0. 20 WACC = (1 – 0. 44) * 0. 1025 * 60% + 0. 2 * 40% WACC=0. 1139 The Weighted Average Cost of Capital for Marriott Corporation is 11. 9% a)What risk free rate and risk premium did you use to calculate the cost of equity? Risk free rate †¢30 years Maturity U. S. Government Interest Rate (8. 95%) Risk Premium †¢Spread between S 500 Composite returns and long-term U. S. government bond returns between 1926-87 (7. 43%) b)How did you measure Marriott's cost of debt? I calculated Marriott's cost of debt adding Marriott’s debt rate premium above government (1. 30%) to the 30 years Maturity U. S. Government Interest Rates (8. 95%). 4)What ty pe of investments would you value using Marriott's WACC?I will use Marriott’s WACC to evaluate projects that do not refer to a single division. This can be projects that add are related to the whole company and affect each division. In example, a project related with branding that will increase Marriott overall reputation and value 5)If Marriott used a single corporate hurdle rate for evaluating investment opportunities in each of its lines of business, what would happen to the company overtime? Using a single corporate hurdle rate for evaluating investment opportunities in each of its lines of business will lead to accept bad projects and reject profitable projects.In the case that the IRR of the return was slightly above Marriott WACC you would accept the division’s project although you might be operating bellow the division’s WACC and loosing money. 6)What is the cost of capital for the lodging and restaurant divisions of Marriott? In order to calculate the c ost of capital for the lodging and restaurant divisions I will use the same formulas than in question 3. Hotels ReturnEq. BetaLeverageRevenuesAsset Beta HILTON HOTELS CORPORATION13. 30. 7614%0. 770. 697 HOLIDAY CORPORATION28. 81. 3579%1. 660. 435 LA QUINTA MOTOR INNS-6. 40. 8969%0. 170. 397 RAMADA INNS, INC. 11. 71. 3665%0. 50. 667 Average0. 549 Restaurants ReturnEq. BetaLeverageRevenuesAsset Beta CHURCH’S FRIED CHICKEN-3. 21. 454%0. 391. 417 COLLINS FOODS INTERNATIONAL20. 31. 4510%0. 571. 365 FRISCH’S RESTAURANTS56. 90. 576%0. 140. 550 LUBY’S CAFETERIAS (Operates cafeterias. ) 15. 10. 761%0. 230. 756 McDONALD’S22. 50. 9423%4. 890. 805 WENDY’S INTERNA TIONAL4. 61. 3221%1. 051. 149 Average1. 007 LodgingRestaurant D/V50. 0%75. 0% E/V50. 0%25. 0% Tc44%44% Kd10. 05%8. 70% Rf8. 95%6. 90% Rprem1. 10%1. 80% Ke15. 31%29. 74% Eq. Beta0. 8562. 696 Asset Beta0. 5491. 007 Rf8. 95%6. 90% EMRP7. 43%8. 47% Sales % from total41. 00%13. 00% WACC10. 6%11. 08% a)What risk-free rate and risk premium did you use in calculating the cost of equity for each division? Why did you choose these numbers? Risk free rate Lodging division †¢30 years Maturity U. S. Government Interest Rate (8. 95%) †¢Is a long-term investment Risk Premium Lodging division †¢Spread between S&P 500 Composite returns and long-term U. S. government bond returns between 1926-87 (7. 43%) †¢Is a long term investment Risk free rate Restaurants’ division †¢1 year Maturity U. S. Government Interest Rate (6. 90%) †¢Is a short-term investment, and the next available option is a 10 years rate which is too long.Risk Premium Restaurants’ division †¢Spread between S&P 500 Composite returns and short-term U. S. Treasury bill returns: between 1926-87 (8. 47%) †¢Is a short-term investment, and I used a 1 year Maturity U. S. Government Interest Rate as the risk free rate. b)How did you measure the cost of debt for each division? Should the debt cost differ across divisions? Why? I calculated each division’s cost of debt adding the division’s debt rate premium above government to the U. S. Government Interest Rates that best represented the divisions behave. Risk free rate Lodging division 30 years Maturity U. S. Government Interest Rate (8. 95%) Risk free rate Restaurants’ division †¢1 year Maturity U. S. Government Interest Rate (6. 90%) The debt cost should differ across divisions because each one operate as independent business with different behavior. c)How did you measure the beta of each division? In order to measure the beta of each division, I got the average Asset Beta of the companies that where more similar to the division, and I leverage it with the capital structure of the particular division. 7)What is the cost of capital for Marriott's contract services division?How can you estimate its equity cost of capital without publicly traded comparable companies? In order to calculate t he cost of capital for the contract service division I will use most of the formulas I stated on question number three. Additionally, as we do not have data of similar companies that we can use to extract the contract service division’s Asset Beta, I will calculate the WACC for the contract service division using the following formula: Marriott’s Asset Beta = (Lodging Asset Beta * division’s % of total sales) + (Restaurants Asset Beta * division’s % of total sales) + (Contract services Asset Beta * division’s % of total sales)Cleaning the equation in function of the Contract services Asset Beta, you find the Contract services Asset Beta. MarriottLodgingRestaurantContract Services D/V60. 0%50. 0%75. 0%60. 0% E/V40. 0%50. 0%25. 0%40. 0% Tc44%44%44%44% Kd10. 25%10. 05%8. 70%8. 30% Rf8. 95%8. 95%6. 90%6. 90% Rprem1. 30%1. 10%1. 80%1. 40% Ke19. 87%15. 31%29. 74%21. 91% Eq. Beta1. 4700. 8562. 6961. 772 Asset Beta0. 7990. 5491. 0070. 964 Rf8. 95%8. 95%6. 90%6. 90% EMRP7. 43%7. 43%8. 47%8. 47% TA %100. 00%41. 00%13. 00%46. 00% WACC11. 39%10. 46%11. 08%11. 55% The contract service’s WACC is 11. 55%

German for Beginners Learning Tips

Here are some study tips and practical advice to help make your learning of German more effective: Use Your First Language to Learn the Second German and English are both Germanic languages with a lot of Latin and Greek thrown in. There are many cognates, words that are similar in both languages. Examples include: der Garten (garden), das Haus (house), schwimmen (swim), singen (sing), braun (brown), and ist (is). But also watch out for false friends — words that appear to be something theyre not. The German word bald (soon) has nothing to do with hair! Avoid Language Interference Learning a second language is similar in some ways to learning your first, but there is one big difference. When learning a second language (German), you have interference from the first (English or whatever). Your brain wants to fall back on the English way of doing things, so you have to fight that tendency. Learn Nouns With Their Genders German, like most languages other than English, is a language of gender. As you learn each new German noun, learn its gender at the same time. Not knowing whether a word is der (masc.), die (fem.) or das (neut.) can confuse listeners and makes you sound ignorant and illiterate in German. That can be avoided by learning das Haus rather than just Haus for house/building, for example. Stop Translating Translation should only be a temporary crutch! Stop thinking in English and trying to do things the â€Å"English† way! As your vocabulary grows, get away from translating and start thinking in German and German phrases. Remember: German-speakers dont have to translate when they speak. Neither should you! Learning a New Language Is Learning to Think in a New Way Das Erlernen einer neuen Sprache ist das Erlernen einer neuen Denkweise. - Hyde Flippo Get a Good German-English Dictionary You need an adequate (minimum 40,000 entries) dictionary and you need to learn how to use it! A dictionary can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Try not to think too literally and dont just accept the first translation you see. Just as in English, most words can mean more than one thing. Consider the word â€Å"fix† in English as one good example: â€Å"fix a sandwich† is a different meaning than â€Å"fix the car† or â€Å"hes in a fine fix.† Learning a New Language Takes Time Learning German — or any other language — requires a long period of sustained exposure to German. You didnt learn your first language in a few months, so dont think a second one will come any faster. Even a baby does a lot of listening before talking. Dont get discouraged if the going seems slow. And use all the resources at your disposal for reading, listening, writing, and speaking. The United States is the only country where people believe you can learn a foreign language in two school years. - Hyde Flippo Passive Skills Come First A period of listening and reading is important before you can expect to use the active skills of speaking and writing. Again, your first language was the same way. Babies dont start talking until theyve done a lot of listening. Be Consistent and Study/Practice on a Regular Basis Unfortunately, language is NOT like riding a bicycle. Its more like learning to play a musical instrument. You DO forget how to do it if you get away from it too long! Language Is More Complex Than We Realize Thats one reason  computers are such lousy translators. Dont worry about all the details all the time, but be aware that language is much more than just stringing a bunch of words together. There are subtle things we do with  language  that even linguists have difficulty explaining. Thats why I say, Learning a new language is learning to think in a new way. Sprachgefà ¼hl You have to develop a feeling for the language to master German or any language. The more you get into German, the more this hard-to-describe  Sprachgefà ¼hl  should develop. Its the opposite of a rote, mechanical, programmed approach. It means getting into the languages sound and feel. There Is No Right Way German has its own way of defining words (vocabulary), saying words (pronunciation), and putting words together (grammar). Learn to be flexible, to mimic the language, and to accept  Deutsch  the way it is. German may do things differently from your point of view, but it isnt a matter of right or wrong, good or bad. Learning a new language is learning to think in a new way! You dont really know a language until you can think (and dream) in that language. Dangerous! - Gefà ¤hrlich! Some things to avoid: Avoid the most common beginners mistakes.  Dont be overly ambitious. Set realistic goals and take things one step at a time. Our lessons are designed that way.Dont try to pretend you are a native speaker of German (Muttersprachler) when you arent. That means avoiding jokes, swearing and other linguistic minefields that can make you sound and look foolish.One more time: Stop translating! It gets in the way of real communication and should be left to skilled professionals.Also one more time: A dictionary is dangerous! Verify meanings by also looking up the word or expression in the opposite language direction. Recommended Reading How To Learn a Foreign Language  by Graham Fuller (Storm King Press)German Grammar Book: Deutsch  macht  Spaß by Brigitte Dubiel Special Resources Online Lessons:  Our free  German for Beginners  course is available online 24 hours a day. You can start with Lesson 1 or select any one of the 20 lessons for review.Special Characters:  See  Can Your PC Speak German?  and  Das Alphabet  for information about typing and using uniquely German characters such as à ¤ or ß.Daily German 1:  German Word of the Day for beginners​Daily German 2:  Das Wort des Tages for intermediate, advanced learners