Doctor-Assisted Suicide Essay -- Euthanasia Essays

Doctor-Assisted Suicide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Suicide is the act or instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally especially if that person is of sound mind. Euthanasia is the act or practice of killing individuals who are hopelessly sick or injured for reasons of mercy. Doctor-assisted suicide is a term used to describe the act of a doctor or physician providing direct or indirect means of assisting someone in taking their own life. There are 2 types of euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is withholding life-sustaining treatment either before or after it has been initiated. Active euthanasia is "taking steps to end your life, as in suicide, handling the action yourself" (Humphry 20). It is an explicit act such as writing a lethal prescription or a directly injecting a lethal dose. Approximately 30,000 Americans kill themselves every year. This means that the rate of suicide is about 11.0 per 100,000 people. This rate is just the average, and it varies greatly among sexes and races. The suicide r ate for males is 19.8, but the rate for females is 3.8. This difference in rates appears deceptive because females are 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than males. Males are just more effective in their methods. White Americans have a higher rate of suicide than any other ethnic group. It is believed that homosexuals have a much greater rate than heterosexuals, but this is difficult to research because many homosexuals hide their sexual orientation from fear of persecution. The terminally ill are most closely associated with the doctor-assisted suicide issue. Many in this group argue that once all medical care has failed, then one has the right to hasten death to avoid pain and suffering. If a person is going to inevitably die from a painful disease, then that person should have the right to decide when, where, and how death comes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many ways for one to commit suicide. The 2 major types are self-inflicted and assisted. Despite the popular issue of legalizing doctor-assisted suicide, most suicides remain self-inflicted. Zeinert describes the statistics:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS),   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the majority of those who commit suicide do so by shooting   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  themselves. In fact, the latest statistics available from the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  NCHS show that 59 percent of all suicides were committed   Ã‚  ... ...ks Cited Cohen, Adam. "Showdown for Doctor Death." Time 7 Dec. 1998.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 Nov. 2001 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/981207/   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  nation.showdown_for_doc2a.html>. Greenhouse, Linda. "Justices Uphold Laws Banning Assisted Suicide." The New York Times on the Web 27 June 1997. 30 Oct. 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/scotus-suicide.html>. "High Court Rejects Constitutional Right To Doctor-Assisted Suicide." American Civil Liberties Union News 26 June 1997. 30 Oct. 2001 <http://www.aclu.org/news/n062697g.html>. Humphry, Derek. Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Assisted Suicide for the Dying. Eugene: The Hemlock Society, 1991. Katz, Stephen R. "Doctor Assisted Suicide-a Bad Oxymoron and a Bad Idea." Connecticut Post 27 Apr. 1998. 30 Oct. 2001 <http://pages.prodigy.com/DOCTORINFORM/suicide.html>. Torr, James, ed. Euthanasia: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven P, 2000. Uhlmann, Michael, ed. Last Rights? Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Debated. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1998. Zeinert, Karen. Suicide: Tragic Choice. Berkeley Heights: Enslow Publishers, 1999.

Book Report †Middle School Series Essay

? Rafe Khatchadorian has enough issues around his family life, without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix. Luckily, he’s got an incredible plan for the best year ever, if only he can pull it off. With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school’s Code of Conduct. Having gum in class scores him 5,000 points, running through the hallways, another 10,000 points and pulling the fire alarm, 50,000 points! But not everyone thinks that Rafe’s game is a good idea, especially the teachers, parents and other students at the school, so he’ll have to decide if winning is all that matters, or if he’s finally ready to face the rules, bullies, and truths he’s been avoiding. http://www. jamespatterson. com/books_middleSchool. php#. UWY9FFdstN4 Middle School the Worst Years of My Life is written by James Patterson and is a realistic fiction book that takes you through the journey of Rafe’s first year at middle school, dealing with the awkwardness of crushes, bullies, and family issues as he tries to break every rule in the school’s Code of Conduct. The book features many different pictures that tell you what’s going on as well, and is considered a graphic novel. Middle School the Worst Years of my Life received a critical acclaim from the most reviewers, it won the YALSA 2012’s Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers award and James Patterson got nominated for the Children’s Book Council’s Author of the Year award. James has written well over 50 books, a lot of them being in series, and has won many awards. Middle School the Worst Years of My Life is the first book in the Middle School series. The setting of the Middle School series is in middle school. There is no specific day or time that this book is set in, other than it being during middle school. A lot of the time the rules that are broken are broken within the school timing, but there are one or two rules that get broken out of school times. I think the setting has been chosen well, and believed it suited the book well. The novel starts with Rafe entering sixth grade at Hills Village Middle School. Beginning the new school year with a negative mindset means that Rafe starts the year bored and believes that ‘it was a prison Pilgrims back then, but not too much has changed. Now it’s a prison for sixth, seventh and eighth graders. ’ Rafe quickly understands that he will be stuck in middle school for 3 years, and invents â€Å"Operation R. A. F. E. † with his best friend Leonardo the Silent. The plan was to break every single rule in the schools handbook. He also has to put up with the issues in his home life. His mum is always working double shifts at a diner and never gets time with her children, Rafe, and Rafe’s younger sister, Georgia. He has a verbally abusive stepfather (Bear) who looks after him when his mother is away. Then, there’s Jeanne Galletta, who Rafe is madly in love with. Jeanne is a doubtful of Rafe’s plan and wishes he would spend more time on school work then his games. Operation R. A. F. E’s consequences consists of many detentions with his English teacher, Ms. Donatello. This creates tension between Rafe’s family, and after having a fight with Bear about Leonardo and how he is a bad influence on Rafe, we discover that Leonardo is Rafe’s imaginary friend. Rafe’s actions eventually lead to bad grades, getting himself suspended, and then forced to be tutored by Jeanne, whom he had been trying to avoid because she doesn‘t like him. While the tension in the family gets stronger, Bear throws Rafe’s mother to the ground and moves out, Rafe gets expelled for spraying graffiti on the school walls, but Ms. Donatello see’s the potential artist within him and comes up with the idea to send him to art school. The final part of the book reveals that Leonardo is Rafe’s dead twin brother. An exciting part of the novel is when Rafe graffiti’s the school wall at four in the morning. ‘The next morning, I left a note for Mom saying that I had to go to school extra early to work on a project, which was basically true. I just left out the part about how early meant four in the morning and project meant highly illegal activity. â€Å"You’re not going to regret this,† Leo kept telling me. The way he saw it, the whole point of Operation R. A. F. E. was about breaking rules, so why should I let a little thing like losing the game stop me from doing the part I’d been looking forward to the most? Like I said before – genius†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦I unpacked my new flat black marker, a big old camping flashlight, and some of my latest practice sketches. I’d drawn these ones on graph paper, which is kind of like a brick wall, to show me how big everything would need to be. But Leo was feeling impatient, â€Å"You don’t need those anymore,† he said. â€Å"The clock’s ticking. Stop thinking so much and just go. † So I did. I set up the flashlight on a rock so that it was shining right at the wall. Then I picked up my marker and started. It was king of slow-moving at the beginning. I wasn’t sure what to draw first, or what order to do things in. But the more I kept going, the more I got into it, and then somewhere along the way everything started to flow†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. After a while I was running around like crazy, working over here, working over there and getting up on an old trash can to reach the higher parts when I needed to. The whole thing started to get so big that I felt like I was inside it, even while I was still drawing. It was like Leo had said – I wasn’t thinking anymore. I was just doing it, like the marker was just another part of me, and the lines and shapes and pictures were coming right out of my hand. ’ After a while, the police show up, and are surprised that a kid had done all that work, but then again, it was illegal, so into the cop car went Rafe and Leo. I like this part of the novel because I felt as if I was in the actual scene. It was as if I was Leo and I was scared we’d get caught. This scene, although it’s short, it was intense. You didn’t want Rafe to get caught, but you wanted to know what would have happened when he got caught. I just believe that the way this chapter/scene has been written makes it believable and makes you feel like you’re there. The style of this novel is average pace. The novel begins out very slowly, and it doesn’t have much meaning, but once the novel gets a fair way into it, the drama begins, and the pace slowly picks up. At the end of the novel, things get more intense and more happens in a shorter amount of time, and by the end of the novel, so much has happened, that it takes a while to comprehend what has happened, but you realise that James wrote it that way for a reason, and to me, that reason was so that he could have a short book, that had a lot in it, and might eventually be able to make a movie, much like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. The Worst Years of my Life uses a lot of slang humour, but not so much that it’s over powering, it’s just enough that it creates the characteristics of the book. A genre is the category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. There are several genre’s the feature in this novel, some more than others. The genres that feature heavily in Middle School the Worst Years of My Life are: Comedy Humour Drama The genre that is featured in the book, but not as heavily is romance. Have you ever had a crush on someone and had them not like you back? Romance is a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love. Rafe Khatchadorian discovers his feelings for Jeanne Galletta on one of his first days at school. They were all sitting in the school gym and she was one of the candidates for the student council representatives and part way through or speech, she offers to buy Rafe fries later that day, and that’s when he knew he liked her. Towards the end of the novel, Rafe’s grades start to go downhill and the school as well as his Mum think it’s a good idea to get some extra help. Little did Rafe know that his dream girl Jeanne was going to be his tutor. Even though Rafe is a teenage boy who likes girls, middle school would not be any good without a sense of humor or a comedian mixed into the scene. The biggest class clown in the school is here, and his name? Rafe Khatchadorian. A class clown is the funniest person in the class who often gets in trouble. Rafe’s first year at middle school is spent trouble making and trying to make people laugh, but not everyone thinks that his plan to break every rule in the Code of Conduct. Miller the Killer was the school bully, and his new prey is Rafe. Throughout Rafe’s middle school year, he comes into conflict with Miller many times. The biggest thing that happens to Rafe because of Miller the Killer is when he discovers Rafe’s notebook with all the Operation R. A. F. E. (Rules Aren’t For Everyone) and makes Rafe buy each page back off of him for a dollar a page, but Rafe discovers Miller’s plan with the notebook early on, and it isn’t pretty. Miller the Killer enjoys making Rafe’s first year at middle school hell, but Rafe enjoys the humorous side of school. School is tough on everyone, so what’s the best way to get through? Have fun! And that’s what Rafe intends to do by breaking all the rules in the Code of Conduct and earning himself points. The catch is, he only gets given three lives, and if he breaks all three, the games over. All the seriousness aside, Rafe gives himself, and Leo a good laugh. The funniest scene in the book to me was when Rafe decides to break the schools dress code, and he was given the best chance to do this with Halloween just around the corner. Leo knew that it would only be a matter of time before Rafe was caught by a teacher, so Leo was giving him 10,000 points for every 50 yards of the school he covered in his costume. Rafe ran, as fast as he could in all black, with a pocket full of Cheerios as throwing stars, and nunchucks made from paper towel roles with rope knotted at either end. Yep, you guessed it. Rafe was a ninja. ‘I came tearing out of that bathroom at full speed and just kept running – through the first floor (10,000! ), up the stairs (10,000! ), down the second floor hall past all the lockers (10,000! ), throwing Cheerios and swinging my nunchucks like crazy. ’ Right before he got caught, Miller the Killer was right in his aim. ‘I made sure my mask was pulled down tight over my face. Then I took a big windup as I went by, and beaned him upside the head with one of the chucks (10,000! ). â€Å"What the – ? † Miller turned the wrong way, just as I passed him. By the time he’d figured out where I came from and where I was headed, I’d already left him in the dust. He was twice as big as me, but I was twice as fast. Eat it, Miller! ’ And then it happened. Caught right in the act. Yep, a teacher saw him†¦ Well, he ran into the teacher. Games over Rafe. ‘And then – splam! I ran right into Mrs. Stricker. Literally. Let’s just say, she wasn’t in the mood for wrestling. ’ But Rafe had another plan and it was going to earn him double points. ‘I went into the bathroom and came out a minute later without my ninja costume, running just as fast as before. Some kids got out of my way. Some even ran in the other direction. A few of the girls screamed when I cam2 through, but I don’t think they meant it. And a few people even yelled stuff like â€Å"Go, Rafe, go! † and â€Å"Don’t let ‘em get you! † Because, like I said, I wasn’t wearing my ninja costume anymore. In fact, I wasn’t wearing much of anything at all. ’ No, he wasn’t naked, but he wasn’t wearing much†¦ ‘Just sneakers, a pair of boxers, and a big old smile. Boy, did Rafe get in big trouble for that, but on the other hand, he did earn himself a lot of points! Rafe loves making people laugh, and I believe that the reason he does it isn’t for other people, but he does it to make himself feel good. I believe that the main theme in this novel is coming of age and growing up into a better person in a way. To me, I think this means that by using the resources that are around you (family, friends etc. ) to become the person you are supposed to be. For Rafe, this is trying to get over his prank, funny, humorous stage, and into the more serious schooling stage. This can be hard for some people, especially when they don’t get along with their family, and when their only friend is in their imagination, but by the end of the book, Rafe has realised that even though he isn’t academically smart, he does have a gift with art, which sees him going to art school. Love is also in the novel, as Rafe discovers Jeanne Galletta, but it doesn’t impact on the story as much as growing up does. The main characters in the book are: Rafael (Rafe) Khatchadorian – Rafe is the trouble maker in the story who is in his first year at Hills Village Middle School. Rafe is important because without him, there is no story. I like this character because he makes the book fun. Even though he isn’t an actual person, this character has a funny personality and a childish sense of humour. I believe that James Patterson has described this character well. Georgia Khatchadorian – Georgia is Rafe’s annoying little sister who likes to be in everyone’s business and know what’s going on in Rafe’s life, especially when he is in trouble. She is also the family tattletale and always dobs Rafe in when she catches him doing something wrong. Even though Georgia annoys Rafe a lot, he also protects her, which is like all siblings love-hate relationships. I like her because I think I can relate to her because I am the younger sister in my family, and I like to annoy my older brother, but I also know that he will always be there for me. I think that Georgia is a main character in this story because she is a part of Rafe’s home issues because she never leaves him alone and always wants to know what’s going on in his life. Carl AKA Bear – Bear is Georgia and Rafe’s, abusive, rude, obese stepdad who can be found on the couch. Bear is often yelling at Rafe after school. He also argues with Mrs. Khatchadorian, Rafe and Georgia’s mum, and one argument let Bear to accidently push her down the front steps, and when the police show up, it doesn’t look good for Carl. I don’t like him at all! He’s so rude and obnoxious, and I would hate to have a step parent as bad as him. Leonardo (Leo) the Silent – Leo is Rafe’s best friend, who we later discover is in his imagination. We also later find out that Leo was Rafe’s twin brother who died when he was still a baby. I think that Leo is the glue that holds everything together. He helps Rafe with school, with home, and he gives him the motivation to keep going when things get tough. I really like Leo the Silent because even though he isn’t real, he is the perfect best friend. Jeanne (Jay-Gee) Galletta – Jeanne is Rafe’s crush. He is madly in love with her, but she is also the goody-two-shoes of the school, and she hates Operation R. A. F. E. I like her but I don’t. I feel like she tries too hard to be a good student, and doesn’t give herself enough freedom, which is why I don’t like her. I think that being a teenager, or getting to that stage  means that you can manage school and social life, and to me, it’s like she has no social life. She’s important in the story because as we get older, we start to see people in different ways, and we start to like them, and I believe that Jeanne is important because without her, it’s not a real adolescent’s life. Ms. Donatello AKA the Dragon Lady – Ms. Donatello is Rafe’s English teacher, as well as his detention buddy. Even though she is strict and can get aggravated easily, she also has Rafe’s best interest at heart and wouldn’t help him if she didn’t believe he was better than what he shows. I like her because I have had plenty of teachers that are hard on me, but they do it because they want what’s best, and without that push, we wouldn’t grow and evolve as people. I understand why Rafe doesn’t particular like her, but teachers always want what’s best, and he will eventually see that. Miller AKA Miller the Killer – Miller is the school bully, hence the name ‘Miller the Killer. ’ He is constantly giving Rafe a hard time throughout his first year at middle school, and without the school bully, school wouldn’t be school. There is always that one person that puts people down to make themselves feel good, although not a lot of bullies take kids lunch money, but hurt them mentally, or even physically. I don’t like Miller because I believe that he hurts people because he can and he needs to get disciplined. Without Miller, or a bully in the book, it wouldn’t be like school life, so I can understand why James Patterson included him in it. I’m not much of a reader, but I really enjoyed this book, and I found it easy to understand and comprehend because of the little sketches throughout the book. This book is much like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and I believe it is aimed at the same kind of age group. I think that I was too old to read this novel, but I didn’t find it so easy that I could just read it in a day, but not hard enough that it took me forever to read. It was a good balance, so I would suggest it for kids 13 years old and younger, somewhere between 9 and 13. To be honest, it was a good book, but it could have been made longer so not everything happened at once towards the end. In general, it was a good read, and I would recommend it to younger kids who enjoy having a good laugh and getting into trouble.

Ethics Paper Essay

The role of ethics and social responsibility are vital to the success of business. This also is very important to the stakeholders and should be even more important to management executives who have to make the decisions on whether to be ethical or unethical. This seems like a no brainer, but top level officials have the daunting task of making difficult decisions that affects groups involved in the success of the company. This paper will bring into focus the ethics and social responsibility in creating a strategic plan while taking in consideration stakeholder needs and agendas. Business Ethics is a form of ethics, which examines the ethical principles, and moral problems that occur in a business today. Ethics plays an important role in business today by establishing policies, procedures, and practices when creating a strategic plan. One such policy to have as a driving force for the company is a code of ethics, which outlines how an employee should behave while on the job. Having a code of ethics in place will not only help employee’s behavior, but the implementation of strategic plan of guidelines that will take in consideration for stakeholder needs and agendas. Social responsibilities are the responsibilities of private corporations to society that goes beyond that of making a profit. When implementing a new strategic plan you have to take in account the affects it will have on society as well as the organization. Strategic decisions influence other entities internally and externally. For instance, a decision to down size by closing some distribution centers and discontinuing manufactured goods, affects not only the employees, but also the neighborhoods where the plants are located. This also hinders the consumers and suppliers with having no other source for the discontinued products (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010). These types of decisions bring forth questions as to regarding, the appropriateness of certain missions, objectives, and strategies of businesses. Management must be able to come to compromise the difference in interests in an ethical manner to formulate a realistic strategic plan to meet the needs of the stakeholders. To answer this question, the corporation may need to engineer a strategy, which can explicitly articulate the organization with the role of ethics with stakeholders. This requires not only that management a clear picture of the organization key ethical approach but also that it understands the organization societal context, and undertakes stakeholder analysis to identify the issues and duties of each stakeholder (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, pg.76). While researching an industry that continues to overstep it’s boundaries for stakeholder agendas. Pfizer, the world largest pharmaceutical company has been continually marketing and selling drugs with unapproved uses. In 2004 Pfizer plead guilty to two felony counts of marketing a drug for unapproved uses and paid 430 million in fines and penalties (Evans, 2009). United States attorney’s office was assured by Pfizer lawyers that they will stop promoting drugs for unauthorized purposes. Five years later Pfizer plead guilty again for directing over 100 salespeople to promote Bextra, another unapproved medication. The fine this time was an America’s highest recorded fine ever of 1.19 billion. Since May 2004, Pfizer, Eli Lilly & Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and four other pharmaceutical companies have paid a total of $7 billion in fines and penalties for marketing drug for unapproved uses (Evans, 2009). This shows that not only Pfizer, but other pharmaceutical companies are taking the approach of maximizing profits for the sake of stakeholders. In the readings it states that shareholders were unmoved by the actions of the company because each time the company had to pay out billions in penalties the share price went up (Evans, 2009). This practice of marketing and selling unapproved medications have shown how irresponsible, unethical, and socially unaware these companies are. Lives are being lost or changed forever because of some of the side effects of these medications that are being push by these organizations for a buck. To prevent such heinous acts we need only one of the pharmaceutical giants to step up and implement a strategic plan using more of an ethical approach in producing new drugs to the market. This can be attain by having the research done well in advance, publically documenting their finding, have more transparent marketing strategies, and making sure that all medications are FDA approve first before any distribution of a single pill. Another strategy to improving the industry is by using the input of the stakeholders which can give other alternatives to what route can the industry can use to maximize the benefits for all. In conclusion we can clearly see the importance of roles of ethics and social responsibilities are within an organization’s strategic plans. Once a company has put itself in a position to use ethics and society to govern it duties to make sure business is held to a standard higher values. Only then will organizations such as Pfizer will understand that it’s more about the people than the profit. Stakeholders have a pivotal role in the advance of business because each company that have taken notice continues to thrive today even in a recession.

Our Day Out by Willy Russell Essays

Our Day Out by Willy Russell Essays Our Day Out by Willy Russell Essay Our Day Out by Willy Russell Essay Mrs Kay disagrees with Mr. Briggs who thinks that to teach the children you should be firm (the old fashioned way). Mrs. Kay however clearly states that the children should be treated fairly and has little hope for their futures. When Mrs Kay speaks about how the kids are being brought up to be nothing more than factory fodder, she could take her argument even further. Unemployment was so widespread in Liverpool in the 1970s, that the progress children had little prospects of any job at all. The fact that Carol is willing to stay in Wales at the end of the play, and even considers jumping off a cliff rather than returning, illustrates how hopeless her life and prospects are. The same for all the other children in Liverpool at that time. In my own opinion, I think that Willy Russells main aim was to influence his audience by entertaining them. There are so many examples in the play were a funny incident is in fact more than it seems and makes the audience think. For example the best incident is were Brigs is talking to Andrews about smoking, Andrews says that his dad beats him up because he wont give him one. This is just one of many examples were by Russell uses what seems to be funny incidents but when thought about them more carefully, turns into pathos.

The Civil Rights Cases essays

The Civil Rights Cases essays The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was an effort of the Post-Civil War Congresses to enforce civil rights throughout the United States. It was a part of the Reconstructionists to eliminate racial discrimination throughout the United States and this Act was one form to attempt to accomplish this. They took the authority to pass this Act from Section 5 of the 14th Amendment. They interpreted that section to allow the Congress the power to define as well as enforce the rights established by the 14th Amendment. When the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was tested by the Supreme Court it held that interpretation of the amendment and thus the Act was unconstitutional, and in passing the Act overstepped the power granted by the amendment to Congress. The ruling and the dissent to this opinion of the Court looked to four main constitutional issues to support their findings: civil and social rights, implied and expressed powers, federal supremacy and state sovereignty, and finally strict and broad interpre tations. One of the issues exhibited in the Civil Rights Cases was the protection of civil rights versus the protection of what has been deemed as social rights. The argument of Justice Bradley indicted that the 13th and 14th Amendment can only be looked to for the protection of civil rights and expansion of these protections to social rights would be outside the scope of the Constitution. The protection of these rights instead fell to the States and their authority to legislate their own domestic affairs. Civil rights are identified as those safeguarded by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution (the essential rights of life, liberty, and property) against State infringement, and therefore cannot be breached by acts of individuals. Social rights or protection against discrimination, however, does not fall within the scope of the US Constitution. The imposition of an individual into the rights of an injured party, if not sanctioned in some way by the S...

Aging Population in Hk

In the past, many people dead in childhood due to sickness and improper medical treatment, which enzymes and bacteria can easily kill them. However, with the development of medical technology, such as introduction of new treatments like antibacterial, people can combat many diseases and have a longer life, and the death rate can be lowered. Hence, as Hong Kong is a stable place, it can make people in Hong Kong live longer. Hong Kong is a stable place without the threat of civil wars and lack of essential resources like water and food, compare with some undeveloped countries. In addition, the Hong Kong government also maintain stability by making policies such as food hygiene policy. With maintaining stability, people can live longer then. The above conditions lead to the increasing longevity of Hong Kong people, which caused the aging population in Hong Kong. Declining birth rate In the past 50 years, there was a baby boom occurred in Hong Kong. People at that time did not concern about the cost of bring the child up and the problem of population explosion, which lead to the high birth rate at that time. After reaching 1980s, the birth rate started to be declined. This is mainly due to higher education rate in HK, when there is a higher educates rate, less female would unwilling to born more children. Hence, fearing from financial burden, as it bringing a child up requires a high cost, families are unwilling to give birth to child. Moreover, people are more likely to settle down at a later age, form their families when they become old, this also lead to a low birth rate. In fact, the low death rate could bring few negative effects. However, when there is a declining birth rate, the young age group cannot support the size of old age group born in the baby boom. This will lead to a serious problem. In short, a declining birth rate and a low death rate caused the aging population. Situation in Hong Kong In Hong Kong, the population sizes of youngsters are keeping decreasing with a decrease of 17. 9% in 33 years. In contrast, the number of old people are keeping increasing, it is estimated in 2033, the old age group will become one-forth of the whole population. Hence, there is a decreasing trend in birth rate in 40 years with a drop of 1500 babies per year. Nevertheless, the trend grow again since 2005 due to migration from Mainlanders, they could only be able to work until 2030,which may hard to combat the problem. To conclude, the problem of aging population is serious. Impact of aging population In medical aspect, aging population may increase medical expenditure of government because elderly people may have the high risk of chronic diseases. Due to increases of medical services, the demand of doctor and nurses would also be increased. However, the government may not have enough money to provide better medical services as a lower tax income. This may lead to poor quality of medical services. From the point of view of the government, aging population reduces the government’s income as providing more welfare and medical care for elderly. It would also affect the GDP of HK due to more elderly people and less working population, which reduce Hong Kong’s economic development. HK competitiveness in the world may be seriously affected. In social aspect, aging population may increase the pressure of working force, as they need to pay more tax to government for providing better medical services and welfare, even though the demand of productivity at will be high and high salaries will be paid in the future. On the other hand, it may also enhance the problem of poverty as they may unable to work after retired. Suggestions of aging population From the above passage, we can see that aging population will cause a high expenditure and welfare on the government. The aims of the solutions below are to solve these problems. To start with, the government can solve the problem by Enabling older individuals to keep economically active. For example, the government can employed these old age people part-time works to enhance productivity. It can also encourage them to spend more money to enhance the economy by encourage them to travel in Hong Kong, such as the $2 Public Transport Concessions for the elderly. For those retired who are poor and disable to work, the government should put more resources to help them maintain a living. For example, increase the amount of welfare on the poor, or provide resources to some fund, which helps the old age groups, such as the Community Collusion Fund. On the other hand, the government should also cut some welfare, for example, the introduction of the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) can let the old people save money itself for entire when they are working; the issue of health care voucher can reduce the burden of the government-owned health system. These measures can help the government to reduce the welfare.

CASE STUDY 02 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CASE STUDY 02 - Essay Example The debt position of the company is more or less the same as that of its peers. 7 Dividend policy forms an integral part of corporate finance. It looks obvious that the company must reward its shareholders by declaring high dividends. But then the question is if the company declares all of its earnings as dividend merely to keep the shareholders happy then this will perhaps retard the future growth prospects. For this reason the companies do not declare all its earnings as dividend but they plough back a certain portion of the earnings in the form of ‘Retained Earnings’. The companies pay a lot of attention to ‘dividend policy’ as a fall may invite the wrath of the shareholders and a rise can come in the way of the growth prospects (Ross, et al., 2008, pp. 590). The dividend payment of FPL Group Inc has been on an upward move for the last ten years. In the year 1984 the company declared a dividend per share of $1.77 that reached the levels of $2.47 in 1993. Unlike the steady rise in the divided the earnings per share (EPS) of the company passed through fluctuations on many occasions but the impact of this was not felt on its dividend payment pattern. In fact in the year 1990 FPL Group incurred a net loss of $391.005 million resulting in a negative EPS of $2.86. But even in this year the company declared a dividend of $2.34. The main incentive of a share issue is that payment of dividend is ‘not obligatory’ i.e. a company pays dividend only when it is able to generate sufficient amount of earnings. But this seems to be inapplicable in the real world as is evident from the case of FPL Group. However it is anticipated by the analysts that the group will either cut dividend or keep it stable at the existing level of $2.48 per share . In 1993 FPL Group maintained a dividend payout ratio of 91% which is the highest as compared to its peers. During this period Duke Power Co. maintained a payout ratio of 68%, Florida