Foreign exchange Essay Example for Free

Foreign exchange Essay As mentioned above, there was a significantly high supply of money in the United States, which characteristically led to depreciation of the United States dollar. In addition, the period was characterized by a high rate of inflation, implying that considerably larger sums of money would be used in buying commodities that would have been bought inexpensively in the earlier period (Atkinson and Hutto). On the international scale, the high cost of United States commodities meant that importers had to pay lots of money to acquire the goods, which ultimately lowered the level of international trade between the United States and other countries (Table 3). Consequently, the United States dollar fluctuated against other world currencies such as the Japanese yen, the Sterling Pound, Chinese yuan and the Australian dollar (Atkinson and Hutto). For instance, the Sterling Pound exchanged at between $1. 9548 and $2. 0442 in 2007 (Table 3), which was a very large variation. period Australia (dollar) Canada (dollar) China, P. R.(yuan) EMU Members (euro) Japan (yen) Mexico (peso) South Korea (won) Sweden (krona) Switzerland (franc) United Kingdom (pound) 2000. .5815 1. 4855 8. 2784 . 9232 107. 80 9. 459 1,130. 90 9. 1735 1. 6904 1. 5156 2001 . 5169 1. 5487 8. 2770 . 8952 121. 57 9. 337 1,292. 02 10. 3425 1. 6891 1. 4396 2002 . 5437 1. 5704 8. 2771 . 9454 125. 22 9. 663 1,250. 31 9. 7233 1. 5567 1. 5025 2003 . 6524 1. 4008 8. 2772 1. 1321 115. 94 10. 793 1,192. 08 8. 0787 1. 3450 1. 6347 2004 . 7365 1. 3017 8. 2768 1. 2438 108. 15 11. 290 1,145. 24 7. 3480 1. 2428 1. 8330 2005 . 7627 1. 2115 8. 1936 1. 2449 110. 11 10. 894 1,023. 75 7. 4710 1. 2459 1. 8204 2006 . 7535 1. 1340 7. 9723 1. 2563 116. 31 10. 906 954. 32 7. 3718 1. 2532 1. 8434 2007 . 8391 1. 0734 7. 6058 1. 3711 117. 76 10. 928 928. 97 6. 7550 1. 1999 2. 0020 2007: I. .7865 1. 1718 7. 7582 1. 3109 119. 33 11. 024 938. 98 7. 0089 1. 2330 1. 9548 II. .8316 1. 0983 7. 6784 1. 3484 120. 80 10. 878 928. 69 6. 8641 1. 2221 1. 9862 III. .8471 1. 0456 7. 5578 1. 3748 117. 74 10. 965 927. 27 6. 7402 1. 1986 2. 0213 IV. .8898 . 9811 7. 4336 1. 4482 113. 23 10. 849 921. 26 6. 4148 1. 1468 2. 0442 2008: I. .9058 1. 0039 7. 1590 1. 5007 105. 17 10. 803 956. 12 6. 2668 1. 0670 1. 9790 II. .9435 1. 0099 6. 9578 1. 5625 104. 62 10. 428 1,017. 02 5. 9862 1. 0316 1. 9712 III . 8879 1. 0411 6. 8375 1. 5030 107. 58 10. 328 1,064. 56 6. 3175 1. 0734 1. 8924 Table 3: Foreign exchange rates between 2000 and 2008 Source: Modified from GPO Access The strong dollar against the yen between 2001 and 2002, which was the beginning of the Bush administration, discouraged importation by Japan from the United States (Atkinson and Hutto). At the same time, citizens of the United States opted to import valuable items such as automobiles at the expense of the locally manufactured ones, thus putting the United States automobile industry in the quagmire in which it is today (OECD). The consequence of this is that major competitors such as the Japanese automakers have adversely affected local automakers such as Ford, and the whole industry has been earmarked for revival in the Economic Stimulus Package (OECD). Interest rates Government bond yields and interest rates generally declined between 2000 and 2008. For instance, the value of bills at auction declined steadily from $ 5. 85 to $1. 01 in 2003, but steadily rose from $1. 38 to $4. 73 in 2006 (GPO Access). The low price of bonds meant that banks were in a position to purchase more government bonds, thus diverting their attention from other financial service users such as borrowers (Crutsinger and Aversa). Ultimately, banks were forced to impose high interest rates on the loans they offered to the public, implying that most small business holders and individuals were crippled by a massive credit crunch (Crutsinger and Aversa). The ensuing credit crunch adversely affected the United States economy particularly towards the ends of the end of the Bush administration (Crutsinger and Aversa). Banks were most affected by the financial woes and this necessitated the Bush administration to consider taking ownership of various banks in a bid to protect them from collapsing (Crutsinger and Aversa). This move was however also ill planned, as it would result in unnecessary government expenditure, resulting into higher inflation in the United States (Hanke). In addition, there was no assurance that with the government’s acquisition of the banks, their performance would improve (Hanke). Conclusion. Even though the world witnessed a massive economic recession, the woes in the United States stemmed from the fact that the Bush administration spent excessively on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, which generally weakened the performance of most local institutions. The underperformance in various sectors was shown in high rates of unemployment, high inflation, fluctuating levels of money supply and foreign exchange rates as well as high bank interest rates. The combined effect of the various phenomena led to a crisis in the entire United States economy, thus making the Bush administration one of the worst leaderships of the United States. References Atkinson Robert D and Julie Hutto 18October 2004. Bush vs. Clinton: An Economic Performance Index. 10 March 2009. http://www. ppionline. org/ppi_ci. cfm? knlgAreaID=107subsecID=295contentID=252964 Crutsinger, Martin and Aversa, Jeannine 8 October 2008. Bush administration mulls bank stakes. 10 March 2009. http://www. freep. com/article/20081008/BUSINESS07/81008120/1015/BUSINESS02/Bush+administration+mulls+bank+stakes Curl, Joseph. 23 Oct. 2008 McCain lambastes Bush years. 10 March 2009. http://www. washingtontimes. com/news/2008/oct/23/mccain-lambastes-bush-years/ GPO Access . Civilian unemployment rate. 10 March 2009. http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B42. xls GPO Access . Money stock and debt measures, 1965–2008. 10 March 2009 http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B69. xls GPO Access. Bond yields and interest rates, 1929–2008. 10 March 2009. http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B73. xls GPO Access. Changes in consumer price indexes for commodities and services, 1929–2007. 10 March 2009. http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B64. xls GPO Access. Foreign exchange rates, 1985–2008. 10 March 2009. http://www. gpoaccess. gov/eop/2009/B110. xls. Hanke, Steve H. September 24, 2008 The Bush Legacy: Deflation or Inflation? 10 March 2009. http://www. cato. org/pub_display. php? pub_id=9663 Irwin, Neil and Eggen, Dan. 12 Jan. 2009. The Washington Post. Economy Made Few Gains in Bush Years: Eight-Year Period Is Weakest in Decades. http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/01/12/ST2009011200359. html National Organization for Women. 27 August 2004. Bushs Economic Failure Weakens Middle Class, Deepens Poverty and Harms Women and Families. 10 March 2009. http://www. now. org/press/08-04/08-27. html OECD. Macroeconomic indicators. 10 March 2009. http://stats. oecd. org/mei/default. asp? lang=esubject=15country=USA Robinson, Woodward, Gellman. Timeline: Bushs Eight Years in Office. 10 March 2009. http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-srv/politics/bush/legacy/timeline Shi, Leiyu and Stevens Gregory D. Vulnerable Populations in the United States. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2004 The High Cost of Health Care. 25 November 2007. The New York Times. 10 March 2009. http://www. nytimes. com/2007/11/25/opinion/25sun1. html? _r=1 United states Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. 10 March 2009 http://www. bls. gov/.

Henrik Isbens A Dolls House :: A Dolls House Essays

Translation Trouble In the play "A Doll House" the main character, Nora, is in a situation where she is caused to act, emotionally and physically, as a doll to please her husband. Nora has to be very sneaky and conniving in order to be perfect and talked down to by her husband. The translation of this play from Norwegian was a little difficult. The title can either be translated as "A Doll House" or as "A Doll's House". Many people believe either title fits the theme of the play. I believe that the title "A Doll's House" may fit because it is Nora being a doll in order to please her husband Torvald. Torvald sees her as his toy, not as a human equal to himself. Torvald gives his wife pet names such as "spend thrift" and "squander bird". This shows just how controlling he really is. Nora just plays along, keeping secrets from Torvald in order to please him at any expense. This was a very common situation during the era whom this play was produced. Nora is smart and capable of a lot more but she lets herself be held back in order to be the perfect wife for Torvald. The title "A Doll House" would not fit the play because this states that everyone in the house is a doll. However, Nora is the only character truly pretending to be what they are not. This title would work if everyone was trying to give off an image that wasn't true, such as Nora did. If Nora is a doll then all the other characters would be the humans playing with her, causing her to do extra ordinary tasks such as forgery and lying. The best title is definitely "A Doll's House" because Nora is the only character acting in a different manner in order to please her power hungry husband, Torvald. Even if she was conniving it was all in good intentions. It takes a very loving wife to go out of her way in order to make sure that her husband isn't burdened down with the expenses of a trip that saved his life. However, Torvald doesn't really see his Nora as his wife emotionally but as his little sex pet. This is what Nora finally realizes at the end of the play when Torvald is only worried about himself and what everyone else thinks about him.

Utopia Story

Utopia Thomas Mere's utopia which was the predecessor for the concept continues to be appropriated into a range of cultures and contexts. Increasingly however, these are Utopias are dyspepsia. A utopia is defined as an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. The word was first used in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More. The opposite of utopia is a dyspepsia, an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.The themes present in the texts Utopia, Cataract, Fahrenheit 451 and the Pedestrian whether they are a Utopia or a Dyspepsia intertwine and give us a sense that the slightest push in any direction for our society could result in a catastrophic dyspepsia. In Ray Bursary's The Pedestrian, the idea of technology taking over and the decline of human feelings and interactions are strongly represented. In The Pedestrian Bradbury has used a futuristic setting of society to critiqu e It. He presents the undesired characteristics lying within our society and enhances and pronounces hem in The Pedestrian.He conveys the alienation and lack of emotions that is beginning to show in our society and presents them in his text a possible future for humanity if we were to go down that path. The way Bradbury represents technology in his short story is as if it is evil and tearing humanity apart. So devoid of emotion is the environment and surroundings of the main character that it creates a giant contrast to the main character to who Is, to the audience symbolizes as us, an average person All of the techniques such as metaphors and similes are used to enhance the alienation of the main character representing us from the environment and everything else.In the text Cataract, the main themes are, like the pedestrian, the taking over of technology and loss of humanity. In Cataract, It Is In the future and every child Is made and selected through a far more advanced form of I F where the best genes are extracted from the parent's and then Implanted back In the mother. The hair and eye color and sex are chosen, any possibility for diseased genes is removed and as he characters are told â€Å"the children are still you, simply the best of you†.The story centers on Vincent, a child who was conceived naturally and suffered immensely because of the new way to discriminate, through inferior genes. The way the world In Cataract Is presented to the audience, with employees checking Into work by having their fingers pricked to test their blood and how strictly business like and devoid of emotion it is works to present a possible dyspepsia for our society through Cataract. Science and technology is key, there is no time nor place for emotion, this is was Cataract represents.Fahrenheit 451 Is another dyspepsia text that presents the themes of lacking emotion and the taking over of technology, In this text, everything we know In our society has been twisted a nd stretched to the extreme to resemble something we barely recognize. Firemen are now employed to burn all books, starting fires instead of putting them out. The characters in this text are shadows, seemingly without a purpose or many emotions.The concept of talking to each other and enjoying the environment is alien to them, their only form of enjoyment a four wall TV that surrounds like a room, further cutting them off from emotion, humanity and enclosing them in technology as such. These Dyspepsia are all conceived from the original Utopia written by Sir Thomas More, and are used like More did, to critique the society the authors live or lived in. The extreme elements in each of these Utopias could be possible and that is what the authors wanted to present, almost like a warning to us. Emily Newman

Prohibition During The Era Of 1920-1933 Essay - 814 Words

Prohibition Essay: By: Savannah Crawford During the era of 1920-1933 could best be characterized as the path to a sober nation. This time of history consisted of the eighteenth amendment which was passed on October 28th 1919; Volstead Act. The Volstead act was created to carry out the movement of prohibition. In addition, Prohibition is the legal prohibiting of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks for common consumption according to dictionary.com. Furthermore, this amendment concurs that alcohol beverages could not be made, transported, or sold legally in the United States. People started to trust that drinking would demolish ones character, change politics, and created crime. On the other hand, the prohibition amendment did lower alcohol consequences outcomes, in the end this amendment should never have been passed as it caused more organized crime and an increase of problems with our economy. Prohibition was favored by the Anti-Saloon League established by Howard Hyde Russel whom practiced law and ministry. Equally important, this group appealed to local churches to favor their movement. This gave the group loyal followers giving them the chance to focus on politicians to support the movement as well. In addition, women favored the movement as well, due to them believing alcohol blocked the unity of family. Women could not conform to the behavior or drunkenness of their husbands and saw alcohol only brought about conflict. As time passed even many factoryShow MoreRelatedRoaring Twenties in American Society After World War I. Essay645 Words   |  3 PagesWorld War I lasted from 1914 -1918, but America did not become involved until 1917. After World War I, American society changed greatly. A new era, the Roaring Twenties, found its way in America along with the arrival of the flappers (Roaring). Americans were introduced to new fashion styles, the prohibition and the J azz Age (Fashion, Jazz). Controversy proved to be very prominent with the Scopes Trial (Scopes). As the war came to a close, the Roaring Twenties made its way into America. ThisRead MoreGangster Films In The 1920s1281 Words   |  6 PagesThe dawn of Prohibition engendered the societal normalities of the United States to be completely turned upside down. What had been a source of a good time for so many was declared illegal and now millions of Americans were forced to seek alternative means of obtaining their alcohol, no matter how unscrupulous the source. Enter the gangster, a larger than life, pinstripe wearing, gun wielding renegade. It was this romanticized idea that would come to serve as an embodiment of society turning to theRead MoreEssay on Herbert Hoover1312 Words   |  6 Pagesdenounced it as an infringement of their rights. For nearly 14 years—from Jan. 29, 1920, until Dec. 5, 1933--the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal in the United States. The 18th, or Prohibition, Amendment to the Constitution was passed by Congr ess and submitted to the states in 1917. By Jan. 29, 1919, it had been ratified. Enforcement legislation entitled the National Prohibition Act (or more popularly, the Volstead act, after Representative Andrew J. VolsteadRead MoreIdentification And Evaluation Of Sources1315 Words   |  6 Pageswill explore the question: What were the causes that lead to Prohibition s failure in the United States? This investigation will follow the years 1893 through 1933 to analyze the reasons for Prohibition s failure as well as a shift away from Prohibition. The Prohibition era in the United States is most notably remembered for its inability to sober up the nation. According to Mark Thornton, a historian from Cato Institute, prohibition had some initial success but ultimately led to an increaseRead MoreThe Prohibiton Era1616 Words   |  7 PagesThe Prohibition Era The 1920’s was a huge, significant time for the United States. One of the most important parts of this time is the Prohibition Era. What is Prohibition? Prohibition is defined as the banning of alcohol use. On July 22nd 1919, this idea was put into action using the 18th amendment. The 18th amendment forbade the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol (Lapsanky-Werner 229). This amendment was enforced by the Volstead Act, named after Andrew Volstead. This act was not veryRead MoreProhibition : Installment And Effects1255 Words   |  6 PagesDylan Cox Coach Kaye AP Psychology 12 March 2016 Prohibition: Installment and Effects â€Å"The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition† (History.com Staff). Overnight, alcohol went from a common drink of choice to an illegal asset that became the heartbeat of bootlegging organizations and organized crime. The otherwise â€Å"Roaring 20s† was marredRead MoreThe Failed Experiment that Was Prohibition Essay689 Words   |  3 PagesProhibition In the 1920s, the 18th Amendment banned a persons right to manufacture and purchase liquor. Banning the transportation, manufacture,and sale of â€Å"intoxicating† beverages was known as prohibition, the most controversial law of that century. Prohibition was strongly supported by the government and women in America that were being abused. Important groups of that time being the â€Å"Dry’s† and the â€Å"Wet’s†. Opponents of prohibition consisted of men who felt that they deserved the right toRead MoreA Sociological And Humanistic Perspective1714 Words   |  7 Pagesbe known less formally as the prohibition amendment. This amendment to the constitution was ratified in January of the year 1919(CITE). It was established very commonly as an amendment by bicameral congressional approval, majority state approval, and final certification. This amendment to the constitution mandated that the production, transport, and sell of alcoholic beverages be mad e illegal, which had the immediate effect of causing a 13 year long â€Å"prohibition era†. This time frame was notableRead More Prohobition Essays1189 Words   |  5 PagesPROHIBITION In all probability, no one thing gave more character to the era known as the ‘Roaring 20s’, than what was called ‘the long dry spell’ (a.k.a. Prohibition). Prohibition was the result, of the longstanding efforts, by largely Protestant religious groups, who had preached temperance since the early colonial period. What had been known as the temperance movement came to be a drive for all out prohibition right about the turn of the century. From about 1900-1904 there was a dramaticRead MoreThe Memorable Periold of the 1920s in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald1168 Words   |  5 PagesThe 1920s was a memorable period in history because numerous notable events were occurring. Throughout the 1920s, commonly referred to as the â€Å"Roaring Twenties†, were the Women’s Rights Movement, Prohibition, and The Great War, among other events. Fitzgerald grew up during this era, which he described in his novel The Great Gatsby as a time when muc h sinfulness and immorality was occurring. Excessive drinking, extravagant parties, organized crime, and gambling were all major social issues throughout