Separation of Powers in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Separation of Powers in the UK - Essay Example For example, if the parliament has more control over the others, there will be instability in the government. There has been the development of the UK government in achieving balance between the government and the parliament through application of the principle of separation of powers. In 1998, the Human Rights Act was launched by the parliament requiring consideration of the European Convention of Human Rights by the judiciary. Recently, the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 was geared towards separation of powers through the judicial reforms. The Act required abolishment of the offices of the Lord Chancellor and establishment of a Supreme Court of UK without the consent of the judiciary at that time (Masterman 2011, p. 34). Following the development in separation of powers in the UK government, the three branches function independent of each other. The current UK government constitutes of the legislature whose role is to pass laws and supervise their implementation, the executive, who se role is to implement laws, and the judiciary, whose role is to administer justice by ensuring compliance to the laws. The Parliament of the UK comprises the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Crown. The main roles of the Parliament include passing laws and following their implementation by the executive, the Government (Madgwick 1991, p. 23). The Parliament in conjunction with the Government played a great in the implementation of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 that resulted to the establishment of the Supreme Court following the abolishment of the Lord Chancellor’s powers that undermined separation of powers. The Act dismissed the Lord Chancellor as the Speaker of the House of Lords, an effort towards separation of powers. The Parliament is privileged as it is granted the freedom to speech.

The Lives and Religions of Jesus and Muhammad Essay Example for Free

The Lives and Religions of Jesus and Muhammad Essay As the figureheads of two major world religions, the lives and teachings of Jesus and Muhammad are consistently examined and debated. The lives of these two men are strikingly different, and perhaps this is reflected in the different ways in which they are considered and worshipped. Jesus promoted peace and goodwill to all men, was destined for his role as a spiritual leader at the moment of conception, and is worshipped as a divine entity. In contrast, Muhammad was a powerful political and military leader as well as a religious one, and is not worshipped as a divine entity, but simply as a prophet, or messenger of God. The Life and Death of Jesus Christ Jesus is thought to have been born in Bethlehem, in or close to 4 BC (Bockmuehl, 13), and to have been raised in Nazareth by parents Mary and Joseph. Joseph was a carpenter by trade, as was Jesus himself. Jesus was a devout Jew (Bockmuehl, 15), but it is thought that his interpretation of the Torah was significantly different from what was generally accepted. The Gospels frequently describe incidents in which Jesus debated scripture and was critical of certain Jewish sects, most notably the Pharisees. In the absence of other historical sources, the Gospels are the main source of information about the life of Jesus. Little is known about the events that occurred between Jesus’ birth and his emergence as the leader of a religious movement. At an unknown point in his life, Jesus became a follower and friend of a prophet named John the Baptist (Bockmuehl, 22). After the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus began preaching. He taught that the kingdom of God was imminent and that repentance of sins and acceptance of the Gospel was necessary to â€Å"acquire treasure in heaven† (Mark 10:21). It is thought that Jesus’ ministry lasted approximately three years. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus traveled throughout Galileee, teaching in synagogues and open fields alike, healing the sick, and â€Å"proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom† (Matthew 4:23). Jesus used parables extensively, presumably because they made his messages of faith and forgiveness easier to understand. The events culminating in Jesus’ crucifixion occurred in Jerusalem (Bockmuehl, 36). According to the Gospels, he caused a disturbance in a temple by overturning tables belonging to moneychangers and preventing the passage of people who used the temple as a sort of shortcut through the city. Ultimately, he was executed because his teachings and actions made him a threat to the stability of established religion and power structures (Bockmuehl, 96). Jesus’ death is perhaps more important than his life, in terms of the impact it has had on the popularity and acceptance of his religious teachings. If Jesus had not died a martyr, Christianity would not exist as we know it today. Even more important than his manner of death, however, are the Gospel reports which state that three days after his death, his tomb was empty, and that he was subsequently seen alive by the disciples (Bockmuehl, 102). Regardless of whether or not Jesus was actually resurrected, belief in the resurrection is the defining principle of the Christian faith, and is the basis for the enormous impact of Christianity on the Western world. Jesus’ resurrection increases the significance of his death and validates the messages of his ministry (Bockmuehl, 101). The Life and Death of Muhammad Unlike Jesus, who, having been conceived immaculately was destined for greatness, Muhammad was a middle aged man before he received his calling (Cook, 14). Muhammad was born in or around 570 AD, and did not â€Å"receive his mission† (Cook, 14) for over forty years. This occurred on Mount Hira, near Mecca. It is said that as Muhammad lay asleep, the angel Gabriel came to him in a dream and revealed to him the first of a series of scriptures which eventually became the Koran. Muhammad subsequently spend ten to fifteen years in Mecca (Cook, 16), where he not only made many converts, but was also visited repeatedly by Gabriel, who introduced him to Abraham, Moses, and Jesus and allowed him to visit heaven. At this time, Paganism was the predominant religion in Mecca, and while Muhammad was mocked by some, he and his new religion were mostly tolerated. However, Muhammad began to criticize Pagan gods, and hostility was the eventual result, as city rules feared that the turbulence caused by religious division might limit trade between Mecca and other cities. A number of Muhammad’s followers fled to Ethiopia to escape persecution (Cook, 18). Muhammad himself eventually found protection in the form of tribesmen located in the northern city of Medina, who apparently saw Muhammad’s religion as a means of uniting their city, which was then fraught with internal political division (Cook, 19). Muhammad’s move to Medina took place in 622 AD, and is called the hijra. The year in which this occurred became known as the first year of the Muslim era. Once settled in Medina, Muhammad succeeding in uniting the warring Arab factions by enveloping both under the Muslim umbrella (Cook 21). With bloodshed between Muslims forbidden, the feud was effectively halted. With internal peace assured, Muhammad turned his attentions to external enemies, the chief of these being his home town, Mecca. He achieved a number of military successes, including the invasion and capture of Mecca (Cook, 22). His religious message spread as his conquests continued, and many Arab tribes submitted to his political and religious authority. Muhammad continued to receive visits from Gabriel, and many of the rituals which define Islam originated in this way (Cook, 23). Unlike Jesus, Muhammad died peacefully, of an unknown illness (Cook, 24), and was survived by nine wives as well as four daughters. Military operations continued in the name of Islam after his death. Muhammad had apparently planned to send an exploratory expedition to Palestine (Cook, 22), but died before this could be carried out. However, within a generation after his death, the Middle East had been conquered by the Muslims. Historical Worship of Jesus and Muhammad Jesus was an object of worship within a generation after his death (Bockmuehl, 220). Christ was invoked in prayer and hymn as early as the first century AD. However, it was not until the fourth century that Christianity was widely accepted (Bockmuehl, 223). At this point religious iconography began to appear in public displays, and purpose-built Christian churches were erected as the Christian faith became more organized and hierarchical. The importance of Christianity steadily increased until the end of the Middle Ages, at which point Christianity was the center of all aspects of life. Art, literature, music, and architecture were created to glorify Christ and depict Biblical events. Also at this time, religious art began to explore the human side of Jesus (Bockmuehl, 225), portraying his mental and physical anguish in realistic crucifixion scenes. It was not until the Italian Renaissance and Humanistic philosophy of the fifteenth century that secular art and literature began to appear. The self-exploration prompted by the Renaissance eventually gave rise to schisms within the previously unified Christian church. In the modern world, Jesus is increasingly viewed as just one of many prophets, including Moses, Muhammad, and Buddha (Bockmuehl, 237). Worship of Jesus in the twenty-first century is perhaps more personal than it once was, with less emphasis on organized religion and more emphasis on a personal relationship with Christ. This is perhaps necessary in a world which is increasingly secular, where there are many different religious denominations which identify as Christian, and where Christianity is no longer an entity which dominates every aspect of both public and private life. Unlike Jesus, who is worshipped as a divine entity, Muhammad is worshipped as a prophet or messenger of God, rather than a divine being (Cook, 83). Muhammad was not only a religious leader, but a political and military leader as well. The monotheistic faith that Muhammad created gave Islamic Arab nations the political stability that enabled them to become one of the world’s major civilizations (Cook, 86). Within two hundred years of Muhammad’s death, the Islamic religions had spread far beyond the borders of Arabian countries (Cook, 87). In the modern world, the faith is no longer spread via conquest of other countries, despite the efforts of extremist sects such as Al-Qaeda. As with Christianity, the basic tenets of Muslim faith remain unchanged, however the modern world has indeed influenced Muslim practices (Rippin, 127). Similar to the way in which the increasing separation of religion and state influenced Christianity, this division, together with the existence of the Muslim faith in countries which are not predominantly Muslim, has made the religion more of a personal choice and less of a political or national way of life. Just as with Christianity, numerous Muslim sects exist in the world. However, for devout Muslims, the rituals and practices of the faith remain virtually unchanged in comparison to what they were during ancient times. Conclusion The lives and deaths of Jesus and Mohammad have been just as influential in their respective religions as their teachings, if not more so. Both managed to unite innumerable people under one religion in different ways, which are reflected in their teachings and the events of their lives. Both were the figureheads of monotheistic religions, but had very different teachings. Jesus’ main message was the importance of love of both God and of fellow man, while Muhammad promoted unity within the Muslim community but used war as a means of spreading the Islamic faith to new lands. References Bockmuehl, Markus. (2001) The Cambridge companion to Jesus. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Cook, Michael. (1996) Muhammad. Oxford: Oxford University. Rippin, Andrew. (1990) Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge.

Overview of the Imclone case

Overview of the Imclone case The ImClone case is about insider trading. Here is the background information regarding the case. Sam and Harlan Waksal started ImClone in 1984. From there, in 1993, the brothers purchased the rights to the molecule C225. The molecule was discovered by Dr. John Mendelsohn at the University of California San Diego. C225 is an anti-cancer drug that can distinguish between cancerous cells and healthy cells. C225 would be able to shrink cancer to a surgically removable size. C225 would later be given the brand name Erbitux. In May of 2000, Sam Waksal presents the case of Shannon Kellum at the American Society of Clinical Oncology. It was demonstrated that grapefruit sized tumors would be shrunk to the size of peas and then surgically removed. A year later in September 2001, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. agrees to buy a 20 percent stake in the company and for the rights to sell the cancer drug Erbitux in the U.S. and Canada. The tender offer valued ImClone at $70.00 per share. On December 12 of 2001 ImClone and Bristol-Meyers meet with FDA on Erbitux, their last meeting with regulators before receiving official news the FDA would not review Erbitux. The FDA had concerns about Erbitux. December 26, 2001 Waksal received a tip from his brother Harlan, that the FDA would reject the Erbitux application and the tried to sell 79,797 shares of ImClone. He was unable to complete the sale due to two different brokerages refusing to issue sale orders. The next day family and close friends of Sam Waksal sell almost $3 million worth of stock, including Sams daughter Aliza and home style guru Martha Stewart, a friend of Sam Waksal. The stock closes at $58.30. On December 28, 2001, ImClone announces that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reject the application for Erbitux, saying the drug did not satisfy requirements. The stock begins a precipitous decline taking it down to the high teens. On Jan 25, 2002, the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission and the Justice Department launch probe into ImClone and Waksal. Feb 14, 2002 Waksal notifies the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first time of 50 trades he made in ImClone stock going back as far as 1992. These transactions should have been reported within months. A few months later, Sam Waksal is arrested on charges he illegally acted on insider information in selling ImClone and by telling family members to do the same. By August Sam Waksal, already charged with insider trading, is indicted for obstruction of justice and bank fraud in a case that has rocked investors confidence. Waksal is accused of pledging ImClone securities he no longer owned to secure a $44 million loan and forging the signature of ImClones general counsel to fool the bank into believing he still owned the securities. By August 14, 2002, ImClone sued Sam Waksal, claiming Waksal ordered the destruction of documents that may be important in a government investigation into the company. The Imclone scandal is one of many scandals that show what can happen to a company if wrong and unlawful decisions are made. In this paper I will identify and define the ethical problems violated by certain employees at Imclone, which in part led to the scandal and imprisonment of several people. The first ethical problem and most obvious one to identify in this scandal is insider trading. Illegal insider trading involves, â€Å"trading in a security (buying or selling a stock) based on material information that is not available to the general public† (Reh, 2010). This specifically means having certain information that the general public does not have either from inside sources or by being an insider. This would give people privileged information in order to help them make a financial decision. It is prohibited by the Security Exchange Commission because, â€Å"it is unfair and would destroy the securities markets by destroying investor confidence† (Reh, 2010). The stock market is driven by fair practices and confidence that the â€Å"man on the street† can have access to the same public information a corporate analyst has access to. The following examples describe instances of insider trading that have been reported to the SEC: â€Å"Corporate officers, directors, and employees who traded the corporations securities after learning of significant, confidential corporate developments† (Astarita, 2010). â€Å"Friends, business associates, family members, and other tippers of such officers, directors, and employees, who traded the securities after receiving such information† (Astarita, 2010). â€Å"Other persons who misappropriated, and took advantage of, confidential information from their employers† (Astaria, 2010). These are just a few examples of illegal insider trading and similarly describe what took place at Imclone with CEO, Sam Waksal. Sam discovered inside information that would lead to a drop in the companys stock. Now, knowing and acting are two different things when it comes to insider trading. It is understood that certain people inside a company will know valuable information as regards to its stock going up or down. The criminal and unethical behavior comes when that person tells his friends and family members about that information. This is exactly what Sam Waksal did and this is what got him and the company into some major trouble. Most public companies will limit the number of people who have access to the inside information. This is done to decrease the likelihood of insider trading. However, even if you have a small number of people on the inside, it will ultimately come down to the individual and the ethical standards to which they live their life by. It only took one man to start the insider trading scandal, and thats not even all he did. Two other ethical problems that were indirectly related to Imclone involved Sam Waksal and his own personal ethics. His attempts at forgery and tax fraud did not hurt the company per sea, but helped confirm the type of unethical CEO that he was. Forgery can be defined as, â€Å"the act or legal offense of imitating or counterfeiting documents, signatures, works of art, etc. to deceive† (Websters, 2009). This basically means falsifying something with the intent of misleading others so that you may appear to have done something truthful. With regards to ImClones CEO, it was reported that Sam Waksal forged a signature of the companys general counsel, John Landes, in a statement pledging ImClone stocks in order to obtain money in loans from Bank of America. This was†¦. Fraud can be defined as, â€Å"something said or done to deceive† (Websters, 2009). Another definition, and one that more closely identifies personal ethics defines fraud as a, â€Å"person who deceives or who is not what he or she pretends to be; a cheat† (Websters 2009). Regarding Sam Waksals personal morality, he failed to pay sixty million dollars in personal income taxes on certain stock grants given to him by ImClone. He pretended for a long time to have paid these, when in reality he had not. It was only a matter of time until his fraudulent actions finally caught up with him. As you can see, any one of the previous ethical problems can bring companies to scandalous ruin. What we see in all three of the problems is one man who decided to behave unethically. That is all it takes and that is why ethics is so important; especially for the men at the top. Imclone employees and associates are clearly in violation of numerous laws and multiple ethical principles. One would think that a scandal involving accounting fraud and insider trading would not only damage a company initially, but result in long term detriment to the organization. There is a significant and gradual decline in the â€Å"shame on you† perception of the general public, as is evidenced by the most recent financial transactions of the company. Even with the barrage of media attention to the Imclone scandal, ethical attitudes appear to change over time. Martha Stewart, the homemaker tycoon, was charged with and convicted of insider trading involving Imclone. She held numerous shares of Imclone stock and sold all holdings the day before the announcement from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that they would not approve Imclones drug, Erbitux, for cancer treatment. Predictably, shares of Imclone stock dropped significantly the day of the announcement. Martha Stewart sold all shares at fifty eight dollars per share and saved a predicted $40,000 by selling all holdings before the fall. Stewart claimed that she had a â€Å"verbal order† to sell all holdings if the stock dropped below $60 per share. However, one day before the announcement from the FDA, while she was traveling on her charted jet to Mexico for vacation, Stewart placed a phone call that lasted approximately eleven minutes to her stockbroker. Shortly thereafter, he sold all of her holdings. The next day the announcement was made and the rest as they say is history. Martha Stewart, not Imclone, seems to be the one who received the most lasting negative impact from this scandal. MSO stock traded at a high of about $16 per share prior to the insider trading scandal. Once Martha Stewart was indicted and later convicted, MSO stock dropped to less than $8 per share. Currently, MSO stock is trading around $5 per share. In 2002, Imclone shares fell as low as $5.85 per share. Imclones drug Erbitux was eventually approved and posted sales of 1.3 billion in 2007. In 2008, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company tendered an offer to purchase Imclone for $60 per share. Ironically, this is almost the same price point where Martha Stewart dumped her stock before the fall in 2001. Eli Lilly tendered an offer in 2009 for $70 per share, which totaled approximately $6.5 billion. The offer was approved and Eli Lilly purchased Imclone. Multiple players crossed ethical boundaries during the Imclone scandal. These include individual investors (Stewart), Imclone senior leadership and stockbrokers. They knew what they were doing before they did it and they got caught. Martha Stewart is one of the principal reasons that this case got so much media attention. The Imclone scandal alone was not really that newsworthy nor was it much different than the multitude of other financial scandals during the early years after 2000. We have Mrs. Stewart to thank for bringing this to the forefront of America. For the business world, and the American Public in particular, the Imclone ordeal serves as an example of deceit, greed, insider trading and scandal. It also proves that if you knowingly choose to break the law, and if you get caught, the government will prosecute and you could serve time in prison. If you do not think it could happen to you, just ask Martha Stewart.

The Peaceful Cemetery Essay -- Descriptive Essay Examples, Observation

The Peaceful Cemetery    As we enter a cemetery, we might be filled with fear. We may think of dark nights and ended lives. What is a scary and dreadful place is a very meaningful place for me. This place is so meaningful to me because my grandparents on my father's side are buried there. Cemeteries are important to bringing perspective and serenity, because they bring us a connection to where we came from, help us realize the delicacy of life, and they help us to relax a little bit through their calmness. I have had so many things impact my life and they all seem to end up in the same place. Cemeteries are not the dreaded and scary things of superstitions. They are holding places for memories and faith.    My memories of Linwood cemetery are not from within the place itself but from the people it holds. It helped me realize the delicacy of life by taking many people I loved before I expected. My grandparents are buried in my most meaningful place and one of my friends from high school. My grandparents are very special because I never really had the chance to meet...

Healthcare Finance Essay

Houston Dialysis Center is a department of Houston General Hospital, a full-service, not-for-profit acute care hospital with 325 beds. The bulk of the hospital’s facilities are devoted to inpatient care and emergency services. However, a 100,000 square-foot section of the hospital complex is devoted to outpatient services. Currently, this space has two primary uses. About 80 percent of the space is used by the Outpatient Clinic, which handles all routine outpatient services offered by the hospital. The remaining 20 percent is used by the Dialysis Center. The Dialysis Center performs hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, which are alternative processes for removing wastes and excess water from the blood for patients with end-stage renal (kidney) disease. In hemodialysis, blood is pumped from the patient’s arm through a shunt into a dialysis machine, which uses a cleansing solution and an artificial membrane to perform the functions of a healthy kidney. Then, the cleansed blood is pumped back into the patient through a second shunt. In peritoneal dialysis, the cleansing solution is inserted directly into the abdominal cavity through a catheter. The body naturally cleanses the blood through the peritoneum—a thin membrane that lines the abdominal cavity. In general, hemodialysis patients require three dialyses a week, with each treatment lasting about four hours. Patients who use peritoneal dialysis change their own cleansing solutions at home, typically about six times per day. This procedure can be done manually when active or automatically by machine when sleeping. However, the patient’s overall condition, as well as the positioning of the catheter, must be monitored regularly at the Dialysis Center. The hospital allocates facilities costs (which primarily consist of building depreciation and interest on long-term debt) on the basis of square footage. Currently, the facilities cost allocation rate is $15 per square foot, so the facilities cost allocation is 20,000 Ãâ€" $15 = $300,000 for the Dialysis Center and 80,000 Ãâ€" $15 = $1,200,000 for the Outpatient Clinic. All other overhead costs, such as administration, finance, maintenance, and  housekeeping, are lumped together and called â€Å"general overhead.† These costs are allocated on the basis of 10 percent of the revenues of each patient service department. The current allocation of general overhead is $270,000 for the Dialysis Center and $1,600,000 for the Outpatient Clinic, which results in total overhead allocations of $570,000 for the Dialysis Center and $2,800,000 for the Outpatient Clinic. Recent growth in volume of the Outpatient Clinic has created a need for 25 percent more space than currently assigned. Because the Outpatient Clinic is much larger than the Dialysis Center, and because its patients need frequent access to other departments within the hospital, the decision was made to keep the Outpatient Clinic in its current location and to move the Dialysis Center to another location to free up space. Such a move would give the Outpatient Clinic 100,000 square feet, a 25 percent increase. After attempting to find new space for the Dialysis Center within the hospital complex, it was soon determined that a new 20,000 square foot building must be built. This building will be situated two blocks away from the hospital complex, in a location that is much more convenient for dialysis patients (and Center employees) because of ease of parking. The new space, which can be more efficiently utilized than the old space, allows for a substantial increase in patient volume, although it is unclear whether the move will result in additional dialysis patients. The new dialysis facility is expected to cost $3 million. Additionally, furniture and other fixtures, along with relocation expenses of current equipment, would cost $1 million, for a total cost of $4 million. The funds needed for the new facility will be obtained from a 20-year loan at local bank. The loan (including interest) will be paid off over 20 years at a rate of $400,000 per year. Because the specific financing details are known, it is possible to estimate the actual annual facilities costs for the new Dialysis Center, something that is not possible for units located within the hospital complex. Table 1 (see Excel spreadsheet) contains the projected profit and loss (P&L)  statement for the Dialysis Center before adjusting for the move. The hospital’s department heads receive annual bonuses on the basis of each department’s contribution to the bottom line (profit). In the past, only direct costs were considered, but the hospital’s chief executive officer (CEO) has decided that bonuses would now be based on full (total) costs. Obviously, the new approach to awarding bonuses, coupled with the potential for increases in indirect cost allocation, is of great concern to Linda Rider, the director of the Dialysis Center. Under the current allocation of indirect costs, Linda would have a reasonable chance at an end-of-year bonus, as the forecast puts the Dialysis Center in the black. However, any increase in the indirect cost allocation would likely put her â€Å"out of the money.† At the next department heads’ meeting, Linda expressed her concern about the impact of any allocation changes on the Dialysis Center’s profitability, so the hospital’s CEO asked the chief financial officer (CFO), Roger Hedgecock, to look into the matter. In essence, the CEO said that the final allocation is up to Roger but that any allocation changes must be made within outpatient services. In other words, any change in cost allocation to the Dialysis Center must be offset by an equal, but opposite, change in the allocation to the Outpatient Clinic. To get started, Roger created Table 2 (see Excel spreadsheet). In creating the table, Roger assumed that the new Dialysis Center would have the same number of stations as the old one, would serve the same number of patients, and would have the same reimbursement rates. Also, operating expenses would differ only slightly from the current situation because the same personnel and equipment would be used. Thus, for all practical purposes, the revenues and direct costs of the Dialysis Center would be unaffected by the move. The data in Table 2 for the expanded Outpatient Clinic are based on the assumption that the expansion would allow volume to increase by 25 percent and that both revenues and direct costs would increase by a like amount. Furthermore, to keep the analysis manageable, the assumption was made that the overall hospital allocation rates for both facilities costs and general overhead would not materially change because of the expansion. Roger knew that his â€Å"trial balloon† allocation, which is shown in Table 2 in the columns labeled â€Å"Initial Allocation,† would create some controversy. In the past, facilities costs were aggregated, so all departments were charged a cost based on the average embedded (historical) cost regardless of the actual age (or value) of the space occupied. Thus, a basement room with no windows was allocated the same facilities costs (per square foot) as was the fifth floor executive suite. Because many department heads thought this approach to be unfair, Roger wanted to begin allocating facilities overhead on a true cost basis. Thus, in his initial allocation, Roger used actual facilities costs ($400,000 per year) as the basis for the allocation to the Dialysis Center. Needless to say, Linda’s response to the initial allocation was less than enthusiastic, but before Roger was able to address Linda’s concerns, he suddenly left the hospital to take a new position in another city. The task of completing the allocation study was given to you, Houston General’s current administrative resident. You believe that any cost allocation system should be perceived as being â€Å"fair,† but you also realize that in practice cost allocation is very complex and somewhat arbitrary. Some department heads argue that the best approach to overhead allocations is the â€Å"Marxist approach,† by which allocations are based on each patient service department’s ability to cover overhead costs, but this approach has its own disadvantages. Considering all the relevant issues, you must develop and justify a new facilities cost allocation scheme for outpatient services. Be prepared to justify your recommendations at the next department heads’ meeting.

Americans and Voting Essay

There is value in having and exercising the right to vote. Americans today have developed a mindset that their vote does not make a difference, and that voicing out their opinions is a waste of time. This is not the case, however, as the rights that Americans are neglecting are the same rights that our ancestors have fought for during the enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment. The laws that affect the average individuals, the influences of various platformed parties, and the importance of voting in society exemplifies why Americans should value their right to vote. Many laws affect the American’s rights to vote as an individual. For instance, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution states that it grants Americans the right to vote, furthermore stating that the â€Å"right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.† This declares, simply and literally, that there is no discrimination in voicing out one’s opinion, no matter what the race, color, or previous condition of servitude. African Americans of the 1960’s suffered greatly from injustice and racism, thus, abolishing the discrimination within voting is extremely important and healthy for our society today. Another example is the Voting Rights Act, as it â€Å"banned the use of literacy tests, provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of the nonwhite population had not registered to vote, and authorized the U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections† (www.history.com). Along with the abolishment of direct discrimination of race, is the abolishment of indirect discrimination, such as literacy tests. The purpose of this Act is to intentionally block all types of discrimination as well as prejudice in the area of voting. Society should voice out their opinions through voting, because there are laws that protect one so they do not face injustice. Influences of various plat formed parties affect the outcomes of lawmaking bodies. An example of this would be the Democratic Party. The party has a mindset that the economy of America should be â€Å"built not from the top down, but from a growing m iddle class, and that provides ladders of opportunity for those working hard to join the middle class† (assets.dstatic.org). This means that the Democratic Party aims for a country that is focused on developing the middle and lower class. A president running with a Democratic perspective can easily win the votes of the Democratic Party. Likewise, the Republican Party is based on their aim to â€Å"grow the economy . . . from the top down† (assets.dstatic.org). The party has a goal that bases off of the idea that building a strong foundation of the top class will make the country better. Of course, â€Å"[voting] does not guarantee that one’s preferences will prevail, but choosing not to vote denies a person one of the key tools of having a say in a democracy† (congresslink.org). Once may not get the president he or she elected for, or the laws they wanted passed, but the Republican and Democratic Parties all have one mindset: ‘Make America a better country.† Therefore, nothing can go wrong with voting. Voting is a privilege that everyone should exercise because there is no wrong decision; everything is mean for the good of the country. America is run based on a democracy. This means th at our government highly considers our beliefs and opinions, and that the future political impacts on our country are going to be in the hands of the citizens who choose to take advantage of their right to vote. This expresses the importance of voting, because when we vote, we don’t just simply choose what president we are going to have; we are electing the person that decides how the government is run, the management of wars within our country, and how resources are used. Furthermore, in a country where there is a large population, it is difficult for an individual to have their voice heard. Therefore, society should consider, once again, their rights to vote because â€Å"casting a vote is the most widely understood and discreetly effective way to have one’s voice heard in American politics† (www.law.seattle.edu). Voting gives on the ability to voice their own outlooks on politics, in a society within a large population. Our voice, our opinions, our vote is important and valued in society. Americans should vote so that these rights and powers do not go to waste. Society today neglects and refuses to voice out their outlooks on politics, which was once a right that American ancestors have fought for. It is valuable to have and exercise the right to vote because there are laws that protect one from discrimination, it is a choice made that benefits the country no matter what the outcome, and lastly, it is the easiest, most effective, and most important way to have one’s voice heard in society. An individual’s vote is important, and it certainly is not a waste of time. Thus, Americans should  exercise their rights as a citizen of a democratic country, and vote.