Macro and Micro Economic Drivers

Macro and Micro Economic Drivers Management in a Complex World A View on Macro and Micro Economic Drivers At a macro level, the complexity of global corporate management can be better understood by studying the Business Cycle Fluctuations. However, the complexity is further intensified with the existence of micro economic forces, which we will be studying using Michael Porters Five Forces model. MACRO-ECONOMIC FORCES Business cycle fluctuations are a key driver of multinationals’ profits. An accurate understanding of the length and depth of business-cycle fluctuations is therefore an important element in successful planning of firms’ investments as well as in forming the appropriate strategies. During the last fifty years there have been a decline in frequency and depth of recessions in a large majority of countries in what is known as the Great Moderation. However, the Great Recession that began at the end of 2007 brought this pattern to an end. Understanding the causes of the Great Moderation is critical as it helps in understanding the future patterns of the macroeconomic environment. Two important aspects of recessions are tightening of credit conditions and increased unemployment. However, these conditions significantly differed across countries. While in Germany or Denmark the unemployment rate did not increase much, in Spain it has increased from 8% to over 20%. The Great Recession should be seen as a wakeup call for the risks of globalisation. Increased trade volumes that have come with globalisation is the international amplification of downturns in large developed economies such as the U.S., Japan and the EU. Increased financial integration paralysed developing countries from counteracting the global effects of these shocks. As a result, domestic recessions in developed economies contribute with a significant destabilizing force towards developing countries. This new reality was hard to anticipate 10 years ago when the consensus was that openness to international capital was the main destabilizing factor of developing economies. However, China did not experience any currency crisis in the 1990s and became the largest holder of foreign exchange reserves, together with effective capital controls, China maintained an artificially low RMB that helped it grow its export markets. Despite China’s productivity miracle had many factors, one of the most important was the acceleration at which Chinese companies mastered increasingly sophisticated technologies. A large academic literature tried to understand the causes of business cycle fluctuations and their effects on the economy. Some of the literature propositions include shocks to government spending, taxes, money supply and demand, input prices such as energy or capital, news about future technology, wage and price mark-ups, volatility and frictions in credit markets. 2.1UNEMPLOYMENT A key aspect of business cycles is the fluctuations in the unemployment rate. The academic literature has studied this in the context of the search and matching models (Mortensen and Pissarides, 1994). These models recognise that it is costly for workers to search for jobs and for companies to post vacancies. In equilibrium, these search and matching frictions generate both unemployed workers and unfilled vacancies. The search and matching models have been used to study how different regulations such as firing costs, hiring cost, minimum wages, and collective bargaining agreements affect the unemployment rate and the average duration of unemployment phases. 2.2BUSINESS CYCLES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES In addition to analysing the time variation of fluctuations, the literature also studied the geographical variation in business cycles. In particular, a body of research tried to understand how and why business cycles are different in developed and developing countries. Comin et al. (2009) explore the effect that shocks to developed economies have on developing countries. They found that disturbances that originate in developed economies are a key driver of business cycles in developing countries. This is not only the case because they contract the demand for exports to the developed economies but also because they affect the flow on new technologies to developing countries. 2.3GLOBAL IMBALANCES Though the literature on global imbalances has taken a U.S. theme, global imbalances are as much about Chinese trade surpluses as U.S. trade deficits. Some of the proposed explanations of the global imbalances are: Lack of investment opportunities in developing countries. Savings glut (Rajan, 2006). Increased in U.S. wealth (Backus et al., 2009). Excess consumption by the U.S. Decline (increase) in relative competitiveness of U.S. (Asian countries). Undervaluation of the RMB (Dooley et al., 2003). More efficient financial intermediation by the U.S (Eichengreen, 2004). Asian reserves are a collateral for U.S. FDI in Asia (Dooley et al., 2004). 2.4INFLATION Empirical evidence suggests that high inflation is damaging to an economy because of its distortionary effects on investment and savings decisions. High inflation encourages people to spend and discourages saving, thereby reducing the funds available for deployment to the most efficient uses in the economy. So, in the long run, overspending and reduced savings could result in an underperforming economy and ultimately lead to slower economic growth. Perhaps more condemning is that high inflation is often highly variable. Because investment decisions are based on forward-looking expectations of real (inflation-adjusted) interest rates, inflation that is highly variable is damaging as it amplifies uncertainty and ambiguity. 2.5EXCHANGE RATES Businesses that trade internationally, are under the mercy of global exchange rate fluxes. Changes in currency conversion rates can increase or wipe out profit gains. When a firm has profits in millions, this can make a significant impact on profits and losses. For instance, McDonalds saw sales increase in Europe during 2011, but the annual profits went down as a result of a weakness in euro. The rapidly changing exchange rates can have the potential to make businesses reluctant to set firm figures in contracts early before a deal takes place. Therefore, organisations need to embrace and understand the risks of doing business internationally. MICRO-ECONOMIC FORCES The micro economic forces are best understood by considering Porter’s Five Force model, which consists of: Suppliers Bargaining Power, Buyer Bargaining Power, Threats from New Entrants, Threats from Substitutes, and Degree of Rivalry. For better understanding the author will use the automotive industry in the UK as a base for discussion. 2.1BUYER POWER Main buyers within the automotive manufacturing industry are dealerships. They are highly dependent on manufacturers which undermines their buyer power. There is a large number of buyers within the automotive manufacturing industry which, along a relatively high level of product differentiation, weakening the buyer power. Dealers are forced to sell car models of preference to customers, which also tends to reduce their buyer power further. Overall, buyer power is relatively weak in this industry. 2.2SUPPLIER POWER Key raw materials needed by automotive manufacturers are commodity items, such as metals. Which are usually manufactured by other firms. With the fairly low differentiation in raw materials, causing less differentiation on the supplied side, subsequently reducing supplier power. However, the critical importance of quality raw materials and components to automotive manufacturers (especially safety-wise) can enhance supplier power. Taking a macro perspective, there has been fluctuation in the prices of primary raw materials, which places pressure on manufacturers margins. Typical suppliers are more likely to sell to a variety of different sectors, with the automotive industry being forming a small part of their customer base. Which strengthens the position of suppliers. Overall, supplier power is moderate 2.3NEW ENTRANTS In markets where there is little protection or barriers to entry from government regulations, customers having little brand loyalty, start-up costs are low, products in the existing market are not unique, production process is simple and access to inputs are relatively easy, risks of new entrants are significantly higher. Putting this into context, the automotive manufacturing industry in the UK has a low new entrants threat level. For new entrants, setting up a production facility is an endeavour that involves the need of large start-up capital thus forming a strong entry barrier enhanced with the high fixed cost too. Which is further amplified with the existing car manufacturers who command strong brand equity and the tighter emission regulations. Taking a macro perspective, the global economic downturn has had a negative impact on car sales as consumers have avoided making expensive purchases. This has resulted in a fall in demand, which reduces the likelihood of new entrants. This shows the importance of considering the macro as well as the micro factors in the approach to corporate management. Overall, the threat of new entrants is assessed as weak. 2.4THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES Numerous other forms of transportation are available, but none provide the convenience and independence of automobiles. However, the main substitute threatening players in this industry is used vehicles. Taking a macro perspective, during the global economic downturn as consumers avoid making big purchases, this amplifies the threat of cheaper substitutes such as used cars or public transport. The threat of substitutes is fairly moderate. 2.5DEGREE OF RIVALRY Highly competitive industries generally yield low returns because the competition costs are high. The automotive industry for instance, is considered to be an oligopoly globally, which helps minimising the effects of price based competition. Automakers understand that price based competition does not necessarily increase the size of the marketplace but will rather put pressure on their profit margins. There is some degree of diversification amongst manufacturers. Honda, for example, uses diversification to reduce dependence upon the automotive industry to an extent, and consequently eases rivalry The presence of strong, multinational incumbents such as Honda and Nissan intensifies rivalry and makes it difficult for smaller players to compete. The degree of rivalry in the automotive industry is further increased by high fixed costs related with manufacturing and the low switching costs for customer when buying. Both macro and micro forces play indicative role for global corporate management. A detailed analysis of both macro and micro is essential in order for businesses to consider entering a foreign or local market.

Face Image Retrieval With Attribute Based Search

Face Image Retrieval With Attribute Based Search Implementation is the process of converting a new system design into operation. Implementation is the stage of turning the theoretical design into a working system. Therefore it is considered as most important stage in achieving a successful new system and in giving the user, confidence that the new system will work and be effective. It also entails careful planning, investigation of the existing system and it’s constraints on implementation, designing of methods to accomplish changeover and estimate changeover methods. Modules The project entitled as â€Å"Efficient Face Image Retrieval from Large Scale Database Using Attribute Based Search and Ranking† developed using Java and the Modules display as follows: Content based image retrieval Attribute based search Face Image Retrieval Modules Description Content-based image search Content-based image retrieval (CBIR), also called asquery by image content (QBIC) andcontent-based visual information retrieval (CBVIR) is the application of  computer vision  techniques to the  image retrieval  problem, that is, the problem of searching digital images  in large  databases. Present state-of-the-art solutions describe images using high-level semantic concepts which are promising for CBIR. CBIR system consists of several stages as follows: Image Acquisition: This stage acquires digital images from database. Image preprocessing: The image is first processed in order to take out the features, which portray its contents. This processing entails filtering, normalization, segmentation, and object identification. Like, image segmentation is the process of dividing an image into multiple parts. The output is set of important regions and objects. Feature Extraction: Shape, texture, color, etc are the features used to characterize the content of the image. Further these features are classified as low-level and high-level features. Here visual information is extracted from the image and collect them as feature vectors in a feature database. For every pixel, the image description is instigated in the form of feature value by means of feature extraction, later these feature values are used to evaluate the query with the other images during retrieval. Similarity Matching: Information of every image is stored in its feature vectors for computation process and these feature vectors are coordinated with the feature vectors of query image i.e. the searched image in the image database is present or not or how many are similar kind of images are exist or not, which helps in determining the similarity. This step involves the matching of features (e.g. shape, color) to yield a result that is similar to the query image. Resultant Retrieved images: This step investigates the earlier maintained information to find the matched images from database. It displays similar images having closest features as that of the query image. User interface and feedback: This step operates the display of results, ranking, and the type of user interaction with prospect of refining the search using some automatic or manual preferences scheme. Attribute based search However, the evolution of CBIR is overloaded by the semantic gap between the extracted low-level visual features and the required high-level semantics. Even if the images are annotated well through precise concepts, another disreputable gap still leads to unsatisfactory results. This gap is called the intention gap between the envisioned objectives of the users and the indefinite semantics delivered by the query, due to the lack of ability of the query to express the user’s objectives accurately. To bridge this gap, an approach called attribute based image retrieval is used. Here, attributes transfer properties that distinguish objects such as the visual appearances (e.g. shape, texture), functionalities and various other discriminative properties. On one hand, attributes acts as transitional semantics that clearly unites the low-level features and high-level concepts, leads to decline of semantic gap because attributes usually demonstrate general visual properties, which can be simply extracted and modeled contrast to high-level concepts that have higher visual inconsistencies. On the other hand, attributes improve active concept-based image semantic representation and offer more inclusive semantic descriptions of images. By using these attributes, users can allocate most important and accurate semantic description of images which leads to satisfactory results. Attribute detection has sufficient quality on different human attributes. Using these human attributes different applications like face verification, face identification, keyword-based face image retrieval, and similar attribute search have achieved promising results. Goal and approach of attribute based retrieval Previous techniques utilize descriptors on the image that capture global features like color, texture, frequency, etc. Images that have global descriptors return most similar images to query image but not correct matched images. The limitations of these methods are based on matching low-level features is that for many query images; they cannot perform retrieval in a satisfied way and methods based on local descriptors work only on objects. On other hand, methods that utilize global descriptors are not strong to most geometric transformations. In image classification and object recognition attributes are used to represent the images. An attribute has a name and a semantic meaning, but it is easy to recognize for a machine. Attribute names are like name, gender, race, etc. Attribute can be learnt automatically by image classification methods. The objective of this work is to use an attribute-based representation to restore or balance an image search engine. User will calculate various methods to compare attributes, including metric learning. Comparisons will be carried out on standard datasets. Then attribute-based retrieval will be combined with existing retrieval methods. Face Image Retrieval Current face image retrieval methods reach impressive results, but deficient to refine the search, mainly for geometric face attributes. Users cannot find faces easily with slightly more specific leftward pose shifts. To address this problem, a new face search technique is proposed that is complementary to current search engines. The proposed facial image retrieval model deals with a problem of searching similar facial images and retrieving in the search space of the facial images by assimilating (CBIR) techniques and face recognition techniques, by means of semantic description of the facial image. This aims to lessen the semantic gap between high level query requirement and low level facial features of the human face image, such that the system can be ready to meet human needs in description and retrieval of facial image. An efficient content based face image retrieval system is proposed to retrieve the face images. Attributes from face are used to further improving the retrieval performance. Finally inverted index is used in retrieval stage. It has applications in automatic face annotation, crime investigation etc. For large scale datasets, it is essential for an image search application to rank the images such that the most relevant images are sited at the top. This work analysed top results related to a query image with existing method. Experimental results shows that proposed method have better top results compared to existing methods. Experimental Setup Installation of JDK 1.6 and Tomcat Server JDK 1.6: Step 1: Double click on the JDK 1.6 setup file then we will get the following window. A window with License Agreement will be displayed. Then press â€Å"Accept† button. Step 2: Now a custom setup window will be appeared. Then Clickâ€Å"Next†to continue. Step 3: AProgresspanel will be appeared that takes a few minutes to go through the installation. Step 4: A custom setup window for Runtime Environment will be appeared. Then Clickâ€Å"Next† to continue. Step 5: A Progresspanel will be appeared that takes a few minutes to go through the installation. Step 6: When the installation is completed, clickâ€Å"Finish†to exit the wizard. Step 7: To set the environment variables for java, Right-Click mycomputer and click properties. Then, the below window will be appeared and Click Environment variables. Step 8: Now, click new in the System variables section. Step 9: After clicking new button, a box will appear containing with variable name and variable value. Give the variable name as â€Å"PATH† and variable value as the java bin file path. Step 10: Finally click OK. Now, we can successfully run java programs. Tomcat server: Tomcat is an open source web server developed by Apache Group. Apache Tomcat is the servlet container used in official Reference Implementation for the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies. The Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages specifications are developed by Sun under the Java Community Process. Web Servers support only web components while an application server supports web components as well as business components. To develop a web applications with jsp/servlet install Tomcat. A web server is, of course, the program that dishes out web pages in response to requests from a user sitting at a web browser and returns vibrant results to the user’s browser. This is an aspect of the web that Apache’s Tomcat is very good at because Tomcat provides both Java servlet and Java Server Pages (JSP) technologies. Ultimately Tomcat is a good option for many applications as a web server. Step 1: First double click on the Apache Tomcat setup file and then click Next button. Step 2: Now a window with License Agreement will be displayed as above. Then press I Agree option. Step 3: Now select type of the install as Full and then click on Next. Step 4: Now select the destination where the Tomcat has to be installed and click on Next. Step 5: Now set the configuration, connector port as 8081 and set the username and password as admin and click on Next. Step 6: Now a window with Java Virtual Machine will be displayed and click Install option. Step 7: Now the window with installation process will be displayed and might take few minutes. Step 8: Select the Run Apache Tomcat option and click on Finish. Setting the Java Environment Variable: Here are the steps for setting the environment variable on mycomputer. These steps are similar for all windows. Open the control panel under the start menu. 1. Double-click on System. 2. Click on the Advanced tab. 3. Click on the Environment Variables button. 4. Under System Variables, click on the New button. 5. For variable name, type:JAVA_HOME 6. For variable value, type:C:j2sdk1.4.2_01 7. Continue to click OK to exit the dialog windows. Now set the following in Variable and value: 1. Variable name: CLASSPATH; Variable value: C:Program FilesApache Software FoundationTomcat 6.0bin; C:Program FilesApache Software FoundationTomcat 6.0libservlet-api.jar; C:Program FilesApache Software FoundationTomcat 6.0libjsp-api.jar; 2. Variable name: PATH; Variable value: C:Program FilesJavajdk1.6.0_21bin; and then click on OK. Now for checking whether the Tomcat has installed successfully or not, open the browser and type http:/localhost:8081/. If it is installed successfully the following page will be displayed. After clicking the Tomcat Manager then will ask to enter username and password. After clicking the login option the Tomcat Web Application Manager page will be displayed. Installation of MySQL and SQLyog MySQL is definitely the most admired and widely-used open source database, simple to set up and use and is recognized as one of the fastest database engines. Manual installation offers several benefits: Backing up, reinstalling, or moving databases can be achieved in seconds. MySQL can be installed anywhere, such as a portable USB drive. MYSQL installation steps: Step 1: Download MySQL fromdev.mysql.com/downloads/. FollowMySQL Community Server,Windowsand download the â€Å"Without installer† version. Step 2: Extract the files install MySQL to C:mysql, so extract the ZIP to C: drive and rename the folder from â€Å"mysql-x.x.xx-win32†³ to â€Å"mysql†. MySQL can be installed anywhere on your system. If lightweight installation is needed then remove all sub-folders except for bin, data, scripts and share. Step 3: Move the data folder (optional) placing the data folder on another drive or partition is recommended to make backups and re-installation easier. For example, create a folder called D:MySQLdata and move the contents of C:mysqldata into it. Now two folders are there, D:MySQLdatamysql and D:MySQLdatatest. The original C:mysqldata folder can be removed. Step 4: Create a configuration file MySQL provides several configuration methods but, in general, it is easiest to to create a my.ini file in the mysql folder. There are several options to squeeze MySQL to exact requirements, but the simplest my.ini file is: [mysqld] # installation directory basedir=C:/mysql/ # data directory datadir=D:/MySQLdata/ Step 5: Test installation MySQL server is started by running the command C:mysqlbinmysqld.exe. Open a command box (Start > Run > cmd) and enter the following commands: Cd mysqlbin Mysqld This will start the MySQL server which listens for requests on localhost port 3306. Now start the MySQL command line tool and connect to the database. Open another command box and enter: cd mysqlbin mysql -u root This will show a welcome message and the mysql> prompt. Enter â€Å"show databases;† to view a list of the pre-defined databases. Step 6: Change root password MySQL root user is an all-powerful account that can create and destroy databases. In shared network, it is advisable to change the default (blank) password. From the mysql> prompt, enter: UPDATE mysql.user SET password=PASSWORD(my-new-password) WHERE User=root; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; Prompted the password for next time you start the MySQL command line. Enter â€Å"exit† at the mysql> prompt to stop the command line client, now shut down MySQL with the following command: mysqladmin.exe -u root shutdown. Step 7: Install MySQL as a Windows service The easiest way to start MySQL is to add it as a Windows service. From a command prompt, enter: cd mysqlbin mysqld install Open the Control Panel, Administrative Tools, then Services and double-click MySQL. Set the Startup type to â€Å"Automatic† to ensure MySQL starts every time pc is booted. Alternatively, set the Startup type to â€Å"Manual† and launch MySQL using the command â€Å"net start mysql†. Note that the Windows service can be removed using: cd mysqlbin mysqld –remove SQLYog Installation: SQLYog is a freeware and download it at:http://www.webyog.com/en/.Click on â€Å"Download† in the SQLYog Community Edition (freeware). First click on SQLYog Community Edition 5.2(stable). A window is opened, asking what you want do.Choose â€Å"Record†. A new window will open and asking where you want to record this files.Make one click on â€Å"My documents† on the left, next click on â€Å"Record†. When download is finished choose â€Å"Execute† for launching the installation. If this window is not there then go to â€Å"My Documents† and make 2 clicks on the file that you have just downloaded. Then click on â€Å"Execute†. Installation of sqlyog: Step 1: After click on â€Å"Execute†, just click on â€Å"NEXT† button. Step 2: In this page about the licence, choose â€Å"I accept† button and click on â€Å"NEXT†. Step 3: Then asks where to record the program on computer. Choose a destination directory, and click on â€Å"Install† shown in below window. Step 4: Then click on â€Å"NEXT†. Step 5: Click on â€Å"Finish† for finishing the installation in the following window. Set SQLYog Step 1: When SQLYog is opened for first time set the program to which database you want to connect. For that, make 1 click on â€Å"New† button. Step 2: Enter a name for the connection. It is just about a means of differentiating a connection for a base to another, it is neither the identifier of connexion, nor the password. Step 3: Next, click on â€Å"OK†. SQLYog will open a connexion window to the database. Enter the following settings: MySQL Host Address: It is about the address on the network of server, either return an address IP or an address URL. If the server is on the same computer that SQLYog, put â€Å"localhost†. Username: It’s the username, corresponding to â€Å"id† of the user. For example: â€Å"root† Password: It’s the password associate to Username Port: it’s the port number using by MySQL. Default: 3306. Database: It’s the name of the database witch you want to connect to. If don’t put anything here, SQLYog will show the entire database on the server. After finished entering the information, test them by clicking on â€Å"Test Connexion† then click on the â€Å"Save† button for saving.

Sylvia Plaths Poetry Essay -- Sylvia Plath Poem Essays

Sylvia Plath's Poetry Wrapped in gaseous mystique, Sylvia Plath’s poetry has haunted enthusiastic readers since immediately after her death in February, 1963. Like her eyes, her words are sharp, apt tools which brand her message on the brains and hearts of her readers. With each reading, she initiates them forever into the shrouded, vestal clan of her own mind. How is the reader to interpret those singeing, singing words? Her work may be read as a lone monument, with no ties to the world she left behind. But in doing so, the reader merely grazes the surface of her rich poetics. Her poetry is largely autobiographical, particularly Ariel and The Bell Jar, and it is from this frame of mind that the reader interprets the work as a complex, crushing, confessional web that most truly describes the mythic Sylvia Plath. Her two most significant volumes of poetry, The Colossus and Ariel, flesh out her poetic lexicon: wading through the deep, patterned labyrinth of her poetry with her life as a guide. Title piece to her first collection of poems, â€Å"The Colossus† is a daughter’s attempt to reconstruct her dead father in the fallen statue at Rhodes: â€Å"†¦his death nine days after her eighth birthday left an imprint upon her imagination that time did not erase or soften† (Butscher 3). Because Plath never really knew her father as a healthy man (Stevenson 12), she likens him to this decrepit stone which, as an archaeologist, she must piece together â€Å"with gluepots and pails / of lysol† (Plath C. 20). In reality, she must function as an emotional archaeologist in order to reconcile her loss, to revenge herself on her father for leaving her. She attempts, continually, to prove herself to him; as a child she continually showcased her artis... ...Colossus. 1998. New York: Vintage International; New York: Alfred Knopf, Inc., 1962. Rosenblatt, Jon. Sylvia Plath: The Poetry of Initiation. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1979. Stevenson, Anne. Bitter Fame. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1989. Van Dyne, Susan R. Revising Life: Sylvia Plath’s Ariel Poems. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1993. â€Å"Fueling the Phoenix Fire: The Manuscripts of Sylvia Plath’s ‘Lady Lazarus’† . Sylvia Plath. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989. 133-147. Works Consulted Broe, Mary Lynn. Protean Poetic: The Poetry of Sylvia Plath. Colombia: University of Missouri Press, 1980. Plath, Sylvia. The Journals of Sylvia Plath. New York: Anchor Books, 1998. Strangeways, Al. Sylvia Plath: The Shaping of Shadows. Cranbury: Associated University Presses, 1998.

INDOPCO :: essays research papers

The INDOPCO case in 1992 provided some guidelines concerning capitalization for the taxpayer. In the case, the Supreme Court ruled that expenses directly incurred in reorganizing or restructuring a corporate entity for the benefit of future operations are not deductible. The court also held that investment banker fees, legal fees, proxy costs, and SEC fees incurred by a target corporation in a friendly takeover must be capitalized if the takeover produces significant future benefits. The taxpayer would rather expense the costs as this would give them a deduction on their taxes. Capitalizing these costs also increases their income, increasing the amount of taxes they have to pay. Thus, the IRS encourages capitalizing costs whenever there is a question as to what method to use. Originally the taxpayer had more of an advantage because the ruling was left open to much interpretation and the IRS was rather lenient concerning the future benefits. The Supreme Court just said that determining future benefits is undeniably important in determining whether a future expense should be capitalized. There have now been rulings where the IRS has become more aggressive in dealing with future benefits. The IRS realizes that companies will expense anything they can to reduce their tax burden. Even costs that would be incurred while investigating the expansion of a company’s existing business should be expensed if they are connected to an event that produced a significant long-term benefit. The only way they can be expensed is if the acquisition proves to be an unsuccessful one. The INDOPCO ruling also leaves open the question as to what directly incurred means. Companies were left to decide whether to capitalize a cost that was incurred to secure a benefit that extended beyond the current year, even though the transaction was not one in which a specific, identifiable asset was acquired. If it was determined the cost provided a significant long term benefit, the cost was a capital cost, and if not the cost was a period expense. Now, with the additional rulings, the IRS is the ones â€Å"dancing in the street†, because companies are forced to capitalize more costs, bringing in more revenues for the government. I think the decision was a good one in the sense that there needed to be some clarification as to what costs should be capitalized and which ones need to be expensed.

Europe after the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter Reform

Europe after the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter Reformation The period immediately following the Protestant reformation and the Catholic counter reformation, was full of conflict and war. The entire continent of Europe and all of it's classes of society were affected by the destruction and flaring tempers of the period. In the Netherlands, the Protestants and the Catholics were at eachother’s throats. In France it was the Guise family versus the Bourbons. In Bohemia, the religious and political structures caused total havoc for over thirty years; and in England, the Presbyterians thought that the English Anglican Church too closely resembled the Roman Catholic Church. Religion was the major cause of the widespread turmoil that took place throughout Europe between 1560 and 1660. One example of a battle in Europe that was caused by religious conflict took place in the Netherlands, between the Dutch citizens and their ruler Phillip II of Spain. When he tried to gain control of the catholic church there, the Dutch rebelled. The Protestants began to assault the Catholics, destroy their churches, and revolt against Phillip and his strict Catholic codes in 1572. The conflict ended in 1579 with a twelve year truce, when seven of the seventeen provinces united under Calvinism and William of Orange, and formed the United Provinces. The remaining ten remained under the rule of Spain. Another example of religious turmoil was the thirty-six year civil war in France, where the Huguenots were increasing in number despite the power of their enemies, the Catholics. The French Catholics, led by the noble family, Guise, faced off with the leading family of the Huguenots, the Bourbons. "The feuds which separate... ...h the freedom to choose religion), and the Presbyterians (who wanted a strict Calvinist system controlled by a strong central power). The Independents dominated the war with their New Model Army, and became an unstoppable force in England. They were led by the influential and militant Oliver Cromwell (whose nickname became "Lord Protector")of the House of Commons, and captured Charles, removed the House of Lords and the Presbyterians from Parliament, and executed the "holy anointed." Although politics did play a major role in the conflicts that occurred in the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries; it was religion which was the major cause of the wars and devastation that occurred in this time period, and many times throughout history weather before or after the seventeenth century. Bibliography: The Western Experience;Chambers. pg505-535. 1997

Chapter 13 Mad-eye Moody

The storm had blown itself out by the following morning, though the ceiling in the Great Hall was still gloomy; heavy clouds of pewter gray swirled overhead as Harry, Ron, and Hermione examined their new course schedules at breakfast. A few seats along, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were discussing magical methods of aging themselves and bluffing their way into the Triwizard Tournament. â€Å"Today's not bad†¦outside all morning,† said Ron, who was running his finger down the Monday column of his schedule. â€Å"Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures†¦damn it, we're still with the Slytherins†¦.† â€Å"Double Divination this afternoon,† Harry groaned, looking down. Divination was his least favorite subject, apart from Potions. Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry's death, which he found extremely annoying. â€Å"You should have given it up like me, shouldn't you?† said Hermione briskly, buttering herself some toast. â€Å"Then you'd be doing something sensible like Arithmancy.† â€Å"You're eating again, I notice,† said Ron, watching Hermione adding liberal amounts of jam to her toast too. â€Å"I've decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights,† said Hermione haughtily. â€Å"Yeah†¦and you were hungry,† said Ron, grinning. There was a sudden rustling noise above them, and a hundred owls came soaring through the open windows carrying the morning mail. Instinctively, Harry looked up, but there was no sign of white among the mass of brown and gray. The owls circled the tables, looking for the people to whom their letters and packages were addressed. A large tawny owl soared down to Neville Longbottom and deposited a parcel into his lap – Neville almost always forgot to pack something. On the other side of the Hall Draco Malfoy's eagle owl had landed on his shoulder, carrying what looked like his usual supply of sweets and cakes from home. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling of disappointment in his stomach, Harry returned to his porridge. Was it possible that something had happened to Hedwig, and that Sirius hadn't even got his letter? His preoccupation lasted all the way across the sodden vegetable patch until they arrived in greenhouse three, but here he was distracted by Professor Sprout showing the class the ugliest plants Harry had ever seen. Indeed, they looked less like plants than thick, black, giant slugs, protruding vertically out of the soil. Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of liquid. â€Å"Bubotubers,† Professor Sprout told them briskly. â€Å"They need squeezing. You will collect the pus -â€Å" â€Å"The what?† said Seamus Finnigan, sounding revolted. â€Å"Pus, Finnigan, pus,† said Professor Sprout, â€Å"and it's extremely valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus.† Squeezing the bubotubers was disgusting, but oddly satisfying. As each swelling was popped, a large amount of thick yellowish-green liquid burst forth, which smelled strongly of petrol. They caught it in the bottles as Professor Sprout had indicated, and by the end of the lesson had collected several pints. â€Å"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy,† said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. â€Å"An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples.† â€Å"Like poor Eloise Midgen,† said Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. â€Å"She tried to curse hers off.† â€Å"Silly girl,† said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. â€Å"But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end.† A booming bell echoed from the castle across the wet grounds, signaling the end of the lesson, and the class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration, and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn toward Hagrid's small wooden cabin, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand on the collar of his enormous black boarhound, Fang. There were several open wooden crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining at his collar, apparently keen to investigate the contents more closely. As they drew nearer, an odd rattling noise reached their ears, punctuated by what sounded like minor explosions. â€Å"Mornin'!† Hagrid said, grinning at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. â€Å"Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this – Blast-Ended Skrewts!† â€Å"Come again?† said Ron. Hagrid pointed down into the crates. â€Å"Eurgh!† squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward. â€Å"Eurgh† just about summed up the Blast-Ended Skrewts in Harry's opinion. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. There were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled forward several inches. â€Å"On'y jus' hatched,† said Hagrid proudly, â€Å"so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!† â€Å"And why would we want to raise them?† said a cold voice. The Slytherins had arrived. The speaker was Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling appreciatively at his words. Hagrid looked stumped at the question. â€Å"I mean, what do they do?† asked Malfoy. â€Å"What is the point of them?† Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds' pause, then he said roughly, â€Å"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things – I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer – I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake – just try 'em out with a bit of each.† â€Å"First pus and now this,† muttered Seamus. Nothing but deep affection for Hagrid could have made Harry, Ron, and Hermione pick up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Harry couldn't suppress the suspicion that the whole thing was entirely pointless, because the skrewts didn't seem to have mouths. â€Å"Ouch!† yelled Dean Thomas after about ten minutes. â€Å"It got me.† Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious. â€Å"Its end exploded!† said Dean angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand. â€Å"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off,† said Hagrid, nodding. â€Å"Eurgh!† said Lavender Brown again. â€Å"Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?† â€Å"Ah, some of 'em have got stings,† said Hagrid enthusiastically (Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box). â€Å"I reckon they're the males†¦.The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies†¦.I think they might be ter suck blood.† â€Å"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive,† said Malfoy sarcastically. â€Å"Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?† â€Å"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful,† Hermione snapped. â€Å"Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?† Harry and Ron grinned at Hagrid, who gave them a furtive smile from behind his bushy beard. Hagrid would have liked nothing better than a pet dragon, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew only too well – he had owned one for a brief period during their first year, a vicious Norwegian Ridgeback by the name of Norbert. Hagrid simply loved monstrous creatures, the more lethal, the better. â€Å"Well, at least the skrewts are small,† said Ron as they made their way back up to the castle for lunch an hour later. â€Å"They are now,† said Hermione in an exasperated voice, â€Å"but once Hagrid's found out what they eat, I expect they'll be six feet long.† â€Å"Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure seasickness or something, will it?† said Ron, grinning slyly at her. â€Å"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up,† said Hermione. â€Å"As a matter of fact I think he's right. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all.† They sat down at the Gryffindor table and helped themselves to lamb chops and potatoes. Hermione began to eat so fast that Harry and Ron stared at her. â€Å"Er – is this the new stand on elf rights?† said Ron. â€Å"You're going to make yourself puke instead?† â€Å"No,† said Hermione, with as much dignity as she could muster with her mouth bulging with sprouts. â€Å"I just want to get to the library.† â€Å"What?† said Ron in disbelief. â€Å"Hermione – it's the first day back! We haven't even got homework yet!† Hermione shrugged and continued to shovel down her food as though she had not eaten for days. Then she leapt to her feet, said, â€Å"See you at dinner!† and departed at high speed. When the bell rang to signal the start of afternoon lessons, Harry and Ron set off for North Tower where, at the top of a tightly spiraling staircase, a silver stepladder led to a circular trapdoor in the ceiling, and the room where Professor Trelawney lived. The familiar sweet perfume spreading from the fire met their nostrils as they emerged at the top of the stepladder. As ever, the curtains were all closed; the circular room was bathed in a dim reddish light cast by the many lamps, which were all draped with scarves and shawls. Harry and Ron walked through the mass of occupied chintz chairs and poufs that cluttered the room, and sat down at the same small circular table. â€Å"Good day,† said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Harry, making him jump. A very thin woman with enormous glasses that made her eyes appear far too large for her face, Professor Trelawney was peering down at Harry with the tragic expression she always wore whenever she saw him. The usual large amount of beads, chains, and bangles glittered upon her person in the firelight. â€Å"You are preoccupied, my dear,† she said mournfully to Harry. â€Å"My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas†¦most difficult†¦I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass†¦.and perhaps sooner than you think†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, who looked stonily back. Professor Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who deeply admired Professor Trelawney, were sitting on poufs very close to her. â€Å"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars,† she said. â€Å"The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle†¦.† But Harry's thoughts had drifted. The perfumed fire always made him feel sleepy and dull-witted, and Professor Trelawney's rambling talks on fortune-telling never held him exactly spellbound – though he couldn't help thinking about what she had just said to him. â€Å"I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But Hermione was right, Harry thought irritably, Professor Trelawney really was an old fraud. He wasn't dreading anything at the moment at all†¦well, unless you counted his fears that Sirius had been caught†¦but what did Professor Trelawney know? He had long since come to the conclusion that her brand of fortunetelling was really no more than lucky guesswork and a spooky manner. Except, of course, for that time at the end of last term, when she had made the prediction about Voldemort rising again†¦and Dumbledore himself had said that he thought that trance had been genuine, when Harry had described it to him. â€Å"Harry!† Ron muttered. â€Å"What?† Harry looked around; the whole class was staring at him. He sat up straight; he had been almost dozing off, lost in the heat and his thoughts. â€Å"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn,† said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on her words. â€Å"Born under – what, sorry?† said Harry. â€Å"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!† said Professor Trelawney, sounding definitely irritated that he wasn't riveted by this news. â€Å"I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth†¦.Your dark hair†¦your mean stature†¦tragic losses so young in life†¦I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?† â€Å"No,† said Harry, â€Å"I was born in July.† Ron hastily turned his laugh into a hacking cough. Half an hour later, each of them had been given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill in the position of the planets at their moment of birth. It was dull work, requiring much consultation of timetables and calculation of angles. â€Å"I've got two Neptunes here,† said Harry after a while, frowning down at his piece of parchment, â€Å"that can't be right, can it?† â€Å"Aaaaah,† said Ron, imitating Professor Trelawney's mystical whisper, â€Å"when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a midget in glasses is being born, Harry†¦.† Seamus and Dean, who were working nearby, sniggered loudly, though not loudly enough to mask the excited squeals from Lavender Brown – â€Å"Oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?† â€Å"It is Uranus, my dear,† said Professor Trelawney, peering down at the chart. â€Å"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?† said Ron. Most unfortunately, Professor Trelawney heard him, and it was this, perhaps, that made her give them so much homework at the end of the class. â€Å"A detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements in the coming month will affect you, with reference to your personal chart,† she snapped, sounding much more like Professor McGonagall than her usual airy-fairy self. â€Å"I want it ready to hand in next Monday, and no excuses!† â€Å"Miserable old bat,† said Ron bitterly as they joined the crowds descending the staircases back to the Great Hall and dinner. â€Å"That'll take all weekend, that will†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Lots of homework?† said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. â€Å"Professor Vector didn't give us any at all!† â€Å"Well, bully for Professor Vector,† said Ron moodily. They reached the entrance hall, which was packed with people queuing for dinner. They had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind them. â€Å"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!† Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something. â€Å"What?† said Ron shortly. â€Å"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!† said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. â€Å"Listen to this! FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.† Malfoy looked up. â€Å"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?† he crowed. Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on: Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers (â€Å"policemen†) over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of â€Å"Mad-Eye† Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene. â€Å"And there's a picture, Weasley!† said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. â€Å"A picture of your parents outside their house – if you can call it a house! You r mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?† Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him. â€Å"Get stuffed, Malfoy,† said Harry. â€Å"C'mon, Ron†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?† sneered Malfoy. â€Å"So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?† â€Å"You know your mother, Malfoy?† said Harry – both he and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy – â€Å"that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?† Malfoy's pale face went slightly pink. â€Å"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter.† â€Å"Keep your fat mouth shut, then,† said Harry, turning away. BANG! Several people screamed – Harry felt something white-hot graze the side of his face – he plunged his hand into his robes for his wand, but before he'd even touched it, he heard a second loud BANG, and a roar that echoed through the entrance hall. â€Å"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!† Harry spun around. Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing. There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at Harry – at least, his normal eye was looking at Harry; the other one was pointing into the back of his head. â€Å"Did he get you?† Moody growled. His voice was low and gravelly. â€Å"No,† said Harry, â€Å"missed.† â€Å"LEAVE IT!† Moody shouted. â€Å"Leave – what?† Harry said, bewildered. â€Å"Not you – him!† Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret. It seemed that Moody's rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head. Moody started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons. â€Å"I don't think so!† roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again – it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. â€Å"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned,† growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. â€Å"Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly. â€Å"Never – do – that – again -† said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again. â€Å"Professor Moody!† said a shocked voice. Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books. â€Å"Hello, Professor McGonagall,† said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher. â€Å"What – what are you doing?† said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret's progress through the air. â€Å"Teaching,† said Moody. â€Å"Teach – Moody, is that a student?† shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms. â€Å"Yep,† said Moody. â€Å"No!† cried Professor McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing. â€Å"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!† said Professor McGonagall wealdy. â€Å"Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?† â€Å"He might've mentioned it, yeah,† said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, â€Å"but I thought a good sharp shock -â€Å" â€Å"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!† â€Å"I'll do that, then,† said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike. Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words â€Å"my father† were distinguishable. â€Å"Oh yeah?† said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. â€Å"Well, I know your father of old, boy†¦.You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son†¦you tell him that from me†¦.Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?† â€Å"Yes,† said Malfoy resentfully. â€Å"Another old friend,† growled Moody. â€Å"I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape†¦.Come on, you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And he seized Malfoy's upper arm and marched him off toward the dungeons. Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms. â€Å"Don't talk to me,† Ron said quietly to Harry and Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened. â€Å"Why not?† said Hermione in surprise. â€Å"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever,† said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. â€Å"Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret.† Harry and Hermione both laughed, and Hermione began doling beef casserole onto each of their plates. â€Å"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though,† she said. â€Å"It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it -â€Å" â€Å"Hermione!† said Ron furiously, his eyes snapping open again, â€Å"you're ruining the best moment of my life!† Hermione made an impatient noise and began to eat at top speed again. â€Å"Don't tell me you're going back to the library this evening?† said Harry, watching her. â€Å"Got to,† said Hermione thickly. â€Å"Loads to do.† â€Å"But you told us Professor Vector -â€Å" â€Å"It's not schoolwork,† she said. Within five minutes, she had cleared her plate and departed. No sooner had she gone than her seat was taken by Fred Weasley. â€Å"Moody!† he said. â€Å"How cool is he?† â€Å"Beyond cool,† said George, sitting down opposite Fred. â€Å"Supercool,† said the twins' best friend, Lee Jordan, sliding into the seat beside George. â€Å"We had him this afternoon,† he told Harry and Ron. â€Å"What was it like?† said Harry eagerly. Fred, George, and Lee exchanged looks full of meaning. â€Å"Never had a lesson like it,† said Fred. â€Å"He knows, man,† said Lee. â€Å"Knows what?† said Ron, leaning forward. â€Å"Knows what it's like to be out there doing it,† said George impressively. â€Å"Doing what?† said Harry. â€Å"Fighting the Dark Arts,† said Fred. â€Å"He's seen it all,† said George. â€Å"‘Mazing,† said Lee. Ron dived into his bag for his schedule. â€Å"We haven't got him till Thursday!† he said in a disappointed voice.

King

In his â€Å"Letter from a Birmingham Jail†, Martin Luther King Jr. writes that there are just laws and unjust laws. He argues this first from a religious point of view and then from a logical one. First, King argues that laws that create segregation are immoral in that they do not impart God’s love to every man equally.Furthermore, they rely on separation, the ultimate punishment God inflicts on man, as a method of punishing other men, regardless of whether they have sinned. Since the letter is written to his fellow clergymen, the moral argument about unjust laws is appropriate in the context. However, it is his logical diatribe against unjust laws that most clearly and eloquently makes the argument against the state of the South in 1963.From a religious standpoint, King defines an unjust law as one that conflicts with God’s laws (King, 1963). From a logical, non-religious standpoint, he argues that an unjust law is one which the majority inflicts upon the minor ity and does not hold itself to.   The basic concept means that if the majority makes a law saying that they may kill anyone of color, but the people of color cannot kill them or one another, then the law is unfairly applied and therefore unjust.King argues that many of these laws look much less vexing on the surface as they appear to have been placed on all people by all people, but he reminds us that appearances can be deceiving. King points out that segregation laws adopted by the Alabama legislature had virtually no input from African-Americans citizens of Alabama because the state had so thoroughly abused the voting rights act that there were counties in Alabama where the majority of the population was African-American and not a single African-American was registered to vote there (King, 1963).King also points out that what is legal is not always what is right. For example, he cites the Hungarian Freedom fighters in World War II. By the rule of law, the treatment of Jews by N azi Germany was legal, but it was unjust (King, 1963). It was only right, he says, for those with good moral standing to aid and lend comfort to the Jews, despite the fact that it was illegal.In the same way, it was only right in Birmingham, 1963, for protestors to give aid to the African-Americans who were being unduly oppressed by their state and local governments. African-Americans had been granted the right to vote by an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, yet unjust laws like the grandfather’s clause and poll taxes and literacy tests were put in place to prevent the fair execution of the law of the land. In short, King’s argument was that the law was in conflict with itself and needed to be revised.King’s letter appropriately described the events leading to the situation and other steps which had been taken to try to change the unjust laws, but argues that eventually it becomes necessary to take direct action to force the opposition’s hand. The prote sts in Birmingham were made to force the city to recognize the unjust laws and to begin good faith negotiations to change them.King points out that there had been several attempts at negotiation previously and that promises made to the African-American community went unfulfilled. He argued that laws, especially when they are not uniformly applied, can also be unjust. For example, prior to Brown v. the Board of Education, school segregation was legal so long as schools were â€Å"separate but equal†. King points out that everyone was aware that they were separate and not equal, but only the separate portion of the law was being applied.Finally, King makes it clear that civil disobedience is a valid option when the law is unfair. He argues that one can only be told to wait for change so long before it becomes clear that wait really means never (King, 1963). King calls righteous people to action, arguing that when the will of the people is to eliminate unjust laws then it will b ecome reality. REFERENCESKing, Jr., Martin Luther. â€Å"Letter from a Birmingham Jail.† http://www.historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=401963. July 9, 2007.