Effects of a Strong or Weak Philippine Peso Currency Essay

Two conflicting stories came out of a national paper this week. One announced that exporters are badly hurt by the appreciating peso while the other states that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) claims that the surging currency is beneficial to the Philippine economy. Those stories seem to tell the Filipinos that we cannot have our cake and eat it too. Whenever there is a good effect, there is a corresponding draw back. Let us take the first statement. There are two types of exporters. One is who imports raw materials, processes it and exports the finished product. The other is one who buys or produces the raw material locally, processes it and exports the result. In the first case, we export only labor. In the second, we export labor and raw material converted by labor into finished product. When the peso is weak, more pesos are spent to buy raw materials. The product is sold to earn a strong dollar. Then labor is paid in weak peso. When the peso is strong, there will be less pesos spent acquiring raw material. Then the finished product is sold earning weak dollars. There will be more dollars needed to pay labor in strong pesos. What exporters are afraid of is our finished product will be less competitive in the world market if a strong peso raises production costs. Labor costs will rise because there will be more dollars to be converted to pesos to be spent for labor. What will be affected are the export processing zones. Finished products will be less competitive in the world market. Profits will dive and factories may close. On the other hand, the quality of the peso in the world market is raised. We will need less pesos to service our external debt in dollars. There will be more investors coming because they can earn more than when the peso is weak. Philippine economy will be stronger. There will be more investors coming because the strong peso earned will compensate their efforts. The BSP argues that the peso surge is but temporary. Market forces will eventually force the peso to seek its level. Overseas workers are the ones responsible for the strong peso. When remittances slow down the peso will depreciate. There is a tendency for the overseas workers to live permanently in the place where they work if the government of the country will allow. The sad part of the business is that even if the peso appreciates, it is never felt locally. Local prices will remain the same. Take for example oil products. If the world market for liquid petroleum gas rises, our local prices rise along with it. If it falls the peso price for Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) will remain the same. Even if the peso appreciates, there is still no roll back in LPG prices. There must be something wrong with our economics. Perhaps we would be much thankful that the peso appreciates. We are an importing country. Since birth we have been conditioned to believe that anything imported is excellent. Imported wines, whiskeys, cigarettes, chocolates, perfumes and cars are better appreciated than local products. With the appreciating pesos, plus the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff all imported luxuries will now be within the reach of the locals. The incoming dollars will go out again. Our overseas workers will have to stay longer if not forever just to keep our economy afloat. While economy is on the rise, we do not institute measures to keep it up. Our economic planners must pull their acts together. We still are not aware how the strong peso affects the small and medium enterprises. If there is any benefit from the surging currency, the influence must be felt locally in any way otherwise the natives will never be able to benefit from the situation. Is the surging peso beneficial or detrimental?

A Critique of Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Nickel and Dimed, was certainly a wonderful read and is verily able to open the reader’s eyes to a reality that is usually set aside by many. The book was originally a compilation of her researches as she went undercover to write about people who had to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Those people whose wages were below the minimum wage and were so busy with work they were not able to pursue their own interests and who were also supporting dependents. As a whole, the author was able to document her experiences as she wrote in her journal her everyday experiences. Through this, the readers were able to have a glimpse into the lives of people she had worked with as a waitress at Florida, a healthcare aide at Maine and a salesperson of Wal-Mart at Minnesota. To be able to do this properly, though, she had to fake her qualifications and disguise her motives from her fellow workers. As a journalist, she also had to restrain herself from pointing out her political views to her colleagues. I think her method of studying the people may have some flaws, some biases. Below would be several of them. First of all, she wasn’t really like them. These people has had different experiences and lived in a different environment unlike hers. Such factors would have made an impact on how the subjects would act as people, as workers. The author mentioned that her co-workers didn’t even ask about insurance or other possible benefits included on the job they were on and just accepted what their boss said. If the workers were people who knew about such things, they would probably ask. Then, again, even if they knew, most of them would not have time to think about such benefits as a whole because they would be too busy trying to ake ends meet anyway. Then, as one who had to experience the life of a poor worker, she was not able to live out the role very well. One, she did not have anyone who depended on her earnings—no family or siblings, unlike most of the subjects she studied. She did not feed anyone else other than herself nor did she have to consider the medical problems of other people. The author also did not trust religious organizations even when her coworkers were telling her that it would be a great help. She always refused to accept money from charities and other such organizations. People in actual situations would not be refusing such help; in fact, they would have been the ones who would be asking for help from such organizations, whether they believed in its cause or not. She also insisted on living alone, thus pay her rent by herself. She always seemed to talk about this issue but was never really able to solve such an easy problem. Real people would have gone and looked for roommates to share the rent of the house. That way, she could have saved more money and may even develop a relationship with other people. The last part of the statement was also one of the things she failed to do. Humans are social beings, that’s a fact even when there are a few who say they prefer to live alone. All people need each other and so far, the human race is progressing because of helping each other. The same principle still happens and is certainly one of the most effective ways to survive—to help one another. The author, unfortunately, was not able to build a proper relationship with her co-workers. She was not able to build a support network which most people actually have. I believe that this is one of the most vital parts in the lives of the working class. Yeah, they may be feeding more mouths and spending more, but the human companionship, the support, these extra people are giving to the workers actually motivate them to go on fighting and working. There was also this part on the book where she walks out in the middle of her shift as a worker in a restaurant just two weeks after being hired. The truth is, real people would not have done this, simply because they did not have the liberty to do so. They just could not afford to lose a job, however hard it is or low paying it is. And speaking of low-income, hard, stressful jobs, she also irresponsibly argues against corporations giving such small wages without considering the economics behind it like insurance and overhead. These things are work requirements and are deducted from the employees’ salaries. Of course, with those things, and probably additional loans, the employees would really get a small wage after all the deductions are done. Also, the fact that she seemed to give her own thoughts and comments on the issues that were tackled on the book made it less like professional journalism. Ehrenreich thought that the book was the product of undercover reporting, but it certainly lacked a bit of that sense because of the lack of objectivity of reporting the events. She was not even able to tell or relate the lives her subjects were living. She could have picked a person, tried to get to know him and be able to relate in the book more concretely the problems and issues the person was facing. Instead, the book was actually, in another point of view, mostly about her and how she coped up with living the life of such people. Sure, there were the other characters but it almost always seemed like she was the hero since the whole thing revolved around herself. The subjects she was supposed to be studying were like backdrops in her play. She really should have focused more on the lives of the people she was studying. She should have delved more on exactly how these people lived, what are the exact problems they were facing, if possible, what these people wanted, wished, they could do for themselves and what the government could do for them. I’m not saying that Ehrenreich was all the way wrong in her methods and because of that, her book was essentially ineffective. The truth is, although it would have been better with the above suggestion, it has, in effect, really opened the eyes of its readers of the many people who have jobs but still really are poor. The book certainly disproved the mindset that if one has a job, then everything’s going to be alright. It also might have made people reconsider their thoughts about the poor, saying that they are like that because they are lazy. The book shows that there are hardworking people, but unfortunately, even with all the jobs they are balancing, they are still not able to get out of the sticky web called poverty. Works Cited Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001.

30 Sports Idioms

30 Sports Idioms 30 Sports Idioms 30 Sports Idioms By Mark Nichol This post lists and defines terms derived from two or more distinct sports that by extension serve as idioms in other realms of endeavor outside athletics. (The original meaning is provided in parentheses.) 1. ace: accomplish something with ease (slang term for when an opposing player or team fails to return a serve) 2. bench: keep someone from participating; as a noun, a figurative reference to the members of a group as a whole or to the depth of talent of the group members collectively (seating for players not competing) 3. bench-warmer: a person with a negligible role (slang term for a player who spends most or all of a game sitting on the team bench rather than participating in competition) 4. cheap shot: a hurtful or unfair critical comment (an illegal hit during a contact sport) 5. drop the ball: fail or make a mistake (lose control of a ball and thus give up possession of it in favor of the opposing team) 6. game changer: something that significantly and suddenly changes a situation (a play during a game that abruptly alters the likely outcome) 7. game plan: strategy (the approach athletes practice to achieve victory in a competition) 8–9. get/keep the ball rolling: start an activity or project, or maintain progress on an activity or project, respectively (putting and keeping a ball in motion so that regulation play continues) 10. goal line: an achievement or benchmark considered a success (the line on a playing field across which a ball must cross in order for points to be scored) 11. hat trick: a very clever or deft maneuver (a series of three consecutive achievements in a game or season, based on a tradition in which a cricket player was awarded a hat for such an accomplishment) 12. hotshot: a conspicuously successful or talented person, or one who believes himself or herself to be especially successful or talented; often used sarcastically or derogatorily (a player unusually successful in making shots, or goals) 13. level playing field: an equitable arrangement (a flat surface on which a competition is held so that a slope does not favor one team) 14. long shot: an effort, or a person or thing, with little chance of success (an attempt to score a goal from a far distance) 15. losing streak: a record of a series of failures (a sequence of successive defeats by an athlete or team) 16. make the cut: qualify (having one’s name remain on a roster from which the names of other prospective team members have been removed or struck out, signifying retention of the one who has made the cut and disqualification of the others) 17. on the ball: alert, successful (remaining close to, or gaining possession of, a ball in a competition in order to achieve victory) 18. on the sidelines: having an indirect or insignificant role (the area next to the boundary of the playing area where team members not participating in a competition watch game play) 19. out of bounds: not acceptable or appropriate (outside the field of play, where a ball may not be carried or moved to score a point or goal until it is returned to a prescribed place on the field and play officially resumes) 20. referee: a mediator or arbitrator (an official responsible for overseeing a competition and monitoring that rules are being observed) 21. ringer: a person with a striking resemblance to another person, or an unauthorized substitute (a competitor not authorized to play) 22. score: achieve or obtain something desired, or record outcomes or results; as a noun, the status of a situation, or pertinent information (the tally kept during a competition) 23. sideline: as a noun, an additional pursuit or product line; as a verb, keep or remove from participation; in plural form, the state of observing rather than participating (the line marking the boundary of the playing field) 24. stay ahead of the game: anticipate changes in a series of events or incidents (predicting how a competition will play out and using that knowledge to affect the outcome) 25. take sides: support one faction or position at the extent of the other (forming the prescribed arrangement of team members before a competition begins) 26. team player: someone who gets along well with others or is loyal to a cause (an athlete whose performance supports a team’s success) 17. stage of the game: a point during a series of actions or events leading to an outcome (the notion of a particular interval or moment during a competition) 28. time out: a pause or break to assess a situation or provide time for reflection, or removal of a child from an activity as a form of punishment (one of a prescribed number of interruptions in competition each team is allowed to take to temporarily halt game play to discuss strategy) 29. winning streak: a series of successes (a sequence of successive victories by an athlete or team) 30. workout: an exercise routine, or any strenuous effort (a series of activities or exercises an athlete undergoes to enhance physical conditioning) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†45 Synonyms for â€Å"Old† and â€Å"Old-Fashioned†13 Theatrical Terms in Popular Usage

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The Future Of Marketing Is Automation With Chris Davis From ActiveCampaign

The Future Of Marketing Is Automation With Chris Davis From ActiveCampaign Want to provide a better experience for your prospects and customers, and make your work life a little more efficient at the same time? That’s the dream behind marketing automation. It’s about delivering the right messages to the right people in the most effective way. Today, we’re talking to Chris Davis, director of education at ActiveCampaign. He teaches us that marketing automation goes beyond email marketing and shares ideas on how you can improve your customer experience with automation. Marketing automation is the process of employing technology to execute a marketing strategy Hire and train each tool that you use in marketing to solve a problem Owners wear many hats; marketing automation lets them do more of what they want to do in their business, than what they have to do Examples of automation include someone filling out a form and your company following up or giving away something for free to obtain email addresses Biggest mindset shift to automation is looking at your platform not as a way to send out emails, but as a way to collect data Sole purpose of marketing automation is to scale personalization and make people feel individualized; automation allows you to sort or segment contacts Before doing anything technical, define segments in your business; who are you going to be talking to? First 2 segments: customers and non-customers Simple things become complex when understanding isn’t in close proximity; most businesses struggle to understand marketing and technology Email can be the channel or means in which a message travels; send a message to customers to break the barrier of technology Marketing automation qualifies customers and determines who should follow-up with them; automation serves as a facilitator People prefer to buy online, rather than going into a store; their guards are down, but everybody still wants to be treated like a human being and individual Outsourcing marketing can be a mistake; you may need someone internal to your business that is involved in the day-to-day to unleash your marketing Links: ActiveCampaign Jobs to be Done Drip Write and send a review to receive a care package If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Chris Davis: â€Å"Our customers need optimization across the entire customer journey.† â€Å"When I think of marketing automation, it’s the process of employing technology to execute your marketing strategy.† â€Å"Your biggest mindset shift when it comes to marketing automation is to stop looking at your platform as a means of sending out emails, and look at it as a means of collecting data.† â€Å"The goal is to be able to do more of what you want to do in your business, than what you have to do.†

Complete this as a formal analysis ( There should be three paragraphs Assignment

Complete this as a formal analysis ( There should be three paragraphs to this analysis) - Assignment Example What Terry lacks in the duration of her experience, she more than makes up for in anecdotes, a very practical asset in her presentations. Throughout her talk, Terry gave excellent anecdotes to give emphasis to her points. She used no graphics which, if added, might have made her presentation better. Presentation Two is one delivered by the noted economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, who addressed a convention several years before he died. It is probably obvious that Galbraith can be forgiven for some of the shortcomings of his talk. At 92, he displayed some of the characteristics of his advanced age, but these took away only very slightly from his talk. For example, after his presentation was complete, he took questions from the audience. After he finished with each answer, he would step back to the high stool that he sat himself on until the next question was asked. In a way, however, this added to the meaning of his answers, since after each question was asked, he would put his hand t o his chin, as if in deep thought, and only after he rose and lumbered to the podium did he answer the question. This gesture gave emphasis to the thoughtfulness of the answers he was giving to the questions prior to answering He used no graphics in his presentation, but his knowledge of the subject was first-hand and colorful.

Leadership Blogs Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leadership Blogs - Assignment Example The progress of a leader is clear when the leader which an individual influences the group of individuals to attain a common goal/ One of the best attitudes that are seen in leadership is in the movie Remember the Titans. In one of the most exemplified films, leadership is depicted by both. Both men depict leadership development as they put aside their differences for the well-being of the team. It is clear to understand that this relationship extended beyond just football, it was a testament to the development of a collaborative effort. Leadership development is a process and not a sprint, it takes time to cultivate this experience as depicted by Julius and his teammate. Putting aside differences teaches a valuable lesson that collaboratively nothing is impossible. Leadership styles in different culture vary in midst of cultures because it is based on values that are different. For instance, eastern cultures often portray leadership via fear. Dictatorship for often is stemmed for embedding fear in people. Most people have leadership in other cultures have given a promise to people that have allowed them to be leaders. For instance, Hitler was a great leader because he promised people with incentives and glory. Leaders in other cultures have always tried to promote glory and nationalism which brought them power, prestige and wealth. In most cases, the people do not approve the leadership of these leaders and are forced to follow them. Dictatorship and autocracy in the Middle East and communism has been evident throughout history. Another great example can be depicted in leaders in Great Britain. Most British leaders are diplomatic, willing to compromise, and honest. However, at times they can also inflict they supremacy when necessary. From a modern perspective, leadership styles are more of followers pushing a leader to spearhead and take a proactive role. Leaders in the modern country are more prone to criticism and hence are more democratic.