Posts Tagged ‘United States’
The BP Oil Spill largest Ever!
Sunday, May 30th, 2010
British Petroleum or BP as the company has now officially changed its name to, is responsible for the worst spill in history. History, not just in the United States. While there are other supposedly larger spills that have occurred in the past such as the Ixtoc I oil spill in Mexico which spewed some 3,000,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a 9 month period. That’s right, while some government estimates and certainly BP’s attempt to lie to and mislead the public by stating that its well was only spewing an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf, in fact the total was and is still much higher.
Even at lower government estimates of 19,000 barrels a day, at 40 days the BP oil spill would total some 760,000 barrels of oil and it is still spewing oil. Other official scientific estimates place the amount much higher at an estimated 25,000 barrels of oil a day which at 40 days would be about 1,000,000 barrels of oil have leaked into the gulf thus far—BP’s oil spill will become the worst in history and the consequences are certain to be tragic on a global scale.
The travesty with this disaster, besides the fact that it happened, is that it was not an accident. Certainly BP did not intend to blow up its own well but the company was pushing to get the project back on schedule and took a series of shortcuts that undermined safety procedures and practices in the drilling industry such as using a weaker casing material design and not testing at appropriate times for back pressure among other breakdowns in safety protocol. These conscious decisions to forego safety practices mean that the BP oil spill is not an accident.
Furthermore, and perhaps even more ludicrous, is that the company has spent an enormous amount of money on high dollar public relations firms, television and radio commercials, and other public relations messages and efforts in an attempt to protect its brand—not to mention the fake workers that the company hired and bused in during President Obama’s visit to the region. Rather than paying for Washington lobbies, high cost public relations firms and marketing and advertising efforts BP should just starting paying local groups in the region to help with the clean-up effort. Additionally, and even more of a travesty, the company wasted the first three weeks of the spill attempting to capture the oil coming out of BP’s underwater oil spill rather than attempting to shut the well down completely.
The economic implications and stimulus to do so are clear. It is certain that BP was attempting to salvage not only some revenue from its blowout well but to also keep some of the well structure intact so that it could go back and re-monetize its operations once it got the oil spill back under control. BP is one of the most unethical and dishonest corporations currently in existence considering its long history of safety violations that have already killed other people such as the Texas BP Refinery explosion. And the oil is still leaking.
Tags: accident, amount, attempt, bp, bp lies, bp oil spill, bp's oil spill, British, british petroleum, business ethics, company, conscious decisions, crisis management, day, deepwater horizon, drilling industry, fact, global scale, government, government estimates, gulf of mexico, history, ixtoc, largest oil spill, material design, Mexico, oil, oil industry, paper on bp, petroleum industry, President Obama, public relations firms, public relations messages, radio commercials, region, risk management, safety, safety practices, safety procedures, safety protocol, spill, the bp spill, the Gulf, travesty, United States, Washington, well, worst oil spill
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University of Phoenix Rip-Off
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
One Student’s Account:
“In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education provided a preliminary report to the university that cited untimely return of unearned Title IV funds for more than 10 percent of sampled students. The report also expressed a concern that some students enroll and begin attending classes before completely understanding the implications of enrollment, including their eligibility for student financial aid. As a result, in January 2010, its parent company, Apollo Group Inc., was required to post a letter of credit for $125 million by January 30 of the same year” –BusinessWeek
Subject: University of Phoenix Business Practices
I enrolled in the University of Phoenix in November of 2009 in its Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership program. At the time, the intake counselor (let’s call him salesman) advised me that the program entailed residencies that were held at various points around the United States. Additionally, he stated that if I could not make one then I could schedule an alternate residency. I explained to him that this was important as I travel internationally quite often and, of course, this would be a logistical problem. Again, this was BEFORE I agreed to register in the program. I completed several courses in the program and my residency was coming up for March of 2010 and informed the salesman that I would need to reschedule my residency as I would be overseas at that time.
Suddenly, rescheduling the residency was a problem. Several parties told me that I could not do it. Finally, when I threatened to quit the program they said I could do it. This was after being brow-beaten by my academic and financial aid counselors on a conference call wanting to know why I could not cancel my travel plans and attend the original residency. At any rate, they finally said I could reschedule but that I would need to WITHDRAW from school and start up again with my regular schedule after the residency.
Let me re-emphasize that rather than simply letting me take another course on the curriculum which, I might add, not every course is a pre-requisite for the next, contrary to what these sales people say, they told me that I would need to withdraw. Any other graduate school worth the appellation would have just let me take another graduate level course however the University of Phoenix forced me to withdraw. The school was stating that I would need to withdraw (fall out of compliance with financial requirements regarding full-time attendance) because the school would not allow me to take another doctoral course instead.
Rather than go through this ordeal every time I might need to reschedule a residency I chose to withdraw. Thus, since the University of Phoenix was forced to return some of the financial aid monies that it received from the government it is now stating that I owe tuition for a course which was supposed to have been paid for and for which this entire ordeal started because the salesman told me that I could reschedule residencies “no problem.” Of course, he disputes this now as one would expect but I can tell you that this institution is driven purely by the amount of churn it can generate through billing the federal government for federal financial aid funds. The actual treatment and outcome of the students is purely secondary which is why the graduation rates are so pathetic.
While I am certain the University of Phoenix might be able to rationalize its billing me for $2,301 in tuition in spite of it being the reason I withdrew, I am just as certain that there are inconsistencies in its accounting of my financial aid application, dispensation, and adjudication through this process. Please look into this particular case and add my official complaint of this University’s practices to the long list I am sure that you have already compiled.
My chief complaints are the following:
The school required me to withdraw to change my residency date
The school “auto-withdrew” me from a course-whatever that is but I question the methodology because the school uses something it calls the “Course Exit Tracking Checklists” to determine attendance or withdrawal apparently which I neither signed, approved, or was made aware of in advance
The salesman than enrolled me in the program ensured me that I could change my residency dates yet never mentioned that I would need to withdraw in order to do so
These and other issues are why the University of Phoenix Sucks.
Tags: aid, apollo group, apollo group inc, businessweek, call, class action, course, department of education, financial aid, financial aid counselors, financial aid practices, fine, graduate, guilty, I, intake counselor, January, lawsuit, letter of credit, logistical problem, organizational leadership program, Phoenix, phoenix business, preliminary report, problem, program, report, residencies, residency, salesman, school, settles, student, student financial aid, Taiwan, theu, time, travel plans, U.S. Department, United States, University, university of phoenix, university of phoenix settles, university of phoenix sucks, university of phoenix sued, uofp
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Chinese RMB & US Dollar Exchange Rate
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
The exchange rate of the Chinese Renminbi or the Yuan has always been a point of contention between the United States and China and even between China and the European Union. Thus, within business schools and political science programs this exchange rate issue and trade deficit concern has now become a hot topic for research papers. The reason for this is manifold but in essence China keeps its Yuan or RMB undervalued in order to bolster its export market. By keeping the Yuan undervalued compared to foreign currencies a country’s export market benefits because its products that are manufactured in its borders and then sent overseas are cheaper than those of its trading partners. However, what makes this exchange rate issue even more contentious is the manner in which China keeps its Yuan undervalued and the outcome of this strategy. China keeps its Yuan undervalued by purchasing foreign debt or, with respect to the US, treasury bills which in turn has funded the US’ massive debt load and recent credit binge. Because China owns so much US currency it now has a great stake in how the US manages its economy but it also becomes dependent upon the US’ continued purchasing of its low-cost goods. Should the US government slap trade tariffs of any kind on Chinese goods this removes the benefit that China gains from undervaluing its currency. Presently China manages its exchange rate through a process called a managed float in which it keeps its Yuan pegged to a floating exchange rate that is pegged to a basket of currencies rather than pegged to a single currency. However, since China only publishes some of the specific currencies it includes in this basket of currencies it is difficult for outside markets to gauge currency movements. All of these factors ensure that the current Yuan exchange rate and trade deficit spat with the US will remain a complicated and complex foreign relations as well as economic issue. This is why the US-China exchange rate issue is such a popular topic not only in economics classes but also in foreign relations, international relations, as well as finance and business strategy courses. Presently many professors and instructors are assigning essays, term papers, and even theses and dissertations that discuss some aspect of the Yuan or RMB and US dollar exchange rate issues.
Tags: basket of currencies, business, business school, china, china exchange, china's foreign debt, chinese goods, chinese renminbi, currency, currency movements, currency peg, debt, debt load, deficit, economic issue, economics essays, economics papers, exchange, exchange rate, export, foreign currencies, foreign debt, hot topic, issue, managed float, market, massive debt, peg, point of contention, political science programs, Presently, rate, renminbi, RMB, single currency, strategy, tariffs, term papers, topic, trade, trade deficit, trade dispute, trade tariffs, United States, US, us china trade, us treasury bills, Yuan, yuan exchange rate
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Gun Rights Paper
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Gun control and gun regulation in the United States is a hot-button issue. Gun control advocates argue that the Constitution does not protect gun ownership for individuals but rather argue that it supports a well-armed militia organization. Not surprisingly, gun advocates argue that the Constitution does protect gun ownership for individuals. Colleges and universities often use this topic for assignments in ethics, philosophy and law classes as an exercise in rights or Constitutional studies among other topics. In fact, this is such an important issue in the US that Starbucks has recently been drawn into the battle because in the US common citizens can receive conceal to carry permits to carry concealed weapons and, in many states, citizens are allowed to go out openly armed. If you need an essay, research paper, or even a thesis or dissertation on this topic let us arrange a model project for you.
Tags: button issue, colleges and universities, Constitution, Constitutional, constitutional studies, control, dissertation, ethics, exercise, fact, gun, gun advocates, gun control, gun control advocates, gun control essays, gun ownership, gun regulation, hot button, issue, law, militia, militia organization, model project, organization, ownership, philosophy, regulation, research paper, right to bear arms, rights, Starbucks, supreme court, topic, u.s. constitution, United States, US
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Military Tuition & GI Bill
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
The military in the United States has seen a huge influx of service members over the past 6 and 7 years and these service members are qualifying for educational assistance with the GI bill and other programs to pay for their higher education after they leave the military. Additionally, the military also pays for school while service members are in the military and this provides an enormous opportunity for military personnel to complete their tours of duty with college degrees or advance training or both. Military personnel and people leaving the military have the opportunity to attend college and university in a way more than at any previous time in the past and there are a host of online tutoring and research companies such as ours and others that can make this transition easier.
Tags: advance, advance training, assistance, bill, College, college degrees, duty, education, educational assistance, financial aid, gi bill, higher education, influx, life after the military, military, military education benefits, military personnel, online college courses, opportunity, school, service, service members, time, tours of duty, training, transition, tuition assistance, United States, University, way
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MBA Coursework
Saturday, December 12th, 2009
Many people the world over are now pursuing MBAs as means to either get competitive or to maintain their professional competitiveness. These degrees generally provide a modicum of the skills and knowledge necessary to compete in the global economy. This is still true despite the economic downturn over the past several years. Many professionals must still recognize that competitors for their jobs are now arising from markets that are quite geographically removed from their own with markets such as India becoming international capitals of outsourcing and offshoring. Additionally, with markets across Asia continuing to function as the manufacturing floor for the world, manufacturing and production jobs continue to be exported to these overseas markets. What this does for people in many developed markets such as the European Union and the United States is make it necessary for professionals to move higher up the innovation chain into services, knowledge industries, and start-ups in order to maintain their standards of living. MBAs and, by extension, MBA Coursework provides the valuable skill-sets and competencies necessary to accomplish this. Typically, MBA coursework includes deep work in areas such as the following:
TOWS Matrix
Dupont System of Financial Analysis
PEST Analysis
among many, many others
Tags: analysis, Asia, bcg matrix, chain, china, competitiveness, Coursework, downturn, dupont method, economic downturn, economy, financial analysis, floor, global competitiveness, global economy, India, innovation chain, knowledge, knowledge industries, manufacturing, marketing audit, Matrix, MBA, mba coursework, MBAs, modicum, offshoring, outsourcing, overseas markets, pest analysis, PESTLE, production, skill sets, swot analysis, tows matrix, United States, ups, value chain analysis, world
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