Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Charles Hamilton Houston Civil Rights Attorney and Mentor

Overview When attorney Charles Hamilton Houston wanted show the inequality of segregation, he did not only present arguments in a courtroom. While arguing Brown v. Board of Education, Houston took a camera throughout South Carolina to identify examples of inequality existing in African-American and white public schools.   In the documentary The Road to Brown, judge Juanita Kidd Stout described Houston’s strategy by saying, ...All right, if you want it separate but equal, I will make it so expensive for it to be separate that you will have to abandon your separateness.   Key Achievements First African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review.Served as Dean of Howard University Law School.Helped dismantle Jim Crow laws as the litigation direction of the NAACP.Trained future U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall. Early Life and Education Houston was born on September 3, 1895 in Washington DC. Houston’s father, William, was an attorney and his mother, Mary was a hairstylist and seamstress. Following a graduation from M Street High School, Houston attended Amherst College in Massachusetts. Houston was a member of Phi Betta Kappa and when he graduated in 1915, he was the class valedictorian. Two years later, Houston joined the U.S. Army and trained in Iowa. While serving in the army, Houston was deployed to France where his experiences with racial discrimination fueled his interest in studying law. In 1919 Houston returned to the United States and began studying law at Harvard Law School. Houston became the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review and was mentored by Felix Frankfurter, who would later serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. When Houston graduated in 1922, he was received the Frederick Sheldon Fellowship which allowed him to continue studying law at the University of Madrid. Attorney, Law Educator and Mentor Houston returned to the United States in 1924 and joined his father’s law practice. He also joined the faculty of Howard University School of Law. He would go on to become the school’s dean where he would mentor future lawyers such as Thurgood Marshall and Oliver Hill. Both Marshall and Hill were recruited by Houston to work for the NAACP and its legal efforts. Yet it was Houston’s work with the NAACP that allowed him to rise to prominence as an attorney. Recruited by Walter White, Houston began working the NAACP as its first special counsel in the early 1930s.   For the next twenty years, Houston played an integral role in civil rights cases brought before the U.S. Supreme Court. His strategy for defeating Jim Crow laws was by showing that the inequities present in â€Å"separate but equal† policy established by Plessy v. Ferguson  in 1896. In cases such as Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, Houston argued that was unconstitutional for Missouri to discriminate against African-American students wishing to enroll in the state’s law school since there was no comparable institution for students of color. While waging civil rights battles, Houston also mentored future lawyers such as Thurgood Marshall and Oliver Hill at Howard University School of Law. Both Marshall and Hill were recruited by Houston to work for the NAACP and its legal efforts. Although Houston died before the Brown v. Board of Education decision was handed down, his strategies were used by Marshall and Hill. Death Houston died in 1950 in Washington D.C. In his honor, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School opened in 2005.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

President Obama’s Diplomatic Style Toward Africa Putting...

A NEW APPROACH TO AFRICA The world was watching as the son of an African settled into his position in the oval office. And it did not take long for the world to find reason to be disappointed. Within the first year of his presidency journalists in Africa, Europe, and the U.S. were reporting on his lack of involvement with Africa. Comparisons between Bush and Obama were focused on foreign assistance and the HIV/AIDS relief program. Many were wondering why there was no ground breaking initiative from Washington to Africa and these questions have turned to abandon in his second term. It would not be wrong to say that George W. Bush probably did more for this continent. Theres a growing realization that Obama has no desire to be some kind†¦show more content†¦There are many aspects of Obama’s style that are reminiscent of his predecessors and we see many initiatives and policies that Bush and Clinton enacted that Obama is in full support of. But there is a great deal of c hange in the presidential style when it comes to engagement with African nations, leaders, and citizens. Obama’s rhetoric has always had a sense of affection and trust for the African people. Like a parent or older sibling, he deeply understands that hovering is never as powerful as confidence and faith in a person’s ability to do the right thing and prosper. Obama is entrusting the future of Africa to Africans themselves and he expects them to fully own this responsibility. His statements from long before his presidency have shown this belief. In 2006 he told the Associated Press that, Ultimately, a new generation of Africans have to recognize the international community, the international relief organizations or the United States cant help Africa if its own leaders are undermining the possibilities of progress. This is a hard message for people all over the world to swallow when the opposing message of giving alms to this, the poorest of continents, is a message str ongly promoted by celebrities and governments alike. But with evidence revealing that aid can actually deepen the poverty of Africans and slows the growth of nations, perhaps this new approach is a breath of fresh air for everyone. In the last decade a flood of research

Monday, December 9, 2019

Differentiate between Inferior goods and Giffen goods in the context of income effect and substitution effect free essay sample

In economics, an inferior good is a good that decreases in demand when consumer income rises, unlike normal goods, for which the opposite is observed. Normal goods are those for which consumers demand increases when their income increases. This would be the opposite of a superior good, one that is often associated with wealth and the wealthy, whereas an inferior good is often associated with lower socio-economic groups. In economics and consumer theory, a Giffen good is one which people paradoxically consume more of as the price rises, violating the law of demand. In normal situations, as the price of a good rises, the substitution effect causes consumers to purchase less of it and more of substitute goods. In the Giffen good situation, the income effect dominates, leading people to buy more of the good, even as its price rises. All Giffen goods are inferior goods, but not all inferior goods are Giffen goods. We will write a custom essay sample on Differentiate between Inferior goods and Giffen goods in the context of income effect and substitution effect or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Giffen goods are difficult to find because a number of conditions must be satisfied for the associated behavior to be observed. One reason for the difficulty in finding Giffen goods that is Giffen originally envisioned a specific situation faced by individuals in a state of poverty. Modern consumer behavior research methods often deal in aggregates that average out income levels and are too blunt an instrument to capture these specific situations. Furthermore, complicating the matter are the requirements for limited availability of substitutes, as well as that the consumers are not so poor that they can only afford the inferior good. It is for this reason that many text books use the term Giffen paradox rather than Giffen good. Income Effect The income effect is defined as the result of a change in a products price relative to the consumers disposable income. When the price of a good changes, the real, or actual, income of the consumer who wants that good changes. If the price goes up, then the consumer is worse off, since he has less disposable income. Therefore, he can buy less of the good, or not buy it at all. Substitution Effect The substitution effect occurs when, as the result of a price increase, the consumer will substitute another product in its place, or forgo the product altogether. This concept, however, depends on what sort of product has gone up in price, and how the consumer views that product. If the product is a necessity, then the substitution effect will become clear, since the consumer, who cannot do without the product, will shift, or substitute, a lower-cost version of the same item. A special type of inferior good may exist known as the Giffen good, which would disobey the law of demand. Quite simply, when the price of a Giffen good increases, the demand for that good increases. This would have to be a good that is such a large proportion of a person or markets consumption that the income effect of a price increase would produce, effectively, more demand. The observed demand curve would slope upward, indicating positive elasticity. It was noted by Sir Robert Giffen III that in Ireland during the 19th century there was a rise in the price of bread. The poor people were forced to reduce their consumption of meat and expensive items as eggs etc. Now bread being still the cheapest food, so they started consuming more of it though its price was rising. This phenomenon is often described as Giffens Paradox. Conditions for Giffen goods Total consumption on the good forms a large part of the budget The total amount the consumer spends on the good should form a large fraction of the consumers budget. Only in such a case does an increase in the price of the good create a budget shortage significant enough to cause a shift in other consumption patterns. In other words, an increase in its price should produce a significant income effect. The good must be inferior The good must be an inferior good in order for the budget shortage on the part of consumers to cause an increase in consumption. In other words, the good must be inferior for the income effect to increase its consumption due to substitution away from costly and superior alternatives. Close substitutes must be absent but not-so-close substitutes must exist Finally, the cost difference with substitutes must be sufficiently substantial that even with the increase in price, it is still attractive as an inferior good. In other words, the substitution effect created by an increase in its relative price should be too small to counter the income effect created by the increased costs. Alternative explanations for apparent Giffen goods Just because the quantity demanded for a good increases with increases in its price does not imply that the good is a Giffen good. To qualify as a Giffen good, the quantity demanded must increase despite the fact that the substitution effect works against it: in other words, the value that buyers place on the good does not increase. Substitution and Income Effect: These two terms are very familiar to anybody who has taken an intermediate course in macroeconomics. With the recent articles regarding volunteerism and labor statistics, I thought that it was very timely to write on these two very important concepts. Let’s start with a thought experiment: if you were to receive a 10% increase in your hourly wage, would you increase, decrease, or maintain your hours worked? Believe it or not, any answer is correct, despite many assumptions regarding the positive slope of labor supply curves. The reason that any answer is correct lies in an understanding of substitution and income effects. The substitution effect is the change in consumption patterns due to a change in the relative prices of goods. For example, if private universities increase their tuition by 10% and public universities increase their tuition by only 2%, then it is very likely that we would see a shift in attendance from private to public universities (at least amongst students accepted to both). The same can be said across brands, goods, and even categories of goods. Examples would be the relative price of Pepsi vs. Coke, Red Meat vs. Poultry and Clothes vs. Entertainment. The income effect is the change in consumption patterns due to the change in purchasing power. This can occur from income increases, price changes, or even currency fluctuations. Since income is not a good in and of it (it can only be exchanged for goods and services, a point which has been debated recently by neuroeconomists), price decreases increase one’s purchasing power. For example, a decrease in the price of all cars allows you to buy either a cheaper car or a better car for the same price, thus increasing your utility. Goods typically fall into one of two categories: normal and inferior. These categorizations relate consumption of a good with a particular individual’s income. Normal goods increase in consumption as income increase while inferior goods decrease as income increases. Also, some goods can be normal or inferior only on certain ranges of an income spectrum. For example, education is a normal good: as one’s income increases (family income), demand for education increases. As one’s income increases, hot dog consumption, however, typically decreases. References

Monday, December 2, 2019

Smoking And Panic Disorder Essays - Smoking, Panic Disorder

Smoking And Panic Disorder Healthcentral.com printed an article citing smoking as a cause of panic attacks. In this article, Reuters Health states that daily smokers are more likely than nonsmokers to experience a panic attack for the first time. Panic attacks may include all or some of the following symptoms: shortness of breath, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, sweating, nausea, and chest pain. Quitting smoking appears to somewhat reduce the risk of panic attacks. Each year, one third of adults have at least one panic attack. In addition, smoking has also been linked to depression, which can definitely cause a person to become easily frustrated and overwhelmed, possibly causing these unfortunate panic attacks to occur. The first survey was taken of 1,007 people aged 21-30 who are members of a Michigan HMO group. The other survey took a national sample of 4,411 people aged 15-54 years old. In both groups, daily smokers were much more likely to have experienced a first occurrence of a panic attack. In the HMO group, daily smokers had three times the risk of nonsmokers of having panic attacks. In the national sample, smokers' risk of the attacks was twice that of nonsmokers. Additionally, quitting smoking lowered the risk of panic attacks. The article states that the original experiment does not explain how smoking might lead to panic attacks, but smoking's effect on the lungs might be to blame. There are other explanations for the relationship. Smokers who develop respiratory problems, even mild ones, which affect breathing might get a false sensation that they are suffocating. This might lead to a panic attack. Additionally, the effect of nicotine on the brain may also provide an explanation for these findings.