For the European Union minor our objective was to study the origin, structure and the future of the European Union. We looked at where the Union derived from, how it became what it is at the current state. We studied the different institution of the European Union, such as the European Parliament, European Court of Justices and European commission etc. Furthermore we handled the different policies in which the EU bases its daily decisions on, and looked at the ambitions and future plans of the EU.
The minor in short was informative; I learned a lot more of the EU than before I participated in this minor. Before I started in the minor, I actually had a vague idea of what the EU actually is, why we had a single currency, and how the EU has become what it is at the moment. Mr. Frencken, Mr. Vermeeren, Mr. Van Manen and Mrs. Den Engelsman did an awesome job in educating us in this minor. In the past we had shortly covered the European Union before in the economy class in high school. But after participating in this minor, I feel a lot has been cleared up, but it also led to new debates on mysteries and unclear aspects of the EU, which we were to tackle during class and it revealed that the EU still has some deficiencies, such as the “democratic deficit” which is argued by some, one of the major shortages, and the “one policy fits all” problem.
Like I have said before the minor was surely educational, but one thing I could not understand, at the time, was why they made this minor obligatory for those who wanted to participate in the double degree program. Surely there must have been a better reason for us to be obligated to participate in this minor besides that the fact that the academy wants us to remember where we came from? Lo and behold, I do not know whether this is intended or just luck, but it appears that what we have been taught actually comes in handy; here in Western Carolina University, North Carolina. At the moment I have been registered for the following class “International organizations” and other classes, on which on multiple occasion the European Union is mentioned both in class and in the textbooks. Having participated in this minor, actually gives us some advantage over others since we have prior knowledge.
Surely the minor did not proceed without mishaps, some of which are questionable. Such as the fact that the class schedule maker actually thinks that some of us are taking Dutch classes even though all participants of this minor are Dutch, resulting into classes being scheduled with free hours in between, while we have nothing to do at all. Or the fact that we did not have English classes until the second semester, resulting in a higher workload at the end of the semester, in which we had to combine it with the fact that we also had to take care of a lot of stuff prior heading out to our foreign destinations. But I have to say, I have yet to regret to have participated in this minor.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Credit crunch
As you may or may not know, for the past half year the media has been spending some significant time in covering what is known as the financial crises or credit crunch. If you, by any chance, failed to notice this particular event you have probably been living in a cave for the past half year. Because the truth is, is that this crises started over more than a year ago, and since it affects us all - mainly the business world – it is rather interesting to know how it all began.
So what is exactly a credit crunch? A credit crunch is a sudden reduction in availability or tightening of conditions required to obtain loans/credit. The credit crunch mentioned in the above paragraph started in the United States, July 2007, when investors lost confidence in securitized mortgages, mainly caused due to careless and inappropriate lending. One of them of which I believe is lending money to individuals to buy houses which they could not afford and caused house prices to drop. In turn the stock market lost confidence too, after it was publically made that several major finance companies went bankrupt, causing investors to massively dump their stocks on the market causing companies to enter in liquidity problem. This ultimately led to a global crisis since the US market has some significant influence on other stock markets. It caused European companies to go bankrupt, for example a major Benelux bank “Fortis”, and other companies’ stocks to decline into the “depth of the ocean”.
Now that we have cleared out what the credit crunch actually is. To determine what the actual influences are in human lives depends on whether you are active in the business world. For me as a student the effects are rather minimal, I mainly survive on governmental grants and I had a stable job at my uncle’s French fries shop. Other than that the fact that some of the stocks in the stock market simulation game I play in on the internet declined for about 70% (for example stock of General Motors), I would rather say I am pretty well off.
But for those who were active in the business world, the effects are much greater. For example those who owned GM stocks would find their equity to have shrunk by 70%, meaning each dollar they had invested in the company is currently worth only 30 cents. Those who own a business would find it rather difficult to find investors ready to invest in their company. Those who were sadly employed in one of the not-so-well-off companies would find themselves on the street, unemployed. The ones who bought houses who could not have afforded it would find themselves homeless. Suffice to say, those who were average and were not ambitious enough to be active in the business world have rather come off pretty clean of the crisis, and those who were active would find themselves worse off than when they started, as many analyst have said: “2008 was a bad year to have invested in”.
As for the actions being taken by governments to help out companies is rather ridiculous, yes it may be good to help out companies to preserve jobs, but basically what they are doing is rewarding companies for doing a bad job in the market. What they are basically doing is throwing money in a bottomless pit, because who will decide when the aids to the companies will finally end? And to begin with, the governments probably do not have the funds to bail the companies out anyway. What they will do is probably loan money from the World Bank, or issue bonds, of which on both cases money is created out of thin air. What will happen is that, actions such as these will sadly lead to inflation of the currencies. Meaning, there is no direct solution to the crisis, what needs to happen is to let the market forces do what they are meant to do, and that is to eliminate the weak and let the strong survive.
So what is exactly a credit crunch? A credit crunch is a sudden reduction in availability or tightening of conditions required to obtain loans/credit. The credit crunch mentioned in the above paragraph started in the United States, July 2007, when investors lost confidence in securitized mortgages, mainly caused due to careless and inappropriate lending. One of them of which I believe is lending money to individuals to buy houses which they could not afford and caused house prices to drop. In turn the stock market lost confidence too, after it was publically made that several major finance companies went bankrupt, causing investors to massively dump their stocks on the market causing companies to enter in liquidity problem. This ultimately led to a global crisis since the US market has some significant influence on other stock markets. It caused European companies to go bankrupt, for example a major Benelux bank “Fortis”, and other companies’ stocks to decline into the “depth of the ocean”.
Now that we have cleared out what the credit crunch actually is. To determine what the actual influences are in human lives depends on whether you are active in the business world. For me as a student the effects are rather minimal, I mainly survive on governmental grants and I had a stable job at my uncle’s French fries shop. Other than that the fact that some of the stocks in the stock market simulation game I play in on the internet declined for about 70% (for example stock of General Motors), I would rather say I am pretty well off.
But for those who were active in the business world, the effects are much greater. For example those who owned GM stocks would find their equity to have shrunk by 70%, meaning each dollar they had invested in the company is currently worth only 30 cents. Those who own a business would find it rather difficult to find investors ready to invest in their company. Those who were sadly employed in one of the not-so-well-off companies would find themselves on the street, unemployed. The ones who bought houses who could not have afforded it would find themselves homeless. Suffice to say, those who were average and were not ambitious enough to be active in the business world have rather come off pretty clean of the crisis, and those who were active would find themselves worse off than when they started, as many analyst have said: “2008 was a bad year to have invested in”.
As for the actions being taken by governments to help out companies is rather ridiculous, yes it may be good to help out companies to preserve jobs, but basically what they are doing is rewarding companies for doing a bad job in the market. What they are basically doing is throwing money in a bottomless pit, because who will decide when the aids to the companies will finally end? And to begin with, the governments probably do not have the funds to bail the companies out anyway. What they will do is probably loan money from the World Bank, or issue bonds, of which on both cases money is created out of thin air. What will happen is that, actions such as these will sadly lead to inflation of the currencies. Meaning, there is no direct solution to the crisis, what needs to happen is to let the market forces do what they are meant to do, and that is to eliminate the weak and let the strong survive.
Monday, January 12, 2009
“How exactly will Obama get all his stuff into the White House?”
Have you ever wondered what will happen to all the belongings of a new American president? Though the subject is not of extreme importance, it is quite interesting to know what happens to the current belongings of a new American president moving into the White House, such as clothing and furniture etc. Does the process occur like a normal moving process? What happens to the belongings of the current American president? Will they receive help? These are the questions which pop into my mind when I think about the moving process of a new president.
So according to this article: http://www.slate.com/id/2208317/?GT1=38001#b, it appears that the upcoming president Obama will have to arrange its own transportation to move its belongings such as clothing, furniture etc. from Chicago to the White House. The Secret Service - an American federal governmental agency, of which one of their main duties is to protect the president, vice president etc. – will oversee the whole moving process, which will usually happen a week before the inauguration of the new president. They will escort the transportation vehicles and will screen all the belongings of the upcoming president, such as books, desks, chairs etc. before they will be allowed to enter the White House. The costs of the moving process will have to be covered by the president-elect Obama himself, either with his personal funds or the funds raised during his campaign.
Once all the belongings of the new president are all in the White House, the residence staff will take custody of it. A chief usher will be appointed to coordinate the moving day. He will provide the staff with the floor plans of the White House and photographs to indicate the position of the belongings. It takes about 6 hours to move all the stuff where it needs to be, in which the belongings of the former president will be moved out at the same time. The costs of all the process will be funded by an annual executive residence budget, drawn up by the Congress, which will also provide the First Family with a redecoration fund to buy new curtains, carpets and paintings etc.
It is quite interesting to know how the whole process will be unfolded. Even though the process might not be of national concern, it is one of the most important steps which will be taken in the early stage before the president-elect is sworn into the Office. The process will of course be just as any moving process, but which undoubtedly will cost a lot more than it normally would. Though I wish the money spent on this should have been spent on something of much more value such as college funds for students etc., it is however without question that it cannot be done differently since the moving process involves the safety of the upcoming president etc. and the White House.
So according to this article: http://www.slate.com/id/2208317/?GT1=38001#b, it appears that the upcoming president Obama will have to arrange its own transportation to move its belongings such as clothing, furniture etc. from Chicago to the White House. The Secret Service - an American federal governmental agency, of which one of their main duties is to protect the president, vice president etc. – will oversee the whole moving process, which will usually happen a week before the inauguration of the new president. They will escort the transportation vehicles and will screen all the belongings of the upcoming president, such as books, desks, chairs etc. before they will be allowed to enter the White House. The costs of the moving process will have to be covered by the president-elect Obama himself, either with his personal funds or the funds raised during his campaign.
Once all the belongings of the new president are all in the White House, the residence staff will take custody of it. A chief usher will be appointed to coordinate the moving day. He will provide the staff with the floor plans of the White House and photographs to indicate the position of the belongings. It takes about 6 hours to move all the stuff where it needs to be, in which the belongings of the former president will be moved out at the same time. The costs of all the process will be funded by an annual executive residence budget, drawn up by the Congress, which will also provide the First Family with a redecoration fund to buy new curtains, carpets and paintings etc.
It is quite interesting to know how the whole process will be unfolded. Even though the process might not be of national concern, it is one of the most important steps which will be taken in the early stage before the president-elect is sworn into the Office. The process will of course be just as any moving process, but which undoubtedly will cost a lot more than it normally would. Though I wish the money spent on this should have been spent on something of much more value such as college funds for students etc., it is however without question that it cannot be done differently since the moving process involves the safety of the upcoming president etc. and the White House.
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