Sale Transaction Essay Example for Free

Sale Transaction Essay Scholarly accounts narrate of a sale transaction between the early 17th century Dutch settlers in Manhattan (Island Manhattes then) and the Indians occupying the island. In the article written by Francis (n.d.), the sale transaction took place in August 10, 1626 (381 years ago), and amounted to 60 guilders (E.B. OCallaghan, ed. 1856 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Albany. Vol. 1, p. 37, as reported in Francis, n.d.). The payment was actually in beads and trinkets but was assumed to amount to 60 guilders. An article in The Straight Dope and a paper presentation of Banner (2001) estimated 60 guilders to be around $24 based on the times currency exchange rate. The question is to compute how much that money is worth today had that amount been deposited in a Savings and Loan organization, and earned 5% rate compounded quarterly. Compound interest formula: M = P (1 + i) ^ n where M is the final amount including the principal (unknown), P is the principal amount ($24), i is the rate of interest per year (5%), and n is the number of years invested (381). Since the interest is to be compounded quarterly, i will be changed to 1.25% (per quarter), and n will be changed to 1,524 (quarters in 381 years). Hence,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   M   Ã‚   = P (1 + i) ^ n   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = $24 (1 + 1.25%) ^ 1,524.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = $4,001,656,783.35 à   the present amount of $24 in 1626 given the above conditions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If the same amount of money will be deposited continuously in the same amount of time (i.e., present + 381 years or 1,524 more quarters – this is the year 2388), the new given would be:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   M   Ã‚   = P (1 + i) ^ n   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = $24 (1 + 1.25%) ^ 3,048.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = $ 667,219,042,156,319,000.00 à   the year 2388 amount of $24 in 1626 given the above. References: Banner, S. 2001. Manhattan for $24: American Indian Land Sales, 1607-1763 (Paper presentation at the John M. Olin Center for Law Economics, The University of Michigan). http://www.law.umich.edu/CentersAndPrograms/olin/papers/Fall%202001/banner.PDF. Date accessed: September 24, 2007. Francis, P., n.d. Beads and Manhattan. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/41/415.html. Date accessed: September 24, 2007. Personal Finance Advice, 2006. Compound Interest, Manhattan the Indians. http://www.pfadvice.com/2006/01/15/compound-interest-manhattan-the-indians/. Date accessed: September 24, 2007.

Socratic Citizenship as Salve to the Antinomy of Rules and Values :: Plato Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Socratic Citizenship as Salve to the Antinomy of Rules and Values It is not inconceivable that Plato would view the enforcement of rigid laws as a â€Å"noble lie† (Rep112)—noble as a guarantor of order in a just city, but misleading in its pretense of infallibility. The Crito, the Apology, and the Republic capture the tension in Plato’s work between a commitment to substantive justice and to formalist legal justice. In a system of substantive justice, rules are flexible and act as â€Å"maxims of efficiency† (Unger 90), proxies of justice and virtue. The system of formalist legal justice secures order and stability with rigid rules while risking miscarriages of particularity. This paper, then, is about Plato’s noble lie. Roberto Unger’s Knowledge and Politics provides an invaluable lens for examining Plato’s discussion of law and justice in the Republic, the Apology and the Crito. In the Republic, Plato sketches the outlines of a just, ordered city-state. The Apology presents Socrates’ defense against an unjust accusation before the court of law. The Crito sees Socrates accept his unjust sentencing to death and defend the rule of law. Unger’s work helps distill from these Platonic works a coherent platform of substantive justice and a critique of a formalist theory of adjudication. Moreover, while Unger’s arguments arrive in the context of a critique of liberal political theory, Plato nevertheless offers a response to Unger’s main critique of substantive justice, the â€Å"antinomy of rules and values† (91). The idea of Socratic citizenship, gleaned from the Apology and the Crito, seeks to resolve this antinomy. Roberto Unger examines substantive justice in Knowledge and Politics in the context of legislation and adjudication. Unger defines substantive justice as a mode of ordering human relations which determines goals and, independently of rules, decides â€Å"particular cases by a judgment of what decision is most likely to contribute to the predetermined goals, a judgment of instrumental rationality† (89). In the Republic, Socrates evokes the principles of substantive justice in his verbal creation of the ideal Greek city-state. In book IV, Socrates locates the ends of the ideal city-state in the four virtues: courage, temperance, wisdom and justice. Books I and II of the Republic deliver a scathing indictment against a formalist theory of adjudication. Formalist legal justice assumes that it is â€Å"possible to deduce correct judgments from the laws by an automatic process† (92) without reference to the purpose or end of the law.

Environmental Racism: Take Out the Race Essay

The best way to avoid environmental racism is to avoid the subject of race at all costs. Race should never be the subject of any discussion about vital decisions regarding humanity, because when race becomes a focal point, then the discussion automatically becomes racist. The best way to avoid racism in general, including environmental racism, is to keep race out of important debates and choices, including environmental, social, economic, and political ones. When politicians plan for the development of a city, neighborhood, or industry, which has an environmental impact, the best thing politicians can do is to either allow businesses to make their own economic judgments about how, where, and when to build, or to simply use sound economic judgment themselves. If one looks to business and urban planning or environmental development and protection, one must look to costs and benefits. If the costs are low and benefits are high to a city or region in regard to incoming business or environmental changes, then the politicians should make the decision to act in favor of good business and environmental practices. In my opinion, race has no place in the discussion. Sound economics should be considered, including sound planning and social and environmental benefits, but race is never a smart card to be played. Why consider race? Considering it only makes racism more of a truth and reality. Environmental justice is important, social justice is important, and economic justice is important. All of these are linked together, and, in all of these, the color of a person’s skin is an outdated and silly point of consideration. Best practices in government, in business, in ecology, are fundamentally tied to one another, and bringing differing races into the argument is only prejudiced and unreasonable. Protecting all of united humanity and humanity’s surrounding ecology should always be a consideration, but divisive race should never be. It proves fruitless. References (Client’s uploaded article information. No author, date, title, or publisher provided. )

The Current Indian Banking System Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1443 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? The financial world post global crisis of 2007 is vastly different than what it was before. Many factors that were paid little or no importance prior to crisis can no longer be ignored. Increasing number of multinational banks got their branches or subsidiaries opened globally. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Current Indian Banking System Finance Essay" essay for you Create order With their increased presence and dominance, it was assumed that the formula for success in this sector has been discovered and mastered. Massive size, wide diversification across the entire spectrum of financial activities, intermediation, investment and insurance and global presence, combined with large pecuniary incentives were, apparently, the most effective way to achieve and sustain competitive advantage (Insan, Pinki Warne, D.P., 2011). The global crisis has made it clearly visible that these ways do not possess the required capability to sustain the financial businesses for long term. More so over, it was discovered that two key factors, rapid expansion and diversification, which were presumed to be contributing to success of banks were actually responsible not only for this downfall of banks but also for the financial industry globally. Though the banks were growing big but they failed to match their capabilities in risk identification and mitigation at the same pace. In this highly tangled economy, banks failure to manage risks effectively can result in its collapse causing a ripple effect on all other banks and ultimately resulting in failure of industry as a whole ,as seen in current global crisis (initiated by American banks) or during the Asian crisis of 1997-1998 (Aduda and Gitonga, 2011). Beyond the banking industry, it is also governments that are pulled in (when having to bail-out the industry thus saddling them with large debts) and the economy as a whole as the lifeblood of economy, i.e. financing is slowed down during the credit crunch. Banks become more more reluctant to lend money to anyone but the safest of all clients. The Current Indian Banking System The banking sector throughout the world is going through momentous changes and the banking sector in India is no exception to it. It is rapidly improving itself to be at par with global banks and survive the competition from foreign banks operating in India. Indian banking sector has undergone significant changes since its independence in 1947 and specifically major changes since the economy liberalization in early 1990s. The banking sector in India has extensive network, developed in order to support its growing and fast paced economy. The banks of India perform the dual role, one that of preserving countrys wealth and second that of a reservoir of resources required for development of countrys economy. For the growth of any country, it is of utmost importance that its financial industry and banks are developed and matured. Similar is the case in Indian scenario. Indian banking industry saw a surge of foreign banks in late1980s and early 1990s, post Uruguay Round of multilatera l trade negotiations under the aegis of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). During this period, there was significant increase in share of foreign banks in parameters such as income, deposits, investment, loans and advances and assets. However, in late 1990s it was observed that share of foreign banks in terms of profitability fell considerably. Two major factors that influenced this change were increase in efficiency of public sector banks and entry of private sector banks in Indian banking industry. Indian banks, both private and public, in their process of integration and globalization adopted international banking standards and practices. Currently, Indian banking sector comprises of 84 organizations, including 27 public sector banks, 27 private sector banks and 33 foreign banks operating in India. The Reserve Bank of India, i.e. Indian central bank, also identifies 30 state cooperative banks, 95 regional rural banks and 55 urban cooperative banks. The public secto r banking sector consists of 19 nationalized banks, State Bank of India (SBI), seven associates of SBI and the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI)  [1]  . The role of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Indian Banking system The Reserve Bank of India is the central banking institution of India, established in 1935 and nationalized in 1945. RBI is the governing authority that plays the pivotal role of formulating, implementing and monitoring Indias monetary policies. Being the backbone of Indian economics, Reserve Bank of India also helps government of India and state governments in developing their finance strategies. In addition, RBI also acts as regulator and supervisor of countrys financial system. It defines the parameters within which any bank or financial agency has to operate in Indian market. Under the section 42(1) of the RBI act, it is mandatory for all commercial banks in India to maintain an account and deposit defined cash, called as Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) with Reserve Bank of India. Besides CRR, RBI also requires Indian banks to maintain Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) i.e. to put prescribed amount of liquid assets such as gold, cash and approved securities with RBI. It uses variance in bank/interest rate to not only maintain ample liquidity in the system but also to roll back excess liquidity, once the required economic growth has been attained. Ensuring that there is sufficient liquidity available in the market restores confidence of investors into banks and into financial markets. All these measures are used by RBI to hedge against uncertainty of outcomes countrys monetary policies  [2]  . According to World Bank report, GDP growth rate of India was 9.8% in 2007 and 3.89% in 2008. The sharp decline in growth rate was the direct impact of global financial crisis. As a measure to curb this sharp fall, RBI introduced number of fiscal stimulus packages and other measures to cushion the impact and enhance the economic growth. For a long term fiscal consolidation, RBI uses combination of monetary and debt management tools to streamline government borrowing programs and consequently, spurs investment demand. In first half of 2009-10, RBI launched Open Market Operations (OMO) purchases and Market Stabilization Scheme (MSS) which will reduce CRR by three percentage points and thus, will leave adequate resources with banks to expand credit to potential investors. Besides regulating, countrys monetary and fiscal policy, Reserve Bank of India also provides commercial banks with payment and settlement infrastructure. All inter-banks transactions are routed via RBI. The global financial crisis and its impact on Indian banks With the increasing globalization and ever increasing participation of India in world trade, it would have been immature to expect that global crisis had no impact on Indian economy. Though the Indian banks did not have significant presence outside India and were not directly exposed to sub-prime mortgages by foreign investments banks, still the global crisis created an impact on Indian economy and thus, on its financial sector, trade flows and exchange rates (Kumar and Vashisht, 2009). The three main entities that constitutes Indian financial sector are banks, equity markets and external commercial borrowings. Each of these entities was differently affected by global crisis. RBI maintains very stringent controls over Indian banks and during this period, it further tightened its controls. One of such significant steps taken by RBI during the crisis was the increase of requirements in loan evaluation for all real estate related requests, which in turn help to decrease the probabi lity of real estate price bubble. Except one bank, ICICI, most Indian banks were not exposed to sub-prime mortgages. ICICI got jitters from global crisis but its strong balance sheet and support by government helped it sail smoothly through the crisis. The banking sector as a whole declared a profitability of 43% for the third quarter of 2008, maintained a capital risk weighted ratio (CRAR) of 13% and brought non-performing assets well within the acceptable norms  [3]  . Though Indian banks did not have considerable direct impacts but indirect impacts were quite large. As soon as Lehman Brothers collapsed, there was high liquidity squeeze in global market which was immediately passed on to squeeze in Indian market. The banks and corporations which were earlier relying on foreign sources for their credit demand had to then focus completely on domestic banking sector, and this in turn fuelled the short-term lending rates. Also, seeing the collapse of major banks world over, Ind ian banks became more risk averse and consequently resulted in decline of credit expansion rate. The other indirect impact which prominently surfaced during this period was the transfer of capital from private banks to public banks. Under the Indian bank Nationalization Act, it is stated that all obligations of public sector banks will be met by Indian government in case of any failure. This was a huge factor which made investors believe that their deposits will be way safer in public banks and thus gravitated their capital towards public banks (Viral V. Acharya1 and Nirupama Kulkarni, 2012)  [4]  . The significance of risk management in Indian banks