THE DAY OF THE DEAD

The day of the Dead is a poetry work which was obtained from a translation of Lozano’s poem entitled the Labyrinth of Solitude which was translated by Lysander Kemp in the year 1961. It talks about a Mexican festival which is usually held on November 1^st and 2^nd in every year to celebrate and remember people who have passed away within the society. Mayors of many Mexican towns spend a lot of money in buying items to decorate the Mexican towns and drawing of skeletal pictures in order to depict death. This leads to unnecessary expenses which are incurred in purchasing of less beneficial items compared to the basic needs of the citizens (Lozano). Many people within the towns require food and clothing more than the skeletal statues which are bought during the celebrations.

            Though the festivals are important in commemorating the death of their loved ones, the basic needs of the residents of the towns should be given the first priority. The mayors should ensure that the residents within their towns are living in decent houses and they have adequate food and clothing before deciding to spend a lot of money in conducting festivals. The clothes which are bought to be worn during the celebrations have skulls and human skeletal pictures drawn all over hence making the unfit to be worn on normal days (Carmichael). They also spend a lot of money in paying manufacturing industries to mould products which depict human skulls for the children to eat during the celebrations. The mayors should substitute the sugar-mould products with other nutritious foods since most of the children do not eat healthy foods while they at home. Most of the dwellers in the towns are middle and lower income earners hence they struggle a lot to get money for buying food and clothing for their families. They are highly taxed by the government while during the celebrations a lot of money is wasted in buying skeletal statues and paint for decorating walls of some buildings within the town.

            They also visit the gravesites of the loved ones where foods and drinks are poured to symbolize their love and kindness to them. After the festivals, the foods are eaten by wild animals while many people in the towns lack adequate food (Elizabeth). The mayors become motivated in making the festivals colorful hence failing to care about the basic needs of the residents of their towns. They order them to clean the gravesites by cutting down weeds and planting flowers around the graves in order to make them attractive. However, they do not emphasize on cleaning the streets in their towns since most of them have poor drainage systems and uncovered dumpsites. Most of the basic commodities used adding flavors to food such as salt are poured on the sacrificial altars since they are considered to be the spices of life (Lozano).

            Members of the community are also required to buy alcoholic drinks to pour on established altars in the gravesites. This leads to wastage of a lot of money which could be used in buying food and clothing for their family members. Most of the mayors spend a lot of the money which is allocated for funding development projects within the towns hence causing the residents to live in poor environmental conditions due to lack good facilities (Elizabeth). They should buy items which would be used to improve the living standards of the townspeople after the festivals. They should buy good clothes for the participants of the celebrations in order to ensure that they can be worn on normal days after the festivals. They can also collect the surplus food and give it to the needy people within the society instead of pouring it on the altars in order to avoid wastage of basic commodities while there are people who are in need of them in the society (Brandes).

  

Conclusion

Though Day of the Dead is an important festival to the Mexican people, it should be performed cautiously in order to avoid wastage of essential resources. The basic needs of the people should be considered first in order to ensure that they have better living standards before spending a lot of money in celebrating the death of other people. The festivals should be planned well in order to facilitate the welfare of the society and reduce wastage of essential resources. The mayors can also choose other alternative sources of money which would be used to fund the festivals other than spending the amount which is allocated for development projects within their towns.

The festivals can also be done collectively by involving members of different towns hence sharing the cost of buying the required items for the celebrations. It would enable them reduce their expenses since conducting them independently would be more costly. They should aim at showing that life is precious by promoting good living standards of the townspeople instead of demonstrating how loss of life causes a great impact to the society.

Income Distribution in the United States

                                              

            There is a lot of inequality in income distribution in America. Though researchers had earlier argued that income inequality had some benefits to the nation, they later reconsidered their claims and concluded that it caused more disadvantages than advantages. It was viewed as a tool of promoting accumulation of wealth to some individuals who would establish companies and manufacturing industries in order to provide job opportunities to other people within the nation.

            However, it was later discovered that most of the rich people invested in economic sectors which brought little benefits to the other members of the state. For instance, many of them invested in building vacation homes whereby the only people who would get employed in such homes were few caretakers who would ensure welfare of the tenants. Therefore, inequality in income distribution proved to be a major challenge to the overall development of the economy of the United States (Beeghley).

            According to a research which was conducted by a student in the University of California from 2009 to 2010, it showed that inequality in income distribution within the nation was increasing. The research revealed that among the top one percent richest people in the states, incomes rose by 31.4%. Moreover, the rest of the population experienced an income growth of only 0.4%. This shows that the fate of the economy of the nation would be determined by the actions of very few people (Stiglitz). There arose debates concerning the pattern of income distribution whereby some people argued that inequality in income distribution would lead to oppression of the workers in the United States (Krugman). They said that it couldn’t be fair for workers to help the owners of the prominent companies they work in to acquire more wealth while they get paid very little wages. Therefore, they anticipated for change in order to ensure even distribution of incomes to all citizens. However, other people had contrary opinions that the income distribution in the nation was fair since all citizens were being given same opportunities to compete for being the top richest people. They suggested that inequality was a form of reward to the hardworking people in the society who managed to use innovative and creative methods to become rich.

Positive Effect of Inequality in Income Distribution

1.      It Promotes Competition

            Inequality in income distribution triggers the necessity for people to compete in occupying the top position in the hierarchy of richness. Many people would become motivated to work harder in order get a chance of enjoying the privileges which are provided to the top richest people within the state. Therefore, many investors would become motivated to expand their businesses in order to earn more income. After expansion of their businesses, they would require workers to manage and coordinate all the activities which are done the premises. This would provide job opportunities to many citizens hence helping them to improve their living standards. They may also require buying machines in order to ensure effectiveness in executing all activities within their business premises. This would promote the industrial sector within the nation since it would have obtained a ready market for selling their products. Therefore, it would lead to improvement in the overall economy of the nation and reduce the dependency level of the citizens (Krugman).

Negative Effects of Inequality in Income Distribution

1.      Increase in Dependency Level

            Inequality in income distribution would lead to the economy of the country being controlled by few people within the nation. Therefore, majority of the citizens would become middle and lower income earners. This means that they would be struggling to meet their basic needs such as buying food and clothing. It would become necessary for them to depend on the government and the few people who control the economy of the nation for job opportunities. Therefore, the government would become overloaded with burdens of helping large number of the citizens to get job opportunities and providing relief food and clothing for them. This would make the large portion of the government’s budget to be allocated to helping the poor instead of developing infrastructure and other economic sectors.  

2.      Oppression of Workers by their Employers

            Inequality of income distribution would lead to high number of jobless people within the nation. Therefore, many workers would become desperate for getting job opportunities to a point of agreeing to work for extra hours without being paid in order to please their bosses and secure their jobs. The employers would become willing to sack any employee who does not show extra effort in doing his job in order to employ those who are willing to work for extra hours without being paid. This would lead to violation of the rights of many employees since their fate would be determined by the attitude of their employers towards them. Many people would also become forced to work for little wages since claiming of an increase might make them to get sacked. Therefore, it would become hard for them to improve their living standards since the money which they obtain from their jobs would not be enough to meet their basic needs and facilitate for development projects in their homes. Many citizens would start living in poor conditions hence leading to overall decline of the economy of the nation (Baudot).

3.      Violation of Rights of Children

            All children within the United States are entitled to rights to education and good health. This can only be achieved when their parents or guardians are financially stable. Therefore, if they become lower income earners due to inequality in income distribution within the nation, it would result to challenges in ensuring proper health and paying school fees for their children. Some children would become disadvantaged while others would enjoy all the privileges provided under their rights (Zweig). For instance, the children of the rich people within the nation would enjoy the privilege of being taught by highly qualified teachers and obtain mentorship from the most successful people since their parents are financially stable and they can cater for all expenses incurred. However, the children of the poor people might not be able to complete their studies since their parents would not be able to pay school fees for them. Many of them opt to drop out of school in order to look for jobs to support their parents. Others choose to be working part-time in order to get money to pay their school fees. This would affect their performance in class negatively since they would be motivated to work in order to earn more money than engaging in studies. They would also be having little time for resting and doing their homework hence making them unsettled when they report to school (Hine).

4.      Increase of Division in Social Classes

            Inequality in income distribution would lead some people to acquire more wealth while others continue to become poorer. This would lead to division in social classes within the nation whereby the gap between the rich, the middle income earners, and the lower income earners would continue to increase. This would cause decline of the economy of the nation since it would lower the possibility of interactions between all citizens in order to help one another to improve their living standards. The rich people tend to discriminate the poor and avoid being associated with them hence avoiding interacting with them. Therefore, it would become hard for the poor people to get jobs in order to cater for their basic needs since they depend on the rich ones for provision of job opportunities (Krugman).

Conclusion

            The United States of America is faced by a lot of challenges in ensuring even distribution of incomes among its citizens. This has led to difficulties in improving the economy of the nation further since its fate is determined by few people within the society. The top richest people control the largest percentage of all incomes within the nation. Therefore, the economy of the nation is greatly influenced only little percentage of the whole population and their actions determine whether it would improve or decline.

            The richest people have started investing in economic sectors which help only few people within the nation instead of promoting employment of many citizens. This has led to increase in dependency level of the citizens hence giving the government a burden of helping many people to meet their basic needs. It has also exposed children to violation of their rights since many of them become unable to complete their studies due to the inability of their parents to support them financially.

The World’s Most Ethical Companies

            American Express is one of the most ethical companies in the world. It deals with providing goods and services to customers hence enabling them to improve their living standards and promote their businesses. It also promotes social responsibility among its workers and customers by ensuring fair transactions on all their products without using corruption to exploit their customers. They provide quality services to workers hence making them to have trust in their products. It has ensured use of innovative methods in production of their products and services hence ensuring success of the company. It also promotes good ethical environment which ensures understanding in all sectors and goodwill of the workers.

The Company’s Consumer Relations

            American Express ensures customer satisfaction in conducting its business. The Company provides options for return protection to its customers. This option allows customers a period of 90 days to test whether the products they obtained from the company are of good quality. However, if the customer is not satisfied with the quality of the product, he or she can return it to the company before the end of the ninety days.

It also offers extended warranties to their products. The extension period goes above one year over the period dictated by the manufacturer. This allows the customers to have an amble time to fully confirm the quality of the products. These services have enabled the Company to attract many customers since they are assured of getting good quality products which are returnable in case of dissatisfaction.

Environment Relations with the Company

            The company introduced an environment program was aimed at ensuring maximum production without impacting negatively to the environment. This program ensured conservation of energy which was achieved through installation of energy-efficient technology and controls to monitor power usage. The lighting systems were also modified to promote proper usage of power hence conserving the surplus energy.

It also incorporated waste reduction plans which were executed through encouraging workers to consider using of paperless mechanisms in presenting their statements. They also influenced employees in their cafeterias to consider offering organic foods and reusing fryer oils in order to ensure economical utilization of the environmental resources.

Employee Relations with the Company

American Express offers employees with guidance and counseling in order to improve their performance and overcome the challenges which they often face while at work. It also ensures that proper disciplinary actions are taken against the defiant workers in order to promote the overall performance of the Company.

The Company also conducts investigations into the complaints of the employees in order to determine the best actions to be undertaken to ensure satisfaction to all workers. The investigations help the Company to know why some sectors performed poorly hence giving the employees a chance to explain their setbacks. Therefore, it plans for the necessary changes which should be made to ensure improved in performance in all sectors.

Company Policies

The policies of the company ensure that every customer is comfortable after buying their products or services through promoting of privacy. They introduced a data security policy which protects the company and its customers from malicious activities which might be done by hackers. This policy is divided into five sections whereby the first section addresses protection of the data concerning cardholders and authentication of crucial information. It ensures that the data should only be stored to facilitate transactions with the company and not to expose the customers to potential harm. The second section deals with obligations of data incident management. It states that if any issues are noted concerning the data storage, the customer should notify the company within 24 hours. This is aimed at giving the company amble time to manage such situations before any consequences are experienced. The third part is about indemnity obligations during data incidents. It outlines the guidelines which would be used by the company to deals with such cases. The company declares its determination to deal with such matters without violating any of their regulations. The fourth section outlines the procedures which should be used to validate the American Express cards both annually and quarterly while the last section deals with disclaimer declaration which indicates all issuers of American Express cards are not third parties to the company.

There are also card acceptance policies which give the customer a chance to go through documentation of the features and the services which would be rendered through the cards. It then allows them to make decisions whether to acquire the cards or ignore the offer after analyzing their expectations concerning the card. The card involves security features which help the merchants to access to it in case it is altered. These policies ensure that all customers are conversant with the security details in order to help them to know any altered cards.

These policies are comprehensive to ensure that every crucial activity concerning the company and its publics is addressed. This has promoted understanding between all the members interacting with the company hence minimizing the possibility of conflicts. It has complied with the laid procedures of business operations by the government such as renewal of business licenses and disclosing the relevant information to its shareholders. This has ensured close monitoring of the company’s progress in order to make the proper decisions concerning how the business activities can be altered to increase its profits.

 However the company should employ more mechanisms in relation to environment in order to promote good relations with nature. Although the company has undertaken measures to reduce waste and to conserve energy, it should also take further steps to introduce ways of generating energy and providing water even to the neighboring society. These ways can be achieved through starting campaigns for tree planting in the areas. Since trees act as water catchment areas they would assist in raising the ground water table hence ensuring easy access to water. These trees can be useful in improving the natural setup of the area and also in ensuring atmospheric balance. The company releases gases such as carbon (IV) oxide and carbon monoxide which may cause atmospheric imbalance. Therefore, the trees absorbs the unwanted gases and release oxygen during the day which is necessary for human respiration. Planting of trees would also curb desertification within the area which would be brought by cutting down of trees to provide furniture for construction purposes.

It can also sponsor drilling of dams within the area in order to provide enough water for industrial purposes and also for domestic use by members of the neighboring community. This would reduce the competition for natural resources between the company and the surrounding community. For instance, establishment of dams would provide enough water for industrial use in cooling and washing of machines and also for irrigation purposes by the neighboring farmers. This would promote the relationship between the community and the company hence ensuring its success in conducting business operations. It would also create jobs for the local people hence improving their living standards. Therefore, it would have established a good market for its products since the purchasing ability of the locals would increase due to improvement of their living standards. Promoting irrigation within the surrounding environment would also ensure provision of raw materials to the company at fair prices since there would be no high expenses incurred due to transportation costs as opposed to obtaining raw materials from far areas.

Conclusion

The success of American Express has been contributed to by the good relationship which the company has established with its publics. The workers have been comfortable with their working environment since it takes care of their needs. This has established motivation in them and loyalty to the management of the company hence increasing the overall performance of the company. It has also established a friendly neighborhood by creating job opportunities to the local people. This has facilitated towards the smooth running of the company’s operations since it does not face any opposition from the neighboring society.

Introduction of innovative techniques in the production sector has promoted efficiency hence leading to low expenses. This has enabled the company to provide products to their customers at affordable prices while still ensuring profits.

Contesting of State Legitimacy on China’s Internet Today

The incorporation of internet to the leadership of China has led to a great change in the legal system of the country. It has promoted the justice system since judges are able to access the internet to seek for guidance about dealing with cases. It has also laid a platform for activists to argue political matters concerning the state which should be modified.However, this has opened chances for contesting of various parties concerning what is right and the kind of leadership which the citizens of the state view as being favorable to them. The leaders in the legal system of the country face challenges from activists who use the internet to anticipate for change and enlighten other members of the society to demonstrate against decisions made by their government.

            Internet was fully incorporated in to the systems of the state of China in 1994 in order to promote the socialist market economy. However, this decision led to intrusion of other effects from external parties into the internet project.It led to integration of communication through social networks in the state which resulted to formation of movements to protest against some decisions made by their government. Activists used the Internet largely to enlighten the locals about the unfair decisions made by the government and advise them about the revolutionary measures which should be taken to ensure better leadership. Since 1994, the justice system of China has been largely affected by the Internet through being influenced by other elites worldwide on the best methods of leadership which they should consider using. Though Internet has led to significant changes in the country, the Republic of China has taken measures to secure its decisions from being controlled entirely by the Internet sources.

            The government introduced censorship of internet which ensured that it had control over the communications which were being made through the Internet sources. According to Amnesty International, The Republic China registered the largest number of prisoners who are accused of using the Internet to incite the public. Most the cases which these imprisoners are accused of include; inciting the public to demonstrate against corruption of their government, communicating with other activists outside the country, and signing of online petitions. The government was forced to make policies which govern communication through Internet sources due to the immergence of a high number of protests which were aimed at influencing the government to change its methods of governance.

            The government has taken control over provision of information through the internet hence affecting the boldness in communication between the local people because of the fear of being arrested. For instance, in 2001 Wang Xiaoning, a Chinese activist, was arrested because of posting anonymous information on the Internet through his Yahoo Mail Account. He was then sentenced for 10 years imprisonment which scared other activists who were anticipating for change in the leadership of the country.In 2008, Liu Shaokun, who was a teacher in Sichuan Province, was sentenced to one year of correction through labor because of inciting disturbance. He was accused of writing information through the Internet which caused unrest among the members of the society. Shaokun had posted information about the misery which was facing the children who were injured during collapsing of school buildings.

            However, the efforts of the Chinese government to control all communications through the Internet have not fully eliminated the work of the activists to enlighten the members of the society. Bloggers and other Internet users have employed use of coded information which seems to hold simple literal meanings but it triggers a lot of reasoning to the readers. They communicate as if they intend to praise the government of its good governance but incorporate sections of recommendations. These sections help to expose the uninformed decisions which were made by the government to the society using a polite way.

            According to researchers from university of California and New Mexico, censorship cannot act as a perfect firewall to control communications through the Internet. They have shown that there are a lot of communications which pass unnoticed because the screening is impacted on few components of the servers. Therefore, the Chinese government has not fully secured all communication systems on the Internet to ensure that the citizens abide to the set laws.State Legitimacy can only be promoted through advising the local people through the Internet to follow the correct channels in order to present their claims to the government. This would make them to stop relying on activists for advice entirely hence minimizing the likelihood of emergence of rebel movements.

            Internet has exposed the Chinese law courts to public scrutiny were by the decisions in various cases are influenced by other officials, the media and also individual protesters who have different opinions from the ones held by the judges. Therefore, people are allowed to protest against certain rulings made by the court hence making the cases to be set for another hearing.The evaluation ofjudges has also been based on interests of their superiors and not according to the justice standards of the state. This has manipulated them to make decisions according to the majority opinions in order to maintain their jobs.

            The government has been forced to consider the popular opinions in the state even though they have applied censorship of internet communications. This is aimed at ensuring stability in their governance since going against the majority opinion would result to conflicts. Therefore, the Chinese legal system has been based upon interests of the powerful people in the society. This has denied the judges a chance to work independently hence impairing the efforts to ensure justice to all citizens regardless of their social class. The Internet has only provided a chance for activism to the few elites who are courageous to declare their stand regardless of the reaction of the government. This has forced it to consider the recommendations which are proposed by the citizens.

            It has also become hard for the Chinese legal systemto make rulings according to the provisions of their constitution since it is being influenced by other external forces. For instance, the judges are allowed to access the Internet to seek guidanceabout how other judges in other countries dealt with similar cases as they are presented with. This makes them to deviate from their constitution and copy other nations in order to settle disputes in the society. The effectiveness of the Chinese courts has been affected significantly since they cannot be trusted in ensuring justice to members of the high social class. The government prohibited the judges from making rulings which would interfere with the social stability in the country. Therefore, any cases triggering class action in China are rejected by the courts. This makes the low and the middle class members to lose trust in their state’s justice system.

            The contest for state legitimacy in China is mostly between the political elites which form the ruling class and other activists in the society who anticipate for better governance. The struggle for promoting law abidingness among the citizens has taken different dimensions though the government tries to incorporate the systems for ease of monitoring. There has been struggle for dominance of control of information between the ruling class and other elites in the society. The government has ensured that the use of Internet is not directed towards intimidating the government or inciting members of the society. However, even after establishing policies to govern the use of Internet, this has not discouraged activists from protesting against uninformed decisions which are made by the government.

            The government seems to have achieved little in the contests since censoring the Internet acted as a confirmation to the entire society that there are evil deeds which it is protecting from being exposed. Therefore, this has made it easier for the activists to win the majority support and manipulate the government to consider making fair decisions.

Conclusion

            Internet has transformed the legal system of the state and modified the decision making process to include opinions of third parties. Though it has interfered with the loyalty of the state to its constitutions, it has promoted making of cautious decisions in order to avoid conflicts in the society. The move is also based on the selfish interests of the government to ensure ease of governance by eliminating opposition which may be initiated by activists through the social networks.

           

References

Asharf, and Richard. John Locke: Critical Assessments. London: Routledge, 1991.

Dahl, and Robert. Polyachy: Participation and Opposition. London: Yale University Press, 1971.

Dogan, and Mattei. Conceptions of Legitimacy, Encyclopedia of Gevernment and Politics. London: Routledge, 2003.

Lipset, and Seymour Martin. Political Man: The Social Bases of Political. London: Heinemann, 1983.

Sternberger, and Dolf. Legitimacy: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. New York: Macmillan, 1968.