EC Policy on VAT Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

EC Policy on VAT Assessment - Essay Example Nonetheless, the players in the financial services sector have emerged in recent years as among the largest groups of companies in the world and, despite this fragmentation, financial service companies as a group have become by far the most profitable in the world. For example, the UK-based financial services conglomerate HSBC and Barclays are among the world's largest corporations. For this reason, the European Commission in the 1990s took up a plan to include financial services and insurances in the value added tax (VAT) system for all member states, with the primary purpose of making the markets for financial services efficient. The plan was embodied in the Sixth VAT Directive of EC, part of the Financial Services Action Plan which was issued in 1977. Under the EC Treaty, all member states are obliged to adopt EC Directives into their own statutes although they can choose the forms or methods by which to implement them1. The 1977 VAT directive, however, was met with hostility by m ember states, which were reluctant to implement the tax measure. This paper tracks the difficulty of modernizing the VAT system for financial and insurance services for EU that would be acceptable to all and would advance the EC policy of promoting integration and competition in this industry for Europe's future growth in prosperity and employment. A critical evaluation of the compromise measure proposed by EC is in order as a way of contributing to the consultation process being conducted by the Commission to craft a more realistic and more acceptable VAT system for financial and insurance services. Thus, the paper attempts to present an opinion on whether the new VAT system proposed by EC will be more successful than the first. Problems & Issues Financial markets have developed in such a way that even interpretation of classic terms like credit gives rise to difficulties. The Commission services have been confronted with an increasing number of cases where economic operators and member states had problems in interpreting the definitions of exempt services under the Sixth VAT Directive. These cases often reflect the complexity of financial and insurance products, extending to questions such as whether there is a taxable supply and where the place of supply is located. The most serious objections to the imposition of VAT on financial services and insurance firms were the absence of a readily identifable mechanism for efficiently implementing the tax proposal, and the increase in consumer credit that it is expected to generate. Another issue raised against the imposition of VAT on customers of financial and insurance services was the way it offends political sensibilities2. The financial services industry, being engaged in the management of money, involves public interest because a bank run, for example, can harm a national economy. Thus, governments of EU member states carefully regulate the operation of these companies, such that in UK, the Financial Services Authority has been clothed with greater powers to go after financial services firms that mishandle their affairs and funds3. The difficulty for EC consisted mainly in the impossibility of establishing taxable amounts and the amounts of deductible VAT without

Remarkable man Essay Example for Free

Remarkable man Essay In Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street, the protagonist, Bud Fox is faced with a series of ethical challenges. His actions in the beginning of the film would have pleased Nicolo Machiavelli, however, Fox’s decisions at the film’s end would have greatly disappointed the Italian. On the other hand, Fox’s first actions would have disappointed Henry David Thoreau, however, Fox’s decisions at the end of the film would be more to Thoreau’s liking. At the start of the film, Fox works as a stock broker, trying to compete for big men’s money. As long as he behaves ethically, the big fish won’t give him a chance. Fox’s first ethical decision, then, is whether it is worse to follow the law and remain poor, or to break the law, to make money that will help him and his family. Fox’s decision to break the law and provide big-time capitalist Gordon Gekko with insider information would have been applauded by Machiavelli, who, in The Prince declared the following: It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity. (Machiavelli 62) The decision is even more complicated, because the insider information Fox has to trade is about his father’s own company. If Gekko buys stock in the company, it will help prop the company up, however, Fox’s father would never approve of such an unethical deal. But If Gekko buys company stock, he is likely to do well. He and Fox will make a great deal of money, and Fox’s status will go up accordingly. This is justification enough for Machiavelli, who states that the most important thing a prince can do is get himself the reputation of being â€Å"a great and remarkable man. † (Machiavelli 86) Gekko does, indeed profit from Fox’s information. Fox’s wealth and reputation skyrocket. Fox is even able to date the interior designer he is interested in. All is well, until Fox is presented with another question of ethics. Gekkko begins making changes to his father’s company that the company does not appreciate. Fox must decide whether he ought to go along with Gekko’s plan and backstab his father, or to support his father and lose the perks of his relationship with Gekko. If he works against Gekko, he will lose his sources of income. He will also lose his girlfriend, who is a former girlfriend of Gekko and has had her career fostered by the tycoon. He will also lose the contacts he has made through Gekko. If Fox does go along with Gekko, he will probably continue to live richly. He will enjoy the company of his girlfriend. On the other hand, he will let his own father be ruined. He will destroy his father’s company and he will let down his family. He will be compelled to continuously break the law and he will risk prosecution with every step. Henry David Thoreau would object to this decision, because it would mean treating other men unjustly. Machiavelli, on the other hand, would heartily approve of Fox’s decision to break his father’s company. Indeed, Machiavelli praises the notion of destroying one’s enemies in order to secure one’s position (Machiavelli). Fox’s father has a heart attack, and this seems to turn Fox around. Instead of allowing his father’s company to be ruined, he works with one of Gekko’s competitors to drive the stock down until Gekko sells. The competitor agrees not to sell off parts of the company, and so rescues Fox’s father and his counterparts from ruin. The move also allows Fox to break free of Gekko’s grip. Yet, it involves more insider trading and law-breaking. This, Thoreau would have praised. Indeed, in his Civil Disobedience, Thoreau speaks against following unjust laws and recommends that laws that further injustice be â€Å"transgressed. † (Thoreau 12) Thoreau, then, would happily have broken the law to bring justice to Gekko. While Fox could sit by and hope that someone else could make things right, Thoreau urges men not to sit idly by. At the film wraps up, Fox rescues his father’s company from ruin, but he lands himself in jail for insider trading. This is a move that would have shamed Machiavelli. For the Italian, a prince showing weakness is a very bad thing. Machiavelli does not believe in sacrificing oneself for others. While Fox’s move to save his father’s company seems virtuous, Machiavelli warns that things that seem like virtue are often ruin him (Machiavelli). This is certainly the case with Fox’s decision. Yet Thoreau would likely have done the exact same thing. Indeed, Thoreau went to prison, rather than paying taxes which he felt he ought not pay (Thoreau). Fox’s move, then, although it put him behind bars for a time, is exactly the kind of action Thoreau would applaud. Although I would hope that I would not make Fox’s original decision to get ahead by breaking the law, I might, having already broken the law, use law-breaking to bring justice to a man like Gekko. Though, following the law does seem like a safer course of action. Works Cited Machiavelli, Nicolo. The Prince. Hazelton: Penn State University, 2001. Thoreau, Henry D. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. Hazelton: Penn State University, 1998.

Territoriality According to Elizabeth Cashdan :: Environment Nature Essays

Territoriality According to Elizabeth Cashdan Elizabeth Cashdan addresses the question of territoriality among human forager groups, specifically comparing four Bushman groups. She argues that territoriality should occur only in places where the benefits will outweigh the costs. Introducing the scientific definition of territoriality in animals, she first claims that animals tend to be the most territorial when they have adequate food and other resources. It is when there is a severe lack of or abundance of resources that animals are not territorial. With a lack of food, territoriality tends to waste too much energy. In the case of an abundance of food, it is not worth defending that which is plentiful for animals. She points out predictability as another environmental factor: if a resource is unpredictable, then it is not economical to defend it. It is only worthwhile to defend a territory if there is high probability that the resources will still be available when they are wanted. However, the costs and benefits of being terr itorial not only depend on the environment, but also on the species and its characteristics. Humans, for instance, have a cranial capacity that far outweighs that of any other species. Our long-term memory, culture, and methods of communication must be taken into account when looking at the nature of our territoriality. Cashdan argues two main human mechanisms for controlling territory: "perimeter defense" and "reciprocal altruism" (p. 49), a way of social control. Perimeter defense consists of making simple boundaries, stating a clear break between two territories, and defending those boundaries to intruders. Some groups, such as the Vedda use this method in their relatively small territory. Any passing visitor would have to be escorted to the other side of the land and any intruders may be shot. Because of extensive human memory and information exchange, individual intruders are less likely to determine the consequences of trespassing themselves, thus the cost of defense for those defending is less. Social boundary defense is unique to the human species. Instead of physically defending the boundaries of the territory, groups will defend the boundaries of the social group. Some foraging groups will invite outsiders for greeting ceremonies to control movement between territories. The costs to such methods will include the energy put into these types of ceremonies and should not change will an increase in territory size or a decrease in resources.

Fight Club and the Idea of Nonsensical Life Essay

In our dynamic and busy society, every one is prone to suffer some psychological problems from its faintest symptoms to the most severe effect to the human mind. This trouble occurs because our society can not satisfy our mental capabilities. This shows that even if the human mind is regarded as the most important and most reliable machine in the universe, there is still the possibility that it cannot handle every inch of information fed into it, which unfortunately draws back with negative effects in our social and psychological nature. The psychological problems are somewhat manifested in the actions of people in our everyday activities which includes social interaction, eating, walking, sleeping, and others. The body, together with our mind is our ultimate weapon to all problems that attacks us in every minute of every day, thus it is important to take care of our body and mind to ensure a smooth flow of social and psychological functions One of the most common problems that people around the world experience that has something to do with the psychological nature and has an effect in the social realm is the presence of insomnia. This is a physiological and psychological problem that makes a person stay awake for hours in the night and could lead to depression, anxiety, and other psychological and social problems if not being taken cared of. This could be seen in situations of stress and other social factors such as boredom and heavily depressing situations that makes the mind of an individual relatively awake at night, and affects many aspects of its life including his/her career, social life and interaction, leisure, and even the family. This is illustrated in Chuck Palahniuk’s novel â€Å"Fight Club†. Wherein, the main character or the narrator suffers from insomnia and eventually led him to other directions of life that changed the course of his whole nature and realm forever. â€Å"I want to a good night’s sleep. I want to get up without feeling that to waken is to plunge through a trap door†(40). This poem line shows us that many people experience problems of insomnia, which have a different effect on every body based on the interpretation and diagnosis from the persons history and psychological disposition. So why do people suffer from insomnia and psychological problem? One of the main reasons, I think is that, most people who go through is have a feeling that their lives were senseless or vain. This also makes it easier to understand that people who suffer any psychological problem have the tendency to overreact and unfortunately lead themselves to death. Their idea of a good life is being overrun by anxiety and senseless assumptions that makes them think that their actions arte not enough to act ordinarily and make themselves think as if they are the ones responsible for failures and misrecognitions. Chuck wrote about these feelings in his book through the use of a character named Tyler. Tyler shows the people his influence through his illustration of nonsensical lives the people had been which gave him the reason to create the group and the fight club members a new reason to live their lives as they prefer it. The first life that Tyler changed was essentially his own. The main character and Tyler are actually the same person although the narrator did not learn this until near the end of the story. When Tyler and the narrator first met together, they started fight club after Tyler’s uttered his legendary phrase, `I want you to hit me as hard as you can` (Palahniuk 46). This started a totally different period in the narrator’s life. Different from the meaningless but contented life he had been experiencing. This led to an unstructured yet significant life moment he felt in everyday of his life. It is far from his unhappy, monotonous and tedious life at the office, selling cars and dealing with his hated boss. The narrator, having had his life changed by Tyler and fight club, then goes on to say, `You aren’t alive anywhere like your alive at fight club` (51). The narrator would rather be at fight club than anywhere else in the world. Along with this, he also says that `After a night in fight club, everything in the real world gets the volume turned down` (49). The main character cannot compare his experiences at fight club to anything else in his life. His enthusiasm and eager ness is shown in fight club more than anything in the he ever done in the world, and in the course of his life. Tyler Durden tore down the narrator by changing his life and then rebuilt his life by starting fight club with him. For the narrator, his unexpected meeting with Tyler is the most phenomenal yet unbelievable thing that he never thought could change his nonsensical life. Tyler also changed strangers’ lives by establishing Project Mayhem and giving assignments at fight club, to be executed and that would make a change in the social environment as the day goes on. Tyler ordered the members to each make twelve human sacrifices to ensure their existence in the organization and make their commitment as sincere as possible thru these assignments. The best example is the human sacrifice the narrator made of Raymond Hessel. The narrator takes Raymond at gunpoint and makes him explain that he has failed at becoming a veterinarian. After telling Raymond that he will kill him if he won’t be on his way to becoming a veterinarian in three months, the narrator lets him go and remarks, `Raymond K. K. Hessel, your dinner is going to taste better than any meal you’ve ever eaten, and tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of your life` (155). By doing this, the narrator has made Raymond stop taking his life for granted and made him do something productive with his life. Although most people would see this act as being mean or cruel, this is the best and most effective way for the narrator to get Raymond to stop taking his life for granted. In other words, there is a great effect given off by the group not only upon themselves but to other people as well. It did not matter if these people are total strangers, but what is important to them is the huge effect they make in the lives of people, including that of Tyler’s and the narrator’s. By following the rules and compensating the value of their commitment, the members practically make their lives as meaningful to them, especially inside of the fight club circle. Tyler then expands his vision and decides to create Project Mayhem to try to change the world. With all the effect of fight club in the minds of its members and the effect of their actions in the society, they became a large organization that plans to take over the society by way of Tyler Durden’s words and commands. In other words, his words are like God’s commandments that should be followed in order to make some changes in the scenes of problematic worldviews. He says `Like fight club does with clerks and box boys, Project Mayhem will break up civilization so that we can make something better out of the world` (125). He sees that the only way to change the world is to destroy it so it can rebuild into something stronger. Tyler thought of the world as `my world, my world, and those ancient people are dead` (124). He wanted the world to be his generations world and for it to be `free of history. ` Tyler saw that history had done harm to the world, so if they freed the world from its history they were `going to save the world` (125). Project Mayhems main focus is to take the world one step back so they can move three steps forward. It is like an anarchistic thought that, people should not believe in what ever authorities say, what is important is what Tyler says and the members should believe and respect it like no other authorities exist. By putting into every one’s mind that fight club should not be talked about outside of their organizational circle, the group remains as underground as possible to protect their identity and to protect their principle to change the mainstream interpretation of the world. With this, it shows that it reflects the world view of the narrator as a tedious and tiring scenario wherein he should obey every word his boss says. Or he should do every work given to him everyday. Sometimes we are tricked into thinking that the only ways for change to come about is to keep moving forward and in the same direction. In Fight Club, we are shown that this is not true by the character of Tyler and that sometimes it is better to move backwards so we can progress forwards. Not only is this true in the book, but it can also be applied to situations in the real world. In addition, we may take another path to attain progress and growth other than what is given to us by the world. People’s view on the world and life as a whole should be taken on its next level that we should not only think in its linear sense but in a diffusing one. More possibilities and more options. This was also internalized by the narrator through the revelation of Tyler Durden’s identity throughout the story, which gave him other idea of life not just the ordinary life he experienced in the past. But on the otherhand this also led to more serious complications of life as a whole. Works Cited Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club. USA: WW Norton, 1996.

A Biography of Shirley Temple Essay

Shirley Temple OCCUPATION: Film Actress (1932-1950); TV actress/entertainer (1958–1965); Public servant and Diplomat (1969–1992); BIRTH DATE: April 23, 1928 (Age: 85) PLACE OF BIRTH: Santa Monica, California EDUCATION: Tutors; Westlake School for Girls ResidenceWoodside, California AKA: Shirley Jane Temple; Shirley Temple Black Nickname: Little Miss Miracle ZODIAC SIGN: Taurus Party Affiliation: Republican Nationality: United States of America Details SHIRLEY TEMPLE Shirley Jane Temple was born on April 23, 1928, in Santa Monica, California. She is the daughter of Gertrude Amelia Temple (nee Krieger), a homemaker and George Francis Temple, a bank employee. The family was of English, German and Dutch ancestry. She had two brothers, George Francis, Jr. and John Stanley. Mrs. Temple once had show business aspirations and frequently played the phonograph and attended dance recitals while she was pregnant. Eight months after she was born, young Shirley was regularly swaying to music in her crib and Mrs. Temple encouraged her infant daughter’s singing, dancing and acting talents. In September 1931 she enrolled her in Meglin’s Dance School in Los Angeles, California. She was discovered a few months later, when executives from a low-budget film company came by the dance studio. When Shirley was 3 years old, her father signed a contract on her behalf with Educational Pictures. Shirley began appearing in Baby Burlesques, short films which spoofed popular movies by remaking them with children. In her earliest films, Shirley performed remarkable impressions of such stars as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. While the cameras rolled, Shirley Temple’s mother would be on the sidelines, encouraging her to â€Å"Sparkle! To underwrite production costs at Educational Pictures, Shirley and her child co-stars modeled for breakfast cereals and other products. She was lent to Tower Productions for a small role in her first feature film Red-Haired Alibi in 1932 and in 1933, to Universal, Paramount and Warner Brothers for various bit parts. Her family was protective and her father became her agent and financial adviser. The exposure from Baby Burlesques l ed her to a contract with the Fox Film Corporation. At age 5, in April 1934, she attained fame with a featured role in Stand Up and Cheer, starring Warner Baxter. This became Shirley’s breakthrough film. Her charm was evident to Fox heads and she was promoted well before the film’s release. Within months, she became the symbol of wholesome American family entertainment. Her salary was raised to $1,250 a week, and her mother’s to $150 as coach and hairdresser. Shirley starred in several more films the same year, including Little Miss Marker and Baby Take A Bow. On December 28, 1934, Bright Eyes was released. It was the first feature film crafted specifically for Shirley’s talents and the first in which her name appeared above the title. Her signature song â€Å"On the Good Ship Lollipop† was introduced in the film and sold 500,000 sheet music copies. The film demonstrated Shirley’s ability to portray a multi-dimensional character and established a formula for her future roles as a lovable, parentless waif whose charm and sweetness mellow gruff older men. The next year, she broke racial barriers (at the time) by tap-dancing with the original Mr. Bojangles, Bill Robinson, in The Little Colonel. The young actress, singer and dancer with the 56 bouncing golden corkscrew curls and infectious optimism proved an overnight sensation and a top earner for the studio. In February 1935, Shirley Temple became the first child star to be honored with a special Academy Award and miniature Juvenile Oscar for â€Å"Outstanding Personality of 1934† She added her foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in February that year. Shirley Temple was the most famous child actor in history. From 1936-38, Shirley earned more than any other Hollywood star, starring in films that offered an hour and a half of optimism at the height of the Depression. To make her seem even more precocious, her mother subtracted a year from Shirley’s age and until she was 13 Shirley thought she had been born in 1929. By 1940, Shirley Temple had 43 films under her belt. United States President at the time Franklin Delano Roosevelt called Shirley Temple â€Å"Little Miss Miracle† for raising the public’s morale during times of economic hardship and was noted for saying that, â€Å"as long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right. † When off the set, Shirley had private tutors and also attended the Westlake School for Girls from 1940-45. When Shirley began to mature, her popularity with audiences waned. As an adolescent, she appeared in The Blue Bird (1940) which performed poorly at the box office. At 19, she co-starred in The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer. Although the film received critical praise, audiences struggled to accept that their â€Å"Little Miss Miracle† was growing up. In 1943, 15-year-old Shirley met John George Agar, an Army Air Corps sergeant. On September 19, 1945, when Shirley was 17 years old, they were married before 500 guests at Wilshire Methodist Church. On January 30, 1948, Shirley gave birth to their daughter, Linda Susan. Agar became a professional actor and the couple made two films together: Fort Apache (1948) and Adventure in Baltimore (1949). Following her 1948 and 1949 films, Shirley found it increasingly difficult to land major acting roles. During the 1950s and early 1960s, she made scattered appearances on the small screen but her career as a popular film star had ended at an earlier age than most entertainers’ had begun. Shirley’s marriage became troubled and she divorced Agar on December 5, 1949. She received custody of their daughter and the restoration of her maiden name. The divorce was finalized on December 5, 1950. In January 1950, Shirley had met Charles Alden Black, a World War 2 United States Navy intelligence officer who was awarded the Silver Star and reputedly one of the richest young men in California. Temple and Black were married on December 16, 1950. The family relocated to Washington, D. C. when Black was recalled to the Navy at the outbreak of the Korean War. Shirley gave birth to their son, Charles Alden Black, Jr. , in Washington, D. C. on April 28, 1952. Following the war’s end and Black’s discharge from the Navy, the family returned to California in May 1953. Black managed television station KABC-TV in Los Angeles, and Shirley became a homemaker. Their daughter Lori was born on April 9, 1954. In September 1954, Black became director of business operations for the Stanford Research Institute and the family moved to Atherton, California. The couple remained married for 54 years until his death on August 4, 2005. In her film career spanning 1931-1961 she starred in 14 short films, 43 feature films and over 25 storybook movies. As Shirley Temple Black’s entertainment work petered out, she refocused her efforts on a career in public service. She briefly returned to acting in 1958, as host and sometimes performer of Shirley Temple’s Storybook, an anthology series that ran on NBC and ABC from 1959-62. She began her second career in public life at about the same time, becoming involved in the fight against multiple sclerosis after the disease ravaged her brother George, Jr. She co-founded the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies. In 1967 at the age of 39 she ran for United States Congress but lost. From 1969 to 1970 she served as U. S. ambassador to the United Nations. Shirley Temple Black was appointed ambassador to Ghana in 1974. Two years later, she became the chief of protocol of the United States, retaining the position until 1977. In 1988 Shirley Temple Black became the only person thus far to achieve the rank of honorary Foreign Service officer of the United States. From 1989 to 1992 under US President George H. W. Bush she served yet another public service role, as ambassador to Czechoslovakia. In December of 1998, Shirley Temple Black’s lifetime accomplishments were celebrated in the Kennedy Center Honors at Washington, D. C. s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2005 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild. Today, Shirley Temple continues to reside in California. Shirley Temple’s Accomplishments: FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR A Kiss for Corliss (1949) The Story of Seabiscuit (11-Nov-1949) Adventure in Baltimore (19-Apr-1949) Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949) Fort Apache (9-Mar-1948) That Hagen Girl (24-Oct-1947) The Bachelor and Bobby-Soxer (1947) Honeymoon (17-May-1947) Kiss and Tell (4-Oct-1945) I’ll Be Seeing You (5-Jan-1945) Since You Went Away (20-Jul-1944) Miss Annie Rooney (29-May-1942) Kathleen (18-Dec-1941) Young People (30-Aug-1940) The Blue Bird (19-Jan-1940) Susannah of the Mounties (13-Jun-1939) The Little Princess (10-Mar-1939) Just Around the Corner (11-Nov-1938) Little Miss Broadway (16-Sep-1938) Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) Heidi (15-Oct-1937) Wee Willie Winkie (30-Jul-1937) Stowaway (25-Dec-1936) Dimples (9-Oct-1936) Captain January (11-Sep-1936) Poor Little Rich Girl (24-Jul-1936) The Littlest Rebel (22-Nov-1935) Curly Top (2-Aug-1935) Our Little Girl (7-Jun-1935) The Little Colonel (22-Feb-1935) Bright Eyes (11-Dec-1934) Now and Forever (31-Aug-1934) Baby, Take a Bow (30-Jun-1934) Now I’ll Tell (8-Jun-1934) Little Miss Marker (18-May-1934) Change of Heart (10-May-1934) Stand Up and Cheer! (19-Apr-1934) PUBLIC SERVICE US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989-92) US Chief of Protocol (1976-77) US Ambassador to Ghana (1974-76) American Academy of Diplomacy Charter Member Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Board of Directors Association for Intelligence Officers Honorary Board of Directors Council of American Ambassadors Council on Foreign Relations George W. Bush for President Pacific Council on International Policy Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses 1939 Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses 1989 Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses 1999 (shared) Kennedy Center Honor 1998 Hollywood Walk of Fame 1500 Vine St. Visited Disneyland (Oct-1970) BIBLIOGRAPHY World Book Encyclopedia http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Shirley_Temple http://www. nndb. com/people/089/000023020/ http://www. biography. com/people/shirley-temple-9503798? page=2 http://www. shirleytemple. com/bio. html http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=bb8FmimEqPE http://eltonzeng. blog. hexun. com/80714265_d. html