Underage Smoking Essays - Smoking, Tobacco Control, Habits

Underage Smoking In today's world there are many moral issues that take place in society as well as in the business world. On Friday, February 4, 2000, the Washington Post printed an article titled "Underage Smoking Fine Sought for Big Tobacco." Currently and in the past, the tobacco industry has fought many moral issues with the Federal Government and the general public. This particular article written by Charles Babington has two problems, which are, the federal government's threat to increase taxes and fines on the tobacco industry and the industries practice in their advertising which is targeting underage smokers. The first problem the article states is that the Federal Government is threatening to raise taxes on cigarettes and issue fines for any underage smoking. Fining underage smoking could be a possible ploy for the government to raise taxes on all tobacco products. By issuing a $3,000 fine for every underage smoker, the government would generate as much as 6 billion dollars a year. In addition to the fines, President Clinton may also propose to put a 25-cent-per-pack increase in the Federal tax on cigarettes. The moral aspect of this problem is that the federal government is receiving billions off of raising taxes on tobacco products and fines for underage smoking. This money is absorbed into the government and redistributed into society towards other social issues. The excess money the government collects on higher tobacco taxes and fines issued to for underage smoking should be used to educate the general public on how the tobacco companies are providing a dangerous product and can be extremely harmful to the human body. The government also needs to provide a program to help prevent underage smoking in the future. Another problem that was stated in the article was that the tobacco industry was targeting new underage smokers. The underage smokers were targeted through the advertisements on radio programs, television commercials, and social events that young people attend. The advertisements of cigarettes on TV and radio commercials stopped over 20 years ago and at that time the underage smoking did not stop. It is stated that in November 1998, the tobacco industry agreed once again to set restrictions on how cigarettes may be sold and marketed, barring companies from targeting youth in advertising and using cartoons in promotions (Babington, A07). The cigarettes companies were also prohibited from sponsoring sports teams, stadiums, or events such as NASCAR in which participants are underage. Accompanying this problem is the moral issue that banning advertisements on the radio and TV is not enough to prevent underage smoking. The industry needs to reveal in their advertisements the negative a spect of tobacco products. As stated in "Moral Issues in Business," "When advertisers conceal facts, they suppress information that is unflattering to their products. That is, they neglect to mention or distract consumers' attention away from information, knowledge of which would probably make their products less desirable." (Shaw, Barry 474). Every advertiser wants their advertisement to be very attractive to the consumer. Until underage smoking is controlled, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) needs to continue to regulate the sales of cigarettes more carefully because 90 percent of all smokers get hooked before the age of 21. The FDA's main focus is to discourage young people from taking up cigarettes in the first place (Shaw, Barry 460). After analyzing this particular article, I found moral issues that need to be addressed and resolved. My moral values are from a solid foundation involving religion and social customs. It is against the Catholic religion to subject a human body to any harm, especially harm that would result in death. It is proven by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking remains the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States and is responsible for 16% of all deaths nationwide (Shaw, Barry 460). Social customs are that the youth should not be using an adult product. Since there is an age limit on the purchase of cigarettes, any minor violating this rule is committing a crime. If adults don't enforce the law for underage smoking, they are also guilty of committing a crime. My moral view of raising taxes and issuing fines on tobacco products

Free Essays on The Indian Ocean Trade Circuit And The Unprecedented Zheng He

The Indian Ocean Trade Circuit And The Unprecedented Zheng He Zheng He's Nine-Masted "Treasure Ship" in Comparison to a European Treasure Ship China And The Indian Ocean Trade Circuit In the fifteenth century Chinese maritime trade was influential and very successful in the Indian Ocean. China’s influence and success with trading and exploration would provide a crucial segue for European influence and success in the Indian Ocean trade circuit towards the mid-to-late fifteenth century and well in to the nineteenth century. China’s eventual withdrawal from both the sea and technological leadership during the Ming dynasty would occur at the same time that European intellectual life was initially being transformed. The Indian Ocean had been, and would remain, not just a crucially important link in the global trading system, but a source of great wealth; and access to luxuries, spices, and manufactured goods to any and all that got their merchants, goods, or ships to the major trading cities on the Indian Ocean (Marks, 48). China’s influence in the Indian Ocean gained foundation and presence in the early days of the Ming dynasty. China was, in economic progress, a very advanced country in the world. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty, however, Europe was not yet a force in Asia, and China could continue to look on the outer world in traditional terms. The second half of the Ming dynasty coincided with the great age of European exploration and the first phase of its expansion. The early Ming emperors had no desire to return to the multi-state system of the Song dynasty; their goal was to reassert Chinese centrality in East Asia on the model of the Han or Tang dynasties. They re-established the tribute system, posited on the moral centrality of the Chinese emperor who received tribute and conferred largesse. Taizu forbade foreign trade, wanting all exchange to occur through the framework of the tribute system. The ... Free Essays on The Indian Ocean Trade Circuit And The Unprecedented Zheng He Free Essays on The Indian Ocean Trade Circuit And The Unprecedented Zheng He The Indian Ocean Trade Circuit And The Unprecedented Zheng He Zheng He's Nine-Masted "Treasure Ship" in Comparison to a European Treasure Ship China And The Indian Ocean Trade Circuit In the fifteenth century Chinese maritime trade was influential and very successful in the Indian Ocean. China’s influence and success with trading and exploration would provide a crucial segue for European influence and success in the Indian Ocean trade circuit towards the mid-to-late fifteenth century and well in to the nineteenth century. China’s eventual withdrawal from both the sea and technological leadership during the Ming dynasty would occur at the same time that European intellectual life was initially being transformed. The Indian Ocean had been, and would remain, not just a crucially important link in the global trading system, but a source of great wealth; and access to luxuries, spices, and manufactured goods to any and all that got their merchants, goods, or ships to the major trading cities on the Indian Ocean (Marks, 48). China’s influence in the Indian Ocean gained foundation and presence in the early days of the Ming dynasty. China was, in economic progress, a very advanced country in the world. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty, however, Europe was not yet a force in Asia, and China could continue to look on the outer world in traditional terms. The second half of the Ming dynasty coincided with the great age of European exploration and the first phase of its expansion. The early Ming emperors had no desire to return to the multi-state system of the Song dynasty; their goal was to reassert Chinese centrality in East Asia on the model of the Han or Tang dynasties. They re-established the tribute system, posited on the moral centrality of the Chinese emperor who received tribute and conferred largesse. Taizu forbade foreign trade, wanting all exchange to occur through the framework of the tribute system. The ...

Case # 4 A Bullys Threat Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

# 4 A Bullys Threat - Case Study Example It is a manifestation the need of advice from others in situations of urgent attention (Woods & Wolke, 2003, P 387). We see this from the different recommendations suggested by the guard, assistant principal and the counselor. To make suitable decisions, it is imperative that we take into account all the details. It will ensure that we do not make hasty decisions ignoring other crucial information. It also creates a calm environment for proper decision-making. Mr. Milhoviak asked for advice on both occasions that they could not find Carl. If I were the principal, I would consider Carls record of fighting as a factor in making my decision. Brian says that he is sure that Carl will hurt him and his family. Reporting the matter to the principal may be due to other factors like student grudges, but Angie supports Brian claim. Carl is also fond of making threats. For instance, Carl goes to a rock concert with Angie and threatens a person in the front seat; it takes the intervention of a security guard to calm the situation. Angie says that Carl seems to be an angry person; angry people tend to get more involved in violence. Carl is missing and has made a threat; the decision the officials will make has to consider the fact that Carl is unstable. Carls situation gets complicated when the officials find out that he is not in class. Missing the fourth period leads to the conclusion that he is up to something considering he has threatened Brian and his family. Maybe he is going to carry out the threat. The situation at hand is delicate; a death threat is on the plate, the perpetrator is missing, Angies parents are out of reach and Brian and Angie are scared. If I were the principal on this event; firstly, I would make sure that Brian and Angie stay under my watch until I contact their parents. Secondly, I would launch a search party for Carl. Lastly, I would consult the school guard, counselor and select officials to

The Impact of Woodland Management Practices on Biodiversity Essay

The Impact of Woodland Management Practices on Biodiversity - Essay Example For humans, woodlands provide a valuable resource in terms of the wood from cutting down trees, and in some cases the use of cleared land for farmland. Both of these uses of woodland significant disrupt the species living within it, often displacing them or causing local extinction. The purpose of this essay is to examining practices of woodland management and to consider what impact these have on biodiversity and what the long-term outcomes of these approaches are likely to be. In addition, alternative approaches to current woodland management practices will be considered, as well as the underlying drivers that influence what woodland management practices are prevalent. It is argued that current woodland management practices place the biodiversity within the woodland environment at significant risk, and in the long-term will result in an unrecoverable loss of species, ultimately decreasing the usefulness of woodland as a resource. Importance of Biodiversity Biodiversity has become a buzzword of the modern political environment, and is a prominent topic among many different people and areas, including universities, politicians, schools and broadcasters. The current age is often referred to as having a biodiversity crisis, or that there are many threats to biodiversity which must be properly handled in order to conserve biodiversity. The term has become highly popular and politically centred in recent years, and humankind attempts to find ways of preserving biodiversity without compromising growth and human life. However, biodiversity itself is difficult to define, as the term is used by a wide range of people, many of whom do not define what they mean by the phrase. Throughout literature there are more than 80 different definitions of the term, which vary slightly or significantly from one another (Spicer, 2009). The definition of biodiversity that is arguably the most correct is that which was derived as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which wa s signed by 150 nations in 1992. This definition considers biodiversity to be variability among living organisms from all areas of the world, including diversity that occurs within ecosystems, between species and within species. Defining the term however, is only one aspect. To effectively address the problems surrounding biodiversity, there needs to be an effective method of measuring it. Finding consensus approaches to measuring biodiversity is an important approach to solving problems of biodiversity; however, this is not an easy task. For example, a forest ecosystem has a large amount of different species including the easily visible plants, animals and birds, the smaller organisms such as insects, and then microorganisms, which cannot be seen with the naked eye. Counting all of these species would be a large task, and does not take into account another important aspect of biodiversity, specifically , how many of each species are present (Spicer, 2009). Because of these problems , different researchers make use of different approaches to attempt to provide an indication of the measure of biodiversity within an area, such as the number of species that are present or their abundance. Often, a specific type of species may be focused on, such as studies that examine the biodiversity of birds within forest communities (Aleixo, 1999). Other indicators

Investment Risk Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Investment Risk Management - Research Paper Example These include the following: an assessment of the factors that contributed to the financial failure of the firm, a discussion and representation of mortgage backed securities and the risks associated with leveraging them to a particularly high degree, in evaluation of management’s role with respect to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a discussion of the recent debt crisis within the Euro zone and the relevance that Lehman Brothers example provides for this particular scenario, and final evaluation of the role of federal government and seeking to regulate ultimately decrease the incidence of such collapses in the future. Naturally, each of the aforementioned sections will corresponds to a section that provides recommendations and potential solutions that could have otherwise ameliorated the factors involved (Kershaw & Moorhead, 2013). It is the ultimate hope of this particular author that such a level of discussion and analysis will be beneficial to the reader in seeking to gai n a further level of understanding concerning the case of Lehman Brothers and the corresponding importance that this has with respect to other firms in the current market. Firstly, as a function of assessing the factors that contributed to the financial failure of the firm, these are ultimately contingent upon the high exposure of certain types of investments that Lehman Brothers engaged with. Essentially, mortgage backed securities (MBS) were a mainstay of the financial backbone that Lehman Brothers relied upon as a function of funding its continuing operations and providing investment security to its clients (Steele, 2014). However, as a direct result of the fact that these mortgage-backed securities were inherently unstable and essentially directly linked to the solidity of the mortgage market, this represented a lack of diversification and placed investors in an extreme risk of losing sizable parts of

assymetric paternalism :: essays research papers

Regulation for Conservatives: Behavioral Economics and the Case for â€Å"Asymmetric Paternalism†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To begin to understand this article we must first define what the authors mean by asymmetric paternalism. According to the Oxford Dictionary, asymmetric is without symmetry or not divided equally. The definition of paternalism states that it is behaving in a paternal way or limiting freedom and responsibility by well-meant regulations. The authors state that the paternal regulations discussed are those developed on an individual basis. The regulations are designed so that those that are uneducated in a particular area are greatly benefited by the regulations, and those whom are already educated, or fully rational, are not affected by the regulation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To explain asymmetric paternalism, the authors divide people into two groups, those who are fully rational, people with goals, preferences and make decision based on those that suit their own best interest, and those who are boundedly rational. The boundedly rational individuals are those who fail to act in their own best interests and fail to use self-control when making choices. The purpose of the article is to help evaluate regulations which are paternalistic and have the regulations designed so that the set limits and boundaries are the boundedly rational, to help them make choices in their best interest and not make mistakes, at the same time not affecting the rational individuals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The authors focus on four types of policies that demonstrate examples of paternalism, default rules, provision or reframing of information, cooling off period, and the limiting of consumer choices. With defaults, the authors discuss status quo bias. This is the idea that individuals will stick with the status quo, or the existing rather than change even if the cost to change is low. The reasons for this are stated as loss aversion, omission/commission bias, and procrastination. The authors state that the status quo bias effects mostly the boundedly rational because for the fully rational the choice of defaults requires very little effort. Examples of the choices of defaults are more fully explained in the examples of insurance rights, and retirement savings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second example of paternalism is framing and information disclosure. This policy requires businesses to provide â€Å"seemingly irrelevant additional information.† Since the rational individuals have no need for the additional information, they can simply ignore it. At the same time the boundedly rational individual can benefit greatly from the information. In order to illustrate this concept, the authors give an example of the lottery.

Existentialism is a Humanism Essay

In Existentialism is a Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) presents an accessible description of existentialism. A key idea of existentialism—and of the human condition— is that existence precedes essence. The essence of something is its meaning, its intended purpose. A paper cutter is made to cut paper; that is its point. Humans, however, do not have an essence. Man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. We have no greater purpose, no pre-determined plan, no ultimate meaning. We have, in Sartre’s words, no human nature, since there is nothing (e.g. God) outside of us which would conceive of it for us. We are simply here, and it is up to us to define ourselves. Responsibility Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. We have choice, we have subjectivity, and we choose what we will make ourselves to be; we are entirely responsible for our existence: Thus, existentialism’s first move is to make every man aware of what he is and to make the full responsibility of his existence rest on him. This thought is often not easily accepted. ‘Subjectivity’ is a word that riles up many. â€Å"If everything is subjective then nothing is objective; nothing is absolute! Our values are nothing more than our whims! Nothing is right or wrong! Rabble, rabble, rabble!† Sartre replies that, â€Å"it is impossible for man to transcend human subjectivity.† He isn’t saying â€Å"I prefer subjectivity over objectivity,† he’s asking, â€Å"how can we possibly not be subjective?† Even the religious individual who believes that morality is absolute and comes from God must, at some point, choose to bel ieve that this is the case. Our responsibility is a blessing and a curse. It leads us to feel things like anguish, forlornness, and despair. Anguish We experience anguish in the face of our subjectivity, because by choosing what we are to do, we ‘choose for everyone’. When you make a decision you are saying â€Å"this is how anyone ought to behave given these circumstances.† Many people don’t feel anguish, but this is because they are â€Å"fleeing from it.† If you don’t feel a sense of anxiety when you make decisions, it’s because you are forgetting about your â€Å"total and deep responsibility† toward yourself and all of humanity. Forlornness Forlornness is the idea that â€Å"God does not exist and that we have to face all the consequences of this.† There is no morality a priori. There is no absolute right or wrong. There is no ultimate judge. This is a very distressing idea. As Dostoievsky said, â€Å"If God didn’t exist, everything would be possible [permissible].† Without God we have nothing to cling to. â€Å"There is no determinism, man is free, man is freedom. [†¦] We have no values or commands to turn to which legitimize our conduct.† In other words, we have no excuses, and we are entirely responsible for our decisions. What are our values? The only way to determine them is to make a decision. At the end of the day, your ideals aren’t what matter; what matters is what you actually did. Despair Despair arises because we only have power to change things that are within our power to change—and there is a lot we cannot change. Reality is impartial and out of your control, except for small aspects of it here and there. We despair because we can never have full control of the future. What Will Happen Will Happen Tomorrow, after my death, some men may decide to set up Fascism, and the others may be cowardly and muddled enough to let them do it. Fascism will then be the human reality, so much the worse for us. Regardless of what is right or wrong, good or bad, and regardless of whether these are absolutes or not, â€Å"things will be as man will have decided they are to be.† What will happen will happen and humanity will be entirely responsible for what it does. Does this mean we ought to become passively accepting of what will happen? Sartre says the exact opposite. Does that mean that I should abandon myself to quietism? No. [†¦] Quietism is the attitude of people who say, â€Å"Let others do what I can’t do.† The doctrine I am presenting is the very opposite of quietism, since it declares, â€Å"There is no reality except in action.† Moreover, it goes further, since it adds, â€Å"Man is nothing else than his plan; he exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life. No Excuses This is why existentialism horrifies some people. It puts such a burden of responsibility squarely on their shoulders. They can’t stand to think they were at fault for not being a great or successful person, for having no great friendships or love. They think they are the victim of circumstances; they haven’t had the proper education, leisure, or incentives; they haven’t found the right person yet; they haven’t had the opportunity to show their greatness. Sartre, however, says that â€Å"The coward makes himself cowardly, the hero makes himself heroic.† The artist is an artist because of the works of art he created, not because of what he could have created. The mathematician is famous for the math he did, not what he maybe could have done. We find that this is â€Å"a harsh thought to someone whose life hasn’t been a success.† We are responsible for our successes and failures. But at the same time, this harshness forces us to face the incredibly important fact that: Reality alone is what counts. Sartre sees these views not as a pessimism, but as an â€Å"optimistic toughness.† Optimistic in that we are the rulers of our lives; our destiny is within our hands; we are encouraged to take action. Sartre summarizes his idea of optimism and action in the following passage. Thus, I think we have answered a number of the charges concerning existentialism. You see that it can not be taken for a philosophy of quietism, since it defines man in terms of action; nor for a pessimistic description of man—there is no doctrine more optimistic, since man’s destiny is within himself; nor for an attempt to discourage man from acting, since it tells him that the only hope is in his acting and that action is the only thing that enables a man to live. Is Choice Arbitrary? Sartre ends this piece with a further defence of subjectivism, in which I wish he had gone into a little more detail. He says people are still not satisfied with the idea of subjectivism, and objections usually come in one of the following forms: 1. â€Å"Well then, you’re able to do anything, no matter what! You’re promoting anarchy!† But this isn’t the point. It is not possible to not choose. In not making a choice you are still choosing not to choose. Choice is inescapable; we are â€Å"condemned to be free† because we are human, whether or not we are existentialists. 2. â€Å"You can’t pass judgement on others, because there’s no reason to prefer one idea to another!† We can still hold values, and values appear out of the choices we make. Through our actions (as an individual and as a group), we create ethics. 3. â€Å"Everything about your choice is arbitrary!† We define ourselves through our actions, â€Å"in relationship to involvement.† And as we make ourselves—as we make choices—it is absurd to say we are choosing arbitrarily.