Brandon Peters, MD - ThoughtCo

The American Revolution The United States - 1377 Words

Many Americas don’t know how this country began or how it became this amazing and free country it is today. The American Revolution was the beginning for the United States. It was a time when the Americans separated themselves from the British and established their own rules and regulations, but it wasn’t easy. In fact it was a very long process that lasted for twenty years. There were twenty five battles fought in this time period, and many innocent citizens died. There were both long and immediate causes of the Revolution, but the most important being that American colonists were not yet seeking independence from the British. The American Revolution began on April 19, 1775 at the Battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. The†¦show more content†¦The minute men faced the British, and let them take the first shot. After several men were down, the battle moved to Concord where they were surrounded by the American militia. By the end of the day, many troo ps from both sides were dead. This was an immediate cause that started the American Revolution. In May, the second Continental Congress was formed, where twelve out of the thirteen colonies sent fifty-six delegates. The major accomplishment of the meeting was a ban on British goods from all the colonists. The Continental Congress selected George Washington to take over as commander-in-chief in June of 1775. He forced the British out of Boston, and lost New York City. He also led Revolutionary forces to capture the two main British combat armies at Saratoga and Yorktown after crossing the Delaware River. June 17, 1775, The Battle of Bunker Hill took place during the siege of Boston. This battle was also known as the Battle of Breed’s Hill. The Continental Congress adopted the Olive Branch petition in July 1775 in order to avoid a full force war with Great Britain. It insisted American loyalty to Britain and suggested to stop further conflict, but the king of Britain rejected the petition. December 22, 1775, the Continental Congress formed a Continental Navy under commander in chief Esek Hopkins. The first ships to flee were the Alfred, Columbus, Andrew Doria and Cabot. The main cause of this huge riot between American colonists and the British was that they

Impact of Election of Donald Trump on the National Australian Bank

Question: Discuss about the Economic impact of Election of Donald Trump on the National Australian Bank. Answer: Introduction Election of Donald Trump is important to global economy as analysts think that election is US president election is likely to affect the growth of many economy and corporate profit. There are different views regarding positive and negative effect on the economies. Trans- Altantic Trade and Investment Partnership concept of Hilary Clinton is strictly opposed by Donald Trump. As US is major trade partner of many economies, restrictive trading policies may reduce the trade volume and henceeconomic growth of many companies. Anti globalisation thought of Donald Trump is major concern for the economy of Australia as this policy can restricts capital flow between two nations and financial trade (dfat.gov.au 2017). National Australia Bank is one among the four largest financial institutes of Australia in terms of market capitalisation. .This bank has expanded since 1982 through merger and acquisition several times. This bank has US subsidiary as Great Western Bank, which is listed in New York Stock Exchange. Banking business and whole division of this company in USA has 3% share of total revenue of NAB (australiancentre.com.au 2015). Anti globalisation decision of Trump may hamper the domestic economy, which is discussed in the later section of this paper. NAB has activities in financial service and product transaction in the international market. The decision against Trans Atlantic trade and Investment may hamper financial trading among nations, revenues of the bank and hence othereconomic contributions of the bank in terms of capital mobility, currency management and employment. This paper analyses contributions of NAB in the Australian economy and possible effects of US president elections o n the business of this financial institutions. Impact on domestic economy in terms of growth, employability, interest rate is also included in the analysis. Knowledge Australian economy is related to US economy through commodity and financial trade. Both USA and Australian investors invest in the cross border economy. National Australian Bank is engaged in foreign currency trading with US investors. US economy is related with Australia through several bilateral and multilateral treaties and regional alliances such as World Trade Organisation, APEC, Trans Pacific Partnership and other Free Trade Agreement. Market of these countries engaged in regional alliances is open to the member countries for trading with lower cost. Trump is always against the view of Hilary Clinton regarding Trans-Pacific trade and Trans- Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (Wright 2016). Trump wants to restrict globalisation in US economy by restricting trade and investment with global economies. National Australia Bank has business and subsidiary in US economy. Any restriction in foreign trade may create negative impact on the business of NAB. As this bank is listed i n the New York Stock exchange, any policy change regarding financial market would have negative impact on the Australian financial market (nationalaustraliabank.com 2017). Revenue of the bank can be affected. The analysis has been broken into three parts such as effect on international trade and finance, interest rate, business cycle andeconomic growth. USA is a global power in terms of finance, trade, employment and most of the economies are connected with this economy through trade. In this framework protectionism policy can impact Australian financial market and trade. Through protectionism and anti globalisation policy US economy would be likely to be more inward oriented with restricted trade volume (Van der Ploeg 2017). US economy is a primary supplier of US dollar. In the face of anti globalisation policy, currency trading between Australia and US economy would be affected. National Australia Bank has relationship banking in US to provide service regarding complex financial issues, capital structuring, financial strategy, risk management, debt advisory, credit rating and transaction execution. Financial market products offered by NAB are foreign exchange, term, deposits, interest rate, and property equity. Although a group of market analysts believes that impact of Trump election would not have great impact on Australian fina ncial market as internal financial market is strong due to tight monetary policy by central bank (Pettifor 2017). According to modern trade theory of Ohlin, international trade takes place between countries due to differences in comparative cost and incomplete specialisation. Differences in factor endowment are another reason of international trade. However, gains from trade depend on the terms of trade and elasticity of demand in both countries. Country with more elastic demand for import and less elastic demand for export has greater share in trade gain. If international trade takes place between Australia and US, US export their product using abundant factor in production and imports the product that uses scarce factor. In this way both can gains from trade. As seen in the figure 1, PPF that has major share of good Y is PPF country 1 and PPF towards X axis is the PPF of country 2. Both the countries specialise and exports goods where it has comparative advantage. If tastes and needs of consumers of two countries are same, a common indifference curve is tangent with both PPF as shown in figure 1. In the view of Viner (2016), both countries have production and consumption gain at least cost although gain may not be the same. Another argued that if free trade is restricted between US and Australia, US market may not be affected much due to its size and domestic resources. If US economy reduces economic and financial trade with Australia, investors will be affected. There are many US investors invested in NAB. Decision of Trump may lead to withdraw of funds invested with NAB and the Australian economy may envisage capital outflow from the economy (Peters 2017). Interest rate is macroeconomic variable that affects the foreign exchange and financial market. Interest rate change affects the corporate profit indirectly. Interest rate is important to the traders as the rate of return is the matter of concern. Profit rate is expected to be higher when greater interest is achieved on the currency, where money has been invested. McGann (2016) argued that investment in currency is always risky as currency value fluctuates and therefore can reduce the rate of return on investment. As financial market of US is volatile in nature, restriction in trade can be beneficial for NAB and for Australian economy. Monetary policy and rate of interest are controlled by the Reserve Bank of Australia. RBA generally control financial market through unique cash rate. Hike in interest rate in Australian economy is likely to attract US investors for the desire of higher rate of return (Gray 2016). Therefore, there is a chance of capital inflows in the Australian econom y. Therefore, monetary policy can affect the financial trading and investment relation between two countries. If capital movement is restricted due to the policy of anti globalisation, Australian economy may have reduced capital inflow in financial sector and further in the domestic market to restrict capital mobility. Election of Donald Trump may affect economic growth through consumer spending, inflation and housing market. Circular flow of economy model depicts that all the economic agent are interrelated to each other such as consumer, producers, resource market, banking industry and government (Christophers 2016). When there are capital inflows, the positive effect spills over the different sectors of the domestic economy. Financial service industry in Australia employs around 413000 people in Australia. This industry holds 9% share of overall service sector output in the economy (australiancentre.com.au 2015). Financial sector including NAB is greater sector to generate employment in the economy along with its expansion in both domestic and international market. As seen in figure 2, employment in financial sector has increased overtime, although share of employment has decreased in recent years compared to other industry However, productivity of workers in this sector has increased to contribute gross value added of the economy. As financial service employment is mainly concentrated in the capital cities of Australia, there is immense scope of expansion of this sector towards sub urban or rural areas to create employment opportunity and to integrate major people financially. In the face of restricted trade with US, a part of revenue of NAB may be hampered and that may affect in the labour market in the form of wage rate of the employees. Net operating profits are paid to the employees after paying shareholders and retained earnings. Reduction in NAB profit may create pressure on the domestic economy. GDP = C + I + G + (N- X), where C is the consumption, I is investment, G is government expenditure and (N-X) is net export. When output is reduced, that put negative effect on the income, consumption demand (Pettifor 2017). As consumption demand drops due to drop in wage, national output shrinks in the long run. Savings decreases in short term, which further hampers internal capital mobility. Hence, growth rate of Australia may fall with the fall of output. Therefore, uncertainty in the international trade may hamper financial integration, capital flows. Hence, above discussion can be concluded as that trump election may create negative effect on NAB and the economy. If rise in interest rate attracts foreign investors, capital inflows take place in Australia through NAB (Gray 2016). Uncertainty in financial market of US and Australia and other trade relation may slow down economic growth of Australia. References australiancentre.com.au 2015. Financial Integration in the Asia-Pacific: Fact and fiction Available at: https://www.australiancentre.com.au/sites/default/files/NewsDocs/ACFS%20Financial%20Integration%20website%20version.pdf [accessed on 05.25.2017] Christophers, B., 2016. Petals not thorns: Competition policy and finance.Controlling Capital: Public and Private Regulation of Financial Markets, p.57. dfat.gov.au 2017. Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Available at: https://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/tpp/pages/trans-pacific-partnership-agreement-tpp.aspx [accessed on 05.25.2017] Gray, J., 2016. Despite their anti-trade rhetoric, Trump or Clinton would do little to threaten trans-Atlantic trade policy.USAppAmerican Politics and Policy Blog. McGann, J.G., 2016. Why Donald Trump Won the Election and Does it Mean The End To Think Tanks and Policy Advice as we Know it?. nationalaustraliabank.com, 2017. Global Institutional Banking. Available athttps://www.nationalaustraliabank.com/nabglobal/en/banking/services [accessed on 05.25.2017] Peters, M.A., 2017. The end of neoliberal globalisation and the rise of authoritarian populism. Pettifor, A., 2017. Causes and consequences of President Donald Trump.real-worldeconomics review, p.44. Van der Ploeg, F., 2017. Political economy of the West: Populists versus policy wonks. Viner, J., 2016.Studies in the theory of international trade. Routledge. Wright, T., 2016. Part three:as risky as terrorism. Either president will tread a different path to recession. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2016/us-election-impact-australia/economy [accessed on 05.25.2017]

Why was Bob Dylan the voice of his generation in the sixties and why do his songs continue to resonate today Essay Example

Why was Bob Dylan the voice of his generation in the sixties and why do his songs continue to resonate today Paper With little doubt, Bob Dylan has been one of the most influential characters in popular music within his 40 year career. Although he has experienced significant success in his later work, it has been his sixties material that has caused the biggest impact. His songs of protest were extremely popular in the sixties, particularly among the hippie subculture that was so prominent at the time. As his career and popularity soared, Dylan was soon branded as the voice of his generation and became synonymous with the anti-war and civil rights movements at the time. How Dylan managed to be branded with this tag and how he became to embody the movement is comprehensible through an analysis of his work. Dylan began his career as part of a vibrant folk scene that was happening in America at the time. His popularity soared within this scene after his first self-titled album that was a tribute to his musical influences. In his second album, (The Freewheelin released in 1963) Dylan began to write songs that would be considered protest songs, and these shot Dylan to global fame and recognition, particularly among the newly rising hippie movement. In order to look at why Dylans work captured the voice of this subculture, one must look at the social and political conditions of the time and how his music commented on these conditions. The sixties was a time of great political commotion in America, from tensions in the Cold War, to the cries for civil rights by Americas black community. By the time of Dylans second album, the cold war tensions and the civil rights movements were at their peak. Dylans first protest song, and perhaps his most famous, was called Blowin in the Wind (1) and became adopted by the civil rights movement at the time. We will write a custom essay sample on Why was Bob Dylan the voice of his generation in the sixties and why do his songs continue to resonate today specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Why was Bob Dylan the voice of his generation in the sixties and why do his songs continue to resonate today specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Why was Bob Dylan the voice of his generation in the sixties and why do his songs continue to resonate today specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Through its rhetoric, the song comments on social injustices and inequalities as well as questioning the action of war. Through this song Dylan asks the question how many years can some people exist before they are allowed to be free? and continues to ask how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesnt see? . Many felt that this question was related to the civil rights movement at the time, and although Dylan never mentioned the movement in the song, it soon became adopted as a song of the civil rights movement. They felt that these lines reflected the oppression felt among the black community, and questioned the integrity of those who see these injustices but do nothing to stop them. Another song on the album that focuses on the trouble of racism is entitled Oxford Town (2) that contained the lines he went down to Oxford town, guns and clubs followed him down, all because his face was brown and he couldnt get in because of the colour of his skin. Many felt that this summed up the social injustices that blacks faced in America at the time. The segregation of whites and blacks in everyday life was a prominent grievance of the civil rights movement, who felt it unfair that blacks should have to use inferior facilities like having to sit at the back of a bus because the more convenient front seats were reserved for whites. These lines were certainly perceived by the civil rights movement as relating to their cause and Dylan became very popular with the movement. Dylan became actively involved within the movement, performing at the March on Washington where Martin Luther King made his famous I have a dream speech, which only proved to enforce the feeling that Bob Dylan was a protestor and a voice for inequalities. This was one of the only times Dylan was actively involved in politics, yet his association with politics was predictable as he continued to write more protest songs. The main feature of his protest songs was the strong anti-war sentiment that allot of his songs carried. His song Masters of War (3) was a clear attack on those who instigate war and those who build the death planes, those who build all the bombs. He also commented on the economic ironies of war as he claims you sit in your mansion, while the young peoples blood, flows out of their bodies and is buried in the mud. The song depicts the instigators of War to be prosperous, while they get others to do the fighting and sit back and watch, as the death toll gets higher. This was a song that particularly liked by the anti-war movement that was protesting against the current Cuban missile crisis, and continued to be used as protests flared against the Vietnam war in 1965. His other anti-war song from this album was A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall (4) which was written at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. This hard-rain that Dylan describes was viewed as a reference to nuclear war that so many Americans feared was impending. The fear of nuclear destruction was prominent in the minds of many Americans at the time, especially during the Cuban missile crisis when tensions were high among the two nuclear superpowers of the USA and Russia. The ban the bomb campaigns awakened a new generation of young activists, who were almost predominantly young students. This young rebellion provided Dylan with his first audience, who felt that the subjects in his music directly related to their agitations. Dylan then released an album called The Times They Are A-Changin' which many regard as the finest protest album of all time. The opening song also called The Times They Are A-Changin (5) became a generational anthem. The song is based on the principle that the movement for social change is inevitable and that history will eventually conform to morality. Dylan writes for senators and congressmen please head the call and continues to add theres a battle outside raging, we will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls for the times they are a-changing. This line in particular is very provocative, describing an almost revolutionary image, an image that the young rebellious youth arguably related to. The song never mentions a specific rebellion or situation, yet it was certainly poignant at the time when a rebellious youth threatened the status quo which gave rise to the counter-hegemonic subculture of the hippie movement. This hippie movement treated Dylan as a prophet of sorts, constantly relating to the messages in his music. Dylans song from the same album entitled With God on Our Side (6) was a deconstruction of American nationalist fundamentalism, where he comments on the particular stages of Americas development from the war on the Indians to the present day. Through a use of paradox, Dylan outlines how certain wars have been justified because of the notion that America has God on its side. Dylan relates to the present day situation of nuclear tension by writing but now we have weapons of chemical dust, if forced to fire them, then fire them we must, one push of the button, and shot the world wide, and you never ask questions when Gods on your side. This is a clear attack on the Christian fundamentalism that exists in Americas history and politics, as well as an attack on the fundamentalism that Dylan felt could cause an impending nuclear war. While this song subverted the ideology of Christian fundamentalism, it reinforced the ideologies that existed amongst the counter hegemonic subculture of the hippie movement. This distortion of the dominant ideology of Christian fundamentalism was the reason for the song being branded as a protest song, while the essence of Dylans popularity lay in the reinforcement of the ideologies of the hippie movement and the mass protest movements. This reinforcement of the subculture ideologies was perhaps the reason that Dylan was given the label voice of his generation. Dylans image also tended to embody or speak for the movement. In his early protest years, he was a folk singer and remained extremely popular among the folk music tradition. The image of a folk singer tends to give the impression of the real, where the singer is normally solo and playing a simple acoustic guitar. Folk music is often viewed as the real songs of the people, a true reflection on the lives of the common man as well as being a very expressive form of music. It is often a form of music that emerges from small towns and local gatherings which is perhaps why it is viewed as a pure form of expression rather than music that has been made with the sole purpose of making money. This image of a solo folk singer perhaps gave Dylan an image of being real and untouched by capitalist marketing pressures, an image that would have been popular amongst the hippie subculture. On The Times They Are A-Changin album cover, Dylan looks very reflective yet angry, and the inside sleeve the words what is exactly wrong? Who t picket? Who t fight? are written. The image of an angry reflective youngster along with the sense of agitation from the words on the sleeve would have no doubt been popular amongst the rebellious youth of the sixties, who probably felt they could relate to Dylans agitated and rebellious image. Although his songs were at their most popular in the sixties, his influence and popularity still remain high to this day. In a recent magazine poll, (7) Dylans Masters of War was voted as the greatest protest song of all time by the British magazine MOJO. His protest songs still remain popular and on November 2nd 2004 on the American election night, Dylan played Masters of War in Oshkosh, Wisconsin which had such an impact that Rolling Stone magazine asked the question why is the song still so alive? (8). Even though the song was written in the early sixties, Dylan never referenced any current events in the song. This meant that the songs could have a new meaning applied to them over time. For example, at the Grammy awards in 1991, Dylan played Masters of War on the eve of the Gulf War and even though the song was almost thirty years old it still related to these more current events. His work remained popular amongst other protest movements around the world which can be seen with the use of his lyrics in a republican mural in the New Lodge Road of Belfast (9). The much more recent events such as the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the war in Iraq have also given new meaning to Dylans work. There have been protests against the Iraq war similar to those of the Vietnam War in the sixties, which have provided a possible new audience for the protest songs of Dylan. It may be no surprise with the current waves of protest against the war in Iraq, the sales of Dylan albums has risen significantly. His work can be easily related to these current day events and can perhaps summarize the fears and aggravations of the current anti-war movement. A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall could be applied to the current fear of attack with biological weapons while Masters of War could be applied to the hatred of the Iraq war. The fact that Dylan never referenced his songs to particular events is perhaps the reason that they still continue to resonate today. His songs were often against war, hunger, oppression and inequalities, and as long as these particular grievances still exist, then his songs will always have new meaning. His songs contained a certain ideology, and as long as these ideologies still exist in society then his songs will remain popular. Todays anti-war and global justice movements have similarities to the movements of the sixties and have given Dylans music a new home and a new resonance. While the current events of the present day give new meaning to Dylans sometimes apocalyptic songs, it is important to realise the power of music as a medium for protest.