Government Provided Health Care Essay Example for Free

Government Provided Health Care Essay For many years, health care cost has risen and challenged many businesses, households, and the government. With the health care cost constantly rising, more and more people become uninsured. There are many approaches to improve the health care system including: Government-provided health care, Private insurer health care, and a mix of both. Although, all the different ways have their perks, government provided stands out. Government provided health care is the best approach because every American citizen will have health insurance, it would simplify the system, all workers will have health care benefits, and it will contain and lower costs more than any other approach. Having every American citizen being provided with health insurance, and eliminating private insurers, will definitely simplify the system. All that would need to be done to jump start government provided health care is to create a single payer system, replace current insurance premiums, lower prices on drugs, and create a universal set of insurance forms to cover everyone. Every American deserves to have access to high quality and affordable health care, no matter what their income situation, employment situation, or medical conditions. With the government provided system, all workers will have health care benefits, and lower costs on health insurance. Workers will have greater freedom and better choices if they dont have to worry about picking a job solely for the health care benefits. Over the years, there has been lots of evidence that shows the single payer system is the best approach to achieving basic health care goals. First, two government offices, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and General Accounting Office Greear 2 (GAO) reached a conclusion that only the single payer plan was likely to save the most money. Second, Medicare claims that the single payer system for  the elderly has lower administrative and overall costs than any other approach thus far. Third, Canada has a single payer system, which has much lower administrative costs than the U.S. System. Health care administration costs in the U.S. In 1999 was over 200 billion, to whereas Canadas was only 159 billion. The single payer system works so well in Canada, its only logical to try the system here. Finally, the government provided, single payer system could achieve cost containment success more readily than any other system with three basic principals. First, this system may make it possible to reduce the administrative costs in the U.S. Second, the single payer system may be able to vigorously attack the market condition, where there is only one buyer, and gain bargaining powers over other providers. Finally, the single payer system could control the overall level of health care resources. All in all, the single payer system is less costly than any other approach and spends a slightly smaller amount of the gross domestic product (GDP) on health, according to Sherry Glied from Columbia University. The differences in system performance among the different coverages are small, but government provided, single payer system has the most distinct difference as far as cost containment and savings. At some point, everyone will need access to health care or treatment, with government provided insurance, that will be taken care of. Work Cited DeGrazia, D. Single Payer Meets Managed Competition. Hastings Center Report 38.1 (2008): 23-33. CINAHL. Web. 22 May 2013. Glied, S. Single Payer As A Financing Mechanism. Journal Of Health Politics, Policy Law 34.4 (2009): 593-615. CINAHL. Web. 22 May 2013. Publicagenda.org-Health Care. Citizens Solutions Guides 2012. Web. 22 May 2013.

History of the Soybean :: Essays Papers

History of the Soybean Before cultivation, wild soybeans grew abundantly in northeast China and Manchuria. As early as 2700 B.C. they were classified as one of the five principal and sacred crops, having both medicinal and food value. They have been cultivated for at least 4,500 years. However, they were not very popular. (They were said to cause flatulence!) During times of bad harvests in China, soybeans were one of the nine staples on which starving millions in the country depended. In the famine of A.D. 194 when the price of millet soared in relation to the price of soybeans, many people were forced to eat soybeans which they often prepared in a gruel called congee. Buddhist monks experimented with soy cultivation and found that flour, milk, curd, and sauce from the soybean all brought necessary additions of protein to their vegetarian diets. They carried the soybean wherever they went as missionaries. By the sixth century A.D. they introduced it into Japan and Korea. When the soybean mixed with the Shinto religion, it quickly became a staple in the Japanese diet. From Japan, soldiers, merchants, and travelers helped to spread the soybean to Vietnam by 200 B.C., and to Thailand by the tenth century A.D. It reached India by the twelfth century, brought there by traders. The bean was slow to reach beyond Asia, however. Although the Spanish and Portuguese traded in East Asia, the soybean was slow to catch on in Europe; it did not fit into the various cuisines of the continent. In 1765, a sailor aboard an East India Company ship that had visited China brought soybeans to the American colonies. By the mid 1800’s the soybean was quickly being disseminated around the globe. During the Civil War, American farmers became interested in cultivating soybeans as a forage plant. This lowered the cost of feeding livestock by replacing the more expensive grass, hay, and corn. At the beginning of the twentieth century, America was trying to feed a population swelling with immigrants. Perhaps the bean that was so high in protein could feed people as well as animals. Soybean cultivation seemed like one way to meet the demand for more food. Following World War II, soybeans became the world’s most important crop. By the end of the war, the United States had become the biggest exporter, growing more than 75% of the world’s soybeans.

Overview of accounting analysis Essay

1. A finance student states, â€Å"I don’t understand why anyone pays any attention  to accounting earnings numbers, given that a ‘clean’ number like cash from operations is readily available.† Do you agree? Why or why not? I disagree with the finance student, because net income forecasts future cash flow and is informative. a. Net income forecasts future cash flow better than current cash flow, and does so by recording transactions associated with cash consequences when the transactions occur, rather than when the cash is received or paid. To compute net income, the effects of economic transactions are recorded on the basis of expected, not necessarily actual, cash receipts and payments. b. Net income is informative when corporate managers have better information than outside investors. Corporate managers use accrual rather than cash accounting to prepare financial reporting and determine net income. Since accrual accounting helps managers to record past events and forecast future events, net income gives superior information. 2. Fred argues: â€Å"The standards that I like most are the ones that eliminate all management discretion in reporting – that way I get uniform numbers across all companies and don’t have to worry about doing accounting analysis†. Do you agree? Why or why not? I disagree with Fred, because the elimination of delegation of reporting to management will create chaos and misinterpretation of financial statements. Corporate managers know how to apply and judge business transactions using the accrual accounting framework. They have inside information and make appropriate judgments to convey that information to investors and forecast future performance. If this discretion is eliminated, managers will be unable to make use of inside information in reported financial statements. However, since investors view profits as a measure of a manager’s performance, some managers have an incentive to use their accounting  discretion to distort reported profits by making biased assumptions. Also, the use of accounting numbers in contracts between the firm and outsiders provides a motivation for management manipulation of accounting numbers. Therefore, the delegation of financial reporting decisions to managers has both costs and benefits. Accounting rules and auditing are mechanisms deigned to reduce the cost and preserve the benefit of delegating financial reporting to corporate managers. 3. Bill Simon says, â€Å"We should get rid of the FASB and SEC, since free market forces will make sure that companies report reliable information.† Do you agree? Why or why not? Free market forces do not make sure that all companies report reliable information. Bill assumes that corporate managers do not disclose unreliable information and that they share inside information with outside investors. In real life, managers disclose false information and investors don’t detect inside information right away. Therefore, FASB and SEC force managers to disclose reliable information and comply reasonably with U.S. GAAP standards. 4. Many firms recognize revenues at the point of shipment. This provides an incentive to accelerate revenues by shipping goods at the end of the quarter. Consider two companies, one of which ships its products evenly throughout the quarter, and the second of which ships all its products in the last two weeks of the quarter. Each company’s customers pay 30 days after receiving shipment. Using accounting ratios, how can you distinguish these companies? Both companies will have the same amount of revenues and expenses in their income statements. However, their balance sheets will show different amounts. At the end of each quarter, the company that ships its products evenly throughout the quarter should have higher cash and a lower accounts receivable balance than the company that ships all its products in the last two weeks of the quarter. We can distinguish between these companies using the following accounting  ratios: a. Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio = Sales Accounts Receivable The company that ships its products evenly throughout the quarter and has steady sales will have a higher accounts receivable turnover ratio. b. Accounts Receivable Days Ratio = Accounts Receivable Average Sales per Day The company that ships its products evenly throughout the quarter and has steady sales will have a lower accounts receivable days ratio. c. Cash Ratio = Cash + Short-Term Investments Current Liabilities The company that ships its products evenly throughout the quarter and has steady sales will have a higher cash ratio. 5. A. If management reports truthfully, what economic events are likely to prompt the following accounting changes? a. Increase in the estimated life of depreciable assets. If managers find out that the actual life of the depreciable assets lasted longer than was expected, managers will increase the estimated life of depreciable assets. b. Decrease in the uncollectible allowance as a percentage of gross receivables. The firm will decrease the percentage of uncollectable allowance when it receives orders from reliable customers. In contrast, the firm will increase the percentage of uncollectable allowance when it receives orders from unreliable customers. c. Recognition of revenues at the point of delivery, rather than at the point  cash is received. A firm could recognize revenues at the point of delivery rather than at the point of cash receipt when its customer’s credit improves or its customer’s cash payment is not a risk. d. Capitalization of a higher proportion of software R&D costs. A firm will capitalize a higher proportion of software R&D costs when the firm has established the technical and commercial feasibility of the asset for sale or use. For example, technical and commercial feasibility may be established when the firm completes the software and either uses it or sells it and is able to demonstrate how the intangible asset will generate future economic benefits. 5.B. What features of accounting, if any, would make it costly for dishonest managers to make the same changes without any corresponding economic changes? Opinion of third parties. Auditors provide a clean opinion of a firm’s financial statements. If the changes in the accounting policy are reasonably consistent with economic changes, auditors will not provide a clean opinion of the financial statements. Accrual reversal effect. Aggressive capitalization of software R&D expenditures will increase net income in the current period, but the later writing-off of capitalized R&D costs will decrease net income in the following period. Lawsuit. If a firm discloses false financial information and its investor loses because of that information, the firm will pay legal penalties. Labor Market Discipline. The labor market for managers will discipline those who are perceived as unreliable managers in dealing with external parties. 6. The conservatism principle arises because of concerns about management’s incentives to overstate the firm’s performance. Joe Banks argues: â€Å"We could get rid of conservatism and make accounting numbers more useful if we delegated financial reporting to independent auditors, rather than to  corporate managers.† Do you agree? Why or why not? I don’t agree with Joe Banks, because if we delegate financial reporting to independent auditors rather than to corporate managers, we will decrease the quality of financial reporting. Auditors don’t have all the inside information that corporate managers have when the economic reality of the firm is displayed. Furthermore, the way managers and auditors assess a firm is different. Auditors could apply accounting standards to assess business transactions in a mechanical way rather than using their professional judgment, leading to poor quality financial reporting. For example, everybody agrees that market-value accounting provides relevant information; however, auditors are concerned more about the audit liability. 7. A fund manager states: â€Å"I refuse to buy any company that makes a voluntary accounting change, since it’s certainly a case of management trying to hide bad news.† Can you think of any alternative interpretation? Voluntary accounting change could happen because business circumstances have changed in the firm. For example, unusual increases in receivables might be due to changes in a firm’s sales strategy, or unusual decreases in the allowance for uncollectible receivables might be reflecting a change in a firm’s customer focus. Therefore, an analyst should use qualitative information such as the evaluation of the context of the business strategy and economic circumstances, and not deliberately interpret the firm’s accounting change as earnings manipulation. 8. Fair value accounting attempts to make financial information more relevant to financial statement users, at the risk of greater subjectivity. What factors would you examine to evaluate the reliability of fair value assets? We should examine the fair value hierarchy to evaluate the reliability of fair value assets. Level 1 is the most reliable in terms of valuating fair value assets because it is based on quoted prices, like a closing stock price in the Wall Street Journal. Level 2 is the next most reliable and would rely on evaluating similar assets or liabilities in active markets Level 3 is the least reliable level because it requires a good deal of judgment and is based on the best information available (such as a company’s own data or assumptions) to arrive at a relevant and reliable fair value measurement. Financial statement users can trust prices in liquid markets as long as observable inputs such as level 1 and 2 reflect quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities. In level 3, we encounter unobservable inputs.

Ted Kennedy and the Chappaquiddick Accident

Around midnight on the night of July 18, 1969, after leaving a party, Senator Ted Kennedy lost control of his black Oldsmobile sedan, which went off a bridge and landed in Poucha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. While Kennedy survived the accident, his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not. Kennedy fled the scene and failed to report the accident for nearly 10 hours. Kennedy Background Edward Moore Kennedy, better known as Ted, graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1959, and followed in his older brother John F. Kennedys footsteps when he was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts in November 1962. By 1969, Ted Kennedy was married with three children and was lining himself up to become a presidential candidate, just like his older brothers John and Robert F. Kennedy had done before him. The early-morning events of July 19 would change those plans. Though Kennedy was subject to subsequent investigation proceedings, he was not charged in connection with Kopechne’s death. Many contend that Kennedy avoided taking responsibility as a direct result of privileged family connections. Nevertheless, the Chappaquiddick incident remained a scar on Kennedy’s reputation, preventing him from making a serious run at becoming president of the United States. The Party Begins It had been just over a year since the assassination of presidential candidate RFK, so Ted Kennedy and his cousin, Joseph Gargan, planned a small reunion for a few select individuals who had worked on the doomed campaign. The get-together was scheduled for Friday and Saturday, July 18 to 19 on the island of Chappaquiddick (located just to the east of Martha’s Vineyard), coinciding with the area’s annual sailing regatta.  The small get-together was to be a cookout with barbecued steaks, hors-doeuvres, and drinks at a rented house called Lawrence Cottage. Kennedy arrived around 1 p.m. on July 18 and raced in the regatta with his boat Victoria until about 6 p.m. After checking into his hotel, the Shiretown Inn in Edgartown (on the island of Martha’s Vineyard), Kennedy changed clothes, crossed the channel that separated the two islands via a ferry, and arrived around 7:30 at Lawrence Cottage. Most of the other guests arrived for the party by 8:30. Among those at the party were a group of six young women known as the â€Å"boiler room girls,† as their desks had been located in the mechanical room of the campaign building. They had bonded during their experience on the campaign and looked forward to reuniting on Chappaquiddick. Kopechne was one of the boiler room girls was. Kennedy and Kopechne Leave the Party Shortly after 11 oclock, Kennedy announced that he was leaving the party. His chauffeur, John Crimmins, was not finished eating dinner. Although it was extremely rare for Kennedy to drive himself, he reportedly asked Crimmins for the car keys so he could leave on his own. Kennedy claimed that Kopechne asked him to give her a ride back to her hotel when he mentioned his intention to leave. Kennedy and Kopechne boarded the 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 together. Kopechne did not tell anyone where she was going and left her pocketbook at the cottage. The exact details of what happened next are largely unknown. After the incident, Kennedy stated that he thought he was heading to the ferry. However, instead of turning left from the main road toward the ferry, Kennedy turned right, down the unpaved Dyke Road, which ended at a secluded beach. Along this road was the old Dyke Bridge, which had no guardrail. Traveling approximately 20 miles per hour, Kennedy missed the slight left-hand turn to safely cross the bridge. His car went off the right side of the bridge, plunging into Poucha Pond to land upside down in 8 to 10 feet of water. Kennedy Flees the Scene Somehow, Kennedy freed himself from the vehicle and swim ashore, where he claimed to have called out for Kopechne. Per his description of events, he then made several attempts to reach her in the vehicle before exhausting himself. After resting, he walked back to the Cottage and asked for help from Gargan and Paul Markham. All three men returned to the scene and tried again to rescue Kopechne. When they were unsuccessful, Gargan and Markham took Kennedy to the ferry landing and left him there, assuming he would report the accident in Edgartown. They returned to the party and did not contact the authorities, allegedly believing Kennedy was about to do so. The Next Morning Later testimony by Kennedy alleges that instead of taking the ferry across the channel between the two islands (it had stopped running around midnight), he swam across. After eventually reaching the other side utterly exhausted, Kennedy walked to his hotel. He still did not report the accident. Around 8 oclock the next morning, Kennedy met Gargan and Markham at his hotel and told them that he hadn’t reported the accident yet. As quoted on page 11 of transcripts from the inquest into the incident, he â€Å"somehow believed that when the sun came up and it was a new morning, that what had happened the night before would not have happened and did not happen.† Even then, Kennedy did not go to the police. Instead, Kennedy returned to Chappaquiddick to make a private phone call to an old friend, hoping to ask for advice. Only then did Kennedy take the ferry back to Edgartown and report the accident to the police just before 10 oclock, nearly 10 hours after the accident. The police, however, already knew about the accident. Before Kennedy made his way to the police station, a fisherman had spotted the overturned car and contacted the authorities. At approximately 9 a.m., a diver brought Kopechne’s body to the surface. Kennedy’s Punishment and Speech One week after the accident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. He was sentenced to two months in prison. However, the prosecution agreed to suspend the sentence upon the defense attorney’s request based, on Kennedy’s age and reputation for community service. On the evening of July 25, Kennedy delivered a brief speech that several national networks televised. He began with his reasons for being in Martha’s Vineyard, noting that the only reason his wife did not accompany him was due to health issues (she was in the midst of a difficult pregnancy at that time, and later miscarried). He insisted that there was no reason to suspect himself and Kopechne of immoral conduct, as Kopechne (and the other â€Å"boiler room girls†) were all of impeccable character. Kennedy stated that, although his recollection of events surrounding the accident was hazy, he distinctly remembered trying to save Kopechne, both alone and with Gargan and Markham. Even so, Kennedy described not immediately calling the police as â€Å"indefensible.† After relaying his version of events from that night and decrying his initial inaction, Kennedy stated that he was considering resigning from the Senate. He hoped the people of Massachusetts would give him advice and help him decide. Kennedy ended the speech with a passage from JFKs Profiles in Courage, and implored viewers to let him move on and continue contributing to the well-being of society. Inquest and Grand Jury In January 1970, six months after the accident, an inquest into Kopechne’s death took place, with Judge James A. Boyle presiding. The inquest was kept secret at the request of Kennedy’s lawyers. Boyle found Kennedy a negligent and unsafe driver, and could have provided support for possible manslaughter charges. However, district attorney Edmund Dinis chose not to press charges. Findings from the inquest were released that spring. In April 1970, a grand jury convened to examine the Chappaquiddick Incident. The grand jury called four witnesses who had not testified previously, though they were advised by Dinis that Kennedy could not be indicted on charges related to the incident due to lack of evidence. They ultimately agreed, deciding not to indict Kennedy. Legacy of Chappaquiddick The only repercussions were a temporary suspension of Kennedys license, which was lifted in November 1970. Still, this inconvenience paled in comparison to the tarnish on his reputation. Kennedy himself noted shortly afterward that he would not campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. Many historians believe the Chappaquiddick Incident prevented him from a run in 1976, as well. Kennedy did gear up for a primary challenge against incumbent Jimmy Carter for the Democratic Party nomination in 1979. Carter only selectively referenced the incident, and Kennedy lost. Despite a lack of momentum toward the oval office, Kennedy was successfully reelected to the Senate seven more times. In 1970, just one year out from Chappaquiddick, Kennedy was reelected with 62% of the vote. Throughout his tenure, Kennedy was recognized as an advocate for the economically less fortunate, an outspoken supporter of civil rights, and a huge proponent of universal health care. His death in 2009 at the age of 77 was the result of a malignant brain tumor.