Charlie Wilsons War

Charlie Wilsons War Phase II: Synopsis In the year 1979 the Soviet Union took over the Afghan capital city of Kabul and started a war that devastated the people and land of Afghanistan. A congress man of Texas took it upon himself to help the Afghanistan people suffering from the Soviet Union invasion. Congressman Charlie Wilson, with the help of Gust Avrakotos and Joanne Herring, fought with stubborn politicians, nation leaders, and endured career damaging stories in order to give the people of Afghanistan a fighting chance. With the budget for the war effort being only 5 million, Congressman Wilson, with the help of an anonymous donator, raised the fund to more than 1 billion dollars. The Afghan war effort, set on an equal playing field with the Soviet Union, was able to overcome the Soviet Union and take back the Afghanistan peoples homes. Phase III. Analysis The movie Charlie Wilsons War takes place from 1979 to 1989 and tells the story of how the biggest covert operation in America happened. Charlie Wilson, a Texas congressman, who, with help, raised the necessary funds needed in order to give Afghanistan weapons that could help throw out the invading Soviet Union forces. Based on a true story the movie sticks to the facts and realistically portrays the main character, Charlie Wilson, and the events that lead to the freedom of Afghanistan. The film shows the importance of what happened and how it changed future events. Charlie Wilsons War described the proceedings from 19 years ago that shaped the way events have happened today. The movie focused on the funds, and how they were gathered, that gave the Afghan fighters the weapons and training that they needed. Congressman Wilson, with the help of others, raised the governments budget for the Soviet-Afghan war from a few million to 750 million. With a new flood of money and weapons to help in their fight, the Afghanistan people were armed and inspired to fight the invading Soviet Union forces. As a reward for making it possible to defeat the Soviet Union, Congressman Wilson was given the stinger tube that shot down the first enemy aircraft. Something about the events of the film that has to be noted is the impact that the events of the past had on our present. Had America not interfered, Afghanistan would have been taken over by the Soviet Union which could have lead to them eventually controlling Pakistan and the stores of oil. Allowing the Soviet U nion to take control might have prevented the conflict we have with the countries in the Middle East now. However, allowing both Afghanistan and Pakistan to fall into the hands of the Soviet Union would have meant that we would surrender the supply of oil Pakistan held. Charlie Wilsons War is a film of importance, showing scenes of historical events that have come to dictate the way both Afghanistans and Americas people live. Based on a true story, Charlie Wilsons War holds several historical events which should be noted. Inspired to help the refugee situation in Afghanistan after reading an Associated Press report, Congressman Wilson began to help build funds that would allow the Afghan people to fight the invading Soviet Union. Elected to be on the House Appropriations Subcommittee of Defense, Congressman Wilson was able to request, and receive, a doubled budget for the Afghanistan war. With the help of both politicians and private citizens, Congressman Wilson was able to raise enough funds to support the Afghanistan war effort. This covert operation, named Operation Cyclone, was the largest covert operation to ever happen in the history of the CIA. After ten years of fighting the Soviet Union, Afghanistan became the first country to ever defeat the Soviet Union. The Clandestine Services organization gave the Honored Colleague award for the first time to a citizen, Charlie Wilson, for his efforts in the Afghan War. The historic events in this film shaped many peoples opinion about the situation in Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan 19 years ago resulted in opposing political views in the United States each having valid reason for helping or not helping the situation in Afghanistan. The side I agree with would be the people who were for supporting Afghanistan in their fight against the Soviet Union. Giving The United States a valid reason to support Afghanistan with a covert operation and giving more than 5 million as funding, would hide the fact that we were are in no way friendly towards Russia. Another reason for the U.S. to intervene would have been that we are a nation who stands for justice and the massacres and other atrocities happening in Afghanistan demanded our attention. In helping Afghanistan we also helped ourselves, not only did we get the satisfaction of seeing the Soviet Union beaten, we also kept something far more valuable than, our oil supplies, out of their hands. In the movie the Afghan leader talking to Congressman Wilson said that the only reason the Soviet Union wa s attacking was because of their location relative to Pakistan. By controlling Afghanistan the Soviet Union would have a direct road to Pakistan and where they could control the flow of oil. The Soviet Union had control of the oil it would have led to serious economic problems for the United States. Many people who know how we helped Afghanistan say that by our contributing to their war effort in the past we just gave them weapons to use against us now. Although there may be some truth to our own weapons being used against us, the fact remains that in the past we did not know this and we could not ignore the suffering people of Afghanistan. Helping Afghanistan was to our benefit in the past and I agree with the decisions made by people like Congressman Wilson and Joanne Herring who raised the necessary funds. Every film has good moments and bad moments, although Charlie Wilsons War is not exempt from this, it is one of the movies that almost perfectly shows the true story. Most films that are based off a true story stick to the very basics and add to the movie to make it interesting or dramatic. This movie however, tells the true story with very little the added fiction. Charlie Wilsons War accurately describes the events that occurred in the late 1900s. The meeting with Gust Avrakotos was not how the actual event happened; however, Congressman Wilson did eventually meet with Mr. Avrakotos when he went to the CIA to learn more about weapons for Afghanistan. Although the movie does focus on the serious nature of what is happening, it also adds comedy providing a break from all of the technical names and political scenarios. Though I could have done without the nudity in the movie, it helps to show the reason Congressman Wilson was called Good Time Charlie. Despite some of the flaws in the film I still recommend this film to anyone who wants to watch a great story. Charlie Wilsons War is a fun and historically accurate movie that shows the difference one man can make. The movie has love, conflict, courage, sorrow, and comedy which will keep its viewers captivated until the final scene is finished. I give Charlie Wilsons War four and a half stars for the ability to stick to the truth and still keep the audience involved. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn a little more about American history.

Open-Economy Macroeconomics Notes

Ch28 â€Å"Open-Economy Macroeconomics† FOREIGN TRADE AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY Imports ? goods and services produced abroad and consumed domestically Exports ? goods and services produced domestically and purchased by foreigners Net exports ? defined as exports of goods and services minus imports of goods and services Net foreign investment ? counterpart of net exports Denotes net US savings abroad and is approximately equal to the value of net exports ? ? ? appreciation in the exchange rate and a corresponding decline in net exports; monetary easing does the opposite. The impact of changes in interest rates on net exports reinforces the impact on domestic investment In a full-employment closed economy (always holding other things constant), higher government spending, lower taxes, or lower desired private saving will raise the real interest rate and lower equilibrium saving and investment net exports are determined by the difference between national saving and national investment, which is determined by domestic factors plus the world interest rate changes in exchange rates ? re the mechanism by which saving and investment adjust Domestic expenditures ? equal to consumption plus domestic investment plus government purchases Examples of open-economy saving-investment theory in the small open economy an increase in private saving or lower government spending will increase national saving; this will lead to a depreciation of the exchange rate until net exports have increased enough to balance the increase in domestic saving an increase in domestic investment, say, because of an improved business climate or a burst of innovations, will lead to a shift in the investment schedule; this will lead to an appreciation of the exchange rate until net exports decline enough to balance saving and investment. In this case, domestic investment crowds out foreign investment an increase in world interest rates will reduce the level of investment. This will lead to an ncrease in the difference between saving and investment, to a depreciation in the foreign exchange rate, and to an increase in net exports and foreign investment (this would be a shift along the investment schedule) integration of a country into the world economy adds an important new dimension to macroeconomic performance and policy o the foreign sector provides an important source of domestic investment and a potential outlet for domestic saving o higher saving at home— whether in the form of higher private saving or higher public saving will lead to higher net exports o a country’s trade balance is primarily a reflection of its national saving and investment balance rather than of its absolute productivity or wealth ? The volume and value of imports will be affected by domestic output and the relative prices of domestic and foreign goods – Marginal propensity to import ? the increase in the dollar value of imports for each $1 increase in GDP ? Because a fraction of any income leaks into imports in an open economy, the open-economy multiplier is smaller than the multiplier for a closed economy. OPEN ECONOMY Multiplier = 1/ (MPS + MPm) Where MPS = marginal propensity to save and MPm = marginal propensity to import ? ? – Real exchange rate ? corrects for movements in the price levels in different countries Overvalued currency ? one whose value is high relative to its long-run or sustainable level High mobility of financial capital ? hen financial investments can flow easily among countries and the regulatory barriers to financial investments are low ? Foreign trade produces a new and powerful link in the monetary transmission mechanism when a country has a flexible exchange rate. When m onetary policy changes interest rates, this affects exchange rates and net exports as well as domestic investment. Monetary tightening leads to an ? o o adjustments in a country’s trade accounts require a change in domestic saving or investment in the long run, adjustments in trade accounts will be brought about by movements in the country’s relative prices, often through exchange-rate changes ptimal currency area ? one whose regions have high labor mobility or have common and synchronous aggregate supply or demand shocks. In an optimal currency area, significant changes in exchange rates are not necessary to ensure rapid macroeconomic adjustment European Monetary Union ? one of history’s great economic experiments. Never before has such a large and powerful group of countries turned its economic fortunes over to a multinational body like the European Central Bank. Never before has a central bank been charged with the macroeconomic fortunes of a large group of n ations with 325 million people producing $16 trillion of goods and services. While optimists point to the microeconomic benefits of a larger market and lower transactions costs, pessimists worry that monetary union threatens stagnation and unemployment because of the lack of price and wage flexibility and insufficient labor mobility among countries. The financial crisis of 2007-2009 is the first major test of this new monetary system. Stable macroeconomic climate ? taxes are reasonable and predictable and that inflation is low, so lenders need not worry about inflation confiscating their investments ? promoting economic growth in an open economy involves ensuring that business is attractive for foreign and domestic investors who have a wide array of investment opportunities in the world economy. The ultimate goals of policy are to have high rates of saving and investment in productive channels and to ensure that businesses use bestpractice techniques. Achieving these goals involves setting a stable macroeconomic climate, guaranteeing dependable property rights for both tangible investments and intellectual property, providing exchange-rate convertibility that allows investors to take home their profits, and maintaining confidence in the political and economic stability of the country Success for the countries of North America and Western Europe: robust economic performance o rapid and sustained economic growth emerging monetary system o conduct independent monetary policies with flexible exchange rates, while smaller countries either float or have â€Å"hard† fixed exchange rates tied to one of the major blocks reemergence of free markets Competitiveness ? refers to the extent to which a nation’s goods can compete in the marketplace; this depends primarily upon the relative prices of domestic and foreign products Productivity ? easured by the output per unit of input, fundamental to the growth of living standards in a nation; to a first approximation, a nation’s real income grows in step with its productivity growth ? conclusion on productivity and competitiveness ? as the theory of comparative advantage demonstrates, nations are not inherently uncompetitive. Rather, they become uncompetitive when their prices move out of line with those of their trading partners. The surest route to high productivity and high living standards is to expose domestic industries to world markets and to encourage vigorous domestic competition with foreign companies that have adopted the most advanced technologies –

Leadership And Management Research Management - 2651 Words

Running Head: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT RESEARCH Leadership and Management Research By: Carlos Steward Instructor: Dr. Tyron A. Woodard MNGT 5670 Managerial Leadership May 14, 2015 SectionI: Breadth Management practices have definitely changed over the last hundred years. This is vastly due to a result of amplified understanding of human and organizational behavior, the economic environment and historical framework, and the modifications in generations over a period of time. There are three eras of management and they are Classical, Humanistic, and Science and Knowledge. Management is the function that coordinates the efforts of people to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and†¦show more content†¦Frank and Lillian Gilbreth were a husband and wife team that contributed to the scientific era. It was their goal to find a way to reduce the number of steps workers used to complete a task. Gilbreth started a lifelong search of the â€Å"one best way† of performing any given task (George, 1968). Henry L. Gantt suggested the â€Å"task-and-bonus† system. Gantt fixed the pay amount based on the situations of the shop, and if the worker finished their jobs for that particular day, that worker was paid a bonus. With that being said, if the worker did not finish his or her job within the designated day, he or she was not punished for it but only paid the day s wage. This occurrence convinced Gantt that having concern for worker morale was one of the most significant elements of management (George, 1968). From the 1950s to the 1960s, organizations continued to grow and became more complex during this timeframe. This is the beginning of the Science and Knowledge Era. The Human Resources movement appeared and managers recognized how important people actually were when it came to production and productivity. 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Do Hippos Sweat Blood Learn About Hippo Perspiration

The hippopotamus or hippo mystified ancient Greeks because it appeared to sweat blood. Although hippos do sweat a red liquid, it isnt blood. The animals secrete a sticky liquid that acts as a sunscreen and topical antibiotic. Color Change Perspiration Initially, hippo perspiration is colorless. As the viscous liquid polymerizes, it changes color to red and eventually brown. Droplets of perspiration resemble drops of blood, although blood would wash away in water, while hippo perspiration sticks to the animals wet skin. This is because the hippos blood sweat contains a high amount of mucous. Colored Pigments in Hippo Sweat Yoko Saikawa and his research team at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, Japan, identified non-benzenoid aromatic compounds as the orange and red pigment molecules. These compounds are acidic, conferring protection against infection. The red pigment, called hipposudoric acid; and the orange pigment, called norhipposudoric acid, appear to be amino acid metabolites. Both pigments absorb ultraviolet radiation, while the red pigment also acts as an antibiotic. Reference: Yoko Saikawa, Kimiko Hashimoto, Masaya Nakata, Masato Yoshihara, Kiyoshi Nagai, Motoyasu Ida Teruyuki Komiya. Pigment chemistry: The red sweat of the hippopotamus. Nature 429, 363 (27 May 2004).