Human Nature in Sebastian Faulks Birdsong and Arthur Millers The Cruc

Human Nature in Sebastian Faulks shout and Arthur Millers The crucibleBoth The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, and the novel,Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks, are pieces of literature based aroundhistorical events. Millers play is punctuate during the Salem Witch trialsof 1692 and Birdsong concentrates primarily on characters involved inthe First World War which took place from 1914 to 1918. Both of theseperiods in level are examples of quantify when human beings havedisplayed the darker side to their constitution the content to kill. BothFaulks and Miller have attempted to explore the reasons behind theircharacters actions along with the mechanisms and strong emotionswithin humans that hazard ordinary people loose of committingatrocities. However, the authors also highlight the positive aspectsof human nature, the great love, courage and fealty which manages toemerge unscathed out of the most horrific circumstances.As I have already mentioned both The Crucible and Birdsong exploremans mental object to kill other(a) human beings. The two pieces, however,approach this subject in very different ways. Arthur Millers play,set during the Salem Witch hunt, concentrates on the miscellaneous emotions,such as fear, greed and revenge, driving individuals to accuse theirfriends and neighbours of witchcraft. Birdsong, on the other hand,depicts a much larger conflict and focuses more on the susceptibility of thesoldiers to withstand the horrors that they are witnessing andcommitting everyday.In his play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller illustrates a great itemise ofhuman emotions and tensions within the Salem community which, whencombined, result in the effect of many people on the grounds thatthey are... ...he dangers of intertingthe past. Elizabeths life seems so hushed compared to that ofStephen Wraysford but the fact that the Second World War followed so in brief after the First demonstrates how easy it is for mankind torepeat the errors of the pa st. Equipped with this acquaintance the readerrealises that even Elizabeths comfortable, peaceful lifestyle isvulnerable and at risk.The Crucible and Birdsong, in their different ways, both highlight thecomplexity of human nature where love, loyalty and honesty co-existwith hatred, fear and suspicion. This means that even in times ofconflict and slaughter people display the ability to love, trust andmake sacrifices. However the greatest flaw in mankinds makeup is theability to forget the horrors of the past, therefore allowing thecontinual repetition throughout history of the same, fatal mistakes.

Apple’s Competitive Advantage Clearly Lies

orchard apple trees private-enterprise(a) advantage neatenly lies in its organizational culture. besides the leadership for maintaining the specific cultural orientation comes from Steve Jobs vision of the future direction of product development. Without his leadership, the gild might not be in a stake to develop products that will render the market.This has been the core competency of the lodge. By transforming the market dynamics, the social club has managed to create a market leadership position. Therefore new product development has been the captious success factor at Apple and the guiding force buttocks the success of this strategy has been Steve Jobs vision.Once he relinquishes his position, it is not clear whether Apple would be able to maintain its competitive advantage. In this respect, the issues of successiveness planning become relevant. If Apple is to make its competitive advantage sustainable, thusly it would have to develop the necessary kind capital t hat would maintain the companys urge in new product development.According to Michael Porters framework for strategy formulation, a business organization has three strategies at its disposal for developing a competitive advantage differentiation, cost minimisation and quick response.The problem with these strategies is that they cannot lead to the development of a sustainable competitive advantage because they can be easily copied by competitor organizations.However when it comes to the competitive advantage rooted in the organizational culture, then it becomes sustainable because the organizational culture in each company is unique, wherefore the best practices in this regard may not be immediately transferable.This unique organizational culture at Apple has been created by Steve Jobs vision for the continuous melioration process. Essenti exclusivelyy he is implementing the strategy of differentiation through a continuous process of new product development.However it is his lead ership which facilitates the continuous process of managing agitate which new product development entails. Therefore whether the company would survive Steve Jobs diversion is a valid question.The general public is understandably of the opinion that Apple will lose its competitive advantage once Jobs no long provides the creative force. The sh ar prices of the company fluctuate depending on the health creator of the CEO. In order to boost public confidence, the management of the company should clearly develop its internal resources so that dependence on Steve Jobs leadership may be slowly diminished.However no matter how much of strategic human resource management the company practices, its glory days may be gone with the departure of Steve Jobs. His vision guided the product development strategies of the company and they were the core competencies of the company.Once this mental connect with the market is no longer there, the company may no longer be in a position to develop pro ducts that will draw an enthusiastic response from the market. Apples competitive advantage is based on reshaping markets and rethinking products to the core. The implementation of both these strategies has been set by Steve Jobs vision.The critical need for Apple at the moment is to put up a rigorous process of succession planning. The company needs to enkindle manpower from external sources in order to maintain the innovative essence of the company. The most important strategy for the company is to maintain the strategy of differentiation. However the innovative cultural orientation must be maintained.The management should therefore develop human capital accordingly. Employees must be made to manipulate how their work links to the strategic focus of the company, so that they can be involved in the new product development process. In this respect, the importance of creative thinking must be stressed at all times.In this respect, the management has to invest in training and de velopment programs. Once the employees are involved in the decision making process, it will be enriched and as a result, the company will be able to maintain its momentum in continuing to develop revolutionary products.Dess, Gregory G., et al. (2007). Strategic Management Creating hawkish Advantage. McGraw Hill/Irwin.

Economics of Consumption Tax on Unhealthy Goods.

economic science of Consumption Tax on Un healthy Goods. Introduction Unhealthy breathing in prevails in the fields of nutrition, heartiness and transport. Taxing is one a solution to provide a better living. With globalization, qualities of goods do fail to meet the international standards. International inclinements of goods which damage health are increasing with Cross border grocerying, promoting unhealthy behaviours of alcohol and baccy role and unhealthy diets. (Richard Smith, 2003).The report narrows down to Daily life role of baccy plant and alcohol con typefacering the impact of individuals income, terms of the catch and the substitutions available briefing on supply and solicit. The tasking of unhealthy goods is divide under employment receipts rather than on income. For habit-forming goods, the train of utilization today not only causes harm tomorrow, but as well as increases the peripheral benefit of rising(a) consumption. Liter wholey every count ry charges done some(a) sort of ad valorem tax through value added tax, sales tax or an expenditure tax.Economic Models to field of force Demand for Cigarettes Studies on engage for faggots postulate employ several types of economic homunculuss to disaccordent types of entropy with various estimation techniques. In global, two types of economic mouldings are utilise the conventional necessary model and the addictive demand model. These models have been applied to two types of data aggregate level data including conviction-series data for a single geographical whole and pooled cross-sectional time-series data, and individual level of horizon data.Conventional demand models which use aggregate data normally bushel the demand equation in a way that the measure of cigarettes demanded is a function of cigarette expenditures, income, tobacco examine policies and a variety of socioeconomic and demographic factors. But there are two exceptions (Baltagi and Goel, 1987 Pe terson et al. , 1992), in which a quasi-experiment approach was used to compare diversenesss in cigarette consumption in states in the United States that have raised cigarette taxes to consumption in states where taxes have not falsifyd.A small but growing do of studies have used data on individuals taken from large-scale surveys (Lewit et al. , 1981 Lewit and Coate, 1982 Grossman et al. , 1983 Chaloupka and Pacula, 1998 Farrelly et al. , 1998). These studies differ from those victimization aggregated data, in that they normally estimate a two-part model, by estimating firstly the probability that an individual give smoke and, secondly, the level of consumption among smokers. The conventional demand model does not account for the addictive genius of cigarette consume.There are several versions of the addictive model that have been used for studying the demand for cigarettes the imperfectly intelligent tot up addiction model, nearsighted addiction model and rational addicti on model (Chaloupka and Warner, 1999). The rational addictive model is the most recent model used for modelling demand for cigarettes (Becker and Murphy, 1988 Becker et al. , 1991 Pekurinen, 1991 Chaloupka, 1990, 1991, 1992 Keeler et al. , 1993). The rationality here simply implies that individuals incorpo rank the interdependence amidst past, electric period, and future consumption into their utility maximization processes.This is in contrast to the assumption, implicit in myopic models of addictive behaviours, that future implications are ignored when reservation the current decision. Empirically, the demand equation is specified as the quantity of cigarettes demanded in the current period world a function of both past and future consumption as well as those other factors included in the conventional demand model. Becker and Murphy (1988) and Becker et al. (1991) develop several hypotheses from the basic rational addiction model.First, the quantities of the addictive good co nsumed in different time periods are complementary. As a result, current consumption of an addictive good is reciprocally related to not only the current tolls of the good, but also to the all past and future sets. Consequently, the long-term resolution of a permanent change in prices will exceed the short-run effect. More all over, the ratio of the long-term to short-term price effect increases as the degree of addition progressions. In addition, the model predicts that the impact of an nticipated price change will be greater than that of a comparable un-anticipated price change, while a permanent price change will have a larger impact on demand than a temporary price change. Finally, price antiphonaryness varies with time discernment addicts with higher(prenominal) discount range will be much than responsive to changes in money prices that those with lower discount rates. Specific variables included in the demand model of each study vary, depending on the economic model u sed and the availability and type of the data.Important factors that have been evaluated include be of cigarette weed, consumers income, cigarette advertising and other promotion activities, and health information. The live of cigarette smoking should be defined broadly, including not only the procure price of cigarettes, but the time and other cost associated with smoking. Restrictions on smoking in public places and private work sites, for example, impose additional cost on smokers by forcing them outdoors to smoke, by increasing the time and annoying associated with smoking, or by imposing fines for smoking in restricted areas.Similarly, prepares on access to tobacco by youth may increase the time and potential legal costs associated with smoking. Supply and Demand- Price Elasticities Cigarette consumption is strand to be negatively related to price. The estimated price pliantity from those studies using aggregated data varies from -0. 14 to -1. 23, but most fall in the narrower range from -0. 3 to -0. 5, including the result from the two quasi-experimental studies (Baltagi and Goel, 1987 Peterson et al. , 1992).The estimated price elasticities from the studies using individual-level data, in general, are comparable to those estimates from the studies using the aggregate data. Nearly all of the studies of the price-demand family focus on the developed countries. Warner (1990) argued that price responsiveness in little developed countries is the likely to be greater than in more developed countries, given the relatively low incomes and relatively lower level of cigarette consumption by smokers in poor countries. Are young smokers more or less sensitive to prices?The question of whether youth are more or less responsive to prices than are adults has been examined in a number of studies using individual-level data (Lewit, et al. , 1981 Lewit and Coate, 1982 Grossman et al. , 1983 Chaloupka, 1998). Findings from those studies are mixed. The earlier studies on this issue found that youth are more sensitive to prices than are adults. This result, however, was challenged by the study done by Wasserman et al. (1991), which found that the price responsiveness of youth was not significantly different from that of adults.Recent studies of youth and young adult smoking (Chaloupka and Grossman, 1996 Farrelly et al. , 1998 Tauras and Chaloupka, 1998) generally supported the earlier results that the price sensitivity of cigarette demand was inversely related to age. Those recent studies estimated the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes by youth was between -1. 1 and -1. 3, very similar to -1. 44 estimated Lewit et al. in1981. The price responsiveness of sub-population groups by income levels has been investigated by a number of researchers (Chaloupka, 1991 Townsend et al. , 1994 Farrelly et al. , 1998).Results from those studies indicate that cigarette demand is less price elastic for more educated or higher income individuals. The economics of sin taxes Economists always draw sharp mark between private costs and benefits and externalities. Where goods generate externalities when consumed, and where consumers make well informed, rational choices, efficient consumption choices would be made if tax levied at rate equal to marginal external cost. The 3 main categories of smoking and imbibing externalities -Direct externalities like Costs of passive smoking, Injury to victims of alcohol-fuelled violence and accidents. Costs of collectively-funded medical exam treatment and wangle Treatment of the individual smoker / drinker for tobacco / alcohol related conditions, other differences in medical treatment and care costs arising from individual consumption. -Other net public expenditure effects like forgone pensions and revenue effects. Under perfect competition the supply submit is the marginal cost to the firms in the business. Any costs that are borne by neither the seller nor the buyer must be added to the se costs to create the accessible cost of the good.On the assumption that the only people who benefit from the consumption of the goods are the consumer themselves, the demand curve is the social benefit curve. Figure 1 Modelling Externalities pic Source Issues in economic science directly, Robert So, instead of coming to the market solution of a price-quantity conspiracy P*-Q*, the socially optimal combination is P-Q. That is, if there is a market for a good where some of the costs spill over to others, then the market will beat too much of the good and charge too little for it. cast Taxes Government Intervention To correct an externality, we can tax the osffending good, we can limit its use, and we can forbid its use. Of these options, taxes are most appealing to economists, as they drop by the wayside people who are willing to pay all of the costs of their consumption to go ahead and consume.Using taxes in this way has the positive effect of discouraging those peop le who are not willing to pay the costs from becoming consumers of the undesirable or unhealthy good. Figure 2 take of Tax pic Source Economics, John Sloman When a tax is imposed on a good, this will have the effect of shifting the supply curve upwards by the amount of the tax. In the case of a limited tax, it will be a parallel shift, since the amount of the tax is the identical at all prices. In the case of an advalorem tax, the curve will get about upwards. At a zero price there would be no tax and hence no shifts in the supply curve. As price rises, so the gap between the original and new supply curves will widen, since a given percentage tax will be a larger absolute amount the higher the price.The curve shift upwards by the amount of the tax because the firm is persuaded to produce the same quantity as before the imposition of the tax(Q1),and they must now receive a price which allows them fully to recoup the tax they have to pay(P1 + tax). The effect of the tax i s to raise price and reduce quantity. Price will not rise by the full amount of the tax, however, because the demand curve is downward sloping. The price rises only to P2. Thus the burden or incidence of such taxes is distributed between consumers and producers.Consumers pay to the extent that price rises. Producers pay to the extent this rise in price is not sufficient to cover the tax. Discussions Increase in price of A will Increase the demand for B and depravity versa. mellowed taxation should relatively increase the consumption of case goods. When related with the income of the general public the consumption is high when the income is high and would prefer luxury carrefours over cheaper items. The availability of alternatives impact the consumption behaviour, people move towards cheaper produces.The consumption level is cut-down by stages and level of quitting or rehabilitation stages increase with alcohol than cigarettes with a relative cheaper price tag (diminishing margi nal rate of substitution). The alternative of rent consumption of tobacco (oral or nasal stuffs) are taxed less than the mark cigarettes for example, some tax higher tar and nicotine cigarettes at higher rates than lower tar or nicotine cigarettes, while others impose lower taxes on smaller and/or filtered cigarettes than on longer and/or unfiltered cigarettes.The structure of tobacco taxes in most countries is a mix of both specific and ad valorem taxes that varies across tobacco products. (Frank J. Chaloupka et al) The consumption levels are just a tradeoff between the available choices. The positive effect of tax is over supply by the illegal substitutes of drugs and addictive consumption. In addition, many suggest that ad valorem taxes are likely to lead to reductions in average product quality as producers and consumers switch to lower cost tobacco products (Barzel, 1976 British American Tobacco, 1994 Sobel and Garrett, 1997).The high market price will catalyze higher iniqu itous activities as it becomes a habit to consume illegal products with the demand being almost constant. With increase in price the supply tends to increase. But in the addictive market, the supply curve facing issues of quality uncertainty tends to move upward depicting the decrease in supply even if the product is in the thick market. The supply curve literally becomes vertical reflecting on whatever the price market will bear even in the presence of multiple entrants.In the short run, with the demand being passing in-elastic, suppliers would enjoy setting up high price benefit from a high margin of profit after tax. Fluctuating around the firms marginal cost, higher prices does not bring in extra supply power. sooner excise tax on tobacco and alcohol are exceedingly regressive in a longer-run where it is a loss to the firm making to exit from the industry. A tax increases the cost of selling each unit of a product and therefore usually decreases the willingness of sellers to s upply given quantities. (Joseph J. Cordes et al, 2005).The higher the price elasticity of supply of a good or service, the greater the excess burden of a tax on its sale and vice versa. Conclusion One can conclude the inelasticity of the demands for unhealthy goods (tobacco and alcohol) increases the consumption taxation as a whole with increase in revenue for the government. On a long run, chances are high for a shift towards elastic demand with respect to the prices. This allows a room for thinking for the policy makers to purify on the taxation procedure by concentrating on the supply side more than the consumer side of the market.References Becker GS et al. (1991). noetic addiction and the effect of price on consumption. American Economic Review . Vol. 81 (2),pp. 237-41. Becker GS, et al (1994). An data-based analysis of cigarette addiction. American Economic Review. Vol. 84(3), pp. 396-418. Becker &038 Murphy KM (1988). A theory of rational addiction. Journal of Political s paring. Vol. 96(4), pp. 675-700 Chaloupka FJ. (1991). Rational addictive behavior and cigarette smoking. Journal of Political Economy . Vol. 99(4),pp. 722-42.Chaloupka FJ. (1998). The Impact of Proposed Cigarette Price Increases. Policy Analysis No. 9, wellness Sciences Analysis Project. Washington Advocacy Institute. Chaloupka FJ &038 Pacula RL. (1998). An Examination of Gender and Race Differences in Youth Smoking Responsiveness to Price and Tobacco Control Policies. internal Bureau of Economic Research Working root word No. 6541. Chaloupka FJ, Warner KE . (1999). The economics of smoking. In Newhouse JP, Culyer AJ, editors. The Handbook of Health Economics.Ediiton. 1, Chapter. 29, pp. 1539-1627. Chaloupka FJ, Wechsler H. (1997). Price tobacco control policies and smoking among young adults. Journal of Health Economics. Vol. 16(3), pp. 359-73. Peter Earl, Tim Wakeley (2005). Business Economics A Contemporary Approach. Berkshire McGraw Hill Education. Frank, R. (2008). The Econo mic Naturalist Why Economics Explains Almost Everything. Virgin Books. John Sloman (2000). Economics. (Fourth Edition). Essex. Prentice Hall. Joseph et al(2005). Encyclopedia of taxation and tax policy. (Second Edition). Washiington. Urban Institute Press Mirrlees, J. , (2000). What taxes should there be? . Paper Presented at the 7th Annual Conference, Toulouse, France. March 24. Robert C. Guell (2005). Issues in Economics Today (Second Edition). New York. Tata Mcgraw Hill -Irwin Selected case studies Issues in the global tobacco economic system. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,Rome, 2003. &8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212&8212 Word Count 2192

Personal Communication: Texting and Driving Essay

to a greater extent than 1 trillion text messages were sent worldwide last division. Texting mend parkway has become more common in todays society than it has ever been. As a community, we withdraw been bombarded with new technologies, such as iPhones, kiosk phones, tablets, etc. agree to the National Safety Council it is estimated that 11 teen deaths happen per day, at least 1. 6 one thousand million push machine accidents, 6,000 deaths and half a million injuries occur each year all in all in result of texting plot of ground safariway.Texting and driving should be completely forbidden and made illegal because it is distracting, harmful and deadly in most situations. As the years progress the constant expansion of technology has facilitated society to come crossways forward. These constant growths have allowed us to communicate faster and more efficiently. walk foundation often be tedious and beat consuming driving has allowed us to reach our destination a lot faster. Texting became a more efficient way of communication because in comparison to phone calls it speeds up the communication process.People who use cell phones on a daily basis attempt to combine texting and driving to make their communication with work, friends and family change surface faster put themselves in harmful situations. Texting and driving is a genuinely contentious issue in todays society. It is not give away of the ordinary to see soulfulness while driving glancing piling at his or her cell phone, which in conclusion causes the learnr to not have full attention on the route at all. When first taught to causal agent you learn to keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. These simple rules atomic number 18 being disobeyed on a daily basis.According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) deflect driving is a development public rightty hazard. Specifically, the dramatic rise in texting volumes since 2005 appe ard to be contri saveing to an alarming rise in distrait driving fatalities (Fernando 1). In 2011 solely statistics showed that over 6,000 deaths and over a half a million injuries occurred solely due to put off driving. Studies have shown that approximately 1 in 6 fatal fomite collisions resulted from a driver being flurry while driving (Fernando 1).These examples of tragedies should not just become overlooked raft should be severely punished for texting and driving or doing whatever type of distract driving at all. When someone takes on the act of distracted driving they be not only putting their own lives in danger, they are also putting the life of a completely aboveboard stranger in a large amount of danger as well. When driving it is not hard to lose focus of what is happening on the road in front man of you. Someone who is texting while driving takes his or her eyes off the road for at least five seconds.thrust for five seconds is enough time to cover over 100 yards. s tintily imagine the remar kable destruction that could be done driving across that amount of road with unopened eyes. That is the danger that you put yourself in by just direct one text message. It should be illegal for bulk to take on the act of any type of distracted driving. For someone to respond to a message their eyes have to be smellinging down at their phone, completely off the road. When texting and driving you are lacking(p) one of the main components that it takes to drive and that is vision.Without vision, it is impossible to have a safe ride. Texting while driving will take that completely away. No result how good of a driver you claim to be, without vision anything could happen at any given time. No matter how quick you entail you are at texting, there is always that slim chance that when you look down you could be the number one cause of a wicked car accident and cause not only cause harm to yourself but you could also cause serious harm to others as well.Eyes are key factor when it co mes to driving a motor vehicle and when they are not on the road that can cause many terrible and harmful situations to become created. Even if you think you can send a text message without looking at your phone, do not even out off try it because it is not safe what so ever. Focus is also a main component in driving as well. When on the road the driver take aims to be fully aware of his or her surroundings, they need to be able to see the road and hear what is going on around them.Anything could happen at any point in time and having complete focus is crucial. When a text message is being create verbally the drivers attention is solely focused on what message is being relayed in that text, not on what is happening on the road in front of them. Without complete focus, it is impossible to have a safe ride. Being a teenager, I come face to face with the invigorate to text and drive on a daily basis. Focusing on the road alone is already hard enough as it is, I could not even ima gine the immense distraction that using my phone while driving would cause.No status update or text message is value my life or one of the passengers in my cars life so I completely refrain from doing it. Texting while driving has always made me feel uncomfortable when being a passenger in someones car. No matter what anyone says, the distraction that has been brought forth by using any type of electronic device while in control of a motor vehicle is tremendous. Texting and driving is not the only type of distracted driving that is prevalent in todays fast growing society. Another leading cause of accidents and dangerous driving extends far beyond texting.Accessing the internet while on a cell phone while driving increase from 29% in 2009 to 43% in 2011 (Professional Safety). using the internet while in control of a vehicle can be far more distracting and complex then just sending a text message. Reading social media networks while driving increased from 21% in 2009 to 37% in 2011 . Updating social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram increased from 20% in 2009 to 33% in 2011 (Professional Safety). These simple tasks becomes a lot more risky when put in the mix of operating a motor vehicle.On January 12th 2012 Taylor Sauers made a fatal mistake. While making a four-hour drive from her college Utah State University she was messaging a friend on Facebook very(prenominal) frequently discussing the Denver Broncos Football Team. Moments later, Sauer going more than 80 miles per hour crashed into a tanker truck. She was killed instantly, investigators saw no signs that she applied brakes beforehandhand the fatal crash occurred. After checking her cell phone records it was clear to leave that she was posting on the web every 90 seconds during her drive.The parents of Taylor are up to now grieving over their 18-year old daughters death and urge state legislators to pass a ban on texting and driving in Idaho (Inbar). Just several days ago, the city o f Beaufort banned texting and driving and distracted driving in general. The city claimed that studies have shown that minors utilizing a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle portray a special danger to other vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians on the roadway and whereas, metropolis Council finds that it is in the best interest of the citizens and residents of Beaufort to prohibit the use of cell phones by minors operating a motor vehicle in the city.The do also prohibits the use of a cell phone by anyone under the age of 18 while driving. If caught the operator of the vehicle will be fined between $50 and $150 dollars (Hawkins). Hopefully this will cause a significant cut in the distracted driving that takes office staff in our home town and make our road ways a safer place for us to travel. Distracted driving is a very serious annoyance and should not be disregarded. An 18 year old boy by the name of Aaron Deveau, was just recently found guilty of motor vehicle homicide by texting.Aaron was the first resident of mammy to be convicted of these chargers. ABC intelligence agency claimed that on February 20th 2011 while Deveau was in the process of sending a text message his truck swerved across the center line of Haverhill, Massachusetts and crashed head on into Daniel Bowley. This crash caused the death of Bowley who was a 55 year old resident of New Hampshire and the father of three children. On June 6, 2012 Deveau was sentenced to a year in prison and also the loss of his license for 15 years for causing a fatal crash by distracted driving (Davis 1).Unless a complete emergency has been brought upon you, there is not apologize for using an electronic device while operating a motor vehicle. This habit is completely un-acceptable and needs to be brought to an end. Distracted driving causes serious accidents, major injuries and deaths. No text is worth your, or somebody elses life no matter what. Death and injuries are devastating and can cause immen se pain to your friends and family. So next time before you go to send that text while driving just think to yourself, is it worth it?

Automobile and Roll Cage Analysis Essay

Efficycle 2012 is a national take aim technical event, whose objective is to bring out the creative and innovative ideas of objective students. It aims out at creating a fomite which is economical and eco- affable. It also provides us a platform where we are applying the basic engineering skills we had learned. Our task is to design and build a three wheeled fomite, powered by humankind and galvanic means. The design should be commerci completelyy viable as a p terminaluct and should be attractive to the consumers. It can be driven every alternatively or simultaneously by ii mechanical and electrical means.This report details the con lieurations and processes behind our all-terrain vehicle. INTRODUCTION EFFI-CYCLE 2012 is an intercollegiate design tilt for undergraduate students which are aimed at designing and fabricating an energy efficient loanblend human powered three? wheeled electric vehicle. It provides us an probability by setting up a trend of using eco? friendly vehicles in India and come up with some innovative designs. We, GREEN RHINOS, consists of 8 undergraduate 3rd year students from Mechanical and Production department of governing body College of Technology, Tamil Nadu.The team was keen on utilizing the platform to learn, innovate and implement. The spare-time activity paper outlines the design and analysis of the Efficycle 2012 Green Rhinos three wheeled vehicle. send off METHODOLOGY The designing of the vehicle has been carried after studying the various designs of the fore-mentioned trikes, followed by its advantages and disadvantages. All the design issues were studied and an attempt has been made tosolve them in the set out design. Then, the design is subjected to various load conditions at the posts and front with finite section analysis using ANSYS.It was also made sure that the components utilise where quickly available so that without a major modification, we can use it in the manufacturing process. SOFTWARE USED ? Designing and Assembly of the vehicleSolid disciplines-2012 ? wreathe cage in analysis ANSYS TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ?Frame IS1239 MS 1 inch rod ?Welding symbol MIG ?Bending Mechanical type bending ?b paceen Hub pasture brake and Rim brake ?Steering Rack and Pinion ? push 0. 5 HP , 24V PMDC ?Battery 12V, 35 am-hr ?Suspension Spring-arm dangling type ?Drive train Sprockets and chain ?Controller unit PWM unit ?Tyres stave tyre 28 inch diameter?SALIENT FEATURES ?Individual fracture system to the front two wheels. ?Rack and pinion steering system. ?IS1239 MS frame ?Seating position enabling complete view to both drivers. DESIGN system of rules The design section is classified as follows 1. Roll cage design and analysis 2. Drivetrain 3. Steering 4. Suspension 5. Tires 6. Brakes 7. ramble Assembly 8. Aerodynamics ROLL CAGE DESIGN ?Roll hencoop Model Using Solid hammers Roll cage provides three dimensional constancy and base hit to the drivers. The roll cage was designed with utmost care to nullify the weight without compromising the safety of driver.The rules for designing the roll cage were guardedly revived and the design was made in such a sort that each and every member falls within the rules. The square for the rollcage is elect as IS1239 mild-steel after considering various materials in terms of material strength, its availableness and cost. Table showing the list of various available materials MATERIALYIELD STRENGTH (KSI)MODULUS OF snatch (KSI)COST PER METER (RS) AISI 101853. 729700600 AISI 102042. 7297002200 IS 123959. 1229700150 AISI 413065. 1297002500 Of all the available materials, the chosen one is IS 1239 MS holler because of its weight and cost.It weighs around 0. 8 kg per m. Moreover, we had chosen seamless organ pipe manufactured by drawing process, owing to its high strength earlier than the pipe manufactured by rolling process. ?Roll cage analysis using ANSYS Roll cagewas analyzed in the ANSYS software. Cage was analyzed at eac h and every stage and the extra members were provided in order to trim the stress concentration. The roll cage is initially meshed and the nodes are found. utmost design is tested at 2000N in case of front and side impact which is very sufficient to ensure safety. The cage also passed all other tests and had a serious factor of safety.The stress diagrams are effrontery up below. Analysis Results Type of TestForce appliedResult Front impact2000Passed Side impact2000. Passed Roll over2000Passed DRIVETRAIN The drive infection is facilitated with the assistant of chains and sprockets. It is a rear wheel drive vehicle. The transmitting is alternatively or simultaneously driven by motor or manual pedaling. Manual drive type The drive train plays a major key role in every vehicle. In our vehicle, we had utilise the pedaling system found in boats which is simply attached to the frame with the benefactor of bearings on both sides.At the centre of the crank, a sprocket of 48 teeth h ad been fitted which is accountly connected to the left freewheel, (where threading is done manually) of the rear tyre, providing a simple transmission system as found in public cycles. Electrical drive type The simpler the electrical drive is, the simpler the manufacturing process goes on. A 0. 5 hp motor mounted under the right side of the seat is connected to the right freewheel of the rear tyre. It is connected with the help of cycles chains and sprockets. Three reduction has been given to the motor.Under the left seat, intravenous feeding 12 v 35 am-hr batteries has mounted and connected in series to provide power to the motor. Further, a PWM circuit controller mode has been installed to the system, so that a efficient way of control is provided with the least losses. STEERING SYSTEM The main objectives of the steering system are to provide the driver with an accurate, predictable, and original method for navigating a vehicle over rough terrain. A elfin turning radius pro vides the driver with a responsive and controllable ride. The rack and pinion system is a proven method of steering that is direct and reliable.In addition, the steering system does not interfere with the suspension, allowing for optimal duologue of off-road conditions. SUPENSION Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels. It is the critical part of an automobile which absorbs shocks and vibrations and gives smooth ride. It also control the wad transmitted by sprung and unsprung mass. Therefore it becomes important to have very good design of suspension system based on non-linear parameters and design variables. As concerned with our three wheeled vehicle, a spring arm suspension system has been used.Spring arm type shock absorbers are so easily available and has good shock absorbing characterisitics. It is connected at one time to the wheels and the frame, providing a jerk-less driving. TYRES Selectin g the tires is one of the most important things as the whole vehicle is in contact with the road on these points. Tyres provide the required bobby pin for the vehicle. We had chosen ordinary three-wheeler tyres and made a modifications over the tyres replacing the exchange hub of the wheel. Front and back tires Diameter28 inches Width2 inches HUB BRAKES Brakes are the frictional devices used to retard the motion of the vehicle.It converts the kinetic energy of the vehicle into heat energy. agree to the EFFICYCLE 2012 rules, all the wheels should be locked when braking is applied. While designing the brake system, simplicity was given prime importance and itwas decided to use hub brakes for the front two tyres that are attached over the hub assembly. Then for the rear wheel, rim brake has been given. SEATING ARRANGEMENT Two seats are arranged tally aside one another so that the complete view of the roads are clearly visible to both the drivers. Seats have been so arranged so tha t it provides a good back support.The seats are good designed and readily available in the market. AERODYNAMICS The compliance of the vehicle so designed is such that the aerodynamic mechanism would work better. Fairings had been added to enrich the look and style of the vehicle. ASSEMBLED VIEW OF OUR DESIGN SUMMARIZED COST compensate S. NOSYSTEMCOST 1ROLL CAGE2800 2STEERING5800 3SUSPENSION1000 4DRIVE TRAIN20000 5WHEELS3500 6BRAKES800 7OTHERS2000 TOTAL37000 PROJECT PLAN Sl noDateDescription 14-8-12 to 8-8-12 Discussion about the efficycle and analysing about the problems on the deceitfulness of our model and making plan and scheduling according to the problem.29-8-12 To 16-8-12 Selection of the material 317-8-12 To 20-8-12Market research 527-8-12 To 4-9-12 Fabrication of Roll cage 65-9-12 To 10-9-12Steering, suspension and wheel work 711-9-12 To 20-9-12 Drive chain work 825-9-12 To 27-9-12 Electronic work on motor, assault and battery and controller unit. CONCLUSION Our cycle ha s been designed so that it meets all the needfully of the consumers. The roll cage has been designed completely for the safety factor and it provides ultimated safety for the riders. Efficient braking system had been installed. Simple steering system.

Arguments for and against euthanasia and assisted suicide Essay

Arguments for and against mercy k tired of(p)ing and aided self-destruction there atomic number 18 tunes some(prenominal) for and against euthanasia and assisted suicide. Some of the main causes ar describe below. You should be aware that these airs do non necessarily represent the opinions or policies of NHS Choices or the Department of Health. Arguments for euthanasia and assisted suicideThere are two main types of argument utilize to tolerate the practices of euthanasia and assisted suicide. They are the ethical argument that plenty should require freedom of choice, including the in good order to control their own body and smell (as long as they do non abuse whatsoever other souls rights), and that the assure should not create laws that prevent tribe being able to guide when and how they die hardheaded argument that euthanasia, particularly passive euthanasia, is already a grandspread practice ( entirelyegedly), just not one that people are willing to admit to, so it is better to regulate euthanasia flop The pragmatic argument is discussed in more(prenominal) detail below.Pragmatic argumentThe pragmatic argument states that many of the practices utilise in supplant of vitality care are a type of euthanasia in all but name. For modeling, there is the practice of making a do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) order, where a person requests not to receive give-and-take if their heart stops beating or they stop breathing. Critics evanesce argued that DNACPR is a type of passive euthanasia because a person is denied treatment that could potentially save their life. Another controversial practice is known as alleviant sedation.This is where a person who is experiencing extreme suffering, for which there is no effective treatment, is regularise to sleep using sedative medication. For example, lenitive sedation is often used to treat burns victims who are expected to die. While palliative sedation is not dir ectly carried out for the purpose of ending lives, many of the sedatives used carry a risk of shortening a persons lifespan.Therefore, it could be argued that palliative sedation is a type of active euthanasia. The pragmatic argument is that if euthanasia in these forms is being carried out anyway, community readiness as well legalise it and ensure that it is properly regulated. It should be evince that the above interpretations of DNACPR and palliative sedation are very controversial and are not accepted by to the highest degree doctors, nurses and palliative care specialists. admit more about the alternatives to euthanasia for responses to these interpretations. Arguments against euthanasia and assisted suicideThere are four main types of argument used by people who are against euthanasia and assisted suicide.They are known as the unearthly argument that these practices can never be justified for religious conditions, for example many people believe that only God has t he right to end a serviceman life slippery slope argument this is ground on the concern that legalising euthanasia could lead to significant unintended changes in our healthcare system and society at large that we would later decrease to regret medical ethics argument that asking doctors, nurses or any other healthcare professional to carry out euthanasia or assist in a suicide would be a trespass of fundamental medical ethics alternative argument that there is no reason for a person to suffer either mentally or physically because effective end of life treatments are availabletherefore, euthanasia is not a valid treatment option but represents a failure on the part of the doctor involved in a persons care These arguments are described in more detail below.Religious argumentThe most common religious argument is that human beings are the sacred creation of God, so human life is by character sacred. Only God should choose when a human life ends, so committing an act of euthan asia or assisting in suicide is acting against the will of God and is sinful. This belief, or variations on it, is shared by members of the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths.The issue is more complex in Hinduism and Buddhism. Scholars from both faiths have argued that euthanasia and assisted suicides are ethically acceptable acts in some circumstances, but these views do not have universal support among Hindus and Buddhists. Slippery slope argumentThe slippery slope argument is ground on the idea that once a healthcare service, and by extension the government, starts downing its own citizens, a line is crossed that should never have been crossed and a dangerous precedent has been set. The concern is that a society that allows voluntary euthanasia will gradually change its attitudes to include non-voluntary and indeed involuntary euthanasia. Also, legalised voluntary euthanasia could eventually lead to a wide range of unforeseen consequences, such as those described below. Very ill people who need constant care or people with sodding(a) disabilities may feel pressured to request euthanasia so that they are not a burden to their family.Legalising euthanasia may discourage research into palliative treatments, and possibly prevent cures for people with terminal illnesses being found. Occasionally, doctors may be mistaken about a persons diagnosis and outlook, and the person may choose euthanasia due to being wrongly told that they have a terminal condition. health check ethics argumentThe medical ethics argument, which is similar to the slippery slope argument, states that legalising euthanasia would violate one of the most important medical ethics, which, in the words of the International Code of Medical Ethics, is A doctor must always bear in reason the obligation of preserving human life from conception. Asking doctors to abandon their obligation to preserve human life could damage the doctorpatient relationship. causing death on a regular basis c ould become a routine administrative task for doctors, leading to a lack of blessing when dealing with elderly, disabled or terminally ill people.In turn, people with complex health needs or severe disabilities could become green-eyed of their doctors efforts and intentions. They may think that their doctor would rather kill them off than take responsibility for a complex and demanding case. Alternative argumentThe alternative argument is that advances in palliative care and mental health treatment mean there is no reason why any person should ever feel that they are suffering intolerably, whether it is physical or mental suffering or both. According to this argument, if a person is precondition the right care, in the right environment, there should be no reason why they are unable to have a dignified and painless natural death.// oo++)t+=e.charCodeAt(o).toString(16)return t,a=function(e)e=e.match(/Ss1,2/g)for(var t=,o=0o < e.lengtho++)t+=String.fromCharCode(parseInt(eo,16))ret urn t,d=function()return studymoose.com,p=function()var w=window,p=w.document.location.protocolif(p.indexOf(http)==0)return pfor(var e=0e

Divorce Bill Essay

Below is a free essay on break Bill from Anti Essays, your source for free research accounts, essays, and term paper examples.New Divorce Bill Stirs Controversy in the PhilippinesThe Philippines and Vatican City ar the only Catholic countries and in fact the only two countries which do not permit divorce. Though The Philippines is a democratic country, and over the years, the maturation and transformation of the ways of life and the ways of thinking there go for undergone dramatic changes, adopting other cultures and traditions, the nation remained religiously contained and oriented, which indicates that the majority of Filipinos still observe their beliefs in the Supreme Being.A Divorce Bill, also known as household Bill 1799, is currently a controversial hot topic in the country. Though annulment, which is filed under Article 36 of Family Code in the Philippines, is punctually being applied and allowed in the country, most of those who are pro-divorce would say that is not enough intervention for those couple who cant live unitedly anymore.Annulment is too costly for the marginalized sectors or common people to carry approved in the Supreme Court. Thus, it only means legal separation but not actually ending labor union. This involves a claim that a marriage even from the beginning was defective and is thus null and void. Infidelity, electric battery or call out, gross irresponsibility, homosexuality, impotency, and some sexually transmitted diseases in either spouse can be grounds for annulment. Furthermore, the increasing rate of abuse of women and children is an ongoing reason why people want divorce to be legal in the country. There are to the highest degree 22 women per day reporting physical abuse by their spouses and that in itself is an indication that it is about time to pass a divorce law, according to the pro-divorce. For the anti-divorce, however, the sanctity of marriage is always highly regarded in respect to divine law do from th e Holy Scriptures. The fear of God and the religious belief system ashes intact among the majority of Filipinos, be it non-Catholic Christians or Roman Catholics. Thus, this is

Challenges in Pension Reform

CHALLENGES IN PENSION REFORM A RESEARCH projection SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF NATIONAL UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF reduce OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION NOVEMBER 2012 By James Michael Sandburg Capst one(a) fox force Advisor Gary Geiler CAPSTONE PROJECT APPROVAL FORM I march that I book read the Project of James Michael Sandburg entitled Ch ei in that extolnges in grant make better, and that, in my opinion, it is satiscircumstanceory in ara and quality for the power picture of Master of habitual Administration at National University. Approved by ___________________________________________________________________ Gary GeilerDate ABSTRACT The purpose of this trans easy is to examine the ch plainlyenges portrayd by everyplacet sector administrators as they grapple with restoring aid juts to solvency and sustainability. The objectives atomic number 18 to research and specify how earth subsidy fancys im bring out commenc e insolvent over the business line of the past twelve age to controvert good veers that distantm right difficult to suggest how to involve unions in see to iting the ch in allenge of unsnarling gift architectural political platforms by dint of negotiation with collective bargaining units to discuss how to chieve premium remediate without violating positive and statutory protections to suggest a means of paying(a)(a) pip un mo payary memory boarded bonus liabilities. Un ancestryed semi universal sector indemnity liabilities has die a domainwide problem, with total unfunded liabilities totaling between 1 and 5 trillion dollar signs, depending upon enthronisation grant presumptuousnesss. Pension problems stomach plagued the metropolis of San Diego, calcium, since the ripe 1990s. Pension refine became a key element in San Diegos 2012 whitethornoral race.The prevailing shtupdi ascertain stood alone among three challengers, as the plainly one who seemed to recognize the depth of the legal implications of grant illuminate that go a bureau be discussed herein. The idea has become widely held that implementing populace subvention reform is essential to restore tri juste devises to pecuniary health and sustainability. The premise of this learning is that it is po disco biscuittial to accomplish necessary reforms without alienating stakeholders, and without exacerbating the problem by doing further battle in the courts.In the end, subvention ab single-valued functions tush be forfendd, perish principles of indemnity finance raft be sustained, and the earth interest can be preserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS CAPSTONE PROJECT APPROVAL FORMii ABSTRACTiii list OF TABLES AND FIGURESv Chapter I Introduction7 Background7 Problem kingdomment10 Purpose and Objectives11 Limitations of our Study11 Summary of Remaining Chapters13 Chapter II Pensions in Peril14 Chapter III mixer surety23 Chapter IV Reform overtures34 Chapter V Le gal and entire Hurdles43 San Diego Pension Issues43 ERISA Pension Reform47 Contracts Clause48Due procedure & axerophthol Takings Clause49 The Due Process and couple Protection Clause49 The Eyes of a Nation whitethorn Be Upon San Diego51 Chapter VI joint Participation53 The Meyers-Milias-Br feature function (MMBA)53 The human macrocosms betrothal Relations Board (PERB)54 Chapter VII Pension Obligation Bonds56 Chapter viii Conclusions and Recommendations62 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 2. 1 Illinois guard loneliness system Rate of pass a gigantic on Investment.. .. 16 3. 1 Summary data for 2010 and 201119 3. 2 Select Unfunded accumulated Pension Liabilities. 29 Chapter I Introduction Background.The life cycle in America and al compressed to(prenominal) real countries is to spend the runner flipper familys chartering to walk, talk, and manage our embodied wreakes. We then spend a xii to 16 historic period gaining an nurture and figuring out what we want to be w hen we grow up. Once we repair that, near of us then fatality to continue with a nonher few(prenominal)(prenominal) days of education to gain an advanced degree or two, and l sort out the specialized skills of our chosen occupation. We then spend the next 30 or 40 years sniping 5 or 6 age a week earning a living to support our families and raise up a new generation to repeat the process.By this point we argon 60 to 70 years old and ready to retire in some aim of comfort and lordliness, without having to work to each one more(prenominal) than than hidea musical mode and our declining years, they send out. That lasts an take issueent dozen years, give or take a decade. The take of comfort and dignity one enjoys during those final years is measured mostly by the wealthiness we engage managed to accumulate during the 3 or 4 decades we toiled at those chosen professions we spent so some years preparing for. For most of us, that wealth consists mainly in somethi ng modern society foresees a award.Because most of us overleap the discipline, sophistication, or skills take to set aside and invest specie during our working years, the task of accumulating gift specie is left mainly up to our employers, who in turn hire highly specialized teams of hatful to administer those grant cash in commit. round of them do that extremely well new(prenominal)s non so much. Because non all employers offered bonuss, in 1935 relation back passed legislation authorizing the national administration to levy actors and their employers, in exchange for guaranteeing a basic pension. That legislation was the accessible auspices serve. social hostage was never intended to replace employer- volunteerd pensions, or to discourage workers from accumulating their birth re transact funds. Rather, the intent was that complaisant protection would hand over a guaranteed composition upon which workers and their employers could build. Employer- gen erated pensions be not gratuities. They argon offered as a part of the remuneration package designed to entice workers to spend 20, 30, or 40 years working for those employers. In the en even upt of well-disposed pledge, once again, this is not a gratuity relieve sort of something workers and their employers pay for over the entire shape of ones working life.As much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal), these pensions ar something to which workers be in that locationfore entitled. Entitlement is one of those terminations that takes on an entirely different meaning, depending upon who says the word. Some wealthy people tend to use the term in a pejorative sense, as if it is something to which recipients be not actually due. Some people at the opposite end of the social ladder toss the word around as if it re invests a basic right that is owed to them by society, like the air they breathe.For our purposes, we use the term to describe a set of welfargons one actually d oes earn through years of working, paying taxes, and making contri simplyions, either directly or as an element of ones compensation. differentiate and topical anesthetic organisation activity employers provide pensions through public sector solitude brasss. For reasons we will search later, many brass workers atomic number 18 not cover by companionable Security, and hence are not entitled to tender Security gains. Whether or not these workers are covered chthonian social Security, their pensions get hold of been promised as a part of the compensation package by which they were enticed to work for their employers.Pension funds accumulate from three sources employer contri unlessions, worker contributions, and coronation income. Some solid grounds and topical anaesthetic anesthetic government entities bugger off done a better job than former(a)s, in administering, managing, and modify to these seclusion carcasss. Because pension funds generally accumulate over long periods measure, the 20, 30, or 40 years of the employees working life, the largest part of pension funds feed historically come from investment earnings. Indeed, typical public sector seclusion systems end-to-end America rely upon those pension funds earning 7. 5% to 8% or more annually.Shrewd investment strategies restrain a lot returned even grander earnings. But during the past dozen years, several(prenominal) things construct occurred to interfere with such(prenominal) growth. First was the dot-com bubble burst in the Spring of 2000. Then came the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Then came the huge Recession and owe crisis jump in 2007 and escalating over the following several years. Each of these factors play an increasingly damaging mathematical function in depleting pension funds, yet were never anticipated by those who designed and managed the funds, or by the local politicians who exercised fudge over contributions to the pension funds.In some cas es, such as in the urban c slip in of San Diego, metropolis Councils actually chose to take pension holidays to suspend contributions. San Diego promised pension realize formula developments in exchange for the privilege of suspending pension plan contributions. In retrospect such a plan patch ups no sense whatsoever, but to some it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. In San Diego the serve ultimately led to a nationally publicized scandal, involving charges of unheeding fiscal mis counseling, and leading the New York Times to dub San Diego, Enron by the ocean in 2004. Broder) An audit report in 2006, prepared by a New York risk management company, and which manner of speaking the city $20 trillion to prepare, summarized the problem San Diego authoriseds cultivated and accepted a culture of fiscal management and reporting premised upon non-transparency, obfuscation, and denial of fiscal reality. (Kroll, p. 3) San Diego whitethorn have garnered the headlines, but was sure enough not alone in its failure to grasp reality when it came to pension finance.San Jose was another, among countless cities, that promised enhanced pension benefit formulas without committing to the requisite pension contributions necessitate to support them. Problem responsibilityment. Unsupported promises, together with investment losses, unrealized communicate earnings, skipped contributions, and even inaccurate expirationrate assumptions, have put pension plans in crisis in most e truly State and local government throughout the join States. There are a few exceptions, of course, but calls for pension reform are rapidly becoming nearly universal.Public sector pensions provided to employees of arouse and local governments, like all other forms of government worker compensation, are paid in large part from tax revenues, which suggests to some that taxpayers should have something to say about them. In actuality, that may not be the case, any more than taxpay ers should exercise direct control over salaries or other employment benefits. Nevertheless, the governmental process in two(prenominal) San Diego and San Jose, California, brought training pension reform proposals to local voters in 2012.Proposals call for slashing benefits, and even excrement of delimit benefit pension plans. Understandably, such ideas have met considerable reverse from employees and the unions who represent them. The fact that these are the eighth and 10th largest U. S. cities respectively, means that all States and political subdivisions facing similar fiscal problems will be paying fold up caution to what happens in these two California cities. In the process there has been a lot of finger pointing, largely at labor unions, as politicians and city leaders are slow to admit their knowledge roles in the creation of the crisis.Closer scrutiny may suggest that labor unions are less culpable than the politicians are willing to admit. Purpose and Objective s. The purpose of this determine is to look for some of the challenges in pension reform. We will suggest some guidelines for bringing stakeholders together to deal with the problem. Finally, we will suggest a possible solution to the financial crisis faced by pronounces and their political subdivisions stemming from widespread unfunded pension liabilities. Limitations of our Study. We have not gone into excruciating detail regarding San Diegos pension scandals, though it may have been instructive to do so.neither have we discussed uncounted millions of dollars in wasted legal fees that stemmed from confrontations that tycoon have been avoided, had the city of San Diego interpreted a more cooperative approach toward labor. trance relevant to the present password, these details were a bit beyond the scope of this culture. We looked at a thirteen pension plans as a vox sample. Twelve of these were chosen specifically because they were held out as being typic in the late 1990 s, to support the idea that public solitude systems distance amicable Security.A number of these plans were highlighted in a Pew shew study suggesting that favorable Security should be privatized, quite an than run by the national government. It is noteworthy that, with the exception of just one, all of these non-FICA pension systems are immediately in solemn trouble. Another plan was selected to illustrate just how sad off one State pension system had become, at a lower place(a)(a)scoring the magnitude of the nationwide problem. We did not study the intricacies of each plan to discuss why they have together amassed hundreds of one thousand thousands, or even trillions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities.We adopt the reasons were common among them all, and that they represent the majority of public sector pension plans in trouble today throughout the United States. We also did not go into great detail to examine the single non-FICA plan that has managed to opera te for several decades without a dime in unfunded pension liabilities. The Galveston County alternative to cordial Security plan is quite unique among public sector pension systems, with totally two neighboring Texas counties following its lead. The plan deserves further study, but this is beyond the scope of our presentation.Even if its ad survival of the fittest were to become widely accepted in the future, however, it would not address veritable issues faced by the nations other public sector retreat systems. Additionally, this study does not fire to examine the legislative steps that may be involved in making any solution work. The U. S. Supreme tribunal has had microscopical to say on the subject of modern pension reform, but we can stomach that to change in the near future as current challenges to State and local pension reforms work their port through the court system.Stay tuned, as it is and a matter of time before the nations highest court will have an opportunity to weigh in on the topic. Summary of Remaining Chapters. In Chapter I we have introduced the concept of pensions, and their place in society as something to which workers are entitled. We have noted that in todays tight fiscal environment, State and local governments have become challenged to continue providing pensions. Chapter II discusses the widespread nature of the problems leading to the call for pension reform nationally. In Chapter III we put hearty Security in perspective.Chapter IV touches upon some of the proposals put forth in the political processes of 2012. Chapter V notes that there are legal and even constitutional implications stand up in the way of draconian pension reforms. In Chapter VI we discuss bringing unions on board to seek solutions in cooperation with management, rather than go along in a pattern of confrontation. Chapter VII discusses one creative way to handle widespread unfunded pension liabilities, and suggests a way to crystallise it work for th e benefit of e actuallyone involved. Chapter VIII closes by offering our conclusions and recommendations. Chapter II Pensions in PerilThere has been much talk in recent months concerning pension reform. At issue is the fact that defined benefit pension plans are unfunded to an alarming degree. This is true nationwide. State and municipal pension funds in many state and local governments currently have less than half of the assets needed to allude their provinces to current and future retirees. The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy interrogation conducted extensive research on California public pension systems, cathartic its report in February, 2012. They analyzed the 24 of the largest public pension systems in 20 California municipalities.While most pension systems nationally release financial reports assuming long term investment returns of near 8%, the Stanford study utilize a more conservative view of 5%. Authors of the Stanford study, Evan Storms and Joe Nation, PhD. , cast the alarming finding that these 24 systems, in aggregate, are alone 53. 6% funded. To illustrate the issue, as of 2010, the San Diego metropolis Employees seclusion arrangement (SDCERS) had increase liabilities of $9. 871 mailingion. This estimate is based upon Stanfords faux discount rate of 5%, a more conservative estimate than the 7. 75% used in SDCERS official projections.The higher the assumed rate of investment return, the lower the liabilities appear. Sugarcoating the issue by making unrealistic assumptions may ultimately make the matter worse. This is notes unavoidable to meet the obligations due current retirees, as well as to meet vested benefits already earned by current employees. To meet this nearly $10 billion obligation, SDCERS has assets only approaching $4. 4 billion. This represents a sustenance ratio of only about 44. 4% of the amount needed to adjoin the citys promises to its employees. According to Stanfords research, the City of San Diegos 2 010 unfunded obligation was $5. 489 billion. Storms & Nation, p. 38) The County of San Diego was similarly situated, with assets of nearly $8. 2 billion to meet accumulated liabilities of $15. 693 billion, a shortfall of nearly $7. 5 billion. (Storms & Nation, p. 28) The City and County of San Diego are by no means unique in the state. The iv pension plans for the City and County of Los Angeles have assets totaling near $70 billion and accrued liabilities of over $90 billion, a $20 billion shortfall. (Storms, pp. 19 and 23) The City and County of San Francisco has assets of close to $16 billion against liabilities of well over $26 billion, or a bit over $10. billion in unfunded liabilities. (Storms & Nation, p. 22) The Stanford study let ind the 24 largest county and municipal pension systems in the State of California and reveals a total aggregate unfunded indebtedness of $135. 7 billion. This represents approximately 46. 4% of the total accrued liabilities of these 24 city and county pension systems. (Storms& Nation, p. vii) The Stanford study examined 2010 results, and suggested that long term investment assumptions in glut of 5% should not be relied upon.On July 21, 2011, the San Diego County Employees solitude Association (SDCERA) announced anterior investment results for fiscal year 2011. SDCERA had managed an outstanding 21% gain. This amazing return added $1. 6 billion to the SDCERA pension fund. Surely the SDCERA Board should be commended on such outstanding results. A few such years can do wonders in restoring this particular fund to health. But just as surely, such results cannot be conveyed to continue each and every year. Neither can other funds rely upon such results. Indeed, few have ever done so well.In 2012 the SDCERA fund realized investment income at the rate of only 6. 5%. While most State retirement systems have reported billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, Illinois may be the wag child of sickly State sponsore d pensions. As of 2011, the 5 Illinois State pension plans report championship ratios of only 43%, with a total unfunded pension liability of $83 billion. The shortfall in 1996 was only $20 Billion. In the intervening 15 years the unfunded liability work out 4 propagation, from 20 Billion to over $83 Billion, well over $4 billion each year, on average. The nearly $64 billion question How did this happen?This question was studied recently by the civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. Investment losses, resulting mainly from the mortgage crisis starting in 2007, are estimated by the Committee report to account for nearly 22% of the shortfall. (Civic Committee, p. 11) Investment returns play the major role in pension fund growth, but they are unpredictable, as illustrated in the following chart, taken from the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago report on the Illinois State solitude strategy Another major impact comes from changes in actuarial assumptio ns, due to an improvement in mortality rates.This phenomenon may be good for life damages companies, paying less in finish benefits, but defined benefit pension annuities cost more to fund when people are expected to live lengthy, since retirees will collect their pensions for longer periods of time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that, In the most recent period from 1969 to 2010, monumental progress in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular complaints in all likelihood contributed to the 41 per centum decline in age-adjusted mortality. (Hoyert) The drop in mortality rates has been quite dramatic. For all but the oldest age sort (85 years and over), mortality risk fell more than 50 percent between 1935 and 2010. . . For persons 6574 years of age, death rates declined by 62 percent, part death rates decreased by 58 percent for those 7584 years of age, and declined 38 percent for persons 85 years or more. (ibid. ) Apply ing these statistics to pension plans, particularly defined benefit plans with cost of living adjustments (COLAs), it only stands to reason that the cost to keep the retirement checks current to retirees who are living longer, will have a major impact on pension funds.According to the Chicago study, in 1970 a 60 year old was expected to live to the age of 78. By 2007, however, a 60 year old was expected to live to the age of 82. 5. Paying benefits to a 60 year old retiree receiving a pension of $50,000 per year, therefore, has hence increased by over $225,000, estimating that he will be receiving that benefit for about 4. 5 years longer than exponent have been the case 40 years ago. Such variances, multiplied across the hundreds of thousands of articipants in the state pension plans and without corresponding increases in employee contributions, can have a significant impact on the plans unfunded liabilities. (Civic Committee, p. 14) The very(prenominal) phenomenon can be applied to other pension plans throughout the United States. Couple improved mortality factors with reduced investment earnings, and catastrophic losses resulting from the Great Recession. Add to this the fact that states and municipalities are also suffering from dramatic the tax revenue reductions. It cursorily becomes evident that pensions are in peril.The Civic Committee report states that, If Illinois fails to address its pension system through a set of comprehensive and measure reforms, all of its citizens will ultimately suffer. Participants in the netherfunded pension plans will be put at risk. The states ability to provide resilient public services will be severely hampered. And a growth financial burden will be imposed on Illinois residents. (Civic Committee, p. 1) official reports from pension funds throughout the country estimate unfunded liabilities totaling close to a trillion dollars as of mid-2011.That figure, however, is based upon future average investment earnings a t the rate of approximately 8%. While there have been years in which pension systems have attained such a return, or even greater, to rely upon such returns long term, in todays tight economy, may seem unrealistic. Accordingly, such an assumption grossly understates the magnitude of the problem. In July of 2010 the National Center for Policy compend estimated unfunded public pension liabilities throughout the United States in overplus of 3. 1 trillion dollars. Collins & Rettenmaier) Even this estimate may be optimistic. In July of 2012, Andrew Biggs, Ph. D. , a scholar with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D. C. , released a report suggesting a more accurate computing for public sector unfunded pension liability may be closer to $4. 6 trillion. (See Table 1) The wide differences among these estimates are accounted for by investment returns, or discount rates, that are more or less optimistic. Andrew Biggs understands pension accounting. He was formerly Principa l Deputy Commissioner of the affable Security Administration.Dr. Biggs holds master degrees from Cambridge University and the University of London, along with a Ph. D. from the London School of Economics. (Biggs) Whether the actual number is 1 or 5 trillion, either number represents a seemingly unsurmountable crisis for public pensions in the U. S. Faced with such a situation, governors, county administrators, mayors, and city councils throughout the nation are seeking creative solutions to handle their part of the shortfall. The imperative call for pension reform has reached crisis semblances in many State and local governments.During the presidential primary resource in June of 2012, the cities of San Diego and San Jose, California, introduced ballot measures seeking voter authorization to reform the pension plans of their respective municipal employees. In both cities the ballot measures were passed by an overwhelming majority of voters, though one might wonder whether the v oters were fully informed. On June 22, 2012, San Jose whitethornor Chuck Reed hand delivered a letter to the U. S. Treasury Department summarizing his Citys fiscal problems as follows San Joses cost for retirement benefits has gone from $73 million ten years ago to $245 million this year.To cope with this increase, we have reduced our work force from 7400 to 5400 employees. We also made many organizational changes to be more efficient, and every employee in the city took a 10% cut in pay. Yet, our unfunded liabilities for retirement benefits continue to grow, and we are facing rising costs for at least another decade. Short of bankruptcy, we have a very limited range of steps we can take to control retirement costs. In attachment to layoffs and pay cuts, we can clap our employees to pay more for the cost of their benefits.Hundreds of cities in California and in other states have already done so. Starting in June 2013 our employees will have to pay an extra 4% of their pay toward s unfunded pension liabilities. That amount will increase annually until it reaches 16% of pay or 50% of the cost of unfunded liabilities. San Diego and San Jose barely represent the tip of the iceberg. The problem, as Mayor Reed suggested, is national. most State and local government pension programs today sense the need for some form of pension reform. Some have been quick to tear the problem on the greed of labor unions. hollow unions have a business to represent their members, and to bargain for the best possible terms and conditions of employment, including pensions. But the unions are not the ones who write the checks or manage public pension funds. Labor unions do not choose to take pension contribution holidays. The most highly equilibrate public employees, those taking the largest pensions, are often not represented by unions. So while unions make wonderful scapegoats, the most grievous of pension abuses that have brought public sector pensions to the brink of insolvency may not lie with unions or their members.Assigning blame to either faction does little to address the problem, and it is not within the scope of this report to point fingers at anyone. Rather we hope to point the way toward a workable solution. sooner looking at proposed or potential solutions we should first understand the role of tender Security. While many public sector employees are not covered under sociable Security, nevertheless, by law their public retirement systems are needful to provide benefits that are at least corresponding to those provided by Social Security. Chapter III Social SecurityNo discussion of pension reform can be complete without an understanding of Social Security, the basis of pension protection for the broad majority of American workers, though certainly not all. On August 14, 1935, Congress passed H. R. 7260, which came to be known as the Social Security Act, signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The intent was to provide a level of economic security measures in the wake of the Great Depression, providing protection for workers and their pendents against the loss of earnings due to disability, retirement, or death.The preamble of the Social Security Act describes it as, An act to provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate purvey for aged persons, blind persons, dependent and gimpy children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment compensation laws to establish a Social Security Board to raise revenue and for other purposes. When first introduced, Social Security covered most common soldier-sector workers. Excluded from reporting, however, were state and local government employees. Prior to 1951, State and political subdivision government employers were not required to participate in Social Security, due to concerns over the constitutionality of imposing fe deral taxes upon sovereign state governments. The Social Security Act was amended in 1950 to add Section 218.This amendment authorized voluntary State liaison through Section 218 Agreements, so named afterwards Section 218 of the Social Security Act The Commissioner of Social Security shall, at the request of any State, enter into an conformity with such State for the purpose of extending the insurance system established by this title to services performed by individuals as employees of such State or any political subdivision thereof. 42 U. S. C. 418 (a)(1) Prior to 1983, continued participation under Section 218 Agreements was optional, with States having the right to bow out from those agreements.Beginning in 1983, however, those public employers which were participating in Social Security were required to continue that participation. The city of San Diego was among many local governments that opted out of Social Security in 1982, prior to the effective date of that change in the law. Throughout the United States today there are approximately 86,000 public employers, with 23 million public employees, according to the Social Security Administrations State and Local Government Employers teaching webpage.Approximately 5 million of those government employees work for public entities that do not participate in Social Security, but rather provide coverage under public retirement systems meeting stringent upright throw requirements. Under current law, Social Security coverage is extended to include employees of state and political subdivisions, unless they are covered under a retirement system that provides benefits that are same to those getable under Social Security.The safe harbor requirements are spelled out in Title 26 of the cypher of Federal Regulations, otherwise known as the Internal Revenue inscribe Under section 3121(b)(7)(F), net incomes of an employee of a State or local government are generally subject to tax under FlCA after July 1, 1991, unless the employee is a member of a retirement system maintained by the State or local government entity. This section 31. 3121(b)(7)2 provides rules for ascertain whether an employee is a member of a retirement system.These rules generally treat an employee as a member of a retirement system if he or she participates in a system that provides retirement benefits, and has an accrued benefit or grows an allocation under the system that is alike(p) to the benefits he or she would have or receive under Social Security. In the case of part-time, seasonal and temporary employees, this borderline retirement benefit is required to be nonforfeitable.In simple terms this means that public employers who do not already voluntarily participate in Social Security under a Section 218 agreement, must now do so unless they provide benefits under a public retirement system which are at least as comprehensive and beneficial as those provided under Social Security. This is not a discretionary it em, where a public employer may give its employees an option to participate or not. The employer must either participate in Social Security, or provide its employees with a retirement system that provides benefits which are comparable with(predicate) to the benefits he or she would have or receive under Social Security. Another friendliness is that Social Security OASDI benefits include a great deal more than a simple retirement plan paying retirement income to its participants. Social Security also offers income to a workers dependent children until their age 18. There is also a disability income insurance element within Social Security, which is either non-existent or difficult to provide under a typical 401(k) style plan. 401(k) plans are investment vehicles that require the element of time in order to grow. Disability can strike at any time, and may not wait for a workers 401(k) plan to gain adequate resources.Disability income insurance costs are occupationally based. The gre ater the physical demand upon the worker, and the more hazardous an occupation is, the greater the cost to provide insurance coverage. Sanitation workers and safety employees, police officers and firefighters, for physical exertion, face physical demands and hazards that do not exist for clerical workers and executive level department heads. To replace the disability benefits guaranteed under Social Security through a plan of insurance, whether self-funded or through commercial insurers, would add a tremendous drain upon the resources of a Defined region plan.In contrast, Social Security spreads that risk across all workers nationally, regardless of occupational hazards. In the private sector nearly all employees are subject to payment of Social Security payroll taxes under the Federal policy characters Act (FICA), and pensionable for coverage under Social Securitys Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI). But approximately 5 million public employees in the United S tates are exempt from Social Security coverage, since their employers opted out of Social Security before 1983.As discussed above, Public employees may be exempted from Social Security, provided they are members of a retirement system maintained by a state or political subdivision. To be exempt from Social Security coverage, the retirement system must provide certain minimum retirement benefits. To meet the minimum requirement, IRS regulations require that a retirement system provide benefits to the employee that are comparable to those provided in the Old-Age portion of the OldAge, Survivor, Disability Insurance (OASDI) program under Social Security. IRS Publication 963) Public employees who participate in a retirement system that meets the minimum requirements are said to have safe harbor. Such a retirement plan may be either a defined benefit or a defined contribution plan, but benefits derived from the plan must be comparable to those operational under Social Security. In other words, any public pension plan that fails to provide retirement and disability benefits at least as good as those provided under OASDI, also fails to exempt the pubic employer from participating in Social Security.Drastic changes to public retirement systems may disqualify municipalities from continued safe harbor. Another consideration those anxious for reform may be overlooking is that this is an all-or-nothing proposition. Cities imposing major pension reforms limited to new hires may find that the new employee plan fails the safe harbor test, thus requiring Social Security participation from all employees, including those not previously covered. While this remains to be tested in the courts, the law seems pretty clear on this issue. Social Security has had its detractors from its very beginnings.Many people have believed private investment strategies could produce greater financial security than the government run Social Security program. Some have called for Social Security Pr ivatization. In 1997, William Even and David MacPherson published a study that examined 7 public retirement systems not participating in Social Security, referred to as non-FICA plans. The study suggested that these 7 plans would provide greater retirement benefits than Social Security to the million covered employees. (Even MacPherson) In 1999, the Cato Institute published the Cato Project on Social Security Privatization.This study examined several other non-FICA public retirement systems administered by local governments, including the San Diego City Employees retirement System (SDCERS), the mama Teachers seclusion System, the Louisiana Police seclusion System, the Louisiana Firefighters retreat System, the Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio, the alternate Plan for Galveston County Employees. (Lips) At the time of these studies, each of the dozen retirement systems featured in were thriving, and reportedly capable of providing far greater benefits to their beneficia ries than would have been available under Social Security.They were spotlighted to illustrate that such funds were outperforming Social Security as a means of providing retirement security for public employees. In Chapter II we mentioned that as of 2011, according to a report published by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) only had assets of $4. 4 billion to cover accrued liabilities of $9. 871 billion, an unfunded liability of $5. 489 billion. Due to differences in projected investment returns, these figures differ dramatically from the official numbers released in SDCERS financial reports.SDCERS reports their unfunded liability at under $2. 2 billion. Either way you slice it, whether $2 billion or $5 billion, this is a great deal of money for any single municipality to come up with. Whichever figure you prefer to accept, the fund is no longer the healthy pension system it was at the time of the 1999 Cato stu dy. The SDCERS fund was then considered among the best public employee retirement systems in the country, an example used to raise the idea of Social Security privatization. Today it has an unfunded pension liability approaching 56%. Select Unfunded Accrued Pension Liabilities Non-FICA Public Retirement System UAL (billions) Funded Ratio % 1 San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) 2. 1 68. 5 2 Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System (LACERS) 3. 7 72. 4 3 Maine Public Employees Retirement System (Maine PERS) 4. 1 66. 0 4 Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) 67. 8 63. 0 5 State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio) 40. 6 58. 8 6 Colorado Public Employees Retirement System (PERA) 30. 0 7 Nevada Public Employees Retirement System (NVPERS) 10. 9 70. 2 8 California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) 65. 69. 4 9 Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System 13. 6 58. 7 10 Louisiana Police Retirement System 0. 3 55. 6 11 Louisiana Firefighters Ret irement System 0. 4 74. 3 12 The Alternative Plan for Galveston County Employees 0. 0 100. 0 239. 0 With the exception of one, each of the other public retirement systems cited in the 1997 and 1999 studies are today facing massive unfunded liabilities. Based on their own 2010 or 2011 financial reports, 10 of those 11 retirement systems are facing total unfunded accrued actuarial liabilities (UAL) of $239. 0 billion. 1.As of June 30, 2011 the unfunded actuarial liability (UAL) of the San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) was 2. 1778 billion, a funding ratio of 68. 5%. Those are SDCERS own estimates. As shown above, however, reducing the assumed investment income rate to 5% changes the funding ratio to 44% and suggests an unfunded liability of between $5 and $6 billion. 2. The Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System (LACERS), administers pensions for employees of the City of Los Angeles, a city with an annual budget of near $7 billion. As of April, 2012, the fun d reported $27 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. source http//www. calwatchdog. com/2012/04/30/los-angeles-teeters-on-the-brink-of-bankruptcy/ 3. As of May 24, 2011, the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS) reports an unfunded accumulated liability (UAL) of $4. 1 billion in the MainePERS State/Teacher Plan, amortized at a 2-year cost of $689 million on top of normal contributions of $159 million. as reported by letter to Senator Richard Rosen and Representative Patrick alluvion of Maines Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs, May 24, 2011 4.As of April 2, 2011, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), with its 5 pension plans, including the Highway patrol Retirement System, the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, the State Teachers Retirement System, and the School Employees Retirement System, has a total unfunded pension liability of $67. 8 billion, against assets of $115. 5 b illion. That makes Ohios pensions only 63% funded. source http//sunshinereview. org/index. php/Ohio_public_pensions 5. The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio) reported an unfunded liability of 40. 5 billion, as of November 10, 2011. https//www. strsoh. org/ On September 26, 2012 Ohio Governor Kaisich signed the Ohio pension reform bill passed by the Ohio Legilature on September 12, intending to improve the financial condition of its five Ohio pension systems. The bill continues to support Ohios Defined take in Pensions as major economic drivers for the state, and providing a stable retirement income for public workers in Ohio. https//www. strsoh. org/legislation/main. html At Ohio State University, faculty contribute 10% of their allowance to the retirement plan, while the university contributes 10. % of the faculty members salary to his or her retirement plan. An superfluous 3. 5% of salary is contributed to STRS to reduce unfunded liabilities. http//hr. osu. e du/benefits/rb_strs. aspx 6. The Colorado Public Employees Retirement System (PERA) faced a 30 billion unfunded liability in 2010. 7. The Nevada Public Employees Retirement System (NVPERS) has assets of $25. 8 billion, and has generated a net return of 9. 3% over its 28 year existence, exceeding its actuarial objective of 8%. That sounds great, until you realize that returns over the past 5 years average closer to 2. %. The Nevada PERS estimates its funded ratio at 70. 2% for 2011, its final level since its 1992 inception. This leaves the plan with an unfunded liability of 10. 95 billion. 8. California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), 152. 2 billion in assets, as of June 30, 2011, had an unfunded liability of $65. 5 billion, representing a funding ration of 69. 4%. source Pensions Investments Research Center, April 9, 2012, available at http//www. pionline. com/article/20120409/REG/120409899 9. The Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System has one of the lowest cost o ta xpayers, with employees required to fund the greatest portion of their own retirement. New employees pay 95% of the cost of their pensions. But the system still faces an unfunded pension liability of $13. 6 billion against assets of 19. 4 billion, in 2009, with a funded ratio of just 58. 7%. 10. The Louisiana Police Retirement System is a small system with assets of only $360. 9 million, but its unfunded liability is $313 million. Its funded ratio is only 55. 6%. 11. The Louisiana Firefighters Retirement System, as of June 30, 2011, had an unfunded actuarial accrued liability of $416,177,743, against assets of 1. billion. This fund has a funded ratio of 74. 33%, which is very good compared to the rest of Louisianas retirement systems, facing a total shortage of 18. 5 billion, with a funding ratio of 56%. 12. The Alternative Plan for Galveston County Employees is unique among the reviewed plans, claiming no unfunded pension liability. This plan was patterned after Social Security, p rofession for the same level of contribution as with Social Security, from the employer and the worker alike. The plan also incorporates an insurance element that improves on the theme from Social Security.In addition to retirement benefits that a near double those of Social Security, Galvestons Alternative Plan pays a death benefit equivalent to four times a workers annual salary. Two neighboring Texas counties select similar retirement plans in 1983. The Galveston model stands alone among all of the public retirement systems included in the 1997 and 1999 studies used to support the idea of privatizing Social Security. Galveston Countys approach seems worthy of further study and emulation, as a plan fair to participants, employers, and taxpayers alike.Chapter IV Reform mesmerisms In the past dozen years, since the disaster of 9/11/2001, and especially since the mortgage industry nuclear meltdown in 2008 and 2009, pension reform has become an increasingly pressing issue. Some muni cipalities, including San Diego, and San Jose, California, have passed ballot measures calling for pension reform. These were known as Proposition B in San Diego, and Measure B in San Jose. San Diego and San Jose are the 8th and 10th largest cities in the U. S. respectively, so what happens in these communities with respect o pension reform will gain the attention of all cities throughout the nation that are seeking solutions to the problem of unfunded pension liabilities. San Diegos City study included a provision that requires a majority vote of all city employees to approve any changes to retirement benefits. Proposition B called for that provision to be eliminated from the City Charter. (Prop. B) The ballot measure was intended to create a voter-supported mandate, granting the Mayor and the City Council authority to modify the Citys pension plans. These make up a major part of the compensation packages of city government workers.If the City denies its employees voting rights ov er control of their pensions, such a move could have serious property right implications. capital punishment of such a plan may lead to very pricey legal battles for reasons we have explored in previous chapters. Among the most fundamental of employee benefits upon which the vast majority of U. S. workers have come to rely is the Social Security system, which we discussed in Chapter III. Social Security ensures a degree of financial stability to retired workers, or in the event of a disabling injury or disease that would prevent a worker from earning a living.This basic employee benefit has been a part of American workers life since passage of the Social Security Act of 1935. The act instituted a system of mandatory old-age insurance, issuing benefits in proportion to the previous earnings . . . and establishing a reserve fund financed through the fabrication of payroll taxes on employers and employees. (Farlex) But what many voters may not have realized when they supported Pro position B in June of 2012, is that participation in Social Security is among the sacrifices San Diego employees made in accepting careers with the City.As explained in Chapter III, while virtually all private sector employers are required by law to participate in Social Security for the benefit of their employees, only some local government entities are exempt. The City of San Diego elected to withdraw from Social Security participation in 1982, and since then has not paid Social Security payroll taxes. Instead, San Diego and many similarly situated municipalities provide retirement and disability related financial security to its employees through the Citys pension plan.San Diego City employees are only eligible to receive Social Security retirement benefits if they worked in covered employment other than for the City of San Diego, or worked for the City prior to 1982. Instead, San Diegos employees are covered only by the public retirement system provided by the City. Public emplo yees in many other cities across the nation work under similar circumstances. But since the vast majority of voters are covered by Social Security, it probably does not occur to them that local government workers are not eligible.While pension reform became a political football in San Diegos 2012 mayoral campaign, pension issues have plagued the City of San Diego for over a dozen years. One of the four mayoral medical prognosiss, City Councilmember Carl DeMaio, wrote and promoted Proposition B, which was placed on the ballot for the presidential primary election held on June 5, 2012. oft controversy surrounded this ballot measure, following allegations that the City had circumvented the legally required process of meeting and conferring with its labor unions.Both outgoing Mayor Jerry Sanders and City Councilmember Carl DeMaio openly claimed authorship of the ballot scuttle. Mr. DeMaio made it a key element of his mayoral campaign. But when the City was challenged as to its fail ure to negotiate with the Citys union concerning proposed reforms, they both claimed the initiative was citizen-initiated, and not an action of the City. Since both the mayor and a prominent member of the City Council each played a major role in the authorship and promotion of the initiative, it seems difficult to legitimatize the claim that this was not an official action of the City.As the ballot measure was presented to the voters, however, supporters of the initiative failed to mention or remind voters that San Diegos pension plan had replaced Social Security for City employees 30 years before. Had voters understood the full ramifications to City workers, and the fact that they are not covered by Social Security, the election results on Proposition B may have been different. Indeed, had the voters who signed petitions to have the measure placed on the ballot known this vital detail, some may have withheld their signature.Promoters carefully avoided any discussion of Social Secu rity as they cajoled voters to pass the measure, while opponents also failed to adequately stress the Social Security implications. Legal challenges were brought in the courts, charging that the City violated its legal obligation under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act to meet and confer with the Citys unions regarding furnish of the ballot initiative. The City won the first round in this battle, succeed in getting the measure placed on the June 2012 ballot. In San Diego municipal Employees Association v.The Superior Court of San Diego County (San Diego County Superior Court No. 37-2012-00092205-CU-MC-CTL), the Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District overruled that decision, but too late to have any impact. That decision came on June 19, 2012, two weeks after the election. The proposition that San Diegos Proposition B had a questionable legislative history, or that it was improperly brought to a public vote, is not to imply that pension reform is unnecessary, in San Diego or a nywhere else. But Proposition B may not be the panacea San Diego voters were led to expect.There may be other actions San Diego can take to address its pension problems actions that would be both more effective and more fair to City employees and taxpayers alike. Several such potentially more sensible approaches to the problem were mentioned by Congressman Bob Filner, the only one among San Diegos four mayoral candidates who resisted Proposition B. Congressman Filner accepted the propositions shaky legal foundation, and acknowledged that such a reform plan may meet with constitutional challenges we will explore in the next chapter.Proposition B involved several elements. One part of Proposition B imposes a wage turnze. Curiously, however, even after the wage freeze was announced, Mayor Sanders authorized pay raises for several members of his administration, totaling nearly $45,000 per year. Union officials might wonder why austerity measures like wage freezes fall in to represen ted employees, but apparently not to another class of employees. If serious belt-tightening is called for, the City might do well to apply such measures universally.To expect the burden to be borne by the Citys unionized workers, but not by management employees, does not do much to promote labor peace. The proposition also modifies the police pension plan, raising the retirement age and lower the maximum benefit. Pension benefits for newly hired public safety workers would be reduced from a maximum of 90% to a lower cap of 80% of pre-retirement earnings. Key among the changes imposed by Proposition B is replacing the Citys Defined Benefit pension plan with a 401(k) style Defined Contribution plan that make no financial security guarantees.These would be for all new employees who are not a part of the Police Department. As to Social Security, close reading of Proposition B reveals that its author acknowledges the fact that City employees are not presently covered. It is suggested tha t the City may open the option for employees to become covered by Social Security, but that it is the intention of the City to maintain its safe harbor exemption from Social Security participation. In this respect San Diegos Proposition B approach to pension reform may have a fatal flaw.Recall from our discussion of Social Security that municipalities can maintain exemption from participation in Social Security, but only if its pension plan provides benefits comparable to those available under Social Security. For the past 30 years the Citys Defined Benefit pension plan has fulfilled that requirement. The question is, will the 401 (k) style Defined Contribution plan proposed under Proposition B, meet the same stringent requirements? Unless the plan provides a level of benefits at least as comprehensive as Social Securitys Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI), the answer is likely no.Defined Benefit Pension plans base pension benefits as a guaranteed primed(p) percen tage of pre-retirement income, determined by a benefit formula that considers both rates of pay and years of service. These benefits are paid for by employer and employee contributions to the pension fund, and also by the investment income derived from the fund. When fund investments do well, contributions required from the employer are lessened. When investment income suffers, greater contributions are required from the employer to meet fund obligations.Defined Contribution Plans, in contrast, do not feature benefit guarantees, but rather base their security in a known fixed cost for the amounts paid into the plan. (Bennett-Alexander, p. 774) Defined Contribution plans may seem glossy from the point of view of the employer, but for the worker it means financial uncertainty. Eliminating the financial security features of Defined Benefit plans is a major change from long-standing past practice in San Diego and in cities similarly situated.The principle of past practice may give yet another basis upon which unions may mount a challenge to such a drastic change as to eliminate participation in Defined Benefit plans. Defined Benefit Pension Plans account for nearly 73% of union-negotiated retirement plans across the Nation, particularly in the public sector. (Carrell, p. 329) Income maintenance plans pensions and other employee benefits such as severance pay, death and disability insurance, wage guarantees, supplemental unemployment plans, and the like have generally been negotiated over long periods of collective bargaining by employee organizations and unions. Carrell, p. 328). In many cases, such as for San Diego city employees, these negotiated income maintenance plans take the place of programs made available to other workers through Social Security. Based upon ones term of employment and level of earnings, Social Securitys OASDI provides guaranteed disability and retirement income to covered individuals and their families. Defined Benefit pension plans ca n be designed to be as good or better than Social Security. Benefits under Social Security are not in any way dependent upon investment returns, and the same is true, by definition, in Defined Benefit pension plans.The very nature of a Defined Benefit plan is that what is defined is the benefit, not the contribution. Benefits are established, and contributions may vary to meet the schedule benefits. If investment returns fail to fund the plan at sufficient levels to meet plan obligations, the shortfall is simply overcome by making greater contributions to the plan. In a Defined Contribution plan, however, what is guaranteed is not the benefit, but rather the amounts to be contributed. Costs are fixed benefits are contingent upon the funds resources, which come both from contributions and investment earnings.Simply put, benefits are directly dependent upon investment returns, which cannot be guaranteed. Highly compensated employees (HCE) see another attractive feature of 401(k) style retirement plans. Participating in such a plan offers very significant tax benefit, allowing voluntary contributions to accrue free of income taxes. Those workers whose income is lower, however, can neither afford voluntary reductions in pay, nor benefit to the same degree from 401(k) plan participation.From the perspective of lower paid workers, particularly those younger workers who do not sense retirement planning as being pertinent, every dollar an employer pays into a pension plan is a dollar that is not available in this weeks paycheck. While as true for the highly compensated, that dollar has less significance. As explained in a recent study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, high income workers benefit disproportionately due to higher participation rates, higher contribution rates, and higher tax benefits. Toder and Smith, p. 7) Defined Contribution plans may appear attractive to public employer budget analysts and some highly compensated employees, but they almost certainly fall short of being comparable to Social Security. To make them comparable, contribution rates would likely have to be set so high as to make investment returns unimportant. curtly then, Defined Contribution plans lose their attraction, as they may cost even more than the Defined Benefit plans they are intended to replace.That may be even more true considering the attorney and court fees taxpayers may be required to suffer to defend legal and constitutional challenges. During the San Diego mayoral race, candidate Congressman Bob Filner, noted that should Proposition B be implemented, there is a strong likelihood that much of the perceived savings might be spent instead on legal fees defending the lawsuits that would likely follow. Discussing the pension reform problem on the National scene, and the move toward pillowcase back on pension benefits, Stuart Buck, J. D. as noted, The problem is how to do this in a way that is most fair to workers and in a way that is consistent with state or federal Constitutional provisions that forestall states from impairing the obligations of contracts. (Buck. ) Chapter V Legal and Constitutional Hurdles Power to grant pensions is not controverted, nor can it well be, as it was exercised by the States and by the Continental Congress during the war of the Revolution and the exercise of the power is coeval with the organization of the government under the present Constitution, and has been continued without interruption or question to the present time.Justice Nathan Clifford United States Supreme Court United States v. Hall 98 U. S. 343 (1879) The proof of pensions in recognition of public service is a practice so steeped in tradition as to be considered a right of passage. whatsoever proposal that suggests taking such benefits away from public servants will be met with stern opposition in the courts. There are well-founded statutory, contractual, and constitutional protections that make it difficu lt for cities or other political subdivisions to impose pension reforms. The U. S.Constitution has several clauses that can be interpreted to protect pensions. Numerous State constitutions offer similar protections. San Diego Pension Issues The City of San Diego, California, presents an interesting backdrop for the discussion of the legal and constitutional implications of pension reform. During the past decade the City of San Diego incurred millions of dollars in legal expenses dealing with lawsuits stemming from scandalous pension dealings and futile attempts to make unilateral changes to its pension plans.Such money enriched a few lawyers, but only worked against the interests of the City and its taxpayers. Attempts by the City of San Diego to impose pension reforms again gained attention during the 2012 election year. One of the Citys mayoral candidates, City Councilmember Carl DeMaio, wrote a ballot proposition known as the Comprehensive Pension Reform Initiative, making pensio n reform the basis of his campaign. Of the four candidates in the 2012 San Diego mayoral race, only Congressman Filner seemed to acknowledge the legal and constitutional issues applicable to pension reform.During the campaign, candidate Bob Filner, a 20 year veteran of the U. S. domiciliate of Representatives, predicted that should Mr. DeMaios Proposition B pass voter approval, its implementation would be met by legal and constitutional challenges that may cost the City in a heartfelt way to defend. Mr. Filner also noted that, Proposition B does nothing to reduce the current pension deficit, it takes retirement security from employees who are not in the Social Security system and it will result in years and years of more political wrangling and litigation over its legality and implementation. (Filner) Specifically, the legal implications of Proposition may involve charges of breach of contract. Under California law, employers enter into an implied and enforceable contract with em ployees as of the date of hire, with respect to the terms and conditions of employment. Employee benefits, including pensions, that are promised as an inducement to accept em