Examine three (3) implications of Americans using the U.S. Court System to settle frivolous disputes relative to the role of litigation in U.S. society. Provide a rationale for your response.

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“Role of Law in Society”  Please respond to the following:

  • From the e-Activity, describe two (2) major functions of law in the U.S. Discuss the success and failure of law in fulfilling your two (2) chosen functions of law in our society. Provide two (2) examples of such success and failure to support your rationale.
  • Examine three (3) relative roles of law in our society from Chapter 1 of the text. Discuss members of society’s level of willingness to follow the law in these roles. Provide a rationale for your response.

 

Respond to this post 50 to 100 word please keep separate

To begin, the text tells us that, “…Contrary to much popular belief, America is not the most litigious nation in the world” (Carp R. A., Stidham R. & Manning K.L., 2014). For every 1,000 people in the United States 74.5 pursue litigation, however, for Germany it is 123.2, and 96.8 in Israel (Carp R. A. et al., 2014). One reason that the U.S. may present a lower numbers of documented litigations is because there is an active effort within the U.S. courts to investigate and abate frivolous, misrepresented cases. Also, there are federal “rules” that forbid one from filing a frivolous lawsuit against another.

One reason for these lawsuits is that some people just possess a devious desire to obtain favor and monetary gain by misbegotten means. Meaning, some individuals possess an exploitative nature which may seek a monetary increase by the means of an unprincipled lawsuit. Another reason for this phenomenon is that once groups of culturally diverse individuals convene, differences grow into disputes which seek their resolve within the courts (Carp R. A. et al., 2014). In regards to American culture, the courts have been looked to as institutions that both punish crimes, and provide civil order.

In response to this litigation mania to U.S. Supreme Court handed down significant decisions which, “…Reaffirmed the imposition of large fines on those filing specious lawsuits…” (Carp R. A. et al., 2014).

 

Carp R. A., Stidham R., & Manning K. L. (2014). Judicial process in America. (9th Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

 

After reading the E-Activity, the functions of law I choose is the peacemaking and promoting social justice. Both functions of law maintains peace and order while treating everyone fairly. Peacemaking success is resolving the future conflict of citizens to avoid any further problems that may arise,while being able to handle them in an appropriate way. Whereas,peacemaking for some individuals is just not realistic which is a failure of the function. Maintaining order,is extremely important. Social control is allowing everyone to be treated equally and valuing diversity. I see good coming from this,since this is what we all ultimately want. A success of this,will reflect on the peacemaking aspects of the law,and enable individuals to welcome one another with open arms. However,a failure is simply the law not having anything to do with social control;it will have to be the citizens.

Statutory law is the type of law enacted by a legislative body such as Congress ,a state legislature,or a city council. This law is addressing the needs of society as a whole. For instance, Welfare Programs and Social Security. As we know,many people try to get what they can out of the government help, so if you have something that is free how likely is that person going to comply with the law?

Administrative law is the decisions and regulations set forth by the various adminstrative agencies of the government. For example, health department and IRS. Filing taxes and having a permit to serve food is rules from both agencies. Although,many people violate both rules on a daily basis.

Criminal law is offenses against the state itself but it is directed towards another person. Murder,armed robbery,etc is examples of this law. Some citizens are willing to follow the law while others violate the law continuosly.

Discussion question 2

“The Role of Litigation in the Lives of Residents of the United States”  Please respond to the following:

  • Compare the frequency of litigation in the U.S. described in Chapter 1 with at least two (2) other countries around the world. Suggest two (2) factors that you believe contribute to the difference in frequency between the countries your chose and the U.S. Provide specific examples of these factors to support your rationale.
  • Examine three (3) implications of Americans using the U.S. Court System to settle frivolous disputes relative to the role of litigation in U.S. society. Provide a rationale for your response.

Respond to this post 50 to 100 word please keep separate

According to the graphic “Who Governs Texas’s Cities?”, which city council best reflects the racial/ethnic composition of its population? Which council diverges the most from its city’s population?

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Select ONE of the following topics to answer for the Lesson Writing Assignment. The writing assignment should be a minimum of 500 words. You should find most of the information you need to complete the assignment in the chapter, but you are allowed to use outside sources as well (such as news articles or government websites). DO NOT simply copy the information word for word from your sources. If you use information directly from the textbook or another source, it should be cited and the properly formatted citation should be provided at the end of the assignment. All assignments will be analyzed with SafeAssign to identify possible plagiarism.

1. Read Chapter 8, including “You Decide: Voices of Texas: A Plural or Single Executive?” and write an essay answering the following questions:

  • How does the power of the governor in Texas compare to other states?
  • What is a plural executive? What is the single executive model?
  • What are the arguments for and against a plural executive?
  • Do you believe that the plural executive is more democratic than the single executive model? Why or why not?
  • Does the plural executive lead to more efficient and accountable government? Why or why not?
  • Do you believe the power of the governor should be increased, decreased or remain the same? Why or why not?

2. Read Chapter 10, including “You Decide: Voices of Texas: Houston’s ‘Bathroom Ordinance'” and write an essay answering the following questions:

  • According to the graphic “Who Governs Texas’s Cities?”, which city council best reflects the racial/ethnic composition of its population? Which council diverges the most from its city’s population?
  • Do you think it is important that the city councils do reflect the racial/ethnic composition of their communities? Why or why not?
  • Why are there so many special districts in Texas? Do you feel cities and counties should do the jobs that special districts do? Why don’t they?
  • Do you think cities and counties should more closely monitor the activities of special districts? Who do you think should be in charge of oversight?
  • In recent years, local ordinances relating to hydraulic fracking, ride hailing services, and discrimination have led to conflict with the state government. Should cities’ lawmaking powers be limited to concerns such as traffic or animal control issues, rather than broader issues?
  • Should the state have the power to preempt or invalidate local ordinances in order to ensure consistency in regulations across the state?

3. Read Chapter 11, including “You Decide: Voices of Texas: What to Do with a Budget Surplus” and write an essay answering the following questions:

  • Do you think that sales and use taxes are a fair way for the state to generate revenue? Why or why not?
  • How should policy makers deal with a projected budgetary surplus? Should taxes be cut or spending increased?
  • In the case of a budget surplus, what arguments would you make to the legislature to increase spending? Where would you increase spending? Why?
  • In the case of a budget deficit, what areas would you target for cuts? Why?
  • Under what circumstances should the legislature tap into the Rainy Day Fund?
  • Why did the Texas Legislature give up the ability to set tuition at state universities and how has this decision impacted you?

Analyze the political message delivered by your chosen media item. In two well-written paragraphs, explain the background of the image, text, or video and explain what bias the message reveals and how. The background paragraph should include who created the media item, when, for whom, and for what purpose.

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Report Issue

Assessment

Time to put your knowledge of the evolving role of the media in political messages to work! You’ve been asked by a popular news organization to create a web article for their official website that will help the public understand the role that media plays in politics. Your product will first explain your analysis of a media item and then describe how the role of media in politics has changed over time.

Steps

  1. Choose a visual, text, or other media item that is political in nature. This list provides some examples of media items you may use and guidance on where to locate other examples on the Internet. Be sure to include the media item, or directions on how to access it, with your assessment.
  2. Analyze the political message delivered by your chosen media item. In two well-written paragraphs, explain the background of the image, text, or video and explain what bias the message reveals and how.
    • The background paragraph should include who created the media item, when, for whom, and for what purpose.
    • The analysis paragraph should explain the bias in the media item. What strategies does the media item use to persuade people? (examples are symbolism and emotional appeal)
  3. Write a third well-written paragraph that answers the following question, in your own words. How have the media changed over time, and how has this affected political communication?

  4. List

    Select one of the following media items for your assessment. Remember, you must provide the source or information on how to access the source with your assessment.

      1. TV Commercial
        Television advertisements from recent elections are readily available from multiple internet sources, such as the

     Living Room Candidate

      1. . Select this image to see a politcal advertisement:
    A flier paid for by the Economic Freedom Fund© 2011 The
    Associated Press
      1. Political Cartoon
        This political cartoon is from the Civil War era; select this image to see a politcal cartoon:

        The Rail Splitter Repairing the Union'–a political cartoon of Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln from 1865.© 2011 The
        Associated Press

        Political cartoons related to recent political events and issues are accessible from multiple internet sources, such as the

     Cagle Post

      1. .
    1. Debate
      This debate excerpt is from the 2008 presidential campaign:

      • MCCAIN: Somehow in Washington today–and I’m afraid on Wall Street–greed is rewarded, excess is rewarded, and corruption–or certainly failure to carry out our responsibility is rewarded. As president of the United States, people are going to be held accountable in my administration. And I promise you that that will happen.
      • LEHRER: Do you have something directly to say, Senator Obama, to Senator McCain about what he just said?
      • OBAMA: Well, I think Senator McCain’s absolutely right that we need more responsibility, but we need it not just when there’s a crisis. I mean, we’ve had years in which the reigning economic ideology has been what’s good for Wall Street, but not what’s good for Main Street.

        (later)

      • MCCAIN: You’ve got to look at our record. You’ve got to look at our records. That’s the important thing. Who’s the person who has believed that the best thing for America is to have a tax system that is fundamentally fair? And I’ve fought to simplify it, and I have proposals to simplify it. Let Americans choose whether they want the existing tax code or they want a new tax code. Again, look at the record, particularly the energy bill. But, again, Senator Obama has shifted on a number of occasions. He has voted in the United States Senate to increase taxes on people who make as low as $42,000 a year.
      • OBAMA: That’s not true, John. That’s not true.
      • MCCAIN: And that’s just a fact. Again, you can look it up.
      • OBAMA: Look, it’s just not true. And if we want to talk about oil company profits, under your tax plan, John—this is undeniable—oil companies would get an additional $4 billion in tax breaks. Now, look, we all would love to lower taxes on everybody. But here’s the problem: If we are giving them to oil companies, then that means that there are those who are not going to be getting them.
    2. Inaugural Address
      This excerpt is from the opening of President George W. Bush’s Second Inaugural Address:

      “On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

      At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical—and then there came a day of fire.

      We have seen our vulnerability—and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny—prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder—violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

      We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

      America’s vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations, we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation’s security, and the calling of our time.

      So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

Prepare your responses to these assignment problems in a word processing file; put financial data in a spreadsheet file. As you complete the assignment problems for each lesson, add your responses to these files.

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Prepare your responses to these assignment problems in a word processing file; put financial data in a spreadsheet file. As you complete the assignment problems for each lesson, add your responses to these files.

Do not submit your answers for grading until you have completed all parts of Assignment 2.

Note: In assignments, show all calculations to 4 decimal places.

Lesson 5: Assignment Problems

5.1 Assume you have $1 million now, and you have just retired from your job. You expect to live for 20 years, and you want to have the same level of consumption (i.e., purchasing power) for each of these 20 years, after adjusting for inflation. You also wish to leave the purchasing power equivalent of $100,000 today to your kids at the end of the 20 years as a bequest (or to pay them to take care of you).

You expect inflation to be 3% per year for the next 20 years, and nominal interest rates are expected to stay around 8% per year.
A. Calculate the actual amount of consumption, in nominal dollars, using the stated assumptions.
i. How much do you need for your kids?
ii. If you plan to consume $1.03 in year 1, how much will you need to have to keep the same real consumption in year 2? In year 10? In year 20?
iii. How much, in nominal dollars, will $1 of retirement funds earn in year 1? Year 2? Year 10? Year 20?
iv. In an Excel spreadsheet (or in a manual table), calculate the following:
a. annual investment earnings for each year
b. total savings after investment earnings for each year
c. subtract annual consumption from total savings each year
d. by trial and error, or with the Goal Seek command, determine the amount of consumption that will give you exactly $100,000, in today’s purchasing power, at the end of 20 years
Hint: You will need to make your annual consumption column dependent on the inflation rate, your investment earnings will grow at the nominal rate, and the bequest of $100,000 will grow at the inflation rate.
B. Do the calculation again using real rates, and setting inflation to equal 0. If you set up your Excel spreadsheet carefully, you should be able to set the inflation rate to equal 0 and enter the real rate of return as the investment earning rate.

Feel free to use the spreadsheet below to help you answer this question.
i. What is the amount of real consumption in year 1? In year 2? In year 10? In year 20?
ii. Show that this is consistent with your calculation using nominal rates.
iii. How much, in real dollars, does that leave for your kids?
iv. Show that your bequest is consistent with the nominal rate results above.

(30 marks)

 

5.2 A. Linus is 18 years old now, and is thinking about taking a 5-year university degree. The degree will cost him $25,000 each year. After he’s finished, he expects to make $50,000 per year for 10 years, $75,000 per year for another 10 years, and $100,000 per year for the final 10 years of his working career. If Linus lives to be 100, and if real interest rates stay at 5% per year throughout his life, what is the equal annual consumption he could enjoy until that date?
B. Linus is also considering another option. If he takes a job at the local grocery store, his starting wage will be $40,000 per year, and he will get a 3% raise, in real terms, each year until he retires at the age of 53. If Linus lives to be 100, what is the equal annual consumption he could enjoy until that date?
C. From strictly a financial point of view, is Linus better off choosing option A or B?

(10 marks)
5.3 Are you better off playing the lottery or saving the money? Assume you can buy one ticket for $5, draws are made monthly, and a winning ticket correctly matches 6 different numbers of a total of 49 possible numbers.

The probabilities: In order to win, you must pick all the numbers correctly. Your number has a 1 in 49 chance of being correct. Your second number, a 1 in 48 chance, and so on. There are exactly 49 x 48 x 47 x 46 x 45 x 44 = 10,068,347,520 ways to pick 6 numbers from 49 options.

But the order in which you pick them does not matter, so you actually have a few more ways to win. You can pick 6 different numbers in exactly 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 720 orders of choice. Any one of those orders would still win the lottery.

Putting this all together, your ticket has 720/10,068,347,520 = 1/13,983,816 chance of winning. This equates to a .000000071 percentage chance.

If you played one ticket every month from age 18 to age 65, you would have 47 x 12 = 564 plays. Your odds of not ever winning would be calculated using a binomial distribution to be .9999599568, meaning your chances of winning would be 1 – .9999599568 = .0000400432.

So, if the lottery winnings averaged $10 million over this time period, your expected return would be less than .0000400432 x $10 million = $400.43.

(It’s less than $400.43 because your 564 plays are spread out over the next 47 years, so the present value of these future plays would be significantly less than if you were able to play all 564 immediately. The $400.43 assumes you play all 564 plays today, which makes it the highest possible expected value.)

REQUIRED:
A. What would your $400.43 be worth if you invested it at 1% real interest for 47 years?
B. If, instead, you wrote down your 6 numbers on a piece of paper, and deposited your $5 in a bank at 1% real interest, how much would you have at the end of the first year?
C. If you did this every year for 47 years, how much would you have at age 65?
D. If you earned 5% real interest on your deposits, how much would you have at age 65?
E. Which option would make you better off at age 65? How many times better off?

(10 marks)
5.4 Use the Excel spreadsheet named “LeasevsBuyCCA.xls” to answer the following question. You may choose to answer the question without using the spreadsheet, but be very careful to show all work, so your marker can follow your calculation and award part marks as necessary.

You want to buy a new car, but you’re not sure whether you should lease it or buy it. You can buy it for $50,000, and you expect that it will be worth $20,000 after you use it for 3 years. Alternatively, you could lease it for payments of $650 per month for the 3-year term, with the first payment due immediately. The lease company did not tell you what interest rate they’re using to calculate the monthly payments, but you know you could borrow money from your banker at an annual percentage rate (APR) of 8%.
A. Calculate the present value of the lease payments, assuming monthly compounding at the given APR of 8%.
B. Calculate the present value of the $20,000 salvage value, again using monthly compounding and the given APR of 8%. Which option do you prefer, lease or buy?
C. Calculate the amount of the salvage value which would make you indifferent between leasing and buying.
D. If you were able to use this car 100% for business, rendering the lease payments tax-deductible, or alternatively, allowing you to deduct depreciation using straight-line depreciation (depreciated to expected salvage value) and assuming your tax rate is 40%, would you prefer to buy or lease the car?

(10 marks)

Do not submit these questions for grading until you have completed all parts of Assignment 2, which is due after Lesson 8.

Lesson 6: Assignment Problems

You may find it helpful to use the Excel file named “Chapter 6 template.xls” to answer the following questions. You may choose to answer the questions without using the spreadsheet, but be very careful to show all work, so your marker can follow your calculation and award part marks as necessary.

In order to ensure that you know how the spreadsheet works, it is recommended that you replicate table 6.5 from page 182 of your textbook before proceeding to answer the following questions. (Note that a completed spreadsheet for Table 6.5 is included with the Excel file as a separate worksheet, so you can check your work.)

6.1 You and your friends are thinking about starting a motorcycle company named Apple Valley Choppers. Your initial investment would be $500,000 for depreciable equipment, which should last 5 years, and your tax rate would be 40%. You could sell a chopper for $10,000, assuming your average variable cost per chopper is $3000, and assuming fixed costs, such as rent, utilities and salaries, would be $200,000 per year.
A. Accounting breakeven: How many choppers would you have to sell to break even, ignoring the costs of financing?
B. Financial breakeven: How many choppers would you have to sell to break even, if you required a 15% return? (Hint: Use the 15% as the discount rate and calculate net present value. In Excel, you may want to use the Goal Seek command, or simply use trial and error to find the correct amount.)
C. Assuming you could sell 60 choppers per year, what would be your IRR?
D. Assuming you could sell 60 choppers per year, what would your selling price have to be to generate a net present value of $150,000 at a 15% discount rate?
E. If you could sell 60 choppers in the first year, and your sales volume increased by 5% each year until the end of year 5, what would the net present value be at a 15% discount rate?
F. If you need to invest working capital equal to 10% of the next (coming) year‘s sales revenue, what would be the effect on the net present value of the project? Do you think that working capital investments always reduce the net present value of projects? (Assume a 15% discount rate, and sales volume increases by 5% each year.)

(20 marks)
6.2 Fill in the missing items in the following table. Assume that the real interest rate is 3% per year, and inflation is expected to be constant at 2% per year.

Year Nominal cash flow Real cash flow
0 –100,000 –100,000
1 + 12,000 ?
2 +22,000 ?
3 +15,000 ?
4 +10,000 ?
Net present value ? ?

(10 marks)