Posts tagged "Founding Principles of America"

Impact of Globalization on Indian Financial Services Industry

BY

Dr.V.V.S.K.PRASAD.,M.Com.,M.B.A.,Ph.D.,

Professor and Head

E-Mail: vskprasad.vempati@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Reforms of the financial sector constitutes the most important component of India’s programme towards economic liberalization.  The recent economic liberalization measures have opened the door to foreign competitors to enter into our domestic market. Deregulation in the form of elimination of exchange controls and interest rate ceilings have made the market more competitive.  Innovation has become a must for survival.

Many  of the providers and users of capital have changed their roles all over the world.  Financial intermediaries have come out of their traditional approach and they are ready to assume more credit risks.  As a consequence, many innovations have taken place in the global financial sector which have its own impact on the domestic sector also. The emergences of various financial institutions and regulatory bodies have transformed the financial services sector from being a conservative industry to a very dynamic one. In this process this sector is facing a number of challenges.

In this changed context, the financial services industry  in India has to play a very positive and dynamic role in the years to come by offering many innovative products to suit the varied requirements of the millions of prospective investors spread throughout the country.

Overview

Reforms of the financial sedctor constitutes the most important component of India’s programme towards economic liberalization.  The recent economic liberalization measures have opened the door to foreign competitors to enter into our domestic market. Deregulation in the form of elimination of exchange controls and interest  rate ceilings have made the market more competitive.  Innovation has become a must for survival.

Many  of the providers and users of capital have changed their roles all over the world.  Financial intermediaries  have come out of their traditional approach and they are ready to assume more credit risks.  As a consequence, many innovations have taken place in the global financial sector. Which have its own impact  on the domestic sector also. The emergence of various financial institutions and regulatory  bodies have transformed  the financial services sector from being a conservative industry to a very dynamic one. In this process this sector is facing a number of challenges.

Growth in financial services (comprising banking, insurance, real estate and business services), after dipping to 5.6% in 2003-04 bounced back to 8.7% in 2004-05 and 10.9% in 2005-06. The momentum has been maintained with a growth of 11.1% in 2006-07.

Impressive progress in information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services, both rail and road traffic, and fast addition to existing stock of telephone connections, particularly mobiles, played a key role in such growth.

      Because of Globalization, the financial services industry is in a period of transition. Market shifts, competition, and technological developments are ushering in unprecedented changes in the global financial services industry. Organizations in this highly competitive and increasingly regulated industry will especially need to focus on making themselves more:

Ø      Adept to face increasing transaction volumes, regulation and the integration of previously disparate global markets

Ø      Agile at identifying and managing risk

Ø      Operationally efficient

Ø      Customer – centric

Ø      Optimized in both business & technology

In this scenario, spearheading IT initiatives has become critically important.

Major spending initiative priorities tend to focus on automation to reduce costs and lessen risk, along with using BPO to gain efficiency and allow internal IT organizations to focus on strategic initiatives. Delivery of these capabilities at a high efficiency level but at low costs is one of the major success factors for any financial services business.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of the present paper is to  examine the status of Financial Services Industry in India and to study the challenges before this industry due to globalization

          To enhance their competitive advantage in this changed environment, financial services institutions are increasingly harnessing new technologies to provide superior customer offerings and streamline internal processes. Today’s dynamic marketplace demands that financial services providers emphasize on technologically advanced, feature-rich solutions, that can operate in real-time and with the highest degree of precision and reliability.

Information technology is increasingly being considered as critical to the strategic direction and the day-to-day operation of financial services firms.

Growth in financial services is being bolstered by the opportunities of demography, emerging markets and ever more innovative products and services. Yet, organisations also face the challenges of mounting competition, more complex regulation and ever more exacting customer expectations. Effective growth strategies are therefore likely to cut across all operating processes and functional boundaries. Key priorities include ensuring that the business model takes full account of customers’ needs, tax, financial and regulatory considerations and the organisation’s capacity to change the way it does business. In turn, the objectives and criteria for success need to be clearly measured.

                    A survey of more than 250 financial services executives carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2006, found that respondents believe that existing customers will be their main source of organic growth. Creating operations that can retain and deliver profits from customers through their lifetime will demand a significant investment in data gathering and relationship management and may therefore require a shift in the prevailing cost-income model. This includes a re-think of training, reward and performance management strategies including a move from volume-based incentives to rewards geared to client satisfaction and the profitability of the customer over the lifetime of the relationship. Success will also require timely and insightful metrics on customers’ evolving attitudes and preferences.

The  Financial Services & banking industry is changing at a fast pace. These changes are throwing up fresh challenges like managing complex technological divergence in a converging market. Banks strive to constantly offer more to the existing customer base. To achieve this, they emphasize on more targeted technology investments and high-quality service. To remain competitive, financial institutions will have to renew their commitment to investing in new technology strategically — to reduce costs, improve efficiencies, and boost revenue-generating initiatives.

Taking full note of these challenges, OFS puts together its banking practice to help financial institutions improve enterprise performance, comply with regulatory mandates, boost operational efficiency, and better serve their customers through OFS’ spectrum of solutions and services derived from proven track record of domain expertise.

The Challenges

Among the key IT challenges facing the Financial Services industry today is:

• Preserving investments in old systems while leveraging new technologies to drive down transactions costs, expand and improve customer service
• Integrating enterprise wide disparate systems to gain operational efficiencies
• Substantially reducing time for deployment of new systems
• Reducing IT costs and obtaining better ROIs for new investments in the long-term

                Only a carefully thought out long-term IT strategy backed by execution, implementation and support capability can meet these challenges successfully.

Today’s financial services firms face mounting pressures on all fronts:

• Credit markets are creating industry turmoil
• Tightening credit guidelines that threaten revenue streams
• Growing reporting and risk management obligations like Sarbanes-Oxley, Know Your Customer and Basel II
• The difficulties of sustaining growth in overly-saturated markets
• Innovative products that address the needs of a diverse client base such as retirees and young emerging and ethnic segments
• Growing concerns over customer data security and identity management
• Increasing competition not just from traditional competitors, but from other organizations that expand their service offerings
• The complexities that arise from mergers and acquisitions and from expanding into the global marketplace

          Whether we are trying to maintain competitive advantage, looking for ways to position our self better for mergers or acquisitions or expanding into the global marketplace, the challenges are as complex as they are varied. And while we deal with these fundamental concerns, we are met with increasing demands from investors, regulators and customers.

The Answers

How do we succeed in this environment? The first step is to ensure that we have the infrastructure and solutions to support our business strategy. With the right systems in place, our organization can more rapidly comply with regulations, operational risk and security issues. We can also open up new product offerings, reduce customer turnover and minimize fixed costs and maximize productivity. In addition, the companies can leverage outsourcing opportunities to reduce overhead, while still enjoying the scalability they need to support future growth or new initiatives.

The process of globalization has paved the way for the entry of innovative and sophisticated financial products into our country.  Since the Government is very keen in removing all obstacles that stand in the way of inflow of foreign capital, the potentiabilities for the introduction of innovative international financial products in India are very great.   Moreover, India is likely to enter the full convertibility era soon.  Hence, there is every possibility of introduction of more and more  innovative and sophisticated financial services in our country.

Realizing all these factors, the Government of India has initiated many steps to reform the financial services industry.

Ø      The Government has already switched over to free pricing of issues from pricing issues by the Controller of capital issues.

Ø      The interest rates have been deregulated

Ø      The private sector has been permitted to participate in banking and mutual funds and the public sector undertakings are being privatized.

Ø      The Finance Act, 1992 has brought into effect large scale amendments in the tax structure of long term capital gains.

Ø      The Finance Act, 1994 has given a further boost by lowering the lock – in period from 3 years to 1 year, in order to get the entitlement as a long – term capital asset.

Ø      The SEBI  has liberalized many stringent conditions so as to boost the Financial Services Industry.

In this changed context, the financial services industry  in India has to play a very positive and dynamic role in the years to come by offering many innovative products to suit the varied requirements of the millions of prospective investors spread throughout the country.

                                                            *****

Dr.V.V.S.K.PRASAD
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/impact-of-globalization-on-indian-financial-services-industry-737929.html

Immigration, Integration, And Criminalization

I was born and raised in the west. To say I knew illegal aliens were an understandment. These people were mostly Mexican fresh from the border. Having crossed over, they sought any kind of employment they could. For many years, they became known to us by a demeaning name as “wetbacks”.

They would risk life and limb, swimming the river to get to the USA. As I grew up, I became a professional in the Restaurant field. It was here, that these people came to mean more than just a poor worker from Mexico. In the course of managing, working, and keeping staff, they played an integral part of my business. Yes, even if they were illegal.

They stopped being “wetbacks”. I do not like the term, it is a demeaning word. I use it here to illustrate the bad rap many of them received. They became close friends to me, good workers, and family men. Yes, there were bad apples, trouble makers, and the rest. You always have that. But overall, the ones who helped run my businesses and worked hard were simply family men and women trying to find a better life.

According to the Center for Immigration studies, during the 1990s, an average of more than 1.3 million immigrants from both sides of the field -legal and illegal- settled in America. From January 2000 and March 2003 an additional 3.3 million immigrants arrived. Not all of them Mexican. They come from all spectrums, all nations, and all tongues. The United States Census Bureau projects that in less than 50 years the population of the USA will increase from its present 288 million to more than 400 million. The question bares asking. What are we going to do with them all?

Within this group, you can be sure terrorists will also arrive. These people are bad seeds among the many good people who arrive with them. I have no problem with immigrants. My great-grandfather was one as well. On my grandmothers side, the generation goes back to the revolutionary period. Our family line in one way has been here along time. Great men and women from many nations came to this country to form a new nation. The real area of concern according to the Center for Immigration Studies Director of Research, Steven Camarota, says is that “every part of our immigration system has been exploited by terrorists”. This is true, but then Camarota goes on to suggest that we “cannot reform in just one area, but must address the problem throughout”. Within his statements are the reasoning that we must check not only Middle Easterners visas and backgrounds, but must “carefully check the backgrounds of all visa applicants, better police the borders, strictly enforce the law within the country, and, most importantly, reduce the level of immigration to give government agencies the breathing space necessary to implement fundamental reforms.”

There is no way we can round up 13-14 million illegal immigrants or whatever the number is actually. Who really knows. The authorities have numbers, but then they don’t know either. The point is, no one really knows how many illegal people are here in the USA. No one knows how many terrorists have entered along with them. No one knows really what to do. The only thing everyone agrees on is we must do something. So we debate in Congress, put together legislation, then can’t come to a reasonable solution. Our borders are still open and the flood gates of people are coming in. While we focus on the southern border, our other borders are porous as well.

The National Immigration Forum conducted interviews of illegal people living in Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago. A Total of 233 such interviews were done in Spanish by trained interviewers. The main premise here is”would undocumented immigrants come forward, get legal, learn English, pay taxes, pay fines, and become US Citizens”. 81% said yes they would live and work in the U.S. the rest of their lives if they were able to legalize their status. 98% said they would make an effort to become legal over remaining undocumented if the U.S. would approve a new law that would allow them to become legal. Also within the questionnaire, the respondents said they would provide accurate information, become fingerprinted, have a criminal background check, pay a fine, learn English, notify the government of change of their address. 90% interviewed said they would become United States citizens if allowed.

No matter what you or I think, this is a big issue. The longer we do nothing about it, the more we have to lose. Making millions of illegal aliens criminals won’t work. They are here already illegal. This makes them a criminal right now according to our law. Many are afraid. Some are terrorists. Still, others are just family men and women working hard to survive. We need to try to legally integrate them into society. They are in our society but they are illegal. This makes them susceptible to crooks and evil men. They need protection of our laws. If they stay outside the law, our system can’t help them. I urge you to contact your congressman or woman and tell them to do something to solve this problem today. The longer we wait, the worse it will get. It will also provide ample opportunity for someone to enter that will cause terror. These kinds of people don’t care whom they kill, just as long as they kill someone living in America. Our future, the future of our kids, and our nation depends that we solve this issue now.

Dana Smith
http://www.articlesbase.com/motivational-articles/immigration-integration-and-criminalization-24270.html

Groundswell of Asbestos Risks And Mesothelioma Lawsuits in California

In today’s era of information, most people are well aware of the dangers that asbestos pose. Factories, refineries, automotive companies, and construction sites are the leaders of Mesothelioma risks and asbestos exposure.

There are numerous asbestos-related risks and Mesothelioma risk factors lingering around California that have little to do with factories and labor companies. Asbestos has been brought back to the forefront of health concerns despite tougher asbestos laws. As if asbestos laden debris isn’t enough of an insult, asbestos is being released through the vast amounts of construction occurring in the many areas of California, including Richmond and Oakland.

Despite the asbestos reform laws in the early eighties due to the risk of Mesothelioma, this fire resistant material is still used in modern day construction as a cost effective, safety conscious building material. Though asbestos is used in lower concentrations because of its very obvious links to mesothelioma, it is still far from being outlawed as it should be.

Residents in Richmond, California and the surrounding Bay Area are at a very high risk for current asbestos exposure and later cases of Mesothelioma. With percentages of older homes, businesses, and buildings carrying high levels of asbestos, a mesothelioma case is simply waiting to happen. Add that exposure to the high exposure rate that the new construction has brought, and somebody really needs to take a long hard look at what the potential fallout may very well end up meaning.

The government itself certainly has knowledge of the Mesothelioma risk and the asbestos exposure. Legislation is hanging in the balance to determine that those who were exposed to asbestos and are likely to contract Mesothelioma later in life are not going to be permitted to file Mesothelioma lawsuits. The government is trying to state that while they are well aware of the risk of future Mesothelioma cases, they are trying to deny the people their right to medical and legal claims associated with Mesothelioma.

The government claims that they are willing to set aside funds that will allow Mesothelioma claimants to file for medical coverage if they meet stringent guidelines concerning asbestos exposure and Mesothelioma contraction. This is a phenomenal slap in the face to those who were unknowingly exposed to asbestos and the threat of Mesothelioma. The government can’t even ensure that social security funds will be available in twenty to thirty years, not to mention that hands down, private health care is far and above government health care.

This new law would of course not be surprising. Ample laws have been passed protecting the government and businesses from worker claims. Mesothelioma laws have already hit governmental facilities as well in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and a few Midwestern states. These laws prohibit workers from suing their companies, provided their companies pay for their medical expenses which are deemed “necessary.” These laws will leave Mesothelioma and other health care choices in the hands of the insurance companies and do not provide for various other financial liabilities which are bound to occur when Mesothelioma creates symptoms bad enough that the injured party can no longer hold gainful employment.

Louisiana legislation was enacted after lawmakers were petitioned by companies who were sued by healthy claimants after selling asbestos laden fill dirt to homeowners who were rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. The contractor who sold this fill dirt was successfully sued for the risk that the exposure to the asbestos presented to the homeowners and their families. In a time when Mesothelioma is well enough understood to be rightfully feared, the contractors had the responsibility to their own welfare and the welfare of others to be sure their product was clean of asbestos.
These types of lawsuits serve a greater purpose than providing future financial relief for families who were exposed to asbestos and placed at risk for future cases of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma settlements such as these send a very clear message that the public is tired of being placed at risk for dangers that can be prevented. The governmental stance on this lawsuit allows for companies to increase their levels of irresponsible exposure while undermining the value of the worker. Mesothelioma is a virtual death sentence, and by allowing companies to abandon Mesothelioma victims, it creates a further risk for everyone.

Substantial mesothelioma settlements and awards are necessary to keep companies accountable and within the bounds of human expectation.

Nick Johnson
http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/groundswell-of-asbestos-risks-and-mesothelioma-lawsuits-in-california-119266.html

Key West Florida

Key West FL is the southernmost city in the Continental United States. Key West is a city and an island by the same name near the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys and encompasses the namesake island, the part of Stock Island north of US 1, Sigsbee Park and Sunset Key.

Many passenger cruise ships utilize Key West as a seaport. Key West International Airport also serves the area. Naval Air Station Key West offers a training site for Naval Aviation.

Key West is officially known for having the nation’s first and oldest continuous gay and lesbian chamber of commerce. Thus the city’s motto “One Human Family”

Kay West was inhabited by ancient peoples known as the Calusa People in Pre-Columbian times. Juan Ponce De Leon was the first European to visit the area and the island was known as Cayo Hueso. It was established as a fishing and salvage village with a small fort to protect the Spanish colony.

Cayo Hueso literally means “bone key” as it is said that the island is littered with the bones from an Indian battlefield or burial ground. It is thought that the name changed to Key West is an Anglicization of the word “Hueso” that could mean west in English. Many businesses on the island use the name.

Great Britain took control of Florida in the late 1700′s and relocated the Spaniards and Indians to Havana. Florida passed back to the Spanish 20 years later but they did not formally resettle. The island was used by fishermen from Cuba and joined by fishermen from the United States.

The island was deeded to Juan Pablo Salis in 1815 but when Florida was transferred to the United States Salas was eager to sell the island. First he sold it for a sloop valued at $575 and then to a US businessman named Simonton for about $2,000. The sloop trader sold it to a man named Geddes who could not secure rights to the property because Simonton had help from influential friends in Washington and gained clear title. Simonton bought the island because he had learned of the opportunities presented by the strategic location. Simonton’s friend John Whitehead, once stranded on the islands by a shipwreck had seen the deep harbor.

Lying 90 in a strategic location on the deep shipping lane Straits of Florida the harbor was considered the “Gibraltar of the West”. Matthew Perry said into the harbor in 1822 and physically planted the US flag to claim it as US property. He reported on the piracy problems and renamed it “Thompson’s Island” and named the harbor “Port Rodgers”. Neither name stuck. In 1823 Commodore David Porter took charge and tried to rule the island as a military dictator under martial law.

Simonton soon subdivided the island into plots and sold 3 undivided quarters of each plot to private individuals. Simonton spent the winter in Key West and then the summer in Washington to lobby for development of the island and for the establishment of a naval base. Among other first founders are Pardon Green who moved there permanently and became a prominent businessman. John Whitehead lived there for 8 years and partnered with Greene in the firm of “P.C. Greene and Company”. He left the island for good in 1832 returning only once during the Civil War. John Fleeming, active in the mercantile business in Alabama was a friend of Simonton. He spent only a few months in Key West before leaving to marry in Massachusetts. He returned to Key West intending to develop the slat manufacturing of the island but died soon after. The names of these founding fathers of modern Key West used as names for the main arteries of the island.

Many residents of Key West emigrated from the Bahamas. They were known as Counch. They arrived in ever increasing numbers after 1830. Sons and daughters of Loyalists fled to the nearest British soil during the American Revelation. Many of residents of Key West refer to themselves as Conchs and the term is now generally applied to all residents of Key West. The term “Fresh Water Counch” refers to a resident not “native born” but who has lived there for more than seven years. The name is derived from the tradition of placing a conch shell on a pole at the home of a new born baby.

“Bahama Village” is an area of Old town next to the Truman Annex largely inhabited by Bahaman immigrants.

Fishing, salt production and ocean salvage were major industries in the early 19th century. The salvage operations made Key West the largest and richest city in Florida and residents had a high concentration of fine furniture and fancy chandeliers which the locals used in their homes after taking them from shipwrecks on the Florida reefs.

During the Civil War Fort Zachary Taylor was established in Key West after Florida seceded and joined the confederate States of America. It was an important outpost and now contains the largest collection of Civil War cannons ever discovered in a single location.

In 1912 Key West was connected to the Florida mainland via the Overseas Railway extension. The railway created a landfill at Trumbon Point for rail yards. In 1935 the Labor Day Hurricane destroyed much of the railroad and hilled hundreds. About 400 World War I veterans living in camps there working on federal road projects and mosquito control projects in the Middle Keys were also killed. It was too expensive to restore the railroad. In 1938 The Federal Government rebuilt the rail lines as an automobile highway. Completed in 1938 it became an extension of the US Highway 1. The portion of US 1 running though the Keys is called the Overseas Highway.

Numerous artists and writers have come to the Keys but the two most associated with the island are Ernest Hemmingway and Tennessee Williams. Hemmingway reportedly wrote 2 novels “A Farewell to Arms” and “To Have and Have Not” while living in the Keys. The Ernest Hemingway House and Sloppy Joes Bar have become important tourist’s attractions. The Hemingway House is currently inhabited by six or seven toed polydactyl cats descended form Hemingway’s original pert named “Snowball”. The cats live on the grounds and are cared for by the Hemingway House even though the USDA complains about the number of them housed there. The Key West City Commission exempted the house from a law prohibiting more than four domestic animals per household.

Tennessee Williams is said to have written the first draft of “A Streetcar Named Desire” while staying at the La Concha Hotel. He bought a permanent house and listed Key West as his permanent residence. Williams’ home in the “unfashionable” New Town neighborhood is quite the contrast to the elegant Hemingway house. It is a very modest bungalow. The house is privately owned and is not open to the public. The Tenn4essee Williams Theatre is located on the campus of Florida Keys Community College on Stock Island.

Key West is much closer to Havana than to Miami. In 1890 it had a population of nearly 18,800 which made it the richest and biggest city in Florida. The population was nearly half Cuban descent and the city had a succession of Cuban mayors. Cubans were reportedly active in nearly 200 factories in town producing cigars.

The Battleship Maine was blown up after sailing from Key West to Havana which ignited the Spanish American War.

Pan American Airlines was founded in Key West to fly visitors to Havana.

John Kennedy used the phrase “90 miles to Cuba” in his speeches against Fidel Castro.

There were regular ferry and airplane services between Key West and Havana until the revelation in 1959. Refugees flooded into Key West during the Mariel Boatlift and continue to come across the dangerous stretch of waters.

In 1982 Key West and the rest of the Keys tried to declare independence and become the “Conch Republic” in a protest over US Border Patrol blockades. The blockade was set up in response to the Mariel Boatlift. This blockade created a 17 mile traffic jam when the Border Patrol stopped every car to search for illegal immigrants. The Florida Keys were virtually paralyzed as tourism nearly ground to a halt. Couch Republic flags and T shirts are still popular souvenirs for visitors. The Counch Republic Independence Celebration is celebrated each April 23.

Key West was always an important military post. At the beginning of World War II the Navy built the first water line extending the length of the Keys to serve the Naval Air Station. The main facility on Boca Chica is where the navy trains pilots. There are 3400 civilians and 16oo active duty military personnel along with family members. The area next to the old For Taylor became a submarine pen and was used for the Fleet Sonar School.

Kamyar Shah
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/key-west-florida-271927.html

Why Civil War is Second American Revolution?

No doubt that the real meaning of the Civil War is completely different from the one we are used to. Civil War is called the Second American Revolution by some great historians. The term “Second American Revolution” was first used by Charles and Mary Beard about seventy years ago when describing the American Civil War. Only after everything was settled about the reunion and reconciliation, after the construction of monuments were completed, after all the veterans were satisfied, when most of the emotions were dull the Civil War could have been viewed from another prospective, the logical prospective that could easily point out “that armed conflict had been only one phase of the cataclysm, a transitory phase; that at bottom the so-called Civil War, or the War between the States … was a social war, ending in the unquestioned establishment of a new power in the government, making vast changes in the arrangement of classes, in the accumulation and distribution of wealth, in the course of industrial development, and in the Constitution inherited from the Fathers.”

Over the years the term “Second American Revolution” has been viewed differently by different parties. The historians of the Civil War Era always had difficulties with accepting this term. In any case, Civil War greatly changed the sense of balance of political power between North and South and significantly speeded up the appearance of industrial capitalism in the post-war period. Most historians see the abolishing of slavery in the South as the revolutionary result of the war. Another point of view is from people that lived through the war, they saw their struggle as revolutionary. People that lived in the South called their revolt a revolution against the tyranny regime of the North. Northerners, on the contrary, viewed their conflict as a struggle to keep the union, which was formed as the result of revolution against England, together. However, both sides viewed that war as the continuation of their fight for freedom that started in 1776.

The prominent historians Beards were very precise as to what they called a “revolution.” In 1940 Louis Hacker briefly summed up what later became recognized as the Hacker-Beard Thesis: “The American Civil War turned out to be a revolution indeed. But its striking achievement was the triumph of industrial capitalism. The industrial capitalist, through their political spokesmen, the Republicans, had succeeded in capturing the state and using it as an instrument to strengthen their economic position. It was no accident, therefore, that while the war was waged on the field and through Negro emancipation, in Congress’ halls the victory was made secure by the passage of tariff, banking, public-land, railroad, and contract labor legislation.”

Some famous historians and James McPherson occasionally talk of Abraham Lincoln’s “Second American Revolution” (the title of one of McPherson’s books). They are absolutely correct to describe Lincoln as a revolutionary, however, the explanations they present to support this point of view are not fully complete. It is true that Lincoln led a revolution, but it was an anti-American revolution against nearly all the founding values of the country. It was a revolution against: free-market capitalism (Lincoln was a committed mercantilist); the principles of the Declaration of Independence; the Constitution; the system of states’ rights and federalism that was created by the founders; and the prohibitions against waging war on civilians embodied in the international law of the time as well as the canons of Western Christian civilization. Lincoln through all of his life never believed in equality of all races. He always viewed whites as the superior race. Maybe he wanted all races to be equal but not in the U.S. Lincoln is thought to save the union, however, it was only geographically, he destroyed it philosophically, and the union was not voluntary anymore. Lincoln eviscerated constitutional liberties in the North, which permanently weakened the constitutional protections of liberty for all Americans.

Despite all of the arguing of prominent historians, the fact continues to be revealed as the history moves up but at the same time it sort of steps back away in history. I think, it is an individual right for everyone to view the Civil War as the Second American Revolution or not. Each generation will reason and view this event differently, according to background and political views.

Jeff Stats
http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/why-civil-war-is-second-american-revolution-134384.html

A Tribute To Ben Franklin – MasterMind Person of the Year!

The votes have been tallied and we are most pleased to report that Ben Franklin, creator of the Junto, has just received the MasterMind Worldwide Person of the Year Award!

The Marvelous Power of the MasterMind

MasterMind is a technique that many of us use in our everyday life without even realizing it.

A few examples of MasterMind groups are: a company Board of Directors, the Presidents Cabinet, a church board of deacons and/or elders, the U.S. Congress, a school PTA, a family strategy meeting or a business brainstorming session.

There are many, many more. Most MasterMind groups do not have the word “MasterMind” in their name.

Ben Franklin was one of America’s most remarkable founding fathers. In addition to flying a kite during a lightning storm, he is remembered for being many things – a scientist, inventor, diplomat, humorist, business strategist, author, publisher and creator of the Junto.

Improving our World

In 1727, Benjamin Franklin and 12 of his friends formed the Junto – a club dedicated to mutual improvement. They shared a desire to improve themselves, their community, and to help others.

The Junto is recognized as the first MasterMind group organized in America and probably one of the earliest ones in the history of the world.

Take Advantage of the Power

He called it the Junto (which is Latin for “meeting”) or the Leather Apron Club. At their meetings, they would debate questions of morals, politics, and natural philosophy and discuss business and other important topics of the day.

Using the remarkable creativity and power of the MasterMind during these weekly sessions, they made their world a better place.

Variety is the Spice of Life

The members of the Junto, pronounced who-n-toe, were drawn from a wide variety of occupations and backgrounds, including printers, surveyors, a cabinetmaker, a cobbler, a clerk, and a merchant.

Diversity leads to Dividends

The diversity of their backgrounds, combined with sharing the seasoned wisdom, knowledge and experience of the members during each Junto MasterMind session led to many marvelous, productive and profitable ideas.

Two Hundred Eighty Years of Success!

Many things that resulted directly from those early MasterMind sessions of Ben Franklin’s Junto are still in existence today.

The Junto gave us our first public library, the first public hospital, volunteer fire departments, police departments, paved streets, the University of Pennsylvania and more.

John Dealey
http://www.articlesbase.com/motivational-articles/a-tribute-to-ben-franklin–mastermind-person-of-the-year-124158.html