Social Reproduction Essay -- Canadian Government, Capitalism

The growth of capitalism and the decline in government help with social reproduction along with cuts to social serves within Canada have lead to many issues within the privet sector. These cut backs leave families struggling, and while the family struggles the main care taker who is majority of the time the women, they are also the ones struggling with more responsibilities in the privet sphere of life. However, the home is not the only place that deteriorates when cut backs take place. When the individual struggles in the privet sector, the public sector along with employment and work take a toll as well. While the women tend to be the care givers of the home they skill contribute to a capitalist society meaning they are now working two jobs. They take care of the home, and still tend to a job in the public aspect of life. Until improvements are made in both privet and public sectors through social reproduction many areas in Canada will continue to suffer. The book Social Reproduct ion focuses on specific issues that are happening in Canada. Chapter four is specific to the topic on social reproduction and the issues that it causes to Canadian individuals, along with how unions are working to change the government to better help the people of Canada. I will focus on how chapter four entitled Bargaining for Collective Responsibility for Social Reproduction by Alice Wolff, deals with the material at hand and also if I believe Wolff presents the material in a well mannered argument. I will start off by looking at what issues Wolff presents in this chapter, and move on to the difficulties it is causing individuals, while finishing off with a critique of the chapter. Social reproduction to Alice Wolff is an important issue that is ... ... would have brought a real life situation at hand for those who are reading about this topic for the first time. I enjoy how the entire chapter focuses specifically within Canada which gives us as Canadians who are reading it a realisation of where Canada stands on this issues and where we possibly need to go. Another area I think she could have spent some more research on would have been how social reproduction differs between the different cultures we have represented in Canada. Canada especially has many different cultures and nationalities represented throughout; it would have been interesting to see how things differed from each culture. Overall I believe Wolff did a great job with the topic and I agree with what she has stated and how it is important to get this message out to others so that possibly soon we can find a way to help relive work-life tensions.

ECON 4131, International Finance, Spring 2002, Exam 3 Final Essay examp

Final Exam Questions -- Economics 4131, Spring 2006 1. Explain how the gold standard operated in the classical period (1870-1914). What were the advantages and disadvantages? Some say the gold standard sacrificed internal balance to external balance. How? What were the â€Å"rules of the game† and what would happen when they were violated? What would happen when the demand for monetary gold rose faster than the supply, and why was this a problem? 2. Explain the functioning of the Bretton Woods currency arrangement. Why was it designed as it was? What strains appeared over time, and what factors led to its collapse? What was â€Å"Triffin’s dilemma†? 3. Use the national income accounting identity to explain the phenomenon of â€Å"twin deficits.† Explain how the surge in the U.S. fiscal deficit has spilled into a need for international finance. What are the current sources of this finance? Describe the dilemma facing the Asian central banks. Describe the â€Å"hard landing† scenario. What needs to be done to ensure a â€Å"soft landing†? 4. Explain step-by-step why and how a central bank might w...

Listening Without Judgment and Thinking Positively :: The Sketch Plays Life Essays

Listening Without Judgment and Thinking Positively The sketch that was just been performed on stage by my friends shows you one of the consequences that can arise due to listening without judgment. There are many more consequences that you can imagine but I can tell you that they are all disastrous. Misunderstanding is a major factor which is the origin of fights in families. A person young or old must always be taken seriously when relating his problems. It is not always necessary that a younger person is always at fault. An older person may also be at fault. In many families, if a person is older than all the family members it means that he is always right. Why is this so? Is he not human? Every human make mistakes. In many films you can see that when actors have lots of problems they go and refuge themselves in cigarettes, alcohols, drugs and some even suicide themselves. In the sketch you can see that when his father takes him for the culprit, he started to drink alcohol and this has resulted into a lot of problems for not only him but also his parents. This does not happen only in films but also in the actual life. I myself have a relative who has started smoking just because of his own problems. One day I asked him why he has started smoking. He told me that when his business was not working well he had no one to entrust himself and then started to smoke and as you all know "once pop up can't stop" now he is unable to quit smoking by himself. So just imagine that you go and tell your parents about your problems and they do not listen to you or make you the culprit without knowing the whole problem. What would be your reaction? Won't you react in the same way as these persons? Naturally this will discourage you even more. Thinking positively Thinking plays a very important role in our everyday life. Every action is accompanied by a thought. There are two main ways of thinking; Thinking positively and thinking negatively. Frankly speaking thinking positively is much better for yourself and your surroundings. Any negative thought can have terrible consequences and this is one of the factors that prevents national unity. Jealousy is an imperfection that man has a role to play in the creation of negative thinking. For example a person can see his wife talking with a stranger. If the man thinks negatively about it, then consequences like fighting may lead to divorce; now if the couple has children just imagine through which Listening Without Judgment and Thinking Positively :: The Sketch Plays Life Essays Listening Without Judgment and Thinking Positively The sketch that was just been performed on stage by my friends shows you one of the consequences that can arise due to listening without judgment. There are many more consequences that you can imagine but I can tell you that they are all disastrous. Misunderstanding is a major factor which is the origin of fights in families. A person young or old must always be taken seriously when relating his problems. It is not always necessary that a younger person is always at fault. An older person may also be at fault. In many families, if a person is older than all the family members it means that he is always right. Why is this so? Is he not human? Every human make mistakes. In many films you can see that when actors have lots of problems they go and refuge themselves in cigarettes, alcohols, drugs and some even suicide themselves. In the sketch you can see that when his father takes him for the culprit, he started to drink alcohol and this has resulted into a lot of problems for not only him but also his parents. This does not happen only in films but also in the actual life. I myself have a relative who has started smoking just because of his own problems. One day I asked him why he has started smoking. He told me that when his business was not working well he had no one to entrust himself and then started to smoke and as you all know "once pop up can't stop" now he is unable to quit smoking by himself. So just imagine that you go and tell your parents about your problems and they do not listen to you or make you the culprit without knowing the whole problem. What would be your reaction? Won't you react in the same way as these persons? Naturally this will discourage you even more. Thinking positively Thinking plays a very important role in our everyday life. Every action is accompanied by a thought. There are two main ways of thinking; Thinking positively and thinking negatively. Frankly speaking thinking positively is much better for yourself and your surroundings. Any negative thought can have terrible consequences and this is one of the factors that prevents national unity. Jealousy is an imperfection that man has a role to play in the creation of negative thinking. For example a person can see his wife talking with a stranger. If the man thinks negatively about it, then consequences like fighting may lead to divorce; now if the couple has children just imagine through which

Funding Opportunities for Small Businesses Essay

Analyze funding opportunities for small businesses, including the role of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Then, evaluate the effectiveness of these funding opportunities in light of the current economy. In this time of economic challenges, suggest two ways that the SBA might be of assistance to your small business. Explain how you would request this assistance. Small businesses are leaders in innovation and drivers of the economy. Small businesses hold more patents than all of the nation’s universities and largest corporations combined, and create two thirds of all private sector jobs, employing half of all working Americans. The Federal government is the largest buyer in the world, spending over $500 billion each year. For the Federal government, contracting with small businesses is common sense. Small businesses get the revenue they need to create jobs and drive the economy forward, and federal agencies get the creativity, innovation, and technical expertise of small businesses to help accomplish their mission. When small businesses are excluded from federal contracts, the Federal government, American taxpayers and the nation’s economy lose out. Over 30 years ago, Congress set a goal of having a certain portion of all federal contracting dollars go to small businesses and established sub-goals for small businesses owned by women, socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and service-disabled veterans of the Armed Forces, and for small businesses in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones). The current government-wide goal for small businesses’ share of contracting dollars is 23%. Every year since 2006, the Federal government has missed the 23% small business goal and all but one of the sub-goals; the 2009 shortfall was greater than $4 billion. Removing barriers to federal contracting and increasing access for small businesses will go a long way in closing this gap. Over the past 18 months, the Federal government has taken important steps to increase opportunities for small businesses, from creating new online training for small businesses to issuing a proposed rule to create set-asides for women-owned small businesses in industries in which women are underrepresented. Last summer, the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration (SBA) co-led a government-wide effort that involved over 300 matchmaking and training events across the country to ensure American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) contracts were awarded to a broad array of small businesses. With over 31% of Recovery Act contracting dollars going to small businesses, this initiative 2 Report on Small Business Federal Contracting Opportunities proved that, with committed leadership and the right tools, the government has the ability to meet – and exceed – the 23% small business contracting goal. Stronger rules. Insufficient guidance and gaps in current policy hamper the use of tools that provide contracting opportunities for small businesses. The Task Force recommends actions to strengthen and update policies where they are weak or outdated and develop policies where they are lacking. A better equipped, more informed and more accountable acquisition workforce. A lack of knowledge and agency accountability inhibits the government’s ability to meet and exceed small business procurement goals on an ongoing basis. The Task Force recommends increasing the knowledge base and efficiency level of the procurement workforce and providing appropriate incentives and accountability for agencies to meet small business goals. Improved outreach and better use of technology and data. The current data systems in the federal acquisition environment are cumbersome and not user friendly for many small businesses, especially for those who are new to the systems and trying to â€Å"get the ir foot in the door.† The Task Force recommends a one-stop shop for easier access to procurement information, as well as greater focus on the accuracy of procurement data. In the following report, the Task Force outlines the key recommendations and actions needed to meet these priority objectives. The Task Force will report to the President by December 30, 2010, on progress in the implementation of the recommendations in this report. SBA, Commerce, OMB, and the other members of the Task Force are committed to increasing opportunities for small businesses. Small businesses, including businesses owned by women, socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and service-disabled veterans of our Armed Forces, must be able to participate in the Nation’s economic recovery. They must be able to compete effectively for federal contracts so our agencies, taxpayers, and the broader economy can reap the full benefit of their talents and services. 3 Report on Small Business Federal Contracting Opportunit ies REPORT INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON FEDERAL CONTRACTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES Small businesses are leaders in innovation and the drivers of the economy– holding more patents than all of America’s universities and largest corporations combined, creating two thirds of all private sector jobs and employing half of all working Americans. The Federal government is the largest buyer in the world, spending over $500 billion each year. For the Federal government, contracting with small businesses is common sense. Small businesses get the revenue they need to create jobs and drive the economy forward, and federal agencies get the creativity, innovation, and technical expertise of small businesses to help accomplish their mission. When small businesses are excluded from federal contracts, agencies, small businesses, taxpayers and the broader economy lose out. For more than half a century, it has been the policy of the Federal government to provide â€Å"maximum practicable opportunity† for small businesses to participate in federal contracts. To achieve this objective, Congress established an aspirational goal in 1978 for the percentage of annual prime contract spending that should be awarded to small businesses each year. Congress later set the government-wide goal at 23% and created a set of sub-goals to support the participation of special segments of the small business community: small disadvantaged businesses (5%), women-owned small businesses (5%), service-disabled-veteran-owned small businesses (3%), and small businesses in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones) (3%). These goals help ensure that a diverse set of small businesses share in the jobs and opportunities created by federal contracting. Since 2006, the Federal government has missed the 23% small business contracting goal and all but one of the sub-goals; the 2009 shortfall for the small business goal was more than $4 billion. This gap must be closed. The barriers to entry for small businesses are numerous: weak policies and rules that limit the effectiveness of tools that are supposed to facilitate contracting opportunities; inadequate workforce training to help contracting officers, small business advocates, and program offices understand how to successfully use contracting tools; and a lack of coordination among and accessibility to agency training and outreach events designed to help small businesses navigate the contracting system. Action must be taken to remove these barriers and ensure small businesses get access to federal contracts. A number of important steps have been taken or are underway to remove barriers and open more doors for small businesses in the federal marketplace. †¢ Later this year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) will implement a new rule on contracting with women-owned small businesses. For the first time, contracting officers will have a tool to set aside contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses in 4 Report on Small Business Federal Contracting Opportunities industries where women are under-represented. This is a critical step toward increasing opportunities for women-owned small businesses. †¢ This year SBA conducted the first comprehensive review of regulations in ten years governing its 8(a) business development program for disadvantaged small businesses to ensure the program’s effectiveness and increase 8(a) firms’ capacity to obtain contracts. †¢ A series of new online training courses have been rolled out (www.sba.gov/training) to walk small business owners through the steps involved in becoming a government contractor. These tools help small businesses navigate the process. †¢ SBA is conducting a comprehensive review of its size standards for small businesses – the first in 25 years – to ensure they accurately reflect the state of each industry. †¢ SBA is working actively to identify and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in its business programs through a strengthened certification, eligibility and enforcement process.

In Westminster Abbey Analysis

Essay: â€Å"In Westminster Abbey†Ã¢â‚¬Å"In Westminster Abbey† by John Betjeman is a poem that tells the story of a woman in a famous church in London and her prayer to the Lord. Each stanza in the poem contains something that the speaker wants from the Lord. And as one reads through the poem, a more keen understanding of the woman praying is formed, and it is likely drastically different from the original perception gained in the first two stanzas. In â€Å"In Westminster Abbey,† John Betjeman uses the speaker’s prayer and flaws in Christianity to illustrate to the reader that an individual is not always how they appear. Considering the length of the poem, there is quite a bit of information told about the speaker’s identity and personality. Firstly, the speaker is likely a female. She states that she will â€Å"Join the Women’s Army Corps,† which footnote number six on pg. 122 of The Norton Introduction To Poetry says was the old World War One name for the Auxiliary Territorial Service, a primarily female organization specializing in domestic defense. The usage of the WWI name for the organization would suggest that the speaker would be at least in her mid to upper thirties. The footnotes note as well that the address she tells the Lord to â€Å"put beneath Thy special care† (24) belongs to a â€Å"fashionable† part of London, which indeed implies wealth. Another bit of personality that shows up quite frequently within the poem is the speaker’s demanding tone. She doesn’t ever ask the lord for the favors listed, she simply demands them. Lines like â€Å"[l]isten to a lady’s cry† (6), â€Å"[d]on’t let anyone bomb me† (12), and of course the last two lines where she demands the Lord answer her right then because she has other plans, â€Å"And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait/Because I have a luncheon date†(41 – 42). One of the more prominent details about the speaker that really shapes the latter half of the poem is that the speaker is not a true Christian. She provides incentives to the Lord by telling him â€Å"Now I’ll come to Evening Service/Whensoever I have the time† (27 – 28). All of this, of course, in hopes to prompt an immediate response. Claiming to â€Å"feel a little better† (37); she tells the Lord just how great it was to have had him talk with her (38). Betjeman, however, does not include any dialogue from the Lord back to the speaker. Although we would not expect the Lord to speak out loud directly to her, there are no other examples within the poem that suggest the Lord answers her prayers or even acknowledges her dismal attempt at prayer. I inferred that this is completely intentional on the author’s part. It creates a sense of ambiguity about the speaker’s standing with God. Now, through the descriptors of the speaker within the poem, we see her as a roughly middle aged, wealthy, and demanding woman who fails to comply with an ideal Christian life because of her egocentric personality. Set in a famous London gothic church, where monarchs have been crowned and many famous individuals were buried, the poem depicts a middle aged woman praying. This is an image that readers can relate to. Everyone can conjure up a memory from a time when they’ve seen a Christian woman praying, whether it is in person or through media. It is also the first image that the reader acquires of the speaker. The second and third stanzas don’t seem to contain anything unbecoming of a true Christian, given the situation of London in 1940 with the bombardment of their city from Germany. It is reasonable to assume that a woman who is living in London at the time and who might know or know of people that have died would be slightly emotional during her prayer and say â€Å"oh bomb the Germans. /Spare their women for Thy Sake,/And if that is not too easy/We will pardon Thy Mistake†(7 – 10). The egocentricity and naivety of the speaker really reveals itself starting in the fourth stanza. She tells the lord to â€Å"[t]hink of what our nation stands for† (19), and yet proceeds to name off completely irrational things. Most residents in London would probably disagree with their Nation standing for books bought from a local pharmacy, class distinction and proper drains. Although these things could be considered nice, they aren’t representative of the population. In a matter of one stanza, the image of the speaker the reader receives completely changes from the innocent wholesome churchgoer, to a self-interested pseudo-Christian who in times of trouble goes to the Lord in prayer expecting and demanding her safety, harm for the Germans, and a slew of other tasks. A person’s initial appearance is not always representative of their true nature. This is precisely the message intended to be received by the reader. John Betjeman is clearly separated from the speaker in the story. A main determining factor is that he is a male, and the speaker of the poem is female. The author seems to be expressing his personal beliefs and Christian ideals by creating the character in the poem who embodies almost the complete opposite ideology of the author. Even still, the poem appears a dramatic monologue. Writing in this style of lyric poetry allows John Betjeman to be completely removed from the poem and thus he gets his point across much more effectively. Had he done something like make the speaker a male, readers could falsely associate some of the elements of the poem with the author as opposed to considering them as an independent entity. The tone that is established by the time the conclusion of the poem reaches the forefront makes the reader want to analyze and judge the speaker, rather than identify with and feel sympathetic towards her. Words that help establish this tone come at the end of many of the lines. Words like â€Å"[m]istake†(10) and â€Å"fights†(17) create a negative connotation which the reader associates with the speaker. These words also help with the transformation from the â€Å"good image† of the speaker to the â€Å"egotistical image† that comes later. In the first stanza there is â€Å"lie†(5) and â€Å"cry†(6) at the end of lines. By the fifth stanza, when the perception of the speaker has changed there are the words â€Å"sinner†(25) and â€Å"crime†(26). These words in correlation with the setting of the poem and the time period that it takes place encompass the negative, condescending tone quite adequately. It is a time in London where people would want to be true to their faith and really take consolation in the Lord for protection, especially considering the role religion played in lives around 1940. Yet it appears that the only reason the speaker had to go to church in the first place was minute one. She could have simply been passing by the church on her way to a lunch date, and found it convenient to make her plea to the Lord. The organization of the stanzas by Betjeman into their specific order contributes to the reader’s perception of the speaker. As stated above, the view of the speaker from the reader’s perspective delineates from an average churchgoer in a time of crisis, to something much less respected at the time: an untrue Christian. If the stanzas of the poem were arranged in another order the perception of the female speaker would likely change with it. For example starting the poem with the second stanza could show the speaker in a cynical light, or if Betjeman decided to start with one of the latter stanzas such as stanza five, then the reader is informed of the shallow nature of the speaker much earlier causing for a lesser effect on the reader at poems end. It is because of the order in which the stanzas exist that allows the reader to really take away the message: people are not always as they first seem. This particular poem possesses a meter of trochaic tetrameter and a rhyme scheme of ABCBDD. Both of these particular elements contribute to the overall feel and tone of the poem. Unlike iambic meter, which generally provides an uplifting flowing feel, the use of trochaic meter does quite the opposite. As the poem is read the use of the troche makes the poem seem to drag along and makes the tone more dismal, which is appropriate when considering Betjeman’s view of the speaker. The rhyme scheme of ABCBDD contributes in a similar sense. The B rhyming words and the pair of D’s at the end of their respective lines tend to be the more important words from the stanza. In stanza 2 those rhyming words are sake, mistake, be, and me. When each of these words is taken individually in relation to the poem itself, it becomes clear as to why they were chosen. â€Å"Be† and â€Å"me† could help display the speakers demanding nature, and egocentricity. â€Å"Sake† and â€Å"mistake† could be words that hint at how the author is viewing the speaker’s prayer. They invoke feelings of apathy when read in the context of the poem. Individuals are not always as they first appear, much as the speaker of â€Å"In Westminster Abbey† appears to be an average Christian praying at the Gothic church while her Nation is in a time of peril. But in fact she is quite concerned with the opposite. It is not for the wellbeing of her associates and neighbors that she is worried, but herself instead. Egocentric ideals and naivety cloud the speaker’s judgment, and it is through this that John Betjeman is able to so clearly express his ideas. It is safe to say that he does this quite clearly throughout the entirety of the poem, but there are still some things readers can ponder. What event did John Betjeman experience or witness that made him feel so strongly as to compose this poem? Or is it simply a tribute to those true Christians and a criticism of those not on the righteous path? Nonetheless, Betjeman effectively expresses a message that is easily portrayed to readers of â€Å"In Westminster Abbey† regardless of which side of the fence of Christianity they reside on.

Organized Crime in the Windy City Essay

Known for its long period of criminal activity and rise to becoming one of the strongest crime entities, the Chicago Outfits are one of the most notorious and infamous organized groups that had ever hit Chicago. From the time it rose from Mike McDonald to the fall of Al Capone’s Chicago, this group has successfully continued to grow and rein the streets of Chicago. The structure of this group and criminal activities have made a dent if America’s society. According to Michael Maltz, â€Å"An organized crime is a crime in which there is more than one offender, and the offenders are and intend to remain associated with one another for the purpose of committing crimes. † (Abadinsky 2) and according to Donald Cressey it is â€Å"any crime committed by a person occupying, in an established division of labor†¦.. includes at least one position for a corrupter, one position for a corruptee, and one position for an enforcer. † (Abadinsky 2) and even the Federal organized Crime Control Act of 1970 attempts to define what is organized crime is. They broke it down into eight attributes that include and not limited to the following: no political goals, hierarchical, limited/exclusive membership, unique subculture, perpetuates itself, use of violence, monopolistic and governed by explicit rules and regulations. However the term is defined, all three prove that it is a group of more than one individual working together to commit a series of crime that is done in a matter that is planned out. The structure on organized crime in Chicago is based on the group called the ‘Chicago Outfits’ which are made up of ‘made’ members. According to Lindberg, â€Å"the term ‘made’ comes from La Cosa Nostra terminology and requires a blood ritual. This included Italian bloodlines, sponsorship and support of high-ranking members in a complicated process. † (Lindberg) And through this blood ritual, ‘made’ guys who are sponsored by current captains of La Cosa Nostra bring in the one being sponsored. The blood ritual that they mentioned is exactly what it means, a ritual that requires blood. â€Å"They prick your trigger finger and make it bleed, and then they put a little piece of paper; they set it on fire and you burn it in your hand, and you repeat after them that you will never betray La Cos Nostra, or you will burn like the paper is burning in your hand. Your life does not belong to you anymore; your life belongs to them. † (Abadinsky 86) Membership into the crime group is exclusive only to family members of the father’s side that can range from immediate members to distant members, but as long as they have blood ties to the boss, this secures the possibility of undercover agents infiltrating the family crime group. The ‘made’ guys hold senior advisory status while everyone else is a worker. Unlike the organized crime groups in New York, Chicago crime groups are more cooperative with other groups that are usually dominated by Italians. The structure of Chicago’s crime groups is based off of the Patron-Client network which â€Å"consists of a collection of connected points or junctures†. Bibliography Abadinsky, Howard. Organized Crime, St. John’s University, ninth edition Lindberg, Kirsten, Petrenko, Joseph, Gladden, Jerry, Johnson, Wayne A. Mar98, Traditional Organized Crime in Chicago. , International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 13600869, Vol. 12, Issue 1.

David Pajcin Insider Trading Scandal

Ethical Scandal Analysis of: David Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin Insider Trading Case Presented In Partial Fulfillments of the Course Requirements for FIN 4615 International Banking Prepared for: Marcos A. Kerbel Adjunct Professor Department of Finance Florida International University Miami, Florida Prepared by: David Kevin Vargas 2899406 (954) 443-4973 November 24, 2009 [pic] | |Academic Honesty Policy | |Individual Assignment Cover Page | |Submitted to: | |   | |   Prof. Marcos A. Kerbel | | | | |Submitted by: | |   | |   David Kevin Vargas | | | |Your Phone Number: | |   | |(954) 443-4973 | | | |Your e-mail: | |   | |   [email  protected] du | | | |Date of Submission: | |   | |November 24, 2009 | | | |Title of Assignment: | |   | |   Ethical Scandal Analysis | | | |CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged| |and disclosed in the paper. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas or words; either quoted directly or paraphrased I also | |certify that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course. | | | |Signature | |____________________________________________________ | Ethical Scandal Paper David Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin Case What is the case about? This case is about two men, who along with many friends and relatives, elaborated intricate insider trading schemes. Their plans involved forklift operators at a Business Week printing plant, a mole at Merrill Lynch & Co. , a grand juror in a fraudulent accounting trial against Bristol-Myers Squibb, and several brokerage accounts in New York, California and Croatia. The duo and their friends would end up reaping profits of close to $7 million during the short time their operations were active. The group’s own mistakes and greed drove them overboard and the long-reaching arm of the law finally caught up with them ending their plans and ambitions. Who was involved? David Pajcin He was one of the masterminds behind the insider trading schemes. He was born in Clifton, N. J. o Croatian immigrants. He went to school in Jersey City and later attended Notre Dame University. He majored in economics and graduated cum laude. With an impressive academic history, Pajcin got a job at the commodities group at Goldman Sachs after he got out of university in 2000. However, he did not stay long. He left after five and a half months. Pajcin said he did not want to be stuck working on the trading floors like everyone else. He took a series of similar jobs in smaller firms in New York but he never stayed in one of them for more than a couple of months. Finally, in 2003, he stopped looking for jobs and started working for himself. Eugene Plotkin He was the other half of the operation and close friend of David Pajcin. Born in Russia, Plotkin moved to California and lived outside San Francisco as a child. He then went to the California Institute of Technology but transferred to Harvard after one year. Plotkin studied economics there and graduated in 2000. He went on to Goldman Sachs where he started working as a fixed-income research analyst before being promoted to associate. That is where he met his future partner-in-crime (Pajcin) and where he stayed working at until his arrest in 2006. At that time he had a six figure salary in one of the most prestigious companies in Wall Street, a good place to be by anyone’s standards. Stanislav Shpigelman A secondary character, Shpigelman was a 23 year-old University of New York graduate. He and Plotkin had met at a college recruiting drive where Goldman Sachs had sent Plotkin to. The two kept in touch and one day met at Spa 88 in New York where they struck a deal and started working together on an insider trading scheme. Shpigelman provided Pajcin and Plotkin with inside information about possible mergers and acquisitions his company, Merrill Lynch & Co. , was working on. The biggest tip he gave involved the acquisition of Reebok International by Germany’s Adidas, in which Pajcin and his group made $6 million. Sonja Anticevic She is a retired underwear seamstress, who lives in Croatia, she also happens to be David Pajcin’s aunt. Anticevic came into the scheme when she let her nephew use an account under her name to make his trades. Monika Vujovic She was an exotic dancer who worked in New York’s finest gentlemen’s clubs; she was also David Pajcin’s girlfriend. She became involved by letting her boyfriend use her accounts to make investments. Vujovic additionally tried to help Pajcin by getting important information from investment bankers who she danced for. That scheme never worked though. Jason Smith He was an old high school friend of David Pajcin and worked as a U. S. postal worker in New Jersey. Smith had been selected to be a part of a federal grand jury in Newark that was hearing a case about possible fraudulent accounting practices at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Pajcin got information from Smith about the possible outcomes of the case and started trading based on those tips. No profits were made from Smith’s information though. Nickolaus Shuster He was a 23 year-old New Jersey native whom David Pajcin recruited in New York to get information on stocks mentioned in Business Week’s column ‘Inside Wall Street’. He went to Wisconsin to get a job at the plant where the magazine was printed. Pajcin would pay him between $200 and $500 for each Business Week issue he stole. Juan Renteria Jr. He was the second man to be hired to get information from the Business Week printing plant. Nickolaus Shuster was fired for unknown reasons so Renteria was sent to replace him in mid 2005. In total, Pajcin and his group made 48 trades and $280,000 in gains using the information received from the Wisconsin plant. Scott Black The S. E. C. senior trial counsel who interrogated David Pajcin about the trades he made and the connection between the Business Week articles and his decision to buy certain stocks. Black spent more than 8 hours talking with Pajcin before his arrest and uncovered damning information he would later use against Pajcin to convince him to cooperate with the authorities. David Markowitz He was the Securities Exchange Commission (S. E. C. ) lawyer in charge of prosecuting David Pajcin and his accomplices. He led the investigation after the Market Surveillance Unit at the S. E. C. caught strange patterns and high volume of options trading the day before the Adidas-Reebok deal would hit the airwaves. When and where did it happen? The insider trading ring conducted their operations between the autumns of 2004 and 2005. In that short period of time Pajcin and Plotkin had devised about 4 schemes that would help them make huge profits in the short term. The main operations where done in New York where the two masterminds lived. However the people involved could be found as close as California and as far as Croatia. Eugene Plotkin’s father (Mikhail Plotkin) who traded on inside information provided by his son was in California. The plant where Business Week was printed was in Wisconsin. The case from which Pajcin got tips from one of the jurors was being heard in New Jersey. The account Pajcin used to trade under his aunt’s name was in Croatia. It was definitely a widespread ring of participants. Pajcin and his partner also had other accounts opened in Austria, Denmark and Germany according to S. E. C complaints. Why did it happen? Both David Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin were very bright and had promising careers in Wall Street. It was the temptation to make grand amounts of money that lured them into the wrong path. They thought they could deal on inside information and not be caught because they were using other people’s names to trade with. In the end their own greed is what called the attention of the government and what brought their operations down. The lack of supervision at the Wisconsin printing plant and at the brokerage companies where the accounts were opened also contributed to this scandal occurring. How can it have been avoided? The main driver for the actions taken by the masterminds was internal. Their will to become rich overnight pushed them into breaking the law. Nobody could have curtailed their desire to make more money at all costs, but the steps they took to make their ill-gotten profits could have likely been spotted and taken care of before they started generating so much money. Having better surveillance at the printing plant where Business Week was being made would have forestalled Shuster and Renteria from stealing copies to later relay the information in them to Pajcin and Plotkin. Knowing that the stocks mentioned in the column ‘Inside Wall Street’ were usually moved by either a good or bad review from the column’s author should have led the managers of that plant to enforce higher levels of surveillance. The brokerage firms where Pajcin and Plotkin had their accounts could have also been more meticulous about their surveillance. It was reported in July 2005 that a customer service representative from Ameritrade got a peculiar call asking to change the restrictions on an account. The account belonged to Monika Vujovic but it was David Pajcin on the other side of the line. The Ameritrade representative recalled there was something odd about that call but unfortunately the account in question went on without being investigated or much less frozen. The company should have at least taken steps to verify the identity of the true owner of the account after getting a call like that. Other ways that might have prevented, or helped prevent, the large-scale insider trading frauds would have been detecting the leak of information from Merrill Lynch (through Stanislav Shpigelman) earlier as well as the leak coming from Jason Smith, the juror in the Bristol-Myers Squibb case. What was the outcome? After the initial S. E. C. complaints against Sonja Anticevic, it was soon clear that the authorities were going to go after David Pajcin. So he fled to the Dominican Republic immediately to avoid getting caught. But even though the S. E. C. did not have the authority to keep him from leaving the country, they did have the authority to freeze his bank accounts. It was not long before Pajcin found himself in need of cash. The prosecutors sent Pajcin an e-mail where they told him the only way to get his money back was by going back to New York to give a deposition. The greed was strong enough in Pajcin to make him go back to the United States. Once there he was interrogated by Scott Black and later arrested for insider trading. He was quickly convinced to cooperate with the authorities to crack down on the remaining ring members. David Pajcin then started working with the S. E. C. to close all the gaps in the case. In the end six people were sentenced on January 2008. The men sentenced were; Jason Smith, Nickolaus Shuster, Juan Renteria Jr. Stanislav Shpigelman, Eugene Plotkin and David Pajcin. For sharing information about upcoming mergers, Shpigelman got 3 years in prison. For insider trading and conspiracy, Eugene Plotkin got 5 years in prison. Pajcin on the other hand, was sentenced to 2 years in prison because of his cooperation but was released the day of the sentencing because by 2008 he had already served 2 years while working with the S. E. C. Civil suits were presented against six other people who were involved in the scheme, including Monika Vujovic and Sonja Anticevic. The case looked closed until November 2008, when it was reported David Pajcin had violated the terms of his 3-year supervised release. Nobody knew where e was, it was presumed he was out of the country, but it was clear he was now going to face additional jail time for failing to report to his probation officer. What can be learned from it? Clearly the lessons from this scandal are the same everyone should have already known from past insider trading scandals. Even though the gains made by this group were not tremendously big, the law and regulators went after it with all the resources available to them. It should be noted that even the smartest and brightest graduates from the best schools in the country can be corrupt. Their careers, trainin g and hard work was so easily thrown away because of a major lapse in judgment. David Pajcin and Eugene Plotkin, as well as those who helped them, are clear examples of the effects of greed on young impressionable minds. ——————————— 0 ——————————— References Anderson, Jenny and Michael J. De La Merced. â€Å"An Insider-Trading Case With a B-Movie Plot. † New York Times. 30 April 2006. 08 November 2009. Gimbel, Barney. â€Å"Partners in Crime. † Fortune. 04 October 2006. 12 November 2009. Glovin, David. â€Å"Ex-Goldman Analyst May Have Fled After Cooperating. † Bloomberg. 04 November 2008. 30 October 2009. â€Å"Where is Fugitive David Pajcin?. † Securities Docket. 13 March 2009. 30 October 2009. â€Å"A Scam Exposed: Strippers and Insider Trading. † American Greed. Video. CNBC, 2009.