Stereoptyping, Labeling, Pre-judging Essay -- Personal Narrative Racis

Stereoptyping, Labeling, Pre-judging One day as I was shopping in Patterson’s at the mall here in Bemidji I noticed somethin that I have seen quite a lot of as I have been living in this town of racial diversity. I seemed to notice when I walked in the store with my mom we got the expected "Hello, can I help you find something?". We said "No, we are just looking." and went on our way through the store. A couple of minutes later some Natives came in the store and the guy who was working acted much different. He kind of looked at them with a disgusted look and followed them about the store without really saying anything. If he did it was something like "What size are you looking for?", no hellos or any chance of using the word help. I watched how he kind of looked at them with a sick grin on his face resembling a smirk of disgust. My mom also saw this same thing happen a couple of days earlier but didn’t say anything until we left the store. I have never really liked this guy working there because I have seen him do this almost every time I am in the store and that type of thi...

Women In Business Essay

Unassuming nature (humility) M – Motivator I- Interpersonal skills S – Sense of purpose E – Empathic N – Notable – Innovative N – Novice S – Self-confidence Spokesman N – Never giving up E- Efficacious In the business world there are a lot of obstacles women have to face to climb the career ladder. Helen Keller once said, â€Å"Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world right in the eye. † Women should take this message and run with it. It's not the people around us but ourselves which holds us back from what we want to accomplish.Self-confidence is the master key that unlocks the door in succeeding in today's business world. Confidence in one's self assists in elevating our position. Once a woman is confident, she has pride in her work and a little hard work comes easy. Singer Marsha Evans once remarked, â€Å"You can have unbelievable intelligence, you can have connections, you can have opportunities fal l out of the sky. But in the end hard work is the true, enduring characteristic of successful people. † Women, today we need not to be afraid of hard work. Working long hours and sacrificing our spare time is what it takes to build a business.Sometimes aging on an extra task can be beneficial to building the career we actually seek. We are classified as the ‘weaker vessels', but if we endure the hard work, it only makes us stronger and climbing the career ladder would be easy. As aforementioned in the acronym, the attribute listed for ‘B' in the word BUSINESS was bravery. Being a woman in a corporate world you would be timid by the male gender. You have to constantly push yourself out of your comfort zone to move forward. This means you have to take risks and accept when things go dismay. No matter the challenge or situation be brave.You will survive and turn things around. I am a young woman striving to succeed. Ambition is embedded. I don't settle for second best . â€Å"Reach for the stars†, but in reality I want to have it in the palm of my hands. My vision, dreams and aspirations will be a reality. The words of Anita Rowdier, â€Å"To succeed you have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a reality', and know I have passion within. For no matter what it is once I'm involved I will be passionate and committed. I stumbled upon a poem and the words of it really depicts who am and the attributes posses.Heart of a Woman in Business by Sherry Rough is an inspirational poem for women for all walks of life. A woman in business is like no other Multi-brilliant at work, and often too, a mother. Guided by vision to make a difference in this world, Reporting for service, with her hair even curled. Ready to go, whenever the need She knows in her heart, there's a calling to feed. To do right, to speak up, determined to succeed A role model that plants the possibility seed. Knows who she is, right down to the core Her essen ce, her passion-?shine all the more! She's in charge with a handle on it all.At the office, at home, or at the mall. Even in the depth of all she may know Realizes there's still plenty room to grow. So energetic, creative and fun . Early rise, there's much to be done! She still finds time to laugh and to play Sacred time too, to kneel and to pray It comes from inside, driven by vision, Get on board-?she's on a great mission! Her daily prayer resides in God's grace Serving others from her heart sets the pace Making use of her talent, wisdom and skill From strengths and trust in Divine will. Gentle, compassionate, loving and strongIn this sisterhood Of success you want to belong Anything she puts her heart to she can do SSH?s not alone assist-?as you can too! The road to get here has been quite a ride â€Å"Call me ‘Woman'-? it's my source of pride! † Come along, she's blazing' new trail A woman in business-?whom we all hail Studying at a prestigious institution as Hull I nternational Business School will broaden my horizon and the outlook for my life. It will allow me to build on the skills and traits that I already own and develop new ones that will take me on the road to success full speed.Women rarely hold highly influential leadership positions. I believe that women are just as capable of being successful leaders as men with the same abilities. If more women are allowed and encouraged to become leaders, it would create a wavelet effect throughout society. There is an imbalance in the business world between men and women leaders. It is very critical that women hold leadership position. Within the work environment there will be new perspectives and outlook on different situations. We have accepted the mental abilities that men and women are equal. Marie C.Wilson in Closing the Leadership Gap: Add Women Change Everything said, â€Å"When look at issues face, and when I think of the need, I am as convinced as I have ever been that our future depend s on the leadership of women – not to replace men but to transform our options alongside them. † These words that came forth is truly a divine statement. Women holding leadership positions isn't undermining men in influential positions but wanting to work hand in hand with them. You receive views from each person and ideas can be formulated and bought forth. It shouldn't be about male vs.. Male but about how we can all benefit.Right now too much power is placed within the grasp of men and the masculine perspective. A survey from Right Management Consultants shows that the skill that companies most often seek in managers is the ability to motivate and engage others. These characteristics are displayed more from women. Ultimately, if women are in leadership positions with their male counterpart, the feminine qualities such as intuitive, compassionate and emotional nature will bloom. â€Å"The gateway to our intuitive wisdom and our connection to the rater landscape of hu manity is emotions,† quote Tabby Fiddle.

Accounting Measures Of Corporate Liquidity Leverage And Costs Of Financial Distress Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 19 Words: 5683 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? John, Teresa A. Financial Management. Tampa: Autumn 1993. Vol. 22, Iss. 3; pg. 91 Abstract (Summary) The costs of financial distress are those resulting from the costs of asset restructuring or the costs of informal or formal debt restructuring. The costs of financial distress will have important implications for the liquidity and leverage policies of a firm. When the costs of financial distress are high, the firm may maintain a larger fraction of its assets as liquid assets or be cautious in taking on debt. Based on a simple model of financial distress, a positive relationship between the optimal liquidity maintained by a corporation and the costs of illiquidity of its assets is postulated. These costs include costs of distressed asset sales and loss of going-concern value in liquidation. Some new proxies are proposed for the costs of illiquidity and the indirect costs of financial distress. The study sample consists of 223 major US corporations with an average annual liquidity ratio of 6.3% in the period from 1979 to 1981.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ »   Jump to indexing (documen t details) Full Text  (5708   words) Copyright Financial Management Association Autumn 1993 * A general view of financial distress is that it results from a mismatch between the currently available liquid assets of a firm and its current obligations under its hard financial contracts. Mechanisms for dealing with financial distress rectify the mismatch by either restructuring the assets or restructuring the financing contracts, or both. The costs of financial distress are those resulting from the costs of asset restructuring (converting illiquid assets to liquid ones) or the costs of informal or formal debt restructuring. The costs of financial distress will have important implications for the liquidity and leverage policies of a firm. In particular, when the costs of financial distress are high, the firm may maintain a larger fraction of its assets as liquid assets and/or be cautious in taking on debt (hard contracts). In this study, I analyze the relationship between the costs of financial distress and (i) the corporate liquidity policy, and (ii) the leverage policy of a firm. Liquid assets constitute a considerable portion of total assets and have important implications for the firms risk and profitability. For instance, Baskin [6] reports that among his sample of 338 major U.S. corporations, 9.6% of invested capital was held in cash and marketable securities in 1972. In our sample of 223 major U.S. corporations, the average annual liquidity ratio was 6.3% in the period 1979-1981. Kallberg [19] documents that top managers pay a lot of attention to management of corporate liquidity. In his book on liquidity management, Kallberg [19] provides six stages of decreasing liquidity as follows: (i) meeting current obligations from current cash flows, cash balances and short-term investments; (ii) using short-term credit; (iii) careful management of cash flows, e.g., through management of credit policy and inventory levels; (iv) renegotiatio n of debt contracts; (v) asset sales; and (vi) bankruptcy. This scheme suggests a direct link between liquidity policies pursued by management and costs of financial distress. Using various proxies for the different direct and indirect costs at various stages of financial distress, its relationship to corporate liquidity is examined. Although several measures of corporate liquidity have been suggested, I focus on the accounting measures of liquidity, such as the liquid ratio. A second response to high financial distress costs is to limit the use of debt financing. Although the inverse relationship between bankruptcy costs and leverage has been studied previously, I will propose new measures of asset illiquidity and indirect bankruptcy costs in exploring the relationship between leverage and the costs of financial distress.(1) The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In Section I, a simple model of dealing with financial distress is used to develop testable relationship s between (i) distress costs and corporate liquidity policy, and (ii) distress costs and corporate leverage. Several proxies for different components of financial distress are developed in Section I.C. Methodology and data are described in Section II. Results are presented in Section III. Section IV concludes. I. DEVELOPMENT OF HYPOTHESES A. A MODEL OF FINANCIAL DISTRESS The financing contracts of a firm can be loosely categorized into hard and soft contracts. An example of a hard contract is a coupon debt contract which specifies periodic payments by the firm to the bondholders. If these payments are not made on time, the firm is considered to be in violation of the contract and the claimholders can seek specified and unspecified legal recourses to enforce the contract. Common stock and preferred stock are examples of soft contracts. Here, even though its claimholders have expectations of receiving current payouts from the firm in addition to their ownership rights, the le vel and frequency of these payouts are often policy decisions made by the firm. These payouts can be suspended and/or postponed, if the liquid resources remaining in the firm after satisfying the claims of the hard contracts are not sufficient. The assets of a firm also have a natural categorization based on liquidity. Cash or cashlike (marketable) securities are liquid assets. Long-term investments (such as plant and machinery) which may only produce liquid assets in the future may be called illiquid assets. The above categorizations of the financing contracts of a firm and its assets give rise to a natural definition of financial distress. A firm is in financial distress at a given point in time when the liquid assets of the firm are not sufficient to meet the current liquidity requirements of its hard contracts. Since financial distress results from a mismatch between the currently available liquid assets and the current obligations of its hard financial contracts, mecha nisms for coping with financial distress involve correcting the mismatch by either increasing the liquidity of the assets (through asset sales) or decreasing the hardness of the debt contracts (through debt renegotiation). The total costs of accomplishing this through a combination of asset restructuring and/or debt restructuring, through formal mechanisms (e.g., Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedure) or through informal mechanisms (e.g., private debt workouts), constitute the costs of financial distress.(2) For a recent survey of the literature on financial distress and mechanisms for dealing with it through asset and/or debt restructuring, see John and John [16]. B. TESTABLE HYPOTHESES Given the above characterization of financial distress, a firm with high costs of financial distress will reduce its exposure in two ways: (i) increase the liquid component of its assets, and (ii) reduce the extent of its hard contracts (such as debt). This immediately leads to the following hypothe ses: H1 : The proportion of total assets invested by a firm in liquid assets (e.g.,cash and marketable securities) will be increasing in its costs of financial distress. H2: The proportion of debt in the capital structure of a firm will be decreasing in its costs of financial distress. In the following section, I will develop various proxies for the costs of financial distress. C. PROXIES FOR COSTS OF FINANCIAL DISTRESS Empirical proxies for the costs of financial distress are developed based on the simple economic model of coping with financial distress presented in Section I.A. Since financial distress is resolved through asset restructuring (asset sales or other liquidations) and/or financial restructuring (private or formal debt renegotiations), the costs of these different mechanisms of resolving distress will represent financial distress costs. First, let us consider the liquidation costs which are the costs incurred when assets are sold to raise cash and rem edy distress.(3) The most important cost of liquidation is the destruction of going-concern value that occurs when assets are sold to pay down debt. This loss of value will be greater for intangible assets and assets that generate firm-specific rents (e.g., growth opportunities, managerial firm-specific human capital, monopoly power, and operating synergies whose value depends on the firms assets being kept together). Financial distress will be relatively more costly for firms whose assets are more intangible or firm-specific (see John and Vasudevan [18] and Shleifer and Vishny [28]). The ratio of the firms market value to the replacement costs of its assets, defined as Tobins q, is used as a proxy for the loss of going-concern value due to asset sales (see Lindenberg and Ross [21]). Replacement costs approximate what the firms assets could be sold for piecemeal, and are positively correlated with the liquidation value of the asset. Firms with a higher market value/replacement costs ratio will have higher costs of asset liquidations. Therefore, Tobins q ratio (equal to market value/replacement costs) will be used as a proxy for the loss of going-concern value in asset sales and premature liquidations associated with financial distress. For several reasons, assets are more likely to be sold when debt is restructured in Chapter 11 rather than privately. First, automatic stay gives the debtor more power over the disposition of the firms assets, by enjoining creditors from exercising their nonbankruptcy right to sue the firm and seize collateral. Asset sales that would normally be in violation of the firms debt covenants will be allowed if the firm can convince the bankruptcy judge that such sales are necessary for the continued operation of the business. Second, since the debtor can undermine the value of lenders collateral and grant new lenders superpriority standing, fully secured lenders will in general prefer liquidation over reorganization. This may creat e additional pressure for asset sales in bankruptcy. In Chapter 11, creditors can initiate asset sales by making a motion to sell before the court. In addition, Chapter 11 cases can be converted into Chapter 7 liquidations. For a sample of Chapter 11 filings in the Southem District of New York (including nonpublic firms), White [34] finds that onethird either end up in Chapter 7 or as liquidating reorganizations. The fraction of bankruptcies converted to Chapter 7 liquidations is smaller (only five percent) in the sample studied in Gilson, John, and Lang [13]. Finally, purchasing assets from a financially distressed firm is less risky in Chapter 11, because asset sales are executed by a court order and are thus free from legal challenge. In addition, assets that are purchased from an insolvent firm that subsequently files for Chapter 11 may have to be retumed as a voidable preference or fraudulent transfet Given the costs incurred if an asset sale is later challenged or canceled, potential purchasers of an asset will prefer to deal with firms in Chapter 11. Titman [30] and Titman and Wessels [31] have argued that the costs of liquidation are higher for firms that produce unique or specialized products. Their workers and suppliers often have job-specific skills and capital, and their customers find it difficult to find altemative servicing for their relatively unique products. For these reasons, a high degree of specificity or uniqueness engenders high distress costs. Expenditures on research and development over sales (RD) and advertising over sales (ADV) are indicators of uniqueness. RD expenditures measure uniqueness because firms that sell products with close substitutes have low RD intensity since their innovations can be easily duplicated. Similarly firms marketing relatively unique products advertise intensely. Liquidation costs are also likely to be high for firms which make products requiring specialized servicing and spare parts. As a proxy for asset specificity, a dummy variable SPC is constructed, where SPC equals one for firms with SIC codes between 3400 and 4000 (firms producing machines and equipment) and zero otherwise. The variables RD and ADV will proxy for indirect costs of financial distress also through another channel. Myers [24] has argued that risky debt and financial distress can lead to underinvestment in growth options. RD expenditures and advertising expenditures create a stock of future investment options that can expire unutilized if the firm runs into financial distress. These costs can be minimized if the firm reduces its insolvency risk by maintaining high liquidity. Measures of corporate liquidity should be higher for firms with high RD and advertising. Another measure of the liquidity costs of asset restructuring is the collateral value of the assets (see Shleifer and Vishny [28]). Titman and Wessels [31] suggest two proxies for the collateral value. The ratio of inventory plus gross plant an d equipment to total assets (IGP/TA) is positively related to collateral value. The ratio of intangible assets to total assets (INT/TA) is negatively related to collateral value. The liquidity costs of asset restructuring are negatively related to collateral value. A firm with assets of high collateral value need only maintain low levels of liquidity. In other words, the liquidity measures will be decreasing in IGPlrA and increasing in INT/TA. Another proxy for the expected costs of financial distress will be the variable BR, which is a dummy variable for the actual incidence of bankruptcy (Chapter 11 filing by the firm) during a ten-year period after the liquidity decision is taken. (If the firm had a bankruptcy filing during this period, BR = 1, otherwise BR = O.) This variable is meant to proxy for factors not included above, which the management may have considered when the liquidity decision was taken, as potentially affecting the probability of bankruptcy. Corporate liquidi ty will be increasing in the probability of bankruptcy.(4) Given the above proxies for costs of financial distress, hypotheses H1 and H2, as developed in Section I.B., can now be tested. II. METHODOLOGY AND DATA A. METHODALOGY In the first part, the relationship between corporate liquidity and expected costs of financial distress is examined. Here, a linear relationship between measures of liquidity and proxies for expected costs of financial distress will be used. Different specifications of a linear model of the following form will be tested: Equation (1) LIQR = a sub 0 +a sub 1 +a sub 2 RD+a sub 3 ADV+a sub 4 BR+a sub 5 SPC +a sub 6 DEBT+a sub 7 CASHCY+a sub 8 GROWTH +a sub 9 LSALES+a sub 10 OI/S+a sub 11 OI/TA +a sub 12 IGT/TA+a sub 13 INT/TA+a sub 14 VOI+e sub 1 where LIQR = the liquidity ratio, measured as the average ratio of cash and marketable securities to total assets in 1979-1981; Q = the average Tobins q ratio in the peniod 1979-1981, which is calculated as the market value of the firm (sum of the market value of the preferred stock, the market value of the common stock, the market value of long-term debt adjusted for its age structure, less the short-term assets) divided by the replacement costs of the firms plant and inventories. The associated numbers are obtained from the Griliches RD Master File (Cummins et al [10]); RD = the average ratio of RD expenditures to capital expenditures in 1979-1981; ADV = the average ratio of advertising expenditures to capital expenditures in 1979-1981; BR = 1 if the firm has filed for Chapter 11 during 1981-1991, and equals 0 otherwise; SPC = 1 if the firm has an SIC code between 3400 4000 (firm produces machinery and equipment); equals 0 otherwise; DEBT = the average debt ratio (calculated as the sum of short-term nonspontaneous debt and long-term debt) divided by the sum of short-term nonspontaneous debt, long-term debt, preferred stock and market value of equity) in the period 1979-1981; LTDEBT = the average debt ratio (calculated as long-term debt over total assets) in the period1979-1981; CASHCY = the average cash cycle (calculated as the difference of average inventory age plus average collection period minus average payment period) in 1979-1981; GROWTH = the average compound growth rate of sales between 1974 and 1979; LSALES = the natural logarithm of average annual sales in 1979-1981; VOI = the volatility of operating income, estimated as the standard deviation of the first-level differences of EBIT in the years 1975-1978 divided by average total assets in the same period (see Bradley et al [71); OI/S = the average ratio of operating income over sales in 1979-1981; OI/TA = the average ratio of operating income over total assets in 1979-1981; IGP/TA = the average ratio of inventory plus gross plant and equipment to total assets in 1979-1981; INT/TA = the average ratio of intangible assets to total assets in 1979- 1981; and e sub 1 = the error term. The main explanatory variables on which this study focuses are the proxies for the expected costs of financial distress. In Section I.C., it was argued that Tobins q ratio (Q) represents a measure of the indirect costs of financial distress. WeR will be increasing in e. The dummy variable BR proxies for the probability of bankruptcy. An underlying assumption is that the ex post incidence of Chapter 11 filings during 1979-1989 would equal the ex ante estimation made by the management in 1979 (based on some bankruptcy prediction models, see, e.g., Altman [11). LIQR will be increasing in BR. The other proxies for costs of financial distress are those that are related to costs of liquidation of assets. As argued in Section LC., the costs of liquidation are higher for firms that produce unique or specialized products and lower for firms with assets of high collateral value. The costs of liquidation, and hence LIeR, are increasing in RD, ADV, SPC and INT/TA and decreasing in IGP/TA, as argued earlier in Section I.C. The variables LSALES, CASNCY, DEBT, OI/S, OI/TA and VOI are control variables to account for the level of liquidity justified by transaction and precautionary motives. The variable LSALES proxies for the transaction needs of the firm. The cash cycle of the firm (CASHCY) measures the time it takes to recoup cash outlays, and hence it affects cash balances. A larger cash cycle (say, for example, due to a large average collection period) implies a larger amount of receivables, which are near-cash assets which will be converted into liquid assets periodically. Therefore a large cash cycle is a net source of liquidity which is not already accounted for in LIQR. Corporate liquidity should be decreasing in the length of the cash cycle (CASHCY). Similarly, operating incomes or cash flows provide a ready source ofliquidity. Firms with ready access to debt markets and other sources of borrowing can also use debt as a su bstitute for liquidity maintenance. Therefore, firms with good operating incomes (OIlS or OI/TA) or ready sources of financing (proxied by measures of debt) can afford to keep lower levels of liquidity. Hence liquidity ratios (LIQR) would be lower for firms with higher operating incomes or debt. The growth of sales (as proxied by GROWTH) may also provide a source of liquidity. If sales growth and corresponding cash flows build up the liquid reserves of the firm faster than its use, then liquidity maintained would be decreasing in GROWTH. The variable VOI, volatility of operating income will capture the maintenance of liquidity for precautionary reasons (i.e., to avert shortfalls of cash). Hence liquidity ratio (LIQR) would be increasing in VOI. Costs of financial distress may not be the only reason for the relationship between corporate liquidity and variables such as RD and advertising expenditure. RD and advertising expenditure may contribute to building up of assets and resour ces characterized by asymmetric information between corporate insiders and outside investors in the market. In this setting, Myers and Majluf [26] have argued that firms can optimally maintain financial slack (i.e., excess liquidity) which can be used to finance projects, avoiding the adverse-selection costs of interacting with a less informed market. This would give rise to an increasing relationship between corporate liquidity and ADV and/or RD. In summary, the predicted signs of the coefficients in the regression model in Equation (1) are positive for a sub 1 , a sub 2 , a sub 3 , a sub 4 a sub 5 a sub 13 and a sub 14 , and negative for a sub 6 , a sub 7 , a sub 8 a sub 10 , a sub 11 and a sub 12 . The coefficient of LSALES is indeterminate. In the second part, the relationship between measures of debt and expected costs of financial distress is examined. In addition to the debt measure (DEB73 defined following Equation (1), I will introduce another debt measure called long -term debt (LTDEB defined as follows: LTDEBT is the average debt ratio (calculated as long-term debt over total assets) in the period 1979-1981. A linear relationship between the debt measure (DEBT or LTDEBT) and proxies for the costs of financial distress will be used. Different specifications of a model of the following form for both of the debt measures will be estimated: Equation (2) DEBT or LTDEBT} = b sub 0 +b sub 1 Q+b sub 2 RD+b sub 3 SPC+ b sub 4 JGP/TA+b sub 5 OI/S+b sub 6 OI/T+b sub 7 GROWTH+ b sub 8 LSALES+b sub 9 VOI+b sub 10 BR+e sub 2 where the variables are as defined following Equation (1), and e sub 2 is the error term. As argued before, Tobins q is a proxy for indirecl bankruptcy costs and costs of illiquidity which would have a negative impact on the use of debt. Similarly, RD and SPC are associated with higher costs of financial distress. Hence, both measures of debt should be decreasing in Q, RD and SPC. IGP/TA denotes the collateral value of the as sets and it is associated with lower costs of illiquidity in an asset sale or premature liquidation. Hence, assets with high collateral value have a large debt capacity. Debt measures will be positively related to IGP/TA. Firms with large cash inflows need less extemal financing and less debt financing.(5) In other words, firms with large operating incomes should have less borrowing. Debt should be decreasing in OI/S and OI/TA. Finally, a higher incidence of bankruptcy will be associated with larger levels of debt. In summary, the expected sign for coefficients b sub 1 , b sub 2 , b sub 3 and b sub 10 is positive; it is negative for b sub 4 , b sub 5 , b sub 6 , and b sub 7 . Coefficients b sub 8 and b sub 9 of control variables LSALES and VOI may be positive or negative. B. THE DATA The original sample contains 223 firms from the Fortune 500 companies in 1980 for which we were able to find the q ratio in the Griliches RD Master File for 1979-1981 (Cummins et al [10]) . Data to calculate the remaining variables LSALES, CASHCY, VOI, GROWTH, LTDEBT, DEBT, RD and ADV were retrieved from the COMPUSTAT tapes.(6) Exhibit 1 contains some descriptive statistics (mean, median, standard deviation, minimum and maximum value) of the variables. (Exhibit 1 omitted) For the firms in our sample, the liquidity ratio, LIeRAT, ranges from a minimum value of 0.01 to a maximum of 0.29, with a mean of 0.06 and median of 0.05. Of the firms, 43% had liquidity ratios in excess of 0.05, whereas 19% had liquidity ratios of 0.10. Thus, for a typical irm, liquidity requires a nontrivial commitment of capital. The q ratio ranges from 0.20 to 4.98 with a mean of 0.95 and a median of 0.69. The debt ratio ranged from 0 to 0.8 with a mean of 0.30 and a median of 0.29. Similarly, the long-term debt ratio ranged from 0 to 0.43 with a mean of 0.18 and a median of O.17. Therefore, the sample is representative of large firms which are not currently in financial trouble. III. RES ULTS Exhibit 2 presents regression results from five different specifications of the basic model in Equation (1). (Exhibit 2 omitted) In all specications, the coefficient of the variable e, the primary proxy for financial distress (Tobins q), is positive and significant at the 0.01 level. Other proxies for high liquidation costs, such as research and development (RD) and advertising expenditure (ADV), were also positive and significant at the 0.01 level in regressions (1), (2), (3) and (5) where they were included. The coefficient of BR, the dummy variable for the incidence of bankruptcy, is also positive and significant in specifications (3) and (5). Together, these results provide strong evidence in support of hypothesis H1 that corporate liquidity is increasing in proxies of financial distress costs. The coefficients of the control variables also had the predicted signs, many of them statistically significant. As predicted, variables which stand for ready sources of liquidi ty, such as CASHCY, DEBT, GROWTH, IGP/TA, OI/S and OI/TA, have a negative relationship to corporate liquidity. In all specifications, i.e., (2), (3), (4) and (5), where DEBT is included, its coefficient is negative and significant at the 0.01 level. Similarly, the coefficient of GROWTH is negative and significant at the 0.01 level in specifications (2) through (4), and at the 0.05 level in specification (1). Coeficients of the proxy for collateral value, IGP/TA, and the proxies for intermediate cash flows (OI/S and OI/TA) are also negative and significant at the 0.05 level in all regressions that include them. Overall, colporate liquidity is decreasing in proxies for altemate sources of liquidity (as predicted). This negative relationship is strong, as suggested by the statistical significance of the coefficients of CASHCY and DEBT. The coefficients of SPC, NTlTA and LSALES are not statistically significant. As predicted, a higher eamings volatility implies a higher corporate liq uidity need (the coefficient of VOI is positive and significant at the 0.10 level). In summary, corporate liquidity maintained is increasing in proxies of financial distress costs; it is decreasing in the collateral value of the assets, and other sources of liquidity available, such as intermediate cash flows, projected growth in cash flows, sources of borrowing and the length of the cash cycle. In Exhibit 3, I present regression results on different specifications of the model in Equation (2), using two measures of debt, DEBT and LTDEBT, as dependent variables. (Exhibit 3 omitted) In all three specifications with DEBT as the dependent variable, the coefficient of Tobins q, the main proxy for financial distress costs, is negative (as predicted) and significant at the 0.01 level. Asset specificity (as proxied by the dummy variable SPC) is negative (as predicted) and significant in specifications (1) and (2). Proxies for intermediate cash flows (OI/S and OI/TA) have coefficients which are negative (as predicted) and significant at the 0.01 level in specifications (1), (2) and (3). In summary, corporate debt levels are decreasing in proxies of financial distress costs (e and SPC) and proxies of intermediate cash flows (OI/S and OI/TA). All three regressions have adjusted R sup 2 values around 50%. In the two specifications of Equation (2) presented in the last two columns of Exhibit 3, LTDEBT is the dependent variable. As predicted, the coefficients for proxies of financial distress costs (Q and SPC) are negative in both specifications. The coefficients of Q are statistically significant at 0.01 levels in specifications (1) and (2), and those of SPC are significant at the 0.05 level in specification (2). Overall, this negative relationship with financial distress proxies seems to be the strongest. As predicted, firms with larger long-term debt have a higher probability of bankuptcy (coefficient of BR is positive and significant at the 0.05 level). The co efficients of OI/S, OI/TA and IGP/TA are not significant. Overall, long-term debt is decreasing in proxies of financial distress costs. In summary, the evidence in Exhibit 3 is consistent with hypothesis H2 that debt levels are decreasing in proxies of financial distress costs. We have used a new measure of destruction of going-concem value (i.e., Tobins q) and found such a relation to be strong with either measure of leverage, DEBT or LTDEBT, as the dependent variable.(7) IV. CONCLUSION Based on a simple model of financial distress, I postulate a positive relationship between the optimal liquidity maintained by a corporation and the costs of illiquidity of its assets. These costs include costs of distressed asset sales and loss of going-concern value in liquidations. Some new proxies are proposed for the costs of illiquidity and the indirect costs of financial distress. These include Tobins q, RD and advertising expenditures, an index of asset specificity and an index of t he probability of bankruptcy. The liquidity ratio is documented to be positively related to these proxies of financial distress costs. It is negatively related to proxies for altemate sources of anticipated liquidity such as intermediate cash flows, debt financing, length of cash cycle and the collateral value of assets. Total debt is also negatively related to Tobins q and asset specificity as well as measures of intermediate cash flows. Long-term debt is also negatively related to Tobins q and asset specificity. Overall, the evidence is strongly consistent with the hypothesized relationships between corporate liquidity and financial distress costs, and corporate leverage and financial distress costs. FOOTNOTES (1) Recent cross-sectional studies include Feni and Jones [11], Flaath and Knoeber [12], Marsh [23], Titman [29], Castanias [9], Bradley, Jarrell, and Kim [7], Auerbach [5], Long and Malitz [22], and Titman and Wessels [31]. Some of these papers (e.g., Titman [29], Bradley, Jarrell, and Kim [7], Auerbach [5], Long and Malitz [22], and Titman and Wessels [31]), examine uariables that are similar to some of those examined here. The studies find a negative relation between both research and development and advertising and leverage, but have mixed findings relating to the different measures of nondebt tax shields and leverage and volatility and leverage. (2) Haugen and Senbet [15] argue that capital market mechanisms could accomplish restructuring of the problematic hard contracts and replacing them with a softer mix. They argue that the transactions cost of these private mechanisms are small and should form an upper bound on the costs of coping with financial distress. (3) Brown, James, and Mooradian [8], Asquith, Gertner, and Scharfstein [4], Lang, Poulsen, and Stulz [20], and Ofek [27] present evidence of asset restructuring by firms in distress. All the above papers document that asset sales are frequently used by financially distressed firms in their sample, either during private debt restructuring or the formal Chapter 11 reorganization. (4) In analyzing the costs of bankruptcy, it has become common to distinguish between direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are out-of-pocket transactions costs (such as charges for legal and investment banking services). Indirect costs include all other costs related to the firms bankruptcy. For example, managers may forego profitable investment opportunities because they are distracted by dealings with creditors of the bankruptcy court. Warner [32], Ang et al [3], Altman [2], and Weiss [33] have estimated the costs of Chapter 11 reorganizations empirically. (5) Over 95% of extemal financing by firms is debt (see John and John [17]). This is also suggested by the pecking order hypothesis in Myers [25]. (6) Due to the varying availability of these data, we utilize samples of different sizes in our tests. (7) To consider possible structural dependencies between model s (1) and (2), I estimated the coefficients simultaneously using a SYSLIN procedure of SAS (a two-stage least-squares procedure) with appropriate restrictions on the coefficients. The estimates were virtually identical and hence not reported. See Green [14, Ch. 19] for details. REFERENCES 1. E. Altman, Corporafe Financia[ Distress, New York, John Wiley Sons, 1983. 2. E. Altman, A Further Empirical Investigation of the Bankruptcy Cost Question, Journal of Finance (September 1984), pp. 1067-1089. 3. J. Ang, J. Chua, and J. McConnell, The Administrative Costs of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Note, Journal of Finance (March 1992), pp. 219-226. 4. P. Asquith, R. Gertner, and D. Scharfstein, Anatomy of Financial Distress: An Examination of Junk-Bond Issuers, Unpublished Manuscript, MIT and University of Chicago, October 1991. 5. A. Auerbach, Real Determinants of Corporate Leverage, in Corporate Capital Structures in the United Stares, B. Friedman (ed), Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1985. 6. J. Baskin, Corporate Liquidity in Games of Monopoly Power, Review of Economics and Staristics (May 1987), pp. 312-319. 7. M. Bradley, G. Jarrell, and E.H. Kim, On the Existence of an Optimal Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence, Journal of Finance (July 1984), pp. 857-878. 8. D. Brown, C. James, and R. Mooradian, The Information Content of Exchange Offers Made by Distressed Firms, Unpublished Manuscript, University of Florida, May 1992. 9. R. Castanias, Bankruptcy Risk and qptimal Capital Structure, Journal of Finance (December 1983), pp. 1617-1635. 10. E. Cummins, B. Hall, and E. Laderman, The RD Master File: A Documentation, Mimeograph, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1982. 11. M. Ferri and W. Jones, Determinants of Financial Structure: A New Methodological Approach, Journal of Finance (June 1979), pp. 631-644. 12. D. Flath and C. Knoeber, Taxes, Failure Costs, and Optimal Industry Capital Structure: An Empirical Test,Journal of Finance (March 1980),pp. 99-117. 13. S.C. Gilson, K. John, and L. Lang, Troubled Debt Restructurings: An Empirical Study of Private Reorganization of Firms in Default, Journal of Financial Economics (October 1990), pp. 315-353. 14. W.H. Green, Econometric Analysis, New York, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990. 15. R. Haugen and L.W. Senbet, The Insignificance of Bankruptcy Costs to the Theory of Optimal Capital Structure, Journal of Finance (June 1978), pp. 383-393. 16. K. John and T.A. John, Coping with Financial Distress: A Survey, Financial Markets, lnstitutions and Instruments (December 1992), pp. 63-78. 17. K. John and T.A. John, Private Corporate Funding, The New Palgrave Dictionary of Money and Finance, McMillian Press Reference Books, October 1992. 18. K. John and G.K. Vasudevan, Bankruptcy and Reorganization: A Theory of the Choice Between Workouts and Chapter 11. Unpublished Manuscript, New York University, December 1992. 19. J. Kallberg and K. Parkin son, Corporate Liquidity Management and Measurement, Homewood, IL, Irwin, 1992. 20. L. Lang, A. Poulsen, and R.M. Stulz, Asset Sales, Leverage, and the Agency Costs of Managerial Discretion, Unpublished Manuscript, Ohio State University, February 1992. 21. E. Lindenberg and S. Ross, Tobins Q Ratio and Industrial Organization, Journal of Business (January 1981), pp. 1-32. 22. M.S. Long and E.B. Malitz, Investment Pattems and Financial Leverage, in Corporate Capital Structures in the United States, B. Friedman (ed.), Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1985. 23. P. Marsh, The Choice Between Equity and Debt: An Empirical Study, Journal of Finance (March 1982), pp. 121-144. 24. S.C. Myers, Determinants of Corporate Borrowing, Journal of Financial Economics (November 1977), pp. 147-176. 25. S.C. Myers, The Capital Structure Puzzle. Journal of Finance (July 1984), pp. 575-592. 26. S.C. Myers and N. Majluf, Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have Information Investors Do Not Have. Journal of Financial Economics (June 1984), pp. 187-221 . 27. E. Ofek, Capital Structure and Firm Response to Poor Performance: An Empirical Analysis. Journa[ of Financial Economics (August 1993).pp. 3-30. 28. A. Shleifer and R. Vishny, Liquidation Values and Debt Capacity: A Market Equilibrium Approach, Journal of Finance (September 1992), pp. 1343-1366. 29. S. Titman, Determinants of Capital Structure: An Empirical Analysis, Working Paper, University of California at Los Angeles, 1982. 30. S. Titman, The Effect of Capital Structure on a Firms Liquidation Decision, Journal of Financial Economics (March 1984), pp. 137-151. 31. S. Titman and R. Wessels, The Determinants of Capital Structure Choice, Journal of Finance (March 1988), pp. 1-19. 32. J. Warner, Bankruptcy Costs: Some Evidence, Journal of Finance (May 1977), pp. 337-347. 33. L. Weiss, Bankruptcy Resolution: Direct Costs and Violation of Priority of Claims, Journal of Financial Economics (October 1990), pp. 285-314. 34. M. White,Bankruptcy, Liquidation and Reorganization, in Handbook of Modern Finance, D.E. Logue (ed.), Warren, Gorham, Lamont, 1990. Teresa A. John is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, New York. I thank Elizabeth Bagnani and Edith Hotchkiss for providing some of the data used in this study for many helpful comments. Don’t waste time! 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Has Airport Security Gone Too Far Essay - 547 Words

Has Airport Security Gone Too Far? nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In the wake of 9/11, the once â€Å"simple things in life† required not much thought at all now they have been transformed into complicated procedures only brought about in a time of war. Traveling by air has been a very rewarding experience for most but courtesy of terrorism, it has mutated into a list of banned items, random luggage searches, and armed soldiers ominously toting M-16 rifles. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One must wonder if airport security, with the addition of machines that scan shoes for bombs and random luggage searches, has gone too far. It is not necessary to check the orthopedic shoes of an eighty-year old woman whereas it†¦show more content†¦Frequent fliers who voluntarily give information about themselves and undergo a police background check are granted these cards and are able to waive the intense security and head to their gates. 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From one of the first major terrorist attacks on an aircraft in 1955 to the multiple attacks throughout the 1960s and 70s, for the first time airports were introduced to armed security guards, metal detectors, and explosive detection canines. Over the next two and half decades, airports a lso saw theRead MoreProfiling is a Necessary Means for Discovering and Apprehending Criminals1197 Words   |  5 Pagesthe closely related stop and frisk policy, different cities that have proven statistics that profiling does work, how airports are now profiling, and different serial killers that have been apprehended due to work from profilers. 9/11 led to a re-evaluation of racial profiling as a means of combating crime, and terrorism. 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In recent years, new body-scanners have been implemented at many airports which are in violation of ones rights and freedoms. Anti-terrorism tactics have been exlimplying how the government has gone too far in the fight against terrorism. In the past 20 years, over one-half of the impoverished countries in this world have endured armed conflict, associated with appalling breaches

The Effect of Violence in the Media on Children Essay

Television, movies, and video games are a big part of childrens lives in todays technologically advanced society. However, there is a big controversy questioning the effects of these media outlets on children. Much of society claims to have proof for the belief that media violence affects children negatively. However, I am skeptical of the evidence that is stated to prove that claim. I feel that society has placed the blame on these mediums for the violent acts, however serious or trivial, that children commit way too easily, before they even begin to examine the parenting of todays society. Television, movies, and video games are not the primary causes for acts of violence and other crimes committed by kids. They are only singled†¦show more content†¦Most people wont admit that they like violence in television, movies, and video games, but I think that they offer a way to see the violence without actually hurting anyone. If we censor or ban it, we will be forced to fi nd our violence elsewhere. Ever since I can remember, people have been arguing over the content of what we see. These three forms of entertainment have become huge over my generation and the will become even bigger with the ones to come. Many children are spending most of their time in front of a television screen or in front of a video game and who knows how many acts of murders or violent crimes an average kid witnessed even before the age of 12. My question is what does seeing these images actually do to a kid. Many people seem to think that seeing these images will make the child more aggressive and make them more violent. But, that doesnt mean that the kid will go out and murder someone. Some people think so because they believe that what kids see on television will want to make a kid hurt someone else. Often when a kid commits a violent crime, the blame goes to television or movies or video games. 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However, people have choices and responsibilities we cannot allow ourselves to blame it on other things such as the media. The violence seen in our media has an impact on both adults and children. Since children are also exposed to various forms of media, there has been

judahs Triumph Essay Example For Students

judahs Triumph Essay Judahs TriumphWilliam Wyler is the director of the 1959 award-winning version of Ben-Hur. The film is an adaptation of General Lew Wallaces novel. Karl Tunberg is credited with the actual screenplay. Sam Zimbalist was the original producer of Ben-Hur, but he died before the completion of filming. The two main characters are Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and Messala (Stephen Boyd). Another important person involved in this film is Miklos Rozsa. He composed the award-winning musical score in a total of eight weeks. Ben-Hur was released in New York City on November 18, 1959, and in Los Angeles on November 24, 1959. It was re-released in the USA in 1969. This film has grossed $70 million in the United States alone. As for location, this film was shot in entirely in Italy. Ben-Hur is one of two films to win eleven Academy Awards, the other movie being Titanic. The awards include best leading and supporting actors, best cinematography, best director, best music, best sound, and more. This film has some interesting behind the scenes trivia, most of which is in connection to the stadium or the chariot racing. According to The Internet Movie Database the design of the stadium was a controversy. MGM asked an archaeologist what the stadium in Jerusalem had looked like. Roman, came the reply. A second archaeologist was asked. It was in a Phoenician style, he said. A third archaeologist was consulted, who said: Stadium? I was not aware that Jerusalem had one! MGM engineers eventually sat down and carefull y studied Ben-Hur (1926), and based their design on that. Another intriguing fact is during the chariot race Charlton Hestons stunt double was flipped out of the chariot. The stunt man hung on to the reigns and climbed back into the chariot. That blooper was left in the film to add more action. Marketing for this film was almost as big as the movie itself. Hundreds of toys were created, as well as Ben-his and Ben-hers bathroom towels. The Internet Movie Database also points out another big goof in editing. Nine chariots start the chariot race. After the first crash, there appear still to be nine chariots in the race. After the third crash, six are shown, but as Ben Hur passes to catch up, clearly there are a total of seven in the race. After five have crashed, five are left. Messala is the sixth chariot to crash, but Ben Hur and three others finish the race. Thus, nine chariots start the race, six crash, and four finish. This film takes place during 26 A.D., which is not in concordance with the events portrayed. Judah Ben-Hur and his family are fictitious characters. Some of the real life characters are Messala, Pontius Pilate, Tiberius Caesar, Jesus and Balthasar. Tiberius fit into the time period correctly. He was emperor from 14 to 37 A.D. Pontius Pilate was governor from 26-36 A.D., which puts him in the same time period as Tiberius. Balthasar and Messala were influential men; just not in the time period we are given in the movie. It is believed that Jesus crucifixion took place sometime between 12 B.C. and 14 A.D, which shows that Jesus does not fit into this time period either. The chariot races were true to the period, except that Jerusalem did not have a stadium. The scene I have chosen to analyze goes from Judah Ben-Hur winning the chariot race, defeating Messala, to Judah being crowned by Pontius Pilate (Frank Thring). This paper will cover the filmic elements of mise en scene and sound as they are represented in Ben-Hur. The dominant figures in this shot are the Roman soldiers, and the Roman spectators. The Romans are set apart from the native people by the color of their clothing. Roman soldiers stand out because they wear red capes, with bright white tunics underneath. The upper class Romans shown are costumed in bright colors while the Jews are wearing drab earth-tone colors. The Jews seem to blend in with their desert-like surroundings, and the Romans call attention to themselves with their flashy clothes. As for lighting, it seems to be natural sunlight. This scene takes place in hours the sun is out full; it was not necessary for extra lighting to be brought in. The use of natural lighting gives the shot a realistic feel. There are n ot any dark shadowy places, which means the sunlight created high key lighting. Shot and camera proxemics heighten the drama in this scene. We see Judah and the crowd in medium shots; no close ups are used. Medium shots show us what the crowd and Judah are feeling; it is not necessary to get in any closer. At the finish of the race we can see Judahs feelings perfectly, we know that he is content with the outcome of the race, other than Messala being in the condition he is in. We need to see Judah from the waist up to see his body language, his face shows a lot, but the extra effect is in his movements. We also see Pilate, the governor of Judea, and his associates in medium shots. They are upset that Messala lost, but are indifferent other than that. There is no need to see more or less of them in the shot. The crowd is in a long shot from the box where Pilate is sitting. He does not need to see their faces; hey are nothing but stupid little people he must watch over. Crane shots are used during the race so we can see how close the charioteers are to each other. This allows us to watch everything, and it makes the racers look like they are in a box, like they are stuck, with nowhere to go except around and around. Parts of Library EssayDepth changes depending on whose point of view we are looking through. The number of plains ranges from three to six. When we are looking at the crowd through Pilates perspective there are six plains: people in the box with Pilate, the railing of the box, the track, the building in the middle of the track, the other side of the arena, and what is out beyond the stadium. When Pilate is crowning Judah there are four plains: Pilate and Judah, furniture, people in the box, and the arena outside the box. Character placement tells the viewer a little more about each character. We see which character is inferior to the other(s), and their relationships with each other. Pilate takes up at least two-thirds of the shots that he is in. This tells us that he is in charge; he has authority over everyone else. When the crowd is seen from afar they are in the top left corner of the screen, which shows that they really are not important. Pilate is higher in this scene than ev eryone else; this again signifies his superiority. Judah towers over everyone, except when he is meeting with Pontius Pilate, to get Arrius message from Rome, and when Pilate crowns him the victor of the chariot race. Judah is superior to the common people he is surrounded by all the time. He can be picked out of the crowd because hes placed above everyone else. The staging positions of the actors also tell us more about the characters. Judah and Pilate are really the only characters we have any contact with in this clip. Judah is never more than a quarter turn from the camera. We are able to see his face straight on most of the time so that we can see what he is feeling, and we can relate to him better. When we cannot see his face we can still tell what he is feeling through his body language. But, more often than not we see everything that Judah is going through on his face. Pilate, on the other hand, is not really shown straight on. We only see him face to face while he is watchi ng the race. After the race we see people from his perspective, or he is only a quarter turn towards the camera. Not seeing Pilates face disconnects the audience from him. We are not supposed to feel anything for him that is why we do not see his face more. Pilate is not a character we are supposed to focus on. Relationships between characters are shown through character proxemics. The distance between the actors tells us the strength of their characters relationships. For example, the crowd and Judah are smashed together after he wins the race. This closeness shows that they are equals. Judah does not push people away from him; they are his family, his people. On the contrary, Judah and Pilate are merely acquaintances. This relationship is revealed because they are feet apart. The only reason the distance between them is crossed is because Pilates duty is to crown the victorious charioteer. Pilates relationship with the audience in the arena is even less than that of he and Judah. The distance between the governor and the common people is miles. He does not know the people, nor does he care to know them. He just has to watch over them, and govern them. Overall this scene has a good balance between historical accuracy and drama. The chariot racing and Pontius Pilate are accurate accounts of history, but the main character, Judah Ben-Hur is not. The stadium in this clip was also inaccurate. In 26 A.D. arenas such as this one did not exist, even if they had there probably would not have been one in Jerusalem. Judahs life was the drama added to the film, without him, obviously, there would be no movie.

Watergate Essay Example For Students

Watergate Essay Watergate, designation of a major U.S. political scandal that began withthe burglary and wiretapping of the Democratic partys campaign headquarters,later engulfed President Richard M. Nixon and many of his supporters in avariety of illegal acts, and culminated in the first resignation of a U.S. president. The burglary was committed on June 17, 1972, by five men who werecaught in the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergateapartment and office complex in Washington, D.C. Their arrest eventuallyuncovered a White House-sponsored plan of espionage against political opponentsand a trail of complicity that led to many of the highest officials in the land,including former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell, White House Counsel JohnDean, White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, White House Special Assistanton Domestic Affairs John Ehrlichman, and President Nixon himself. On April 30,1973, nearly a year after the burglary and arrest and following a grand juryinvestigation of the burglary, Nixon accepted the resignation of Haldeman andEhrlichman and announced the dismissal of Dean. U.S. Attorney General RichardKleindienst resigned as well. The new attorney general, Elliot Richardson,appointed a special prosecutor, Harvard Law School professor Archibald Cox, to conduct a full-scale investigation of the Watergate break-in. In May 1973 theSenate Select Committee on Presidential Activities opened hearings, with SenatorSam Ervin of North Carolina as chairman. A series of startling revelationsfollowed. Dean testified that Mitchell had ordered the break-in and that a majorattempt was under way to hide White House involvement. He claimed that thepresident had authorized payments to the burglars to keep them quiet. The Nixonadministration vehemently denied this assertion. The White House Tapes Thetestimony of White House aide Alexander Butterfield unlocked the entireinvestigation. On July 16, 1973, Butterfield told the committee, on nationwidetelevision, that Nixon had ordered a taping system installed in the White Houseto automatically record all conversations; what the president said and when hesaid it could be verified. Cox immediately subpoenaed eight relevant tapes toconfirm Deans testimony. Nixon refused to release the tapes, claiming they w erevital to the national security. U.S. District Court Judge John Sirica ruled thatNixon must give the tapes to Cox, and an appeals court upheld the decision. We will write a custom essay on Watergate specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Nixon held firm. He refused to turn over the tapes and, on Saturday, October 20,1973, ordered Richardson to dismiss Cox. Richardson refused and resignedinstead, as did Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. Finally, thesolicitor general discharged Cox. A storm of public protest resulted from thisSaturday night massacre. In response, Nixon appointed another specialprosecutor, Leon Jaworski, a Texas lawyer, and gave the tapes to Sirica. Somesubpoenaed conversations were missing, and one tape had a mysterious gap of 181minutes. Experts determined that the gap was the result of five separateerasures. In March 1974 a grand jury indicted Mitchell, Haldeman, Ehrlichman,and four other White House officials for their part in the Watergate cover-upand named Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator. The following monthJaworski requested and Nixon released written transcripts of 42 more tapes. Theconversations revealed an overwhelming concern with punishing politicalopponents and thwarting th e Watergate investigation. In May 1974 Jaworskirequested 64 more tapes as evidence in the criminal cases against the indictedofficials. Nixon refused; on July 24, the Supreme Court voted 8-0 that Nixonmust turn over the tapes. On July 29-30, 1974, the House Judiciary Committeeapproved three articles of impeachment, charging Nixon with misusing his powerin order to violate the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens, obstructingjustice in the Watergate affair, and defying Judiciary Committee subpoenas. .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d , .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d .postImageUrl , .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d , .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d:hover , .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d:visited , .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d:active { border:0!important; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d:active , .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u244918dd7d07f43083be707f43090d5d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Poverty: EssayFurther Revelations Soon after the Watergate scandal came to light,investigators uncovered a related group of illegal activities: Since 1971 aWhite House group called the plumbers had been doing whatever wasnecessary to stop leaks to the press. A grand jury indicted Ehrlichman, WhiteHouse Special Counsel Charles Colson, and others for organizing a break-in andburglary in 1971 of a psychiatrists office to obtain damaging material againstDaniel Ellsberg, who had publicized classified documents called the PentagonPapers. Investigators also discovered that the Nixon administration hadsolicited large sums of money in illegal campaign contributionsused tofinance po litical espionage and to pay more than $500,000 to the Watergateburglarsand that certain administration officials had systematically liedabout their involvement in the break-in and cover-up. In addition, White Houseaides testified that in 1972 they had falsified documents to make it appear thatPresident John F. Kennedy had been involved in the 1963 assassination ofPresident Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, and had written false and slanderousdocuments accusing Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of moral improprieties. NixonsResignation Throughout this period of revelations, Nixons support in Congressand popularity nationwide steadily eroded. On August 5, 1974, three tapesrevealed that Nixon had, on June 23, 1972, ordered the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation to stop investigating the Watergate break-in. The tapes alsoshowed that Nixon himself had helped to direct the cover-up of theadministrations involvement in the affair. Rather than face almost certainimpeachment, Nixon resigned on August 9, the first U.S. president to do so. Amonth later his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him for all crimes he mighthave committed while in office; Nixon was then immune from federal prosecution. The Watergate scandal severely shook the faith of the American people in thepresidency and turned out to be a supreme test for the U.S. Constitution. Throughout the ordeal, however, the constitutional system of checks and balancesworked to prevent abuses, as the Founding Fathers had intended. Watergate showedthat in a nation of laws no one is above the law, not even the president