Edgar Allan Poe and James Russell Lowell Essay Example for Free

Edgar Allan Poe and James Russell Lowell Essay James Russell Lowell and John Greenleaf Whittier were poets during the Romantic era. In that time, poets often wrote about humans’ relationship with nature. Romantics considered contact with nature as almost a religious experience. Lowell’s â€Å"The First Snowfall† and Whittier’s â€Å"Snowbound† can be explored through theme, tone, and figurative language. â€Å"The First Snowfall† and â€Å"Snowbound† share the obvious, similar theme, snow. Lowell writes, â€Å"The snow had begun in the gloaming† (Line 1). This is the beginning of the poem where he’s introducing the subject of snow and describing the simple experience of the first snowfall. Whittier writes, â€Å"The coming of the snowstorm told† (14). He also writes about snow, but describes a frightful, winter snowstorm, rather than a simple snowfall. Lowell’s and Whittier’s poems differ in tones. James Russell Lowell has an optimistic point of view toward the natural event, but the tone he uses is gloomy. â€Å"Again I looked at the snowfall and thought of the leaden sky† (25-26). Lowell is comparing the falling of snow to the mourning process of his daughter. Whittier is more depressed by the storm. He describes the snow as, â€Å"A hard, dull bitterness of cold† (11). Later, Whittier learns to accept the storm and writes about sitting and laughing by the fireplace with his family. Both poets use a variety of figurative language in their poems. Lowell uses a simile to describe the birds he sees outside his window flying through the snowfall. â€Å"And the sudden flurries of snow-birds, like brown leaves whirling by† (15-16). Whittier also uses a simile to describe what he observes outside his window. â€Å"And through the glass the clothesline posts looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts† (39-40). As shown, these two poems can be compared and contrasted through theme, tone, and figurative language. In the way the poets write, we can see their reactions to the snow. Even though they both wrote about snow, they didn’t approach the topic in the same way. Lowell and Whittier both lived in the Romantic era but lived different lifestyles, which affected how they saw events and formed the style of their poetry.

Book review on Iacocca An Autobiography

Book review on Iacocca An Autobiography The title of the book is Iacocca: An Autobiography is completely in accordance with its content in it, as the author describes his whole life story by himself. Author The author of the book is Lee Iacocca who was the former president of Ford Motor Corporation and the former chairman and CEO of Chrysler Corporation. His major contributions in history of auto business is that of giving a new life to chrysler by saving it from near bankruptcy and putting it back on track of success. Starting Pages The book also has Acknowledgements page, accompanied by Introduction to the paperback Edition. Then it is followed by An Opening Word and before the author starts his story there is Prologue. Special Features This book specifically does not have any special features, but it does got pictures, and caricatures in it. All of the pictures are in black and white. Number of Pages The book has a total of three hundred and sixty five pages. This much amount of pages makes it a decent, light weight handy book and the reader comfortably can carry it easily. Number of Chapters This book has twenty eight long chapters and one epilogue in it. Size of Paragraphs About the size of paragraphs is concerned, it has a mixture of short as well as long paragraphs. Price About the price of this book, if we rate it on international level or for readers of United States it is $7.99 and for Canadians it is $ 10.99 which is a good price tag. On the other, if one would see its price for Pakistani readers though it is Rs. 400 but to me it is still very expensive. Publisher This book is published by Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words Bantam Books and the Portrayal of a rooster, is registered in US. Patent and Trademark office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, New York, New York. ISBN The ISBN of this book is 0-553-25147-3. By using this very number one can easily get this book from anywhere in the globe. Genre of Book The genre of this book is non-fiction and based on true story of the writers life. Here, all the events and happenings were revealed as it is by a single person. First Book or Second This Autobiography is writers first book, which tells us about his fabulous career and life. His second book is Where Have all the Leaders Gone. Therefore, till now the author has penned down a total of two amazing books. Target Audience This book is written for people from all walks of life, from business students to business managers. Yet, the book focuses to cars, because the writers profession and passion was auto industry business. But still as this book has no scientific formulas, technical works, and methods, so one can easily read it and enjoy what this book is all about. Edition This is the second edition of this book Iacocca: An autobiography. It is called the paperback edition and it was out in the market for readers in July of 1986, where as, the first one was called the hardcover edition and it came out for the readers in November 1984. PURPOSE OF WRITING:- The authors purpose behind writing this book is not to get royalty money from the publishers or to show off his achievements at Ford, how he had rescued Chrysler from bankruptcy and run the affairs successfully. Instead of this above all, Iacoccas purpose to help out all the present and future business graduates in various types of problems and difficulties they have to face when they start their jobs. The writer firmly believes that when this book will assist those young brains in solving their matters, only then it would satisfy my conscience of doing something positive, productive and worth to read. AUTHORS STYLE:- The writing style of author in this book is formal. If one assess the quality of writing used here is of worth mentioning. The speaker has beautifully maintained the linkages of all the way from sentence to sentence and paragraphs to paragraphs and then chapters at larger level. The vocabulary of the book is easily comprehendible and has used no jargons in it. As far as the description is concerned, here too the writer carefully revealed everything in a step by step form so the reader while going through it cannot be detracted. Especially, in autobiographies such things ought to be given a fair amount of importance. Where upon, the details given in this book is completely a self-narration and does not contain any incorrect information which did not happened in writers whole life. AT FORD:- Before moving towards the book review it is important to recall the summary and what happened in the first part of this autobiography, this covers the writers life at Ford. So in the summary part one already read that author started his journey of career at Ford as a salesman and passed through a stage when he was a novice and had to learn all about his job. He learned various types of selling tactics and practiced them. During this initial span of his career he came across many good mentors and Lee was influenced by them a lot. Moving a head in his career and became an expert in sales field he decided to give himself a break and tied the knot. When the writer was part of companys top management and became General Manager of the Ford Division he was a stranger to everybody. At this point in life, he planned to do something big; with this thought and ambition Iacocca used his skills, knowledge and gave the world Mustang. This first jewel to his name made Lee a known from the unknown. The narrator, also gave two very fine cars to Ford namely as Fiesta and Mark III. Here at Ford when Lee was president and giving an annual turnover of $ 2 Billion to the company. On the other, such a profit though was coming to the organization, and making Iacocca famous and boosting its image among its competitors. But this thing and repute of Lee made Henry Ford to think exactly the opposite. Henry took this as a direct threat to his throne because everybody eyed Iacocca as their real leader and started disliking Lee. All hatred ends up in firing Iacocca from president ship. Therefore the story of writer at Ford lasts to this day. Now we will be looking at the second part of the book, which tells us about the writers story at Chrysler. AT CHRYSLER:- To reveal the Chrysler days it is better to go and explore first what events took place in writers life when he was eventually picked up by the Chrysler people. When Lee left Ford, he got a job in a warehouse, where he only stayed for few hours. In fact, these couple of hours forced him not to give up at any cost. Leave all the negatives aside and picked up only the positives and move ahead. The humiliation of being at an ordinary office right after serving as a president of a great company for so many years. There, he decided to fight back with his life and that results into reaching at the top in Chrysler Motor Corporation. Here I would like to quote Lees words as it is from the book which goes as there are times in every ones life when something constructive is born out of adversity. There are times when things seem so bad that you have got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it. I am convinced it was that morning at the warehouse that pushed me to take on the presidency of Chrysler only couple of weeks later. The writer before becoming boss of Chrysler was offered many jobs from other companies but none of them was from the auto industry. These were all the way from international paper, Lockheed, Charles Tandy and business school of NYU. (New York University). But lee wasnt satisfied upon these offerings, because cars were his only world, and he cant think of joining to any other profession. He is of the view that all business skills are not interchangeable at any level. The reason behind his this philosophy should only pursue that line or profession in which he/she had and has a grasp over it. Where one is a pro and not somebody who is alienated to the field and job. Thats why when he declined these non-autos industry jobs a renowned French car maker Renault, offered Iacocca the post of their Global Head of Automotive Consultant. Where upon, Lee rejected their offer, because though the job was from an auto industry, but it was not that one in which he got expertise. He refused them solel y of the fact that in this consultant job he never be able to give his best. Iacocca later wanted to form a consortium of car companies which he named as Global Motors. His intention was to build a fabulous consortium, would be based in Europe other in Japan and lastly in the US. This was all planned to break the monopoly of GM, which they have maintained from several years. Yet, this project wont work because of American Antitrust Laws. After that event, Lee learned that in the circles of auto industry there might be a possibility that Chrysler will pick him up for its very important post. And they are in need of someone who has great potential to lead and cope with any kind of difficulty. Thereby, after some time Lee was approached by the board members of Chrysler, who held couple of unofficial meetings with him which ended up in offering a job at their company. Iacocca in his heart decided that this time he would only accept the number one man position in Chrysler. So, he informed the Chryslers top management about his this plan where upon they told Iacocc a that his route of becoming the boss will be a bit different. At first he was made the president and afterwards became the chairman CEO of Chrysler on January 1st 1980. Till now we have learned that writers journey at Chrysler has just started. What is ahead of him will be revealed in the next heading. BEGINNING OF ANOTHER JOURNEY:- When the author officially joined his office at Chrysler, the same day his organization declared its losses of about $160 million. This was surely a bad coincidence with a human and the company itself. So, the beginning of narrators of another journey wasnt a good one. Problems Ahead The narrator here will discuss what were those problems regarding organization which he had faced during his tenure at Chrysler. These are enlisted below. A, Discipline. B, Functionality. C, Lack of Cohesion interaction between departments. D, No Meeting System. E, Management Structure (Planning Projecting). F, Financial matters. G, No team. H, Lousy and vehicle for an older guys car and considered boring too. I, Bad morale and deteriorating factories. J, Inappropriate placements of the work force. K, Security leaks. L, Manufacturing Quality. M, Purchasing. N, Sales and Marketing. Now well move to the next chapter and see what the speaker had for us to share and learn. THE DAY THE SHAH LEFT TOWN:- The title of this chapter reveals the same as its name goes, because the narrator here meant Shah Left Town to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi the Shah of Iran who was thrown out from his throne on January 1979 in an Islamic Revolution lead by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Here the question popped up in ones mind that what this exit of Shah had to do with America, its economy and specifically with Chrysler. Why the writer dedicated a full chapter depicting the aftermath of his departure. The reason behind all this was that, till 1979 Iran was under heavy American influence and Shah with their help made Iran quite liberal and develops its infrastructure. Along with that, Iran before the revolution was one of the greatest oil suppliers to US. Therefore, when Shah left and Khomeini took over he stopped not only providing them oil but also the diplomatic relations with the US. Thereby, in this chapter writer describes the effects of extra organizational stressors on Chryslers business which is as follows: Irans 1979 revolution ousting Shah of Iran. Prices of gas were doubled. Energy crisis. Chryslers market share gone down to 8 percent. Recession. Owners loyalty. Rumors of Chryslers demise. Out of these above problems, the main were gas price and recession. The reason was simple that cars run on oil. People therefore stopped buying their big cars with low fuel efficiency. The Recreational vehicles (RVs) and vans were two models of Chrysler cars which got affected from the gas fare. Even the parts of the cars like chassis and engines too were affecters of such a crisis. The thing which further harmed and destroyed US auto industry was that people started buying Japanese small cars instead of the Americans. Here, GM (General Motors) survived by selling their new car model called X-body. They were also successful in selling another model which was Chevrolet Citation. So, the story of boom in small cars business continues on when an analysis was done between the market share of small versus big cars. They found that in year 1979 in a period of merely five months the small cars took 58 percent of market share and the sales of vans was gone down to 42 percent. Here, when Chrysler wants to build small vehicles and try their luck in this category unfortunately the recession broke out in the country. The writer mentioned that the annual rate of sales was dropped to nearly half. After reading the above figures the narrator decided to go for an overhaul of the company in order to bring it in a stable position. For that, Chrysler initially closed its few plants and by doing this they also seek help from their suppliers and informed them from our every move. In fact if one keep on closing production units then for what good reason the suppliers will give Chrysler parts to manufacture their current and future products. To lower the cost more and avoid keeping the parts at the factorys inventory (a shop where all goods are stocked) Lee devised a new system called just in time meaning all those parts which are required to assemble car arrived from supplier when they have to manufacture and will be off from the production line when it is built, so no need of putting the parts in an inventory. Iacocca kept on cutting cost from where ever he could so he can run the company. He did this even when they sent the annual report of 1979 to the shareholders of the company. Instead of printing it on a thick good paper, Lee ordered to print it on a plain white paper written in black ink. This decision was to show the shareholders that in times of crisis, Chrysler remained within its resources and didnt opt for any wasteful step. Later on, when the company is in a desperate need of money Lee sold out the business which was expanded in overseas. He kept their operations to the US, Canada and Mexico. After this measure the money they got wasnt sufficient at all, there Iacocca decided to sell Chryslers tank division to General Dynamics. In the end of this chapter the writer said that, all those above decisions he took was necessary to brought Chrysler out of the ditch. Whereupon, to him he believed that the most unimaginable and painful deed was to lay off thousands of employees. But this act gave him a lesson that, if one has to run a large company and has limited number of employees then this would be very easy to do so than with lots of people in the company. The writer while finishing wishes that, competitors of Chrysler would never learn this lesson otherwise their profit will be lessened. DRASTIC MEASURES : GOING TO THE GOVERNMENT:- To save Chrysler from bankruptcy Lee asked government to help them in this matter. He approached the rich Arabs to do the same, but of no use. Later, Volkswagen the German giant car maker agreed on a merges with Chrysler. Unfortunately when they read our balance sheet, so they refused for the merger. The reason behind this failure of merger was that Chrysler had made no money and in severe debt. Eventually, Iacocca went for proper government assistance for giving them Loan Guarantees. They plan not to plead for such a guarantee. Here, this initiative was taken up by the outgoing Chairman John Ricardo. He explained the government about Chryslers current sick condition and asked to give a two year freeze on government regulations (meaning by law to control any business activity or a process) but none gave a kind ear to it. For governments bad safety and emission controls system he suggested a combined research and development program. He stressed that our aim is not to steal any compan ys good and cheap way of controlling emissions instead they should sell it to the needy. In this statement of Lee the government listened them and realized that our antitrust laws are never be competitive with Japanese, till someone would reform those laws. Instead of doing anything regarding formation of new competitive laws government signed collaboration between Toyota General Motors. According to the antitrust laws all the motor companies namely General Motors, Ford, American Motors and Chrysler ought to work in chunks in order to fix the same problems. On the other, Ricardo once again seeks government help for a freeze on regulations but the result came out in a NO. After seeing this behavior he asked them to give a refundable tax credit. Meaning the money Chrysler spends on qualifying for governments safety and pollution standards will be refunded to the company. The writer says that our company wasnt the first who asked for such a relief. In the past car makers like American Motors, Volkswagen, Renault, and General Motors already benefited by the taxes. Over there Ricardo, in wake of getting any support for loan guarantee one more time returned to government, whereupon his efforts werent of any use. The writer here explains that though Ricardo was a nice human being, yet he was a short tempered and not good at communication skills and Congressmen never liked such traits in any human. Later, on one fine day the writer learned that G. William Miller who previously holds the post of chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. In fact in America the State Bank of the country is called the Federal Reserve. So, now Miller becomes the treasury secretary here, Iacocca shares a strange aspect of Millers personality. When he was serving as chairman at Federal Reserve Board. He told to Ricardo that Chrysler would go for bankruptcy instead of government help. On the other, when he moved to his new post, he declared that government must help Chrysler. Afterwards he accept the proposal of Tax Credit but informed Chrysler people that to seek such type of assistance they have to rolled out a complete plan of survival to the government. The writer got no choice except going to government. In this regard he learned that a British Car Company Leyland took government support but after that the company never recovered. But still Lee filed an application for government loan guarantee. Before appearing in front of Congress Iacocca did his homework. This homework was about to know that in past how many companies are there which had been benefited from such a loan. There, speaker found that organizations that already got this loan were all the way from aircraft to City of New York and from housing to subway of Washington DC. In this research Lee found one very shocking thing that, till now government had given $409 billion in loans and loan guarantees were outstanding. While ending this chapter Iacocca describes that when Chrysler put up their case to government, it gave him a feeling that in government there was no person who remember those previously given loan guarantees to the above mentioned companies. SHOULD CHRYSLER BE SAVED? Yes, this question has become the question of town. This chapter revolves around the inappropriate attitude of senators, congressmen, businessmen, business leaders and other stake holders against the Federal Loan to Chrysler. In fact to save the company Lee requested the government to give them $1 Billion loan guarantee. The first refusal came from General Motors Tom Murphy and Citi Corporations (Citibank) Walter Wriston. Then National Association of manufacturers, policy committee of the business Round table too spoke bitter words for our company. Iacocca blamed the government for Chryslers current bad condition, especially government regulations and its unequal effects. But along with governments role Lee believed that previous managements inability to rectify various problems too brought them in this position. These problems were like, producing cars on basis of speculation, their decision of taking Chrysler to foreign markets, and lastly doing business of used cars. Instead of su ch doing things they ought to focus on quality of Chrysler cars. When Lee started appearing before Congress, he straight away informed them that Regulations was the first and last element which made Chrysler to beg for loan. In the end of this chapter Lee shares that American people is of the view that Chrysler had received $1 billion in cash which they never had to pay it back. CHRYSLER GOES TO CONGRESS:- In this chapter Iacocca talks about lot of things including passing of $1 billion loan, repaying it, and series of appearances before Congress and Senate committee etc. The speaker describes that this whole process of hearing was a gigantic task. In fact the layout of those hearing rooms forced the witness to first look up and then answers the questioner, because members of the committee sit at a semicircular table which was few feet above the floor. Before moving on to Chryslers hearing in Senate and Congress, here it is important to learn the so called allegations and scolding done by committee members. These were as below: A, Sins of management. B, Lack of foresightness for not building 30 miles per gallon as Japanese did. C, Not prepared for the aftermath of Shah of Iran. D, Not prepared for the screwed up fuel allocation, result in riots at gas stations. E, Chrysler missed the market and deserved punishment. Punishments:- They were held up in front of the whole world for asking government help. Disgraced on editorial pages, by cartoonists who painted Chrysler into the grave. In public places their wives and children became the target of jokes. Now one would see the relation about the passing of loan guarantee from writers eye. Iacocca, made his first appearance before the House Subcommittee on Economic Stabilization of the Committee of Banking, Finance and Urban affairs on October 18th, 1979. The writer explains the committee about Chryslers present condition and the exact words from book are I began my testimony by stating our case very simply. I am sure you know that I do not speak alone here today. I speak for the hundreds of thousands of people whose livelihood depends on Chrysler remaining in business. It is that simple. Our one hundred forty thousand employees and their dependents, our forty seven hundred dealers and their one hundred fifty thousand employees who sell and service our products, our nineteen thousand suppliers, and the two hundred fifty thousand people on their payrolls, and of course, the families and dependents of all those constituents. Lee made it clear to the committee that guarantees loan is not to receive an official gift from the Carters government (Jimmy Carter was the 39th President of the United States from January 20, 1977  Ã‚  January 20, 1981). Instead, Chrysler will pay back each cent and dollar of this loan including its interest. When the Loan Guarantee Act was passed, after few weeks the Republicans (name of political party in America) came to power. On the other hand, in this whole event Democrats (name of another political party in America) were in the government. But these Republicans talked very negative about giving loan to Chrysler. And that was the point where Lee realized that he should now start favoring the Democrats. The speaker describes that at the time of their companys bad condition if Democrats wasnt in government then Chrysler wouldnt have any existence today. The $ 1.2 billion dollar of loan was passed exactly before the Christmas and surely this Christmas had really given a priceless gift to all those people who were associated with Chrysle r. In the end the narrator reveals that Chrysler paid back their loan seven years early from the given time. Along with that they paid taxes of millions of dollars and fee of the Loan Guarantee Board. Last but not the least the opponents of their company too said that government loan given to Chrysler was a very noble idea. EQUALITY OF SACRIFICE:- From the title of this chapter the writer meant everyone has to sacrifice on basis of equality whether you are a Head of the company or a Worker. He further explained that though they need the loan desperately. But what really worked and brought Chrysler back on its feet was a team effort and cooperation. In fact the real story of Chryslers survival started now, because that loan Guarantee Act requires them to provide various concessions. Thereby, Lee reveals that our existence based on cutting cost from wherever one can. So, Iacocca decided that he should start this process of cost cutting by deducting $1.00 a year from his salary. This move of withdrawing one dollar was necessary to make others do the same. He says that as a leader of the company he should be the first one to show sacrifice in any form. Because for a leader its mandatory to come up with such examples, otherwise his followers would never follow on his footsteps. Lee describes that reducing his pay, never meant that he wont take his meals. What he is of the view that such a giving up, is to display a team work, familys job and togetherness. Here, for the first time he came to know that people can do anything if they knew that others are experiencing the same pain as they are feeling. Iacocca, repeat his words that all this collective and oneness took Chrysler out of the trouble and not those dollars, which they definitely required just like blood. Moreover, the speaker sadly discussed the worst part of the cost cutting which though lifted the company but finished peoples lives and that was about firing many workers. This act of ours destroyed the social fabric of masses which results in, that they got divorced and had to stop sending children to college etc. Later, he explained that when public and celebrities came to know about our goal to save Chrysler, by any way or means. They showed fabulous support by writing letters to the writer. Then all the way big celebrities of that time joined us i ncluding Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Pearl Bailey, and Frank Sinatra were the people who performed at our premises, encouraged the workers to show collectiveness in this hour of struggle but they never charged us a single dollar. At the end of this chapter, writer wants to tells us about one major helper without whom this saving of Chrysler never be executed. This was Doug Fraser, president of workers union. Then Lee made him part of Chryslers board of directors. Who was extremely good at negotiation, got good know how about politics and would speak out the same what goes through his head. THE BANKS: TRIAL BY FIRE:- When the Congress passed Chryslers loan of $ 1.5 Billion dollars, it was time to collect the money from the designated banks. These banks were based in the whole country as well in other parts of the world. But these banks made Lee and associates to be on toes in order to receive their loan. The writer said that the banking sector started showing bad attitude to them, even before when Chryslers hearings initiated in Congress and Senate. When giving the amount in chunks the bank representatives never bothered about Chrysler and after how long its going to rise. What they always concerned was about their banks money, meaning when Lees Chrysler will pay back loans money to them. Eventually, after lot of hassle and hard time with bank people, they received Chryslers first installment. Thus, it will result into a rebirth of a motor company. THE K-CAR AND A CLOSE CALL:- The moment, day, month, and year was there for Chrysler to stand on its feet. In fact Lee and his very brilliant ex-Ford colleague and current coworker Hal Sperlich had dreamt to launch small American built cars, from the days when they were at Ford. Unfortunately, Henry Ford, chairman and CEO of Ford motor company never permitted them to do so. But now they had the time, resource to fulfill that dream but no need of seeking permission, because Iacocca was in charge at the company. So they built, researched its name, advertised and launch K-Car. This model of Chrysler was rock solid, got a decent style, and has four cylinders engine with a fuel efficiency of 25 miles per gallon in intra city. Whereupon its consumption on the highway (motorway) it has mileage of 41 miles per gallon. Apart from its features the best thing of K-Car, that it was the first vehicle that can fit in six Americans but remain light in weight and gives amazing fuel efficiency. PUBLIC MAN, PUBLIC OFFICE:- The writer describes here that when Chrysler was back on track in market and started doing well. He learned the news that he too is campaigning for President of US but truly it wasnt correct at all. Iacocca believed that people made such rumors on the basis, because he did lot of advertisements for Chryslers promotion. He further explained that people write many letters to him saying that he should run for president. Another well-wisher of Lee wrote to him: I will write exact words of book here and they are why dont you turn this country around? Why are you wasting your time selling cars? Iacocca, analyzed and observe that why people of America wants him to be their next President because from the day Eisenhower (34th President of United States from January 20, 1953  Ã‚  January 20, 1961) left Oval office (the office of US President is called Oval Office) America started going down. And all the way after Eisenhower, none would turned up to be a great President and stayed long to fl ourish the countrys economy. In the end he said that he is very grateful to all those people who think that he would be the next President of America. But he believes that these priceless statements of people made my day and gave lot of contentment, which cant be expressed. A BITTERSWEET VICTORY:- Chrysler right after producing K-Car, then manufacturing fantastic line of cars all the way from Le Baron, Chrysler E Class, Dodge 600, the New Yorker, in sports car category it was called Dodge Daytona and lastly Chrysler Laser. So, now Iacoccas great company was back in business and started making good profit. Whereupon, writer decided to do a press conference in which he wants to brief the media on their success. The primary purpose of this conference was to abandon those titles which media gave them when Chrysler was on the edge of bankruptcy. While talking to the press Lee said as: Effective immediately, Chrysler is no longer cash starved or struggling or financially troubled. If you insist you may continue to call us the nations number three auto maker. But those other phrases are now banished forever! Afterwards, the profit they made in next year surpassed Chryslers previous history of profit earnings. Further, writer talks about the promises they made to lift Chrysler. These promises includes, modernization of plants on basis of latest technology, converting the fleet of cars to front wheel drive technology, to become leaders in fuel economy, promised to maintain employment for half a million workers. Last but not the least promised to produce exciting products. The writer called this bittersweet victory to two things. He refe

Market Composition Essay -- Global Finance, Investments

Over the past two decades, a panoply of behavioral finance research has been devoted to exploring the trading patterns of behavior and trading performance of individual and institutional investor categories over time and across exchanges. In fact, this intriguing research topic is of considerable interest to academic scholars and market practitioners alike, because it has great academic value and practical implications for industry. Specifically, capturing the trading pattern and investment performance of each investor group within a particular country can cast light on some worthwhile issues such as market composition, information transmission, asset price formation, and market efficiency and liquidity. Due, in part, to the information asymmetry evidenced between institutional investors and individual investors (e.g., Alangar et al., 1999; Lin et al., 2007; Duong et al., 2009), each group is more likely to have its unique characteristics. In their 2008 study, Kaniel et al. point out that institutional investors are by and large perceived to be better-informed rational traders, and to have a rather long-term investment perspective. In contrast, individual investors are generally viewed as unsophisticated traders, who prefer short-term investment horizons and are deeply involved in making sentiment-driven investment decisions based on their own cognitive biases. On the other hand, researchers working in the area of behavioral finance distinguish between two acknowledged trading patterns premised on investors' reactions to the past price movements of stocks. The first pattern of behavior is labeled as momentum investing or positive feedback trading, in which investors purchase (sell) a stock in anticipation of a further rise (d... ...kes (2011) report significant evidence that all three investor types – especially insurers – are more contrarian when selling than buying, which suggests that investors are reluctant to realize losses, in conformity with the evidence presented by Grinblatt and Keloharju (2001) and Odean (1998). More recently, Phansatan et al. (2012) examine the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and find that individual and institutional investors appear to be contrarian traders as opposed to foreign investors who are shown to be positive feedback traders. Interestingly, the trading strategies of institutions in the Thai stock market lead to very inferior security section, and thus very poor overall trading performance. On the other hand, the trading behavior of individual investors brings about gains from security section, but their poor market timing counterbalances these gains.

Use of Propaganda in George W Bushs War on Terror Essay -- essays res

On September 10th 2001 Gorge W Bush announces that the US was engaged in a â€Å"War On Terror†. In looking at how propaganda has been used during the â€Å"War On Terror† Adolph Hitler’s assessment of how propaganda can be used to best effect is extremely relevant. Propaganda appeals to peoples emotions through its reliance on stereotypes and national myths. Propaganda is most effective when it limits the extent of information presented and repetition is essential. The propaganda campaign that has run in relation to the War on terror has effectively utilised all these tools and thus been extremely successful. Stereotypes, which are ideas that many people have about a thing or group that may be untrue or only partly true, play a role within propaganda tactics. An important part of the war on terror propaganda campaign has been breeding stereotypical values towards Muslims and Arabs. The attacks on September 11th have escalated the attention to the war on terrorism, through its massive media coverage throughout the world. "In the wake of the September 11th terror attacks, there is a dan...

The Nature of Death in Emily Dickinsons Poems Essay -- Poetry Analysi

Emily Dickinson once said, â€Å"Dying is a wild night and a new road.† Some people welcome death with open arms while others cower in fear when confronted in the arms of death. Through the use of ambiguity, metaphors, personification and paradoxes Emily Dickinson still gives readers a sense of vagueness on how she feels about dying. Emily Dickinson inventively expresses the nature of death in the poems, â€Å"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280)†, â€Å"I Heard a fly Buzz—When I Died—(465)â€Å" and â€Å"Because I could not stop for Death—(712)†. Emily Dickinson, who achieved more fame after her death, is said to be one of the greatest American poets of all time. Dickinson communicated through letters and notes and according to Amy Paulson Herstek, author of â€Å"Emily Dickinson: Solitary and Celebrated Poet,† â€Å"Writing was the way she kept in touch with the world† (15). Dickinson’s style is unique and although unconventional, it led to extraordinary works of literature. Dickinson lived her life in solitude, but in her solitude she was free to read, write and think which led to her nonconformity and strong sense of individualism. Suzanne Juhasz, a biographer of Dickinson, sums up most critics’ idea of Dickinson ideally: â€Å"Emily Dickinson is at once the most intimate of poets, and the most guarded. The most self-sufficient, and the neediest. The proudest, and the most vulnerable. These contradictions, which we as her readers encounter repeatedly in her poems, are understandable, not parado xical, for they result from the tension between the life to which she was born and the one to which she aspired† (1). Dickinson poured her heart and soul into over 1,700 poems, 600 of which relate to death. Paul J. Ferlazzo, a contributing author of â€Å"Emily Dickinson† write... ...d A. Walton Litz. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1991. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. Hochman, Jhan. â€Å"Critical Essay on ‘I Heard a Fly Buzz—When I Died—‘.† Poetry for Students. Mary K. Ruby. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. Morningstar, Carolyn. â€Å"’Uncertain stumbling buzz’: Carolyn Morningstar explores creative uncertainty in Emily Dickinson’s poetry.† The English Review Feb. 2007: 21+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 16 Apr. 2011. Semansky, Chris. â€Å"An overview of Because I Could Not Stop for Death†.† Poetry for Students. Detroit: Gale. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 9 Apr. 2011. Zarlengo, Kristina. â€Å"Critical Essay on ‘I Heard a Fly Buzz—When I Died—‘.† Poetry for Students. Mary K. Ruby. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 10 Apr. 2011.

Cognitive Biases in Entrepreneurial Strategies

The view of the human as a rational being is nowadays heavily questioned (Simon, 1959), UT in science a lot of models and theories still are based on this assumption. When looking at research on entrepreneurship, we notice that it is considered a relatively new field of study, though practice has shown that entrepreneurial activities have a great influence on the market. Schumacher (1934) already linked entrepreneurial Initiatives of Individuals to the creation and destruction of Industries, as well as to economic development.More research has been conducted about entrepreneurship, which questions the classical picture of the economic man – Homo economics – and he classical concept of rationality. This might be because the entrepreneur himself Is one of the most crucial factors of either the success or failure of an entrepreneurial business. This has caused the entrepreneur to be a hot topic and so a lot of research has been dedicated to the phenomenon. An Shame to (200 0) for example different argues that the underlying factor that causes entrepreneur knowledge. Other research has focused on the traits of entrepreneurs.In general, entrepreneurs are considered overconfident (Cooper et al. , 1988), which is a good thing if you want to start-up a company. Without this trait, start-ups would probably not take place as often as we observe (Goodness & Lecher, 2013). However, research has also showed that this overconfidence is associated with failure (Camera & Lovable, 1999). Nobel (2011) argued that although we know 30 to 40 per cent of entrepreneurial firms fail, many other are bought out or never bring expected return on investment, meaning that the real failure rate can be up to 70 or 80 per cent.Overconfidence is one of the known biases that influence human beings in decision making. There are, however, a lot of more biases which an entrepreneur can encounter. This raises the question of whether being aware example of such of the biases could help the bias, entrepreneur in his activities. If we look at the overconfidence overconfidence can lead to wrong decisions. Awareness thus, could be helpful. On the other hand, if the entrepreneur is aware of this bias he could become too careful in the decision making process. This can result in no action being taken when the ‘moment' arrives.Or it could result in the entrepreneur even deciding not to continue due to the risks being too high. This leads us to the question: 3 The following questions will help us answer the main question by shedding some eight on the biases that are out there: Theory of Bounded Rationality As mentioned in the introduction, we assume Homo economics appears to be perfectly rational and has complete knowledge, while the economic choices one makes are clandestine in the economic sphere without affecting other aspects of the individual such as emotions or being influenced by the environment.This is in line with the neoclassical economic theory that assum es full What is a cognitive bias? Why does this article address cognitive biases? What kind of cognitive biases could an entrepreneur encounter? Theory In this section the previously stated substitutions will be answered based on theory of decision-making, cognitive biases and the application to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship We accept the definition of entrepreneurship as suggested by Stevenson and Carillon (1990): ‘Entrepreneurship is about individuals who create opportunities through various modes of organizing, without regard to resources currently controlled. Sevens and Carillon moved away from the view of the traits school' which tried to describe how entrepreneurs differed from other people by control, leadership, or propensity for risk-taking. When studies showed that entrepreneurs are as different from one another as they are from school' non- entrepreneurs, the ‘behavioral rationality. This view has been criticized by Simon (1959) who developed an approach based on bounded rationality and problem solving. Simon stated that the assumption of full rationality is unrealistic.In his view, the rationality of individuals is limited by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds and the finite amount of time they have to make decisions. The theory of bounded rationality states that individuals face uncertainty about the future and costs in acquiring information in the present. What is a cognitive bias? Biases and heuristics (mental shortcuts) are decision rules, cognitive mechanisms, and subjective opinions people use to help them making decisions. This is a deviation of the benchmark Cognitive of biases rational prevent decision-making. Individuals to accurately understand reality and interfere with the ability to be impartial, unprejudiced or objective (Goodness and Lecher, 2013). Taverns and Keenan (1974) state that people rely on ‘heuristic principles which reduce the complex tasks of assessing probabilities and predicting values to simpler Judgmental operations. There are specific and systematic biases that move the Judgment away from the perfect rationality of individuals. Argued that the process of creating a new venture, should be the fundamental part of defining someone as an entrepreneur. (Gideon, 2010).This is why we agree on the definition by Stevenson and Carillon, which also implies we will not discuss entrepreneurial traits in this article. 4 Drawing on aspects of both psychology and economics, the operating assumption of behavioral economics is that cognitive biases often prevent people from making rational decisions, despite their best efforts. Why do we focus on cognitive biases? The general opinion about entrepreneurs is that they are risk takers. However, research showed that if entrepreneurs have to choose, they prefer to take moderate risks instead of taking decisions where there is high risk involved (Keenan and Lovable, 1994).This seems a contradiction, because the decision to become an entrepreneur is statistically a highs decision since over half of new ventures fail. In a study conducted by Cooper and colleagues their (1988), 95 per cent of the The interviewed entrepreneurs venture would did not entrepreneurs were convinced succeed. Where there is a complex interplay between feelings and thoughts which have awoken intense emotions. He concludes deal with that these entrepreneurs frequently situations that are new, unpredictable and complex. What kind of cognitive biases could an entrepreneur encounter?When we look at what kind of biases an entrepreneur can encounter, it needs to be known what kind of biases exist. There are dozens of known biases but not all an entrepreneurs will meet. We would like to discuss the biases that came across the most in research of cognitive threats of entrepreneurs. Optimism bias. The decision to become an entrepreneur is a crucial step that only can be taken if the entrepreneur is feeling optimistic about the chances of success. Because the chance of failure is statistically higher than success, entrepreneurs usually have an optimism bias.As mentioned before, 95 per cent of the entrepreneurs perceive the future of their new venture as being successful, while past studies of business survival suggest poor prospects for long-term survival for most new businesses (Cooper et al. , 1988). The optimism bias makes because entrepreneurs they see perceive less risk, more everything receive the new venture as a risk and their perception, rather than objective reality, explained the decision to start a current or future venture. That is why entrepreneurs do not necessarily have a higher risk propensity than other people (Keenan and Lovable, 1994).They simply perceive existing risks smaller than they are which shows that entrepreneurs are biased. Baron (2004) suggests that entrepreneurs are more often exposed to situations that test the limits of their cognitive capacities than other people. This i ncreases their susceptibility to various forms of bias or error. Baron argued that biases occur more frequently when individuals are confronted with more information than they can process at a given time, they face situations that are new to them and involve high degrees of uncertainty, and optimistically.In ‘The Evolution of Cognitive Bias', (2005) Hasten, Nettle, and Andrews state that where biases exist individuals draw inferences or adopt beliefs where the evidence for doing so in a logically sound manner is either insufficient or absent. In the case of 5 entrepreneurs however, we see that even if logical sound manner is sufficient still an entrepreneur can be biased. In the experiment by Cooper and colleagues (1988) 95 percent of the entrepreneurs was thinking that their venture would be a success, disappear when they knew about the objective chances.Business and Barney (1997) have stated that the optimism bias of an entrepreneur could also influence the stakeholders arou nd them as well. If the stakeholders wait until they attain all additional information, the opportunity they seek to exploit could be gone by the time this data is available. This means that the optimism bias of an entrepreneur can even overrule the rationality of other persons involved. Illusion of control The illusion of control gives the entrepreneur a sense of control that increases the likelihood of them acting on an opportunity, but at the same time it may blind them to genuine risks. Simon et al. 2000) The illusion of control states that decision makers often overestimate the personal control they have over the outcomes. This type of bias influences the ability for decision makers to actually make a decision. This could also be the reason many entrepreneurs fail even though they thought they had made a right decision. Belief in the Law of Small Numbers The belief in the law of small numbers is the use small off limited sample of to draw rim are conclusions. The bias makes peo ple believe samples information representative of the entire population from Overconfidence bias.Overconfidence refers to an unwarranted, high level of confidence (Forester and Scratchy, 2007). It is interesting that overconfidence can only be determined in retrospect, after an evaluation of knowledge, predictions and outcomes. Therefore, it will be difficult to notice beforehand if an entrepreneur is dealing with an overconfidence bias. Because of overconfidence, people do not take into account other factors and information that they need for decision-making. Goodness and Lecher optimism (2013), bias and argued distrust. Hat They the overconfidence bias is influenced by both the see overconfidence as a central theme in the failure of entrepreneurial firms with its effects magnified in combination with other cognitive biases. Which they are drawn (Simon et al, 2000). Simon and Houghton (2002) argued that belief in the law of small numbers may explain why entrepreneurs often overesti mate demand. The success of a small number of people in their own environment can make entrepreneurs think that they will also be successful, while the objective probability of success may be very low.Business and Barney (1997) mint out that entrepreneurs often use biased samples from a small number of friends or potential customers. Decision-makers versus Entrepreneurs Business and Barney mentioned that entrepreneurs are influenced by the sorts of cognitive biases that we all as individuals encounter (1997). However, they found that the extent to which people deviate from rational thinking may not be constant and that different individuals may utilize biases and heuristics to different degrees.They argued, and Baron (2004) agrees, that entrepreneurs in general are more susceptible to the use of biases and heuristics in decision-making. For entrepreneurs, the level of uncertainty in making decisions is higher than for general decision-makers (Humpback and Cozier, 1985; Covina and Sl iven, 1989). Also, general managers can approximate the rational ideal more closely because they usually have access to historical trends and past performance, while entrepreneurs do not. Several studies (Covina and Sliven, 1991; Garner et al. 992; Miller and Ferries, 1984) have shown that the context faced in decommissioning by entrepreneurs tends to be more complex than the context faced by managers. Pitfalls, biases and heuristics are likely to have more utility in hose highly complex decision settings faced by entrepreneurs, compared to the less complex context that managers face (Business and Barney, 1997). We find that entrepreneurs in general encounter, and until now no attempt has been done in making such a list. Simon et al. (2000) did make a selection in their research towards risk perception and the start of a new venture.They selected three biases that may lower risk perception when starting a new venture. Their research focused on the overconfidence bias, the illusion o f control and the belief in small numbers (see table 3). In their research optimism did not have a significant relationship with the decision to start a new venture, therefore they left this bias out of the model. Striking is that they left optimism out of their model, because they found a lack of significant relationship between optimism and the decision to start a venture.They mentioned however that other studies did encounter optimism affecting both cognition and behavior and explain that their outcome may have occurred because their survey measured optimism in a specific context. Further research on at least the optimism bias therefore is necessary. What influence can biases have on the success or failure of an entrepreneurial firm? Biases can have great impact on the success or failure of a company. Goodness and Lecher (2013) argued that their research shows that overconfidence can lead to disastrous effects in the entrepreneurial domain.In fact, they even found a strong relati onship between overconfidence and company failure, especially if overconfidence was linked with other biases. Also they found that optimism bias has a negative effect on firm survival, strengthening arguments on low risk perception and resultant propensity to fail. However optimism bias also acted positively on opportunity orientation. This is an important encounter more biases than other types of decision-makers, but no specific research has been done on framing the most common biases faced by entrepreneurs.In the field of strategic decision-making however, Hogwash described the 29 most common separate biases (1980). The ones that he considered most likely to affect strategic decisions are listed in table 1. An overview like this is missing in the field of entrepreneurship. One reason for this might be that most entrepreneurship common biases is hard to frame. Previous research did not mention a list of the that 7 finding, as one of the important aspects of entrepreneurship is find ing opportunities. Effective decision-making by entrepreneurs with respect to actions involving risk could play an important role in the success of new ventures.Empirical findings in literature about entrepreneurship offer support for the possibility that successful entrepreneurs are more effective at this task. Simon et al. (2000) found that effectiveness at decision making is an important factor in the performance of new ventures. Lovable and Keenan (1993) prescribed corrective measures to overcome the biases and achieve optimal behavior in every situation. Also Russo and Shoemaker (1989) reasoned that decision biases can be corrected through training.They have indicated that every decision-maker must, consciously or unconsciously, go through each phase of the decision-making process. They have stated ten most common barriers that entrepreneurs encounter in making good decisions. These barriers show resemblance with the biases described by Hogwash (1980). The availability bias, â €˜Judgments of probability of clearheadedly events are distorted', can be linked to the trusting shortsighted the most shortcuts, readily ‘relying or inappropriately on rules of thumb such as information anchoring too much on invention facts'.Both of them trust the most readily available information and thus the Judgment of probability may be distorted. Conservatism, which is the failure to sufficiently revise forecasts based on new information, can be linked to fooling ourselves about feedback, since in both cases the feedback will not be taken into account when forecasting new decisions, which can also emerge from being overconfident in making a Judgment. Russo and Shoemaker (1989) indicated that good decision-making can be broken down into four main elements: (1) framing; (2) gathering intelligence; (3) coming to a conclusion; (4) learning from feedback.Entrepreneurs have to keep track of what they expected to happen while guarding and against Lecher self-serving (2013) also explanations. Goodness agreed with the effectiveness of training on biases. They stated that for example the training of unrealistic optimists should stimulate the motivation to manage finances, to take advice, not to leave matters up to chance, and to understand the value of healthy distrust in oneself and others in non-routine situations.However, they also warned that training programs for entrepreneurs are not always a good idea. If it was not for the cognitive biases, start-ups would not occur as often as we observe now. Their advice for entrepreneurs is to balance the organization with people that are aware of these biases and can correct the entrepreneur where necessary. As well, Taverns and Keenan (1974) do not consider the biases as something that always should be eliminated.They argued that under conditions of environmental uncertainty and complexity, biases and heuristics sometimes also can be an effective and efficient guide to decision-making, simply because in such settings comprehensive and cautious decommissioning is not always possible. They state that biases and heuristics may even provide an effective way to Training When a bias causes harm, it is of critical importance that it can be addressed properly. Errors in decision-making can be extremely costs at not only the personal but also at the professional and societal level.As this article indicates, there does not seem to be an easy fix. Building further upon his previous work, Fishhook (1982) reviewed four strategies for reducing bias: (1) warning subjects about the potential for bias, (2) describing the likely direction of bias, (3) illustrating bias to the subject, and (4) providing extended training, feedback, coaching and other interventions. Fishhook concluded that these first three strategies yielded limited success, and that ‘even intensive, personalized feedback and training produced only moderate improvements in decision making. This model, derived from Wilson and Breake r (1994), shows how Judgmental biases are created and how they can be reduced. Awareness should first be created, there must be motivation to correct this bias and the direction and magnitude of the bias should be understood. As a final step, the bias should be removed or countered. But what is interesting is to see which techniques can be used to mitigate the bias of concern. We believe this can be done by applying a counter bias or by structuring the decision-making process.If decision makers rely less on intuition and emotion when making a decision, and more on deliberate and structured thinking processes, a decision can be made which approximates rationality. Analysis A list of the most common biases among decision-makers (note this it is not a list of the most common among entrepreneurs) have been framed earlier in this paper by Hogwash (1980). It is known that entrepreneurs are more susceptible to the effects of biases, but it is doubtful whether the most important biases for decision-makers are also the most important ones for entrepreneurs.The optimism bias and overconfidence decision-makers, bias do not appear on in the Hogwash's list of most common biases for while research cognitive biases of entrepreneurs mentions them often. The problem with making an analysis on the cognitive biases that entrepreneurs encounter is that there is no such a list of most common biases among entrepreneurs. Earlier in this paper, we accepted the definition by Stevenson and is Carillon several to (1990) modes that of entrepreneurship opportunities organizing without about creating resources through rage rd currently controlled.This made us not look at the traits of an entrepreneur, but at the processes of decision-making and biases that can occur. There are biases that every person encounters, but there are certain biases that have a more effect on decision-making but also have to be aware of different sorts of biases that can influence their perception of the world. Th is can be of great influence on the future of their new ventures. As Abide (1994) argued, there are three critical elements of successful entrepreneurial approaches.Entrepreneurs 9 have to screen opportunities quickly to weed out unpromising ventures, they have to analyze ideas in which they focus on new important issues and they have to integrate taking action and analysis. His most important conclusion is that entrepreneurs must reflect on the adequacy of their ideas and their capacities to execute them. This comes back to what we are addressing in this article. Can entrepreneurs be aware of adequacy of their ideas? And is it recommendable to create this awareness among entrepreneurs?To be able to have a better perception of the world and thus be better capable of reflecting and making decisions, biases are of great importance. Hen reflecting on the environment of the new venture and when making decisions based upon those reflections. Training programs to become aware of bias do e xist. Russo and Shoemaker (1989) proposed a training system in which good decision- making can be broken down into four main elements. In each element the person involved is encouraged to take the different barriers (table 2) into account so that he or she is guarded against silvering explanations.However, Goodness and Lecher (2013) argued that when entrepreneur are aware of biases, probably less start-ups will be realized. They advise that not the entrepreneurs will follow a raining program, biases. But rather people around the entrepreneur should be aware of existing Conclusion Although there are frameworks of individual cognitive biases in the literature of decision making, like the barriers by Hogwash (1980), there is no clear framework which cognitive biases entrepreneurs commonly encounter and how and if the effects of these biases should be reduced.The biases studied showed however that they can have big influence on the success or failure of a new venture. Goodness and Leche r (2013) found a strong relationship between overconfidence and company failure. Also positive biases strengthen low risk reception and increased the chance of failure. On the other hand, a positive bias in the startup phase of the company could be of great help because it strengthens the entrepreneur in motivation and opportunity finding.If entrepreneurs are aware of their biases, they could take this knowledge into consideration Taverns and Keenan (1974) pointed at the fact that not always should be eliminated. Under conditions of environmental uncertainty and in complexity, biases and simply heuristics because sometimes also can be effective and efficient decision-making, comprehensive and cautious decision-making is not always possible. Being aware of cognitive biases contributes towards obtaining optimal behavior in every situation.However, when we want to answer the question if awareness helps entrepreneurial firms perform better we would like to advise to also create awarenes s among the people around the entrepreneur and not the entrepreneur himself. The bias of an entrepreneur can be crucial in the start-up of a company and the motivation of other people. However, when a bias is harmful people around him can undertake action to 10 eliminate this bias and therefore reduce the chance of a company's failure. As a radical note we would like to mention that research on biases that an entrepreneur can encounter still has not been done.

The Green Revolution in Iran

On June 12, 2009, a series of protests broke out after the results of the presidential election in Iran. The riots started in the capital city of Tehran, and quickly spread throughout the Islamic Republic. Protestors gathered in other major cities around the world, including New York City (Mackey). Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Iranians were protesting against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection, which was allegedly the result of electoral fraud. These allegations have been investigated by parties in and outside of Iran, including London’s Chatham House and the Institute of Iranian Studies, University of St. Andrews in Scotland, which co-published a report after the election. The report was written by Chatham House's Daniel Berman and Thomas Rintoul, and edited by St. Andrews' Professor Ali Ansari. The following is an excerpt from that report’s summary: In two conservative provinces, Mazandaran and Yazd, a turnout of more than 100% was recorded. In a third of all provinces, the official results would require that Ahmadinejad took not only all former conservative voters, all former centrist voters, and all new voters, but also up to 44% of former reformist voters, despite a decade of conflict between these two groups. 2) The people of Iran are demanding change and a freer government. Now is the time for the United States to recognize a potential new ally. America should support the Green Revolution—named after opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi's campaign color—because a regime change in Iran would strongly promote world peace by removing the Abadgaran[1] regime and its nuclear ambitions; it would remove a regime with a history o f violating the basic human rights of its citizens and foreigners; and it would open up the potential for a new ally and trading partner in the Middle East. Iran’s nuclear policy has changed dramatically since the Ahmadinejad presidency took control of it in August 2005. It has shifted from being open to compromise with the global community to increasing its power and imposing Iran on the region (Chubin 32-33). Paralleling Iran’s nuclear program is a troubling missile program. The Shahab-4, a variant of Iran’s favorite missile, the Shahab-3, has a range of 1,200 miles (FAS). This coupling highly suggests a nuclear weapons program. The Abadgaran regime’s history of violating the human rights of its citizens ranges from harassment to wrongful imprisonment or execution to murder. Women have been harassed by police since the Islamic Revolution for allegedly wearing their hijab[2] improperly. Several hundred women were arrested in Tehran in April of 2007 for their â€Å"bad hijab† (Harrison). The persecution of Baha’is in Iran erupted after the Islamic Republic was established in 1979. Despite being Iran’s largest religious minority group at that time, the rights of the Baha’i community are not mentioned in the Republic’s constitution. It is legal for Iranians to assault, even murder Baha’is because they are left legally unprotected, and labeled â€Å"infidels† (BIC). Another example of Iran’s discrimination is its so-called â€Å"solution† to homosexuality. The government pushes homosexuals to undergo gender reassignment surgeries to conform to its theocratic views on sexuality. These procedures are paid for by the government, and for many poor gays and lesbians in Iran, especially those living in the Republic’s rural areas, it is the only option to â€Å"be like others† (Hays). To conclude assessing the human rights violations of Iran’s theocratic government is the case of 27-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan. Neda was an average young woman in Iran, except that she was taking singing lessons, which is illegal for women in Iran. On June 20th, Neda and her singing instructor got out of her car to get a breath of fresh air near the protests, and she was shot by a Basiji[3] in Tehran (Fathi). She was defenseless, and public attempts to mourn her were broken up by the government. â€Å"Her name means voice in Persian, and many are now calling her the voice of Iran,† said Nazila Fathi in her report of Neda’s death for The New York Times. President George W. Bush’s â€Å"axis of evil† speech undermined support of Iranians who argued for better relations with the United States. When Bush made that speech in 2002, Mohammad Khatami, a reformer, was the president of Iran (Freedman 473). The United States sanctions against Iran have helped to further the Abadgaran regime’s agenda by giving justification to a group that is desperate for it; the sanctions have allowed them to consolidate their power and further oppress Iranians who go against the government’s policies. Iran’s current state is best described in Lawrence Freeman’s A Choice of Enemies: The [Bush] administration found it consistently difficult to get the measure of Tehran. Bush depicted it as a â€Å"nation held hostage by a small clerical elite that is repressing and isolating its people,† but the reality was far more complex . (482) A regime change in Iran could see the lifting of American trade sanctions against Iran; U. S. sanctions have had an impact on Iran’s oil economy. Mohammed Akacem, a petroleum expert at Metropolitan State College of Denver said, â€Å"U. S. oil companies would love to go to Iran, so sanctions have retarded a little bit of Iran’s ability to improve its oil sector (qtd. in Beehner). † Securing another efficient source of oil would help to ease the American economy as alternative energy sources are developed, and workers are trained to perform the tasks necessary to operate these new facilities. The Iranian government's response to this movement is violent and choking. In late July, a mass trial was conducted against over 100 reformist figures, accused of—as reported by Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi—â€Å"conspiring with foreign powers to stage a revolution through terrorism . . . (1)†. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei went so far as to say questioning the election was â€Å"the biggest crime (qtd. in Dareini). † The people of Iran are now rising up and demanding their emancipation, and they need support from the global community. The United States needs to support the Green Revolution if it seeks to make a friend of Iran. The proper support could see a regime change and the establishment of an Iran open to cooperation with America, enriching both Iranian and American societies. The average American can help as well if there are organizations set up to aid the opposition movement in Iran by donating and volunteering, and corporate America can set up the aforementioned organizations, and increase the media’s focus on the movement in Iran. All this can be done without any military involvement by the United States. The American Revolution freed us from oppression; let us help the Iranian people free themselves as well.