A good economic essay example!!!
Cracking down tax evasion can compliment the use of the austerity measures.
Dolce & Gabbana, an Italian fashion house giant had been put litigation on its tax evasion act by failing to declare revenues of around €840 million in Italy currency.
Investigators closed their inquiry against founders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, as well as five other people, but no formal charges were yet presented, Il Sole 24 Ore said, citing prosecutors in Milan.
Dolce & Gabbana was accused of creating a company in Luxembourg in 2004 and 2005 that was given control of the group's brands, thereby avoiding Italian taxes. The Luxembourg company, Gado, was in fact run from Italy.
The unpaid taxes amount to €420 million, Il Messaggero daily reported.
Italy has been cracking down on widespread tax evasion in recent months in an effort to raise government revenues following the global economic crisis.
Dolce & Gabbana was set up in 1985 and employs more than 3000 people, with a network of 116 shops and 17 factory outlets in 2009, the group's website said.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
News; Money can buy happiness, it costs $75,000
RICH people are happier than low-income earners but the benefits of wealth appear to taper off after US$75,000 a year, according to a Princeton University study.
The new study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) asked about 1,000 randomly selected US residents to assess their emotional well-being each day and also asked them to rate how they felt their life was going in general, according to a statement from Princeton University.
Participants assessed their emotional well-being by determining how much time they spent in positive or negative states the previous day.
They determined their life evaluation by rating their life on a scale of zero to 10.
Based on more than 450,000 responses, the study found as income decreased from US$75,000 ($82,000), respondents reported decreasing happiness and increasing sadness and stress.The pain of life's misfortunes including disease, divorce and being alone, were also made worse by poverty, according to the study's authors, psychologists Professor Angus Deaton and Professor Daniel Kahneman.
“We conclude that lack of money brings both emotional misery and low life evaluation; similar results were found for anger,” write the authors in the report.
“Beyond US$75,000 ($82,000) in the contemporary United States, however, higher income is neither the road to experienced happiness nor the road to the relief of unhappiness or stress, although higher income continues to improve individuals’ life evaluations.”
Although the study does not suggest that quality of life will improve with higher incomes, it does indicate that above a certain salary, people's emotional wellbeing was impacted by other factors such as temperament and life circumstances.
Those earning more than US$75,000 ($82,000) would not be able to buy happiness but the money would bring a life they people thought was better, the study concluded.
Opinion: It is indubitable that money can't buy any happiness in life, but it is a necessary and essential key to a better life and better standard of living. Every single thing we consume or enjoy today carry a cost and without money, nothing can be done. Fundamental component to stay in life such as food, water, electricity, education, health care and etc. do involve a cost and the way to pay for those is money!!! However, money dosen't determine everything. It cannot guarantee that misfortune will not happen on someone rich, ensure a healthy life, promote good reputation with noble quality, buy proximity, trust, believe and the list goes on. It's up to someone to decide on the balance between money and life. The most significant factor that decide on quality of life is the greediness of the person, but not money. People should feel contented as long as the money they have earned are able to provide them with the fundamental need and occasionally some entertainment to relax themselves.
The new study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) asked about 1,000 randomly selected US residents to assess their emotional well-being each day and also asked them to rate how they felt their life was going in general, according to a statement from Princeton University.
Participants assessed their emotional well-being by determining how much time they spent in positive or negative states the previous day.
They determined their life evaluation by rating their life on a scale of zero to 10.
Based on more than 450,000 responses, the study found as income decreased from US$75,000 ($82,000), respondents reported decreasing happiness and increasing sadness and stress.The pain of life's misfortunes including disease, divorce and being alone, were also made worse by poverty, according to the study's authors, psychologists Professor Angus Deaton and Professor Daniel Kahneman.
“We conclude that lack of money brings both emotional misery and low life evaluation; similar results were found for anger,” write the authors in the report.
“Beyond US$75,000 ($82,000) in the contemporary United States, however, higher income is neither the road to experienced happiness nor the road to the relief of unhappiness or stress, although higher income continues to improve individuals’ life evaluations.”
Although the study does not suggest that quality of life will improve with higher incomes, it does indicate that above a certain salary, people's emotional wellbeing was impacted by other factors such as temperament and life circumstances.
Those earning more than US$75,000 ($82,000) would not be able to buy happiness but the money would bring a life they people thought was better, the study concluded.
Opinion: It is indubitable that money can't buy any happiness in life, but it is a necessary and essential key to a better life and better standard of living. Every single thing we consume or enjoy today carry a cost and without money, nothing can be done. Fundamental component to stay in life such as food, water, electricity, education, health care and etc. do involve a cost and the way to pay for those is money!!! However, money dosen't determine everything. It cannot guarantee that misfortune will not happen on someone rich, ensure a healthy life, promote good reputation with noble quality, buy proximity, trust, believe and the list goes on. It's up to someone to decide on the balance between money and life. The most significant factor that decide on quality of life is the greediness of the person, but not money. People should feel contented as long as the money they have earned are able to provide them with the fundamental need and occasionally some entertainment to relax themselves.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
News: Cholera outbreak 'covered up' in eastern China
Talking about food safety, China had been well known for its notorious lax food regime and food hazards. The callous and malign profit-oriented businessmen there will try any possible ways to maximise their profit, even it is on the cost of lives of million population in the China. The most recent world astonishing case was the incident that industrial chemical melamine were found to have been illegally added to dairy products to give the appearance of higher protein content. The scandal was blamed for the deaths of at least six infants and for making 300,000 others ill in China.Despite the transgressors had been put to capital punishment, it seemed that this aggressive punishment had met its futility in curbing this outrage callous activities. Here the news:
AUTHORITIES in eastern China covered up an outbreak of cholera for 12 days out of fears that publicising the often fatal disease would shock the local population, state press reported.
According to the website of the Anhui province health department, 38 people have contracted cholera since August 16 and the outbreak was under preliminary control with the numbers of cases diminishing. Five patients remain hospitalised, it said.
Cholera causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration, and can be fatal if not treated quickly. It normally breaks out in impoverished regions with poor sanitation.
Although health authorities have not reported any deaths, internet chatrooms were abuzz with rumours that several people have died from the disease.
At the same time state media criticised the government for covering up the epidemic and refusing to alert the local population.
"On August 16, the Anhui centre for disease control had confirmed the outbreak of cholera, but it was not until August 28 that it was publicised," the Beijing News said in an editorial.
"The government covered up the outbreak for 12 days."
The paper quoted Wang Jianjun, the vice director of the Anhui centre for disease control as saying that local officials were powerless to publicise disease outbreaks and had to wait for approval from more senior officials.
"Besides, if every outbreak of disease is publicised every time, this will easily lead the public to become paralysed in their thinking," the report cited him as saying without elaboration.
The cholera outbreak has been traced to soybean milk shop in Anhui's Mengcheng city.
Poor sanitation and a lax food safety regime have repeatedly led to health scares in China. Last week, 87 children were taken to hospital after eating tainted yoghurt at a kindergarten in northwest China's Gansu, state media reported yesterday.
Also last week, a cooking oil company in central China acknowledged it had waited five months before notifying the public that one of its products had been found to contain excessive carcinogens.
AUTHORITIES in eastern China covered up an outbreak of cholera for 12 days out of fears that publicising the often fatal disease would shock the local population, state press reported.
According to the website of the Anhui province health department, 38 people have contracted cholera since August 16 and the outbreak was under preliminary control with the numbers of cases diminishing. Five patients remain hospitalised, it said.
Cholera causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration, and can be fatal if not treated quickly. It normally breaks out in impoverished regions with poor sanitation.
Although health authorities have not reported any deaths, internet chatrooms were abuzz with rumours that several people have died from the disease.
At the same time state media criticised the government for covering up the epidemic and refusing to alert the local population.
"On August 16, the Anhui centre for disease control had confirmed the outbreak of cholera, but it was not until August 28 that it was publicised," the Beijing News said in an editorial.
"The government covered up the outbreak for 12 days."
The paper quoted Wang Jianjun, the vice director of the Anhui centre for disease control as saying that local officials were powerless to publicise disease outbreaks and had to wait for approval from more senior officials.
"Besides, if every outbreak of disease is publicised every time, this will easily lead the public to become paralysed in their thinking," the report cited him as saying without elaboration.
The cholera outbreak has been traced to soybean milk shop in Anhui's Mengcheng city.
Poor sanitation and a lax food safety regime have repeatedly led to health scares in China. Last week, 87 children were taken to hospital after eating tainted yoghurt at a kindergarten in northwest China's Gansu, state media reported yesterday.
Also last week, a cooking oil company in central China acknowledged it had waited five months before notifying the public that one of its products had been found to contain excessive carcinogens.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Aussie news: Re-offending rates up - prison study
A STUDY of Australia's prison populations has found young men and those from indigenous backgrounds are most likely to have more than one spell in jail.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics study, covering prison census data from 1994 to 2007, found the rate of recidivism leading to added jail time was roughly steady, with about 56 per cent of prisoners having done a period in prison by 2007.
Over the period of the study, prison populations increased by an average of 3.7 per cent a year.
The proportion of men in the jail system varied from 92 to 94 per cent over the 13 years of the study, while the number of indigenous prisoners varied between 18 and 21 per cent.
But the number of prisoners being jailed after previously serving a prison sentence rose by 3.2 per cent over the same period.
"Re-imprisonment was strongly associated with being young, being indigenous or having been previously imprisoned," the ABS report said.
"To a lesser extent, re-imprisonment was also associated with being male."
The re-imprisonment rate was highest in the Northern Territory, where about 68 per cent of prisoners had been jailed before.
This was blamed on the demographics of its prisoners, many of whom were young men, the report said.
"In all jurisdictions except Queensland, prisoners released in recent years were more likely to be re-imprisoned than prisoners released in the mid-1990s," it said.
Almost 60 per cent of all prisoners released in the three years to June 1997 had not been sent to jail again before June 30, 2007, the report found.
Those jailed for serious offences, including those involving illicit drugs, sex offences and road traffic offences, were much more likely to return to jail for similar offences.
Opinion: Indeed it is a worrisome sign, implicates that the crime rate in the jailing and jurisdictions system in Australia had failed in nurturing the transgressors to turn over a new leaf particularly in young indigenous men. Why men? Why crime and men are always closely associated with higher number of men put in jail. Why the men don't even have a sense of remorsefulness after what bad deed they had did before? Well, it is a crucial issue to think about. Indubitable the young men tend to like to solve problems and overcome their stress in an aggressive way. However, it is also up to one EQ to control their own emotion and behaviour. This biological culprit can't be blamed solely though. May be it is the time for Australian government to revise their litigation and education system to halt this problem from further protracting.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics study, covering prison census data from 1994 to 2007, found the rate of recidivism leading to added jail time was roughly steady, with about 56 per cent of prisoners having done a period in prison by 2007.
Over the period of the study, prison populations increased by an average of 3.7 per cent a year.
The proportion of men in the jail system varied from 92 to 94 per cent over the 13 years of the study, while the number of indigenous prisoners varied between 18 and 21 per cent.
But the number of prisoners being jailed after previously serving a prison sentence rose by 3.2 per cent over the same period.
"Re-imprisonment was strongly associated with being young, being indigenous or having been previously imprisoned," the ABS report said.
"To a lesser extent, re-imprisonment was also associated with being male."
The re-imprisonment rate was highest in the Northern Territory, where about 68 per cent of prisoners had been jailed before.
This was blamed on the demographics of its prisoners, many of whom were young men, the report said.
"In all jurisdictions except Queensland, prisoners released in recent years were more likely to be re-imprisoned than prisoners released in the mid-1990s," it said.
Almost 60 per cent of all prisoners released in the three years to June 1997 had not been sent to jail again before June 30, 2007, the report found.
Those jailed for serious offences, including those involving illicit drugs, sex offences and road traffic offences, were much more likely to return to jail for similar offences.
Opinion: Indeed it is a worrisome sign, implicates that the crime rate in the jailing and jurisdictions system in Australia had failed in nurturing the transgressors to turn over a new leaf particularly in young indigenous men. Why men? Why crime and men are always closely associated with higher number of men put in jail. Why the men don't even have a sense of remorsefulness after what bad deed they had did before? Well, it is a crucial issue to think about. Indubitable the young men tend to like to solve problems and overcome their stress in an aggressive way. However, it is also up to one EQ to control their own emotion and behaviour. This biological culprit can't be blamed solely though. May be it is the time for Australian government to revise their litigation and education system to halt this problem from further protracting.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
News (continued): Woman who binned cat fears losing her job
THE British woman caught on CCTV throwing a cat into a rubbish bin fears for her job as a bank teller because she thinks no one will want to be served by her. Mary Bale, 45, who is now being investigated by police and the Royal Sociey for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Just who wants to be served by the woman who dumped the cat in a bin?
Ms Bale, from Coventry, England, said she wanted to apologise in person to the cat's owners, Darryl and Stephanie Andrews-Mann, but was told by the RSPCA it would be "inappropriate," as an investigation was underway.
While Ms Bale had given an profuse apologised and only drew a cool response from the owner of the pet.
"I wouldn't let that woman within a mile of (our cat) Lola," they said. "She might recognise her and have a fit. Why fling a living creature into a wheelie bin if you don't mean to harm it? There's something wrong with the woman."
Ms Bale denied claims that she threw the cat in the bin because of a ongoing dispute with the couple.
Newspapers from China to Sweden covered the case of the mysterious cat trasher, and Ms Bale received numerous death threats and remains under police protection.
Opinion: This callous action is reprehensible and now the woman will have to face the Nemesis for what she had done.
Ms Bale, from Coventry, England, said she wanted to apologise in person to the cat's owners, Darryl and Stephanie Andrews-Mann, but was told by the RSPCA it would be "inappropriate," as an investigation was underway.
While Ms Bale had given an profuse apologised and only drew a cool response from the owner of the pet.
"I wouldn't let that woman within a mile of (our cat) Lola," they said. "She might recognise her and have a fit. Why fling a living creature into a wheelie bin if you don't mean to harm it? There's something wrong with the woman."
Ms Bale denied claims that she threw the cat in the bin because of a ongoing dispute with the couple.
Newspapers from China to Sweden covered the case of the mysterious cat trasher, and Ms Bale received numerous death threats and remains under police protection.
Opinion: This callous action is reprehensible and now the woman will have to face the Nemesis for what she had done.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Malaysian News: Malaysian government workers evicted for having sex outside marriage
MUSLIM civil servants caught having sex outside marriage have been evicted from government housing in Malaysia's administrative capital, authorities confirmed.
Islamic officials launched a campaign to stamp out immoral activities in Putrajaya, a grandiose collection of ministries, wide avenues and subsidised housing that lies south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Sex between unmarried Muslim couples is a violation of Islamic laws.
Che Mat Che Ali, head of the Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department, confirmed reports that civil servants were ordered to vacate their homes by the Shariah religious court but would not say how many people were affected.
"I can confirm that this is happening," he said of the Towards Zero Immoral Activities in Putrajaya 2010 campaign, which already caught government employees in "khalwat" - close proximity between an unmarried couple.
"It may seem harsh, but we want the people of Putrajaya to know that we take this matter seriously," he told the country's New Straits Times newspaper over the weekend, adding that the department "used to receive a lot of complaints from the public about Shariah offenses.
Among them was that we did not monitor immoral activities around the Putrajaya mosque," he was quoted as saying. "We are not going to be lenient with [suspected offenders] anymore."
Opinion: Indeed what the Malaysian government did was true and appropriate. Regardless of religion, pre-marital sex is strictly prohibited as it will deteriorate the noble value, self-esteem, integrity and image of someone. For free thinker, it's more on the concern about morality. Thus, it should be seen as the greatest sin that can be atoned once being committed. It is against the humanity and transgressors should be punished without leniency. Be faithful and loyal to the future husband and wife!
Islamic officials launched a campaign to stamp out immoral activities in Putrajaya, a grandiose collection of ministries, wide avenues and subsidised housing that lies south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Sex between unmarried Muslim couples is a violation of Islamic laws.
Che Mat Che Ali, head of the Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department, confirmed reports that civil servants were ordered to vacate their homes by the Shariah religious court but would not say how many people were affected.
"I can confirm that this is happening," he said of the Towards Zero Immoral Activities in Putrajaya 2010 campaign, which already caught government employees in "khalwat" - close proximity between an unmarried couple.
"It may seem harsh, but we want the people of Putrajaya to know that we take this matter seriously," he told the country's New Straits Times newspaper over the weekend, adding that the department "used to receive a lot of complaints from the public about Shariah offenses.
Among them was that we did not monitor immoral activities around the Putrajaya mosque," he was quoted as saying. "We are not going to be lenient with [suspected offenders] anymore."
Opinion: Indeed what the Malaysian government did was true and appropriate. Regardless of religion, pre-marital sex is strictly prohibited as it will deteriorate the noble value, self-esteem, integrity and image of someone. For free thinker, it's more on the concern about morality. Thus, it should be seen as the greatest sin that can be atoned once being committed. It is against the humanity and transgressors should be punished without leniency. Be faithful and loyal to the future husband and wife!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
News: Siberian tiger kills keeper
Time for brief news. A tragedy had happened in China where a siberian tiger had killed a keeper. The keeper had been mauled to death in eastern China after being left to roam the cage as it was being cleaned. According to the person in charge, The tiger bit Zhan's neck, inflicting fatal injuries. He was attacked by the tiger while cleaning the cage at a wildlife rescue centre in Anhui province.
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