#they are not mutually exclusive and having the capacity for either does not mean acting on them

[originalaccountname]

putting my hands on your shoulders looking directly into your eyes why are you so insistent that Dazai is faking every emotion every second of every day except when he's acting mean or evil why do you think his dark side is more true than his happier or sillier sides

do you not also have multiple facets you show different people? are we not all beautiful multifaceted individuals? are your actions and reactions not influenced by your emotions and state of mind?

can't he laugh at his own jokes? can't he fondly think of the Agency? can't he be dramatic because he wants to? can't he be surprised by something suddenly happening, even if he knew it would happen? do you not jump when the jack in the box gets out even if you were the one working the mechanism?

why would the mean persona be more real? why would any and all joy be faked? why are you only allowing him misery?

[sam-t-a]

I'm praying really hard for a plot twist next episode that redeems Han Seo.

However, wishful thinking aside, I think the show set this episode up with Han Seo's arc so perfectly that it could go either way.

Han Seo is the perfect underdog, easily endearing and impossible not to sympathize with. We've also only seen it very briefly, but he has the capacity to be resourceful and generous, and he's a lot more resilient than he looks at first glance. All those things can make for a wonderful addition to an already colourful team that clearly benefits from growing and doesn't mind integrating reformed criminals into their newfound family. He has also pretty much cut all emotional ties with his brother and no longer struggles with the thought of betraying him.

His interactions with Jipuragi, especially in comparison with his interactions with the other side, are proof that working alongside them makes him feel good about himself and helps him in many ways. And while we've seen that he can be an astoundingly bad liar/actor at times ("You made a chess pun. It's so cool") he can also be a great one when necessary (the whole Babel Tower event), so just because he's convincing in the interpol scene, doesn't necessarily mean he isn't acting and making the best out of his new relationships.

In the hockey scene, for example, one nice thing that stuck out was that they were both dressed in the same type of clothes, as opposed to one of them wearing a suit and being in a position of weakness and the other wearing his gear and causing physical harm (which is the only way hockey has been portrayed so far in the show).

Him asking Vincenzo if he would kill him was also very different from how he asked his brother if he would kill him if he kept disappointing him. Neither one actually responded with anything resembling "no", and in both cases he had to guess the answer. With Han Seok, I would say it was "I think you will, but I'm still hopeful", whereas with Vincenzo, it was "I know you won't, but I'm still worried."

But on the other hand, much as I tried to focus on the "sweet" part of it (and I tried really hard), that scene still felt bittersweet. Han Seo has very traumatic experiences with hockey stuff and (most probably) with being punished for using banmal (I don't think we've ever heard him call his brother Hyung, it's always Hyungnim, which I think is telling, but that might just be me misunderstanding the culture). So, when Vincenzo hits the puck very hard and startles him and when Han Seo complains that he wasn't wearing the helmet or backs away from Vin, or says "thank you" and Vincenzo trips him in response, it stings a bit. Mainly because achieving that kind of rapport with someone (anyone) takes time, and achieving it with a torture survivor who has had little to no agency over his body since childhood is even harder.

Him being loud and brash isn't really an indicator that he's feeling comfortable or brave because we've seen him raise his voice multiple times with Han Seok and get punished for it and still do it later. Being cheery and smiley after the scene could mean a lot, because he's rarely ever seen happy, but it could also mean very little because he was equally cheery and smiley after his brother threw the lamp at his head just because he felt cool for dodging it.

A lifetime of handling abuse has not only taught him to bounce back really quickly, but also really raised the bar for what he would consider awful enough to pause at. Han Seo also definitely has major trust issues, regardless of the fact that Vincenzo hasn't really explicitly said he wouldn't hurt him, which would understandably be heightened by the fact that he just watched that one guy die after Vin promised him money and freedom.

He waves it off when Vincenzo doesn't answer his question, but the fact that their interaction could still be seen as brotherly when one party is literally afraid the other might kill him only works because "that is my brother" and "I'm not entirely sure he wouldn't kill me" aren't mutually exclusive in Han Seo's mind.

On Vincenzo's side, I think it's totally feasible that he would refuse to fully accept Han Seo. He's shown an appreciation for enemies joining his side, especially if they do it voluntarily (Bye Bye Balloon), but not when it's personal (the shadows responsible for lawyer Hong's death). The time Han Seo's resourcefulness shone was when he caused the deaths of the victims' families by helping his brother find them. Not only was this a very personal turning point for Vincenzo and Chayoung, but it was also completely his initiative. Han Seok didn't ask him to do this and might even have said no if Han Seo had asked him before doing it since he thought his way was "the hard way", but Han Seo did it anyway, and he did it purely to get his brother's validation and has shown no remorse or empathy throughout the whole ordeal.

There were times like this and like the time he basically begged his brother to assassinate Chayoung and Vincenzo where the only thing stopping him from being as ruthless as Han Seok was that he couldn't, not that he didn't want to, but perhaps the fear keeping him in check is now gone.

We've seen his personality completely change from the beginning of the show to this episode. Where once he would have pounced wholeheartedly and gratefully at what Han Seok is offering, he now hesitates and even turns it down at first. Han Seok comes saying "You're my brother" after Han Seo had already made peace with being a puppet and cut the strings off. He couldn't go back to being his brother if he tried. In fact, in none of the situations where Han Seok was at risk did he seem remotely worried about him. And the distance goes both ways - no more "stand with me while I do bla bla bla" from Han Seok. It's always "leave, get out, stay away".

Another reason might be the fact that Han Seok's olive branch (aside from being so obviously fake, even before you google Elizabeth Holmes), comes in the wake of weeks of escalation. First, we went from mark-less physical violence to wound-leaving violence and then to slapping on the face. I'm not sure if this is universal, but in so many cultures, a slap in the face is so much worse than most ways of hitting because it might mean less pain, but infinitely more degradation. It could also be the ludicrousness of Han Seok's phrasing, (I mean, "be nice to you and take care of you"? get outta here!) and he takes it with a lot more self-control than he originally would have.

Han Seo has learned how to emotionally distance himself from a lot of things, but he still doesn't have a real support system of people who care for and respect him. He has as much potential as he does baggage, and the transition phase he's going through guarantees that his feelings about everything and everyone, especially his brother and Vincenzo, are bound to be mixed and messy, so whichever way this swings, narratively speaking, I would totally buy it.

But I'm really really hoping this works out for him, because I'm going to be totally heartbroken if it doesn't.

[bellcuban9]

Writing A Will During Lockdown.

Making A Will In Louisiana.

Content

Select Guardians For Your Kids And Also Animals.

The Possesions Of Your Estate Are Dispersed As Per Your Wishes.

Beware: Not All Wills Are Controlled

Our Bespoke Wills Solution.

Why Pick Glanvilles Will Composing Legal Representatives In Fareham?

Your will can be revoked at any time prior to its effectiveness, by filing a simple motion in a court of law. Once filed, if there is no response from the estate, or if no beneficiaries are named, the revocation can then go into effect. Once revocation takes place, a copy of the original document must be filed with the court that created it, and another certified copy must be sent to the other named beneficiaries. In the event of a successful revocation, your assets will be returned to the estate of your last living trust, which means that your beneficiaries will now share the property evenly between the remaining beneficiaries.

Who are your intended recipients? Appellate courts typically allow the following to be witnesses to a Will: your spouse, anyone who is your co-habitant, children, anyone considered a dependent of your spouse, a person considered your estate, your attorney, anyone acting under the powers of a judge, a public official or anyone named in the document. However, codicilators and administrators are not allowed to be witnesses to a Will. They can revoke a Will at any time but must do so in writing.

Select Guardians For Your Kids And Also Family Pets.

How may I make my intentions known to others? You may want to leave a Will with a trusted friend or associate who can act as a go between for you and those you leave your instructions with. You may also choose to let trusted members of your family know of your Last Will and Testament. Again, consult your state probate laws for specifics.

Can a Will be revoked after it is executed? A will can be revoked either before or after you die depending on the state probate laws. If you pass away intestate (without leaving a will), then upon death, the last will and testament must be filed in the probate court. If you appoint an administrator or another designate to control your estate, they can file a "revocation of testament" with the court if you die before taking care of your estate, thereby revoking your last will and testament.

The Possesions Of Your Estate Are Dispersed Based On Your Desires.

It is vitally important to choose an experienced attorney to make decisions regarding estate and personal assets. There are a wide range of different lawyers available today who are experienced in handling all kinds of estate planning matters including adoptions and retirement plans. It may be beneficial for you to consider consulting the services of an attorney before making any major estate planning decision. A good attorney can guide you through the process of making financial decisions, as well as assisting with the preparation of your will.

You can use our Free Will Service to aid you find a lawyer to create your will either online, through the post, over the phone or a video clip telephone call, in person at home or in branch with a lawyer.

If you compose a will, you can choose who you intend to sort out your estate.

Your estate is whatever you have, consisting of money, property as well as belongings.

Or, if you 'd rather not utilize our service, we recommend speaking to the Regulation Culture to discover a listing of solicitors near you.

Who are the witnesses? To make sure that your Power of Attorney is legally valid, your attorney and any witnesses you use must be people who are actually related to you. This includes your spouse and children, your parents and any other survivors who may benefit from your Will. Anyone unrelated to you cannot sign or testify on your behalf. You cannot have more than two people as witnesses, and witnesses should normally be related to you by marriage or adoption.

Be Careful: Not All Wills Are Managed

There are many situations in which an estate executor might be appointed. If someone is seriously ill or incapacitated, such as due to a debilitating condition or long-term illness, the will may state that a personal representative should take over the powers and duties of the probate court. The appointee does not have to follow the same standard as that of the other beneficiaries, and can vary according to state probate law. The will can also specify whether the appointment should be temporary permanent, or exclusive.

What needs to be included in a will?

Steps to Make a Will: Decide what property to include in your will. Decide who will inherit your property. Choose an executor to handle your estate. Choose a guardian for your children. Choose someone to manage children's property. Make direct wills trusts . Sign your will in front of witnesses. More items

What's the difference between a Power of Attorney that you make yourself and a will that you make? They are both ways of legally sharing ownership of your assets and financial liabilities, but there is a clear distinction. A Power of Attorney that you make yourself authorizes any financial, medical or legal decisions that you would take on your own. In other words, it gives you the authority to make the decisions, not the other way around. Whereas a will clearly expresses your intentions regarding the manner in which your property and assets will be handled should you become unable to exercise your power of attorney, a Power of Attorney does not express any intentions regarding the manner in which it will happen should you become unable to act.

Another situation in which it may be necessary to appoint an executor is when the testator has minor children who are not included on the testator's list of dependents. If the testator has a living son or daughter, but doesn't have a daughter, then the assets will go to either the father or the daughter depending upon the order of the testator. In read more... , an estate plan with an attorney really should be the most logical choice.

Our Bespoke Wills Service.

For example, if a couple has been married for many years and has a large family, they could possibly designate one as the surviving spouse and instruct that the assets are distributed according to the family line of descent. In addition, there are some specific situations in which a person does not have to appoint an executor. One situation in which this is applicable is when the decedent has no minor children. He or she may simply choose to distribute the remaining assets to his or her surviving spouse and children. However, in the majority of cases, it is necessary to appoint an executor.

What are the three conditions to make a will valid?

Requirements for a Will to Be ValidIt must be in writing. Generally, of course, wills are composed on a computer and printed out. The person who made it must have signed and dated it. A will must be signed and dated by the person who made it. Two adult witnesses must have signed it. Witnesses are crucial.

This is the importance of a will: by design, it ensures that your assets will be distributed according to the wishes of your last living trust. However, if you pass away unexpectedly, without leaving a will, your estate may face problems. If an attempt to revoke goes unsatisfied, there could be claims on your estate for debts or outstanding obligations. Additionally, if there are not enough assets to cover the debt of the decedent, his or her personal properties can be liquidated to pay off the debt. If this happens, it is wise to have a will executed even if it seems that no one wants the assets, so that the process can be followed to ensure the smooth transfer of everything to your final beneficiaries.

It is important to understand what will happen when the person dies. Willingness is often considered an essential component of estate planning. If a person can not speak or take care of themselves properly, it is wise to appoint a personal representative. However, there are situations where it may not always be practical to appoint an executor.

Can property be divided among family members? Property acquired during your lifetime is generally exempt from inheritance taxation. However, there are special situations where your property will be taxed. These include any real property you acquire during your lifetime, certain retirement assets such as mutual funds and bonds and certain life insurance policies.

Many people today, at some point in their lives, are faced with the reality of being able to execute their own will and living their final days peacefully. A will is one of the most important documents a person can create, as it names (and properly name) the intended recipients of inheritance assets. But what happens if your loved ones don't survive you?

Anyone can "make a Will" despite lacking the mental capacity to do so. Anyone can sign a Power of Attorney or take part in a Will if they meet minimum requirements set forth by law. Anyone who does not meet these minimum requirements is not qualified to sign or participate in a Will.

Financial Debt And Also Money

Will vs. Probate You can state in your Will that either (I) your beneficiaries will be the individual(s) specified in the Will, (ii) that your beneficiaries will receive specific monies held in trust under the Will, or (iii) that specific parties (other than your beneficiaries) will hold the assets specified in the Will until you die. Your Will must be filed with the proper jurisdiction and must include specific authorization for your executors to perform the tasks outlined in it. Some jurisdictions do not require a Will to be filed. Other governing bodies have different standards. In any jurisdiction in which you choose to file a Will, your agent cannot take the property and carry out the specific tasks outlined in the document without your authorization.

[itcameuponamidnightqueer]

2019 is over and i have feelings

it’s the end of the year and this is mostly filled with rambling half-thoughts, but that’s what you do at the end of the year—you reflect and ramble until it almost turns into something. this is under a read more only because i don’t like clogging up people’s dashes with really long posts, so you know, skip or read at your own leisure.

i don’t really ever do any kind of reflecting that doesn’t come out in the form of fanfiction. i have some feelings, i write a few thousand words about them, i throw them out into the world, and that’s it. i’ll reread my own stuff but i never really think again about what prompted me to write them because it’s over. the feelings are done but the words are memories and that’s all i need, usually.

but 2019 was a tough year in ways that i can’t express in fic, so i’ll just throw out a few thousand personal words and be done with it.

in september of 2018, my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and i don’t think i’ve really been happy since. most of it isn’t being sad about the diagnosis—maybe a lot of it is and i just need a whole heap of therapy to unpack that—but rather how much the cancer changed. it was very advanced when they caught it and she’s made almost a complete recovery in just over a year, and given how shitty everything was to start, this is the best way a bad situation could have ended. not that it’s over, but you know.

it shifted our family completely. i don’t think it brought us closer, maybe my sister or my parents feel differently, but i don’t. morgie turned inward for maybe the first time in her life and kept us at arm’s length in the beginning. she told us very clearly that she didn’t want the cancer to take over her whole life—she wanted us to act normal and talk about normal things as if this was just a temporary snag.

i’ve had epilepsy since i was fifteen months old. i know what it feels like to do that same thing, to minimize and downplay the experience of a chronic condition. because my epilepsy has, gratefully, been very manageable. i can count on one hand the number of seizures i remember having. i have an annual checkup with a neurologist, she confirms the dosage of my meds, and i say goodbye. that’s it, no problem, see you next year.

(it could be so much worse, they say. you’re very lucky, you hear for twenty nine years.

i am not lucky.)

morgan’s cancer kind of opened the flood gates, i think, and a whole heap of shit came spilling out. you know how you see those posts on here about ADHD or autism and a few captions down the line someone is always like, “wait, you mean not everyone [is like this] or [does that]?” i feel like i’m just coming to realize that about my childhood.

not everyone takes days off of school to go to the children’s hospital—for an EEG, or an MRI, or to get blood drawn, etc. “normal” seven-year-olds probably aren’t managing their own prescriptions. my condition is less severe than many others’ but that doesn’t mean it’s normal. it’s certainly not. i’ve always understood “it’s manageable” to mean “it’s not traumatic”, and only now am i realizing that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

and all of a sudden, this thing that i’ve been living with for so long, that i thought i had under control, is rearing back with a vengeance. and because i have been taught to be grateful for the “best” of a bad situation, because its mildness has turned it into something we don’t talk about, i draw inward and it festers and rots into shame. i’ve been operating like this since i was a kid and i think maybe i’ve finally hit capacity.

on top of that, i’ve been going through a bit of an identity crisis. i seem to do that every few years—five years ago as ace, four years ago as nonbinary—and i guess it’s time for another one. tbh it’s kind of been scraping at the back of my brain ever since i realized i was nonbinary, because even that didn’t feel like enough, but i didn’t know what would. 

i’ve said it in a few posts over the years (probably somewhere in both of the linked ones), but i personally really like labels. i spend so much of my time with myself (physically, sure, but i mean emotionally) and very rarely ever share things out loud, so how can i know who i am if i don’t find the right words? gay was good to start. ace fit in later, and then eventually it was just queer. and it will probably stay queer, but there are different parts of my queerness that i haven’t named yet, and the ambiguity is making me itch.

i’ve had this post sitting in my likes for about a week now—i identify with it too much to ignore, but it scares me too much to reblog it, and also i don’t want to until i can explain my feelings and fears. transness feels like something i’ve been hiding from for a while—not in a repulsive way. more like that “i’m in this photo and i don’t like it” meme. that thread encapsulates a lot of what i’ve been thinking about and struggling with for a few months: that i don’t feel trans ~enough, but i also don’t feel not-trans. 

everything i’ve been thinking about feels like i’m quibbling with myself over something really small, like how much of a difference would it really make to think of myself as trans...instead of? along with? being nonbinary; why is this a detail i’ve been obsessing over. everything i said in the nb post is still true, except my concept of gender has changed a little since i wrote it. i don’t feel like a woman and i don’t feel like a man, except i also don’t think gender means anything, even when presented as two binary options, so what do i really know? how do i know i’m not a man if i think “man” means nothing?

and i really am thinking about it in the smallest of terms—headcanon-ing characters as trans, feeling drawn to the trans flag over any others. it’s really dumb, that this is what’s triggering a bit of gay panic. what does it matter, i keep asking myself. i’ve seen posts over the years breaking down the stripes of each flag, pointing out that nb/genderqueer identities are already represented, and i wish that were enough but it’s not. it’s so dumb, i keep thinking, to see myself in the whole of the trans flag when i don’t think i belong to the whole transgender experience. and even that sounds dumb, when i hear it—of course there isn’t one whole transgender experience. i hear it, but i haven’t yet listened.

anyway. all of this and a lot of other things have been broiling and rotting inside of me for my whole life probably. i’ve literally never said any of this out loud, to friends or family or strangers. i’ve worn that like a badge since high school—isn’t it admirable, how i can talk and laugh and live without dumping my problems on anyone else. isn’t it better to be accommodating, to keep your burdens from weighing other people down? only you don’t realize until later how tiresome it is to be heavy. 

now that i have all of my fics moved over to AO3, i’ve been thinking about all that i’ve written over the years. it’s just shy of 730k. that’s more than the first five harry potter novels combined, and i’ve never told anyone in my life about it. that’s twelve years and so much of me to keep to myself. but i’ve done it because that’s kind of what i learned to do—my epilepsy was my first and most guarded secret and along the way i guess i learned to do that with everything. it doesn’t help that so many of my interests have been things that are either solitary or a source of “shame”. most of my friends i know through various social media sites. i’ve had this tumblr for nine years and the only people who know about it are other tumblr users.  there is so much more of me than a few hundred thousand words hanging around this garbage dump. 

i don’t know if there are any conclusions here. 2019 was rough, for even more reasons than i’ve barfed into this post. i’m not sure if i’ve learned anything from it; i don’t feel wiser or anything. i feel tired and mostly sad. i wish i could snap my fingers and resolve everything, but if i could do that, i’d already have done it. on top of everything, these are probably my last few months in chicago for a while, but that’s a whole other mountain of feelings to unpack.

anyway, i’m going into 2020 determined to get over myself, maybe find a therapist and a good masseuse.  

happy new year.

[marinschoolssuper]

Let’s Check Our Thought Process

MAKING A COMMITMENT TO CRITICAL THINKING

“When we are not given reasons, you must understand the natural human response is to form our own conclusions. And I feel that is what we have done.”

                                        -Comment recorded at a school board meeting

Recently, as part of a group exercise, I was asked to reflect on my “greatest professional learning” during the pandemic. We were given a few weeks to think and then were asked to share our responses when we met.    

A cynical answer popped into my mind: People don’t practice critical thinking very well and are either unconscious of that or are willing to flaunt it without shame.

The quotation at the top of the page is verbatim;  It was spoken during a well-attended public meeting. It was not taken out of context; it was offered plainly in an effort to explain peoples’ actions by framing the thought process that guided them.

More outrageous than the statement itself (which argues openly in favor of prejudice and justifies acting without understanding relevant facts) was the lack of response from others in the on-line meeting.  No one pushed back. No one questioned the premise, a premise that would be flatly rejected by any competent scientist, logician, academic publication or court of law.  It hardly needs dissecting; its potential consequences are so obvious. And yet, 40 people remained silent.  In a governance meeting of an institution dedicated to learning, dedicated to teaching children how to think rationally and independently, someone was able to say something so irrational and receive no response other than some nodding agreement from the audience.

To be fair, emotions were running high and arguing a logical counterpoint (even an argument that nearly makes itself simply by repeating what was said slowly) would probably come across as aggressive and partisan.  But later on, when the emotional tenor of the meeting had subsided, shouldn’t the entire group, including the person who said it, have taken a moment to reflect and consider the foolishness of such thinking?  Are we so concerned with the fragility of others’ egos that we don’t have the collective will to set and reinforce norms for rational thinking like we do for other elements of public discourse?

Unfortunately, I believe we do not. The year of the pandemic has provided many examples of our cultural tendency to avoid being critical of others’ reasoning in favor of avoiding hurt feelings or of “just moving on”.  In board meetings, task force gatherings and during the every-day interactions in our schools, I have observed the abject failure of critical thinking coupled with the social failure to respond.  (In some cases people have even applauded fundamentally flawed thinking.)

Maybe, like a man with a hammer to whom the world appears to be a nail, I am seeing the failure of critical thinking everywhere I look.  However, it may not be that the pandemic has diminished peoples’ capacity to think critically; perhaps this widely-shared social deficit was just as bad before COVID-19 and the crisis has simply made it more plain.

COMMON POPULAR LAPSES IN CRITICAL THINKING

Your Truth, Best Practices, Trauma, Words are Violence and Speaking from the Heart.

“Thank you for telling your truth.” I heard someone say recently when another person shared a perspective and a set of supporting facts that could have brought about reasonable disagreement.  I had to check my own thinking because I happened to agree with the person’s perspective. But that doesn’t mean she was sharing the truth. If my “truth” were different from hers and mutually exclusive, would that mean that there are two contradictory truths?  If that is the case, doesn’t that mean that truth and perspective have become synonymous? Doesn’t that  give Kellyanne Conway license to develop “alternative facts” when the actual facts don’t support her perspective or opinion?   Doesn’t that mean Donald Trump is still the President or that at least has reasonable claim to the office?

I have running joke with a colleague: During a discussion or debate, whomever declares “best practice” first, wins.  We’ve even begun team meetings by entering the room and shouting “best practice!” before anyone else can talk.  It actually gets funny when you start listening for it at work.  By beginning your proposition thus: “Best practice says….” one automatically ties a potentially controversial statement (fairly easy to debate) to one’s own professional judgement and reputation, which others are usually more hesitant to question.  An idea is somewhat independent of the person but a judgement is not, and people in polite company generally prefer to debate ideas rather than question others’ judgement.  

For example, if I were to say that giving 3rd graders timed multiplication fact tests in large groups is “best practice” anyone who argues with me not only objects to the tests but also insults me by questioning my judgement.

On the other hand if I were to make the proposition without judgement: “I’m thinking of giving my 3rd grade class a timed whole group multiplication test on Friday.” It is more socially acceptable for my colleagues to give me candid feedback. I’m not hitching my wagon to the practice but expressing an idea.  The obvious advantage to that is it gives one better access to the wisdom of one’s colleagues, helps one clarify his or her thinking and act in a more effective and humane manner.

I’ve heard the word “trauma” abused to the point that feel traumatized when I hear it.  I’m exactly half kidding.  Hearing the word trauma does not cause me trauma but the term trauma has been weakened substantially by overuse.  Last week I was in a meeting and the host said, “I understand all of our kids have suffered trauma over the last year.” Being polite, and not wanting to disrupt her flow as the meeting began, I resisted the temptation to speak up and say, “No, they have not. Some kids are happier and more resilient now than they were before the pandemic and we should not expect them to suffer long term psychological harm. Others have had a hard time but have not suffered trauma. Maybe some (I would guess a small number) have gone through trauma but certainly not all of them. 

Trauma indicates the need for a serious response either medically or psychologically. To claim that all children have suffered trauma when common sense and probability would argue otherwise is doubly problematic.  First, diagnosing all children with trauma might lead us to implement an uneven distribution of resources, reducing timely access for legitimately traumatized children. Secondly, declaring universal trauma weakens the term itself.  For example, if my child is presumed to have had trauma (absent a serious medical or psychological event that can be reasonably predicted to cause long-term problems) he is put on the same footing as another child who actually did suffer a serious medical or psychological event. Should he not then be treated with the same urgency? After a while because everyone is traumatized, no one is traumatized.

“There are different kinds of violence, words are violence!” An audience member asserted during the public comment period in a recent school board meeting. Others nodded. Words can be violent metaphorically but in and of themselves words are never violent. Similar to trauma, the entire concept of violence (and its attendant appropriate responses) are weakened by misuse. Words can certainly be powerful. They can encourage, perhaps even cause violence, but alone, they do not constitute violence.  

It is important to make that distinction.  For example, if someone were to say to me, I am going to say some really horrible words to you or if you prefer, I am going to do something physically violent to you, which would you choose?  I’m pretty sure, I’d opt for the words even if I didn’t have the details about the kind of violence being planned.  If a guy in the next car yells a nasty name at me, I would certainly prefer that to him punching me in the mouth.  We can ignore words. We can tune them out. We can consider them and respond.  Lumping words together with real violence lessens the outrage we should feel about violence and increases the outrage we should be able to control about words.

Okay, I am going to speak from the heart: I have learned that when I speak from the heart it is acceptable to say anything no matter how irrational, absurd or self-serving without fear that others will question it.  Speaking from the heart gets my audience to pause and understand that my forthcoming statement is deeply attached to my emotional composition and that challenging it will go beyond questioning my logic and into the realm of hurting my feelings. I know that questioning my logic is socially appropriate and professionally desirable but hurting my feelings goes too far! If I speak from the heart well enough, I might even choke up a little letting everyone know a line has been drawn that should not be crossed.  Real speaking from the heart also signals my virtue because it shows I have the courage to be vulnerable in public. What brute would argue with someone who has the courage to be vulnerable, to speak from the heart?

I actually spoke from the heart accidentally a few weeks ago. I was in a meeting and was accused of something I thought was particularly unfair.  When I responded, I choked up a little,  something I try to avoid in my professional life, but it happens from time to time.  Anyway, the people who had said the thing I didn’t appreciate changed their tone and were suddenly very polite to me and even thanked me for being vulnerable.  They assured me that they understood my perspective and knew my intentions were positive. So I know speaking from the heart works but I’ll still try to avoid it.  (I know when it comes up naturally it works better than when you just declare it in advacne.)

Kidding aside, wrapping one’s opinion or perspective in emotional language or gestures is problematic.  It squelches honest inquiry and may discourage others from sharing important information that will help everyone concerned. Emotions are important and worth our attention but they should not be used as a tool to override reason.  Emotions arise in all of us and deserve consideration but they also deserve time to settle so that we can think straight. We need to allow others that courtesy as well. When someone speaks “from the heart”, including oneself, it’s worth listening, maybe even acting. But the words that come from that kind of speaking need time to cool off and be tempered by dispassionate critical thinking.

We Can Work on This... and we should!

A cultural tendency to avoid critical thinking was not, it turns out, my greatest learning from the pandemic. A deeper recognition of our ability to consider any situation, let emotions arise and eventually choose our response was. This isn’t a new lesson but a deepening of an old one. It gives me the optimism to get back to the work of advocating for critical thinking for ourselves and for our children. It isn’t easy. It can make people angry. I think its what got Socrates killed. But it is, I believe, the core of our work: Critical thinking is the foundation for all the subjects kids learn in school. And it’s time to re-commit to making it a central feature of our work and discourse.

To that end I propose a community-wide, long term study of the topic.  I’d like to start by recommending the adoption of a definition of critical thinking, the one offered by The Foundation for Critical Thinking: The art of analyzing and evaluating thought processes with a view to improving them. Critical Thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking. (Linda Elder, 2020)

From here, I hope we can make it fun and interesting. We need to get comfortable with being wrong about things and re-thinking our positions.  It’s not about winning individually but improving as a community of learners. That’s an important part of our mission.

[ladystylestores]

Let’s bring the Caribbean struggle for reparations to Britain | UK

Britain has heard the call for reparations and ignored it for decades.

When the case for reparations is made, we are told to “move on” as then-British Prime Minister David Cameron put it to Jamaican politicians four years ago. When statues of imperialists and slaveowners come down, we are told that we are “trying to bowdlerise or edit our history” as Boris Johnson has recently said.

In other words, the conservatives insist we “move on” when the conversation of colonialism or slavery comes up, and when the statues that memorialise them come down, we are condemned for trying to “move on” from history. They cannot seem to make up their mind, but that should not be an obstacle to self-determination in its former (and some current) colonies. And that is what the case for reparations is about: self-determination.

On July 6, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) – an organisation of 15 countries in the Caribbean – renewed its calls for reparations, emphasising their importance for the second stage of independence in the Caribbean.

“We were not given a development compact,” Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados argued, “we were given political independence.” According to her, the Caribbean has made great strides to reverse legal inequalities. But only reparations could help overcome the psychological, sociological, and economical inequalities that exist within Caribbean countries and between them and their former colonisers. 

Here in Europe, progressives should understand that this is a call to action. 

In his reflections on his friendship with Pan-Africanist George Padmore, the late Trinidadian scholar CLR James recalled that roughly 10 of his friends, mostly West Indian, were the ones that were agitating for the independence of Africa. They reared, trained and prepared young Africans to take the reign of government. They were all based in London, including several people who would become the first heads of states in their own independent countries.

“Most of the people,” he recalled, “looked upon us as well-meaning but politically illiterate West Indians.” The conversation for independence had not yet become mainstream, and some even said it would not happen for another 100 or so years. That was in 1935, only 20 years before the process would begin.

Now there are two reasons why this history is instructive. First, because the case for reparations, inspired by the works of thinkers like CLR James, Eric Williams, and Walter Rodney, is itself rooted in radical West Indian tradition that led to the agitation of African and Caribbean independence, and is indeed a continuation of that struggle.

Second, because that legacy of bringing the fight to London implied that the struggle could not be waged in the Caribbean and Africa alone. If the Caribbean right now is advancing the cause for reparations, then we need to bring that frame of thought and action back. People of African descent everywhere have to see this struggle through. There has never been a more opportune moment than the present, when we are fighting for the cause of Black lives.

At the University of Cambridge, there is a continuing inquiry into the legacies of slavery set to finish in 2022. In the best-case scenario, if all of the constitutive colleges get their act together and stop pedalling the simplistic lie that their only contribution to the slave trade was to train abolitionists, then the inquiry will follow the lead made by Glasgow University.

In 2019, Glasgow University publicly acknowledged its links to slavery and promised to raise and spend $26m in a “reparative justice programme”, which would include the establishment of a research centre to be shared with the University of the West Indies (UWI). UWI’s Vice Chancellor Hilary Beckles praised them for taking the bold step of saying “we are not going to research and run, we are going to research, and then we are going to stand up and repair”.

Students, staff and faculty at Cambridge should do what they can to ensure the inquiry does not entail the “research and run” approach and that it should, in fact, move in the direction of Glasgow. But educational partnerships, and other forms of aid, cannot be rebranded as reparations either. That is just a PR exercise. We are at risk here of stripping that word of its meaning.

Cambridge ought to deal with Beckles – not in his capacity as UWI vice chancellor but as the chairman of the CARICOM reparations commission. The student governments of each Cambridge college ought to demand that the inquiries in their colleges come with a promise of reparations and that those reparations be provided directly to the CARICOM Reparations Commission. 

Now, this admittedly would require a shift in perspective among many students. The biography of Eric Williams, the first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, and the man whom Beckles credits with developing the case for reparations, is replete with his experiences of facing racism as a student in Britain. But like many of his peers, he focused less on making the university a hospitable space for Black students and prioritised self-determination in the British colonies.

The two, are of course, not mutually exclusive. Imagine if university students in Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow, which Williams identified as the three cities that provid the link between early industrial capitalism and slavery, stood with the CARICOM reparations commission. What a force would that be?

Today, Black and minority ethnic (BME) politics cannot be merely about making sure we get more scholarships and hires for Black people in universities in Britain. This is important, but should not be our only goal. As the Caribbean announces its fight for its own Marshall Plan, we ought to return to an older pro-independence legacy here as well: In our universities, in our neighbourhoods and parliament, we should agitate in solidarity with the struggle for reparations.  

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

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[marymosley]

Anti-dumping Law as a Means of Facilitating Cartelization

Antidumping and cartels – Are they interdependent or is it a coincidence?

To begin with, we must first understand what ‘antidumping’ and cartels mean.

What are cartels?

Cartels are usually a union of various companies or bodies that come together to set a price for goods or service for their mutual benefit. Cartels are usually formed in industries which constitute homogenous products so that the consumer demand would not have impact with the price variation. The main objective of cartels is to minimise competition by maximising profits. Cartels are by-products of either an explicit agreement or an implicit collusion.

As there is no substitute to products like onions, sugar, cement, etc. the customers would have no option but to purchase the goods irrespective of how high the prices are. When it comes to reviewing airline companies for cartelisation, the CCI investigated and concluded that the airfare hike does not fall under cartelisation.

Proving cartelisation is yet another task that is crucial and the step that either makes or breaks the case. Thus, there must be a hard evidence to prove cartelisation failing which the commission would not intervene. The commission would relook into a case once it succeeds in getting enough hardcore evidence to prove the presence of a cartel.

The competition law has a provision for what is called as the ‘Leniency Provision’ that empowers a cartel to get away with a very less penalty which otherwise is a grave offense.

What does Dumping and antidumping mean? What role does it play in the International Trade?

Dumping is the term used when goods or articles exported from a country and sold at a lower price as per the  Section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act.[1] This is an unfair trade practice that has a huge impact on the trade when viewed from a wider angle that is international trade.

Antidumping is a measure that has been taken by the concerned authorities to rectify and regulate dumping. This would ensure in re-establishing a fair-trade practise. This activity is approved by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as it provides certain relief to the domestic trade industry due to the consequences faced by dumping.

It is worthwhile noting that dumping implies low priced reports in a relative sense and does not mean that the prices in general too are low.[2]

The WTO plays a pivotal role in anti-dumping

As many countries are members of the WTO, they are bound to adhere to the rules laid out in the GATT i.e. the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade. Any country member of the WTO must prove that dumping took place to install an anti-dumping a duty by showing that dumping caused a damage in the local industry first. The WTO has a list of three calculations that are to be proved by the nations. They are:

The actual price in the domestic market of the exporting nation

The price charged in other nations by the exporter.

Calculation of the other expenses and profit margins of the exporting country.[3]

The Competition Commission of India (CCI):

This authority plays a crucial role in the anti-dumping process on the nation level that is in India, specifically. The Indian Competition Act 2002 (Competition Act) is the law governing all such trade and business- related practices in India. India has been a host to various cartels as there was no effective authority to taken over this issue until the CCI has been set up.

The said Act broadly regulates the following areas:

Any kind of anticompetitive agreement including cartels and cartelisation

Any kind of combinations that may include mergers, acquisitions, etc

Section 3 of this Act illegalises agreements that are anticompetitive in nature including agreements between cartels.

Establishment of cartels can be done when the CCI approves that the companies have entered into a valid agreement with fixed prices. This statutory body also has the authority for search and seizure of documents by conducting raids to establish the existence of a cartel agreement. The CCI works based on reference from the Central and State authorities and thus is an overall watchdog on the happenings in the trade industry of India and its business relations with the other nations.

To initiate a legal proceeding with the CCI, they may be appealed to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), and eventually a higher appeal to the Supreme Court of India (SC).

In 2018. The NCLAT squashed the appeal and upheld the decision of the CCI in the famous cement cartel case. In this case the NCLAT investigated evidence like production, price parallelism, etc. to find that the cement manufacturing companies were all a cartel. Thus, the NCLAT concluded that in proving any cartel case in India, the standard of evidence is known as the balance of probabilities.[4]

Penalty:

Section 27 of the Competition Act gives CCI the authority to impose penalties in any illegal cartel cases that have been reported.

The famous Cement Cartel:

An exclusive authority called The Builders Association of India which represents various construction contractors from all over the country had lodged a complaint to the CCI that various companies are entering into false practices like monopolistic and restrictive trade practices to control the prices of the cement in their favour.

The Film Producers Cartel:

The Multiplex Association of India had lodged a complaint against the various authorities concerning the Production and Distributers, Television Producers that they haven taken the shape of a cartel and their behaviour resembled to that of a cartel as they refused to release movies until and unless multiplexed alter the revenue share agreement.

A few Well-known Global Cartels:

Opec: It is known to be one of the best cartels ever formed that it merely impossible to even break as they contain and control the world’s crude oil production and they have the supreme authority to even cut the desired price of its produce.

Vitamins: This is yet another famous cartel in the Europe and the Japanese pharma fraternity which produce products that include Vitamins A-M, beta carotene and carotenoids.[5]

The anti-circumvention ruled introduced in India to prevent Dumping:

When any good or an article is liable to be protected under the anti-dumping rules has been imported to India it can be in any unfinished form i.e. it can be assembled and given a final look in India itself. In such circumstances the value addition in India must not be any less than 35%.

When there is any alteration, could be minor, in the form of either its appearance or any such changes, the goods are still held to be circumventing the anti-dumping duty. They could be imported from any other nation and are governed by the Rule 25 (2) for the purpose of levy.

The designated or concerned authority has the power to Suo moto pursue any application pertaining to the domestic industry for carrying out an investigation to find out whether there has been any effect of dumping of goods in the nation.

What is the global scenario? The Anti-dumping Agreement famously known as the ADA is very much based on the rules issued by India. Countries like the USA, Europe, Australia have a set of guidelines issued to protect the dumping of goods in their respective nations and thus have certain set of anti-dumping guidelines. As per record, there has been no case recorded with the World Trade Organisation. The provisions and the guidelines which enlist the anti-dumping guidelines form the backbone and protect the world trade and nations from the disastrous and unfair trade practice of Dumping.[6]

The famous Cement Cartel case:

In 2008, an association of the construction company contractors named Builders Association of India (BAI) had lodged a complaint that the cement manufacturers association (CMA) had fixed retail prices like that of the BAI. The investigation was carried out by various authorities and was later handed over to CCI.

This case gained a lot of significance in the Competition law sector. All the cement companies reportedly decreased the cement production in their respective units to inflate prices. Cement being a homogenous product thus having no alternative, consumers would be forced to buy irrespective of how high the prices are.

The Competition commission of India being a watch dog in the business and trade sector of the nation has the duty to ensure there is no monopoly. When a company or two which are large fix prices, it leads to domination and result in unfair pricing. The CCI was successful in proving that there was a cartel of 11 cement companies by showing evidence like profit margins of all the companies, their construction activity, etc. This authority i.e. the CCI investigated the supply shortage issue which proved that the cement companies were purposely not running the cement plants efficiently, the plant capacity generally being around 70%.[7]

Haridas Exports v. Float Glass Manufacturers Association:[8]

The Supreme Court in this case said that the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 in which the anti-dumping duties are enlisted. When the case was dismissed, it was argued upon that the anti-dumping duties should be imposed in such a way that the Competition law is at par with the guidelines. The anti-dumping rules that exist in today’s times are known to be anti-competitive in nature and hence this could result in anti-competitive effects, overall.[9]

The Honourable Court held that the MRTP had no extra territorial jurisdiction and both the antidumping law as well as the competition law was analysed.

There is still an ongoing research and debate whether the anti-dumping duty and the competition law are a part of each other or two separate entities. Few say that the anti-dumping duty is a continuation to the law whereas few deny this statement.

Conclusion:

To prove that dumping of goods has taken place and for the anti-dumping duty to be imposed, two ingredients must take place and they must be proved. There must be dumping of goods caused firstly and then an injury must be caused. Only them a claim for relief can be sought for. This was later struck down as the essential conditions are very vast in nature and there are high chances for the power of abuse.

I believe that for any case to be filed in the case of dumping of goods and to invoke the anti-dumping duty, it must follow the provisions given in the Competition Law. This would be step that could ensure that any case would be registered only when there is an actual abuse of power by the companies in the trade market.

‘Dumping’ the Anti-dumping law would be very much effective and when replaced with the provisions of the Competition Law, would make this situation law abiding which would hence ensure justice and fair play in the trade market.

The only authority to look after the disastrous act is in nation level which is the Competition Commission of India. Many states do not have any body of authority to investigate these matters at a state level. I believe that each state must have their own body of authority which would carefully administer the formation of any cartels and investigate the activities of the cartels and their business.

This indeed would ensure a much smooth functioning of the trade and allow transparency and justice to the customers who would not fall prey to the nigh prices fixed by the cartels.

  References:

[1] Kluwer Competition Law Blog, Law Blog (July 7, 2020, 12:12 AM) https://ift.tt/32qA3l4.

[2] Competition Commission of India, (July 7, 2020, 2:30 PM) https://ift.tt/2DPOAwr

[3] Trade dumping and its sources (July 8, 2020, 1:30 PM) https://ift.tt/3h5cIJH

[4] India: Cartels, The Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review 2019, (July 8, 2020, 8:30 AM)

https://ift.tt/2Zx6ZGL

[5]How can CCI tell what is cartelisation, Economic Times (July 7, 2020, 3:42 PM) https://ift.tt/32qDJ6u

[6] India tightens anti-dumping law, Anti circumvention rules introduced (July 8, 2020, 5:32 AM) https://ift.tt/2Wp2GLN

[7] What is cement cartelisation issue all about, NDTV (July 7, 2020, 6:21 PM) https://ift.tt/2ZyAGXL

[8] Antidumping law and competition law, Mondaq (July 8, 2020, 7:21 AM) https://ift.tt/3je9pC6

[9]  Antidumping, CCI, (July 7, 2020, 2:21 PM) https://ift.tt/3ja7GxC

  Author:

 Y. Keerthana Reddy, Legal Intern (Jule 2020)

Keerthana is an enthusiastic future lawyer and a humanitarian. She is a second year student at Amity Law School, Noida pursuing BBA LLB Hons. with an aim of getting an LLM degree from Cambridge. She says that she would love to take up flashy and media attention drawing cases but her top most priority, on any given day, would be to help people around her who haven’t been given a fair chance in the society. Her last internship at a legal firm has taught her the importance of advocating for clients against all odds. She has a special interest in Law of Torts, Cyber Law, International Human Rights Law, Forensic Law, Copyright Law. This is not an exhaustive list and she being an inquisitive and a vivid leaner would like to read and learn on all aspects of law.

The post Anti-dumping Law as a Means of Facilitating Cartelization appeared first on Legal Desire.

Anti-dumping Law as a Means of Facilitating Cartelization published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.tumblr.com/

[insession-io]

Carl Jung and Alcoholics Anonymous: is a Theistic Psychopathology Feasible?

In a letter to Carl Jung that was recently made public on the Web, Bill Wilson, founder of A.A., reminds Jung of a conversation that Jung had 30 years before with one of his patients who was an alcoholic: “That conversation between you was to become the first link in the chain of events that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous”. Wilson specifies further: “My recollection of his account of that conversation is this: First of all, you frankly told him of his hopelessness, so far as any further medical or psychiatric treatment might be concerned. … When he then asked you if there was any other hope, you told him that there might be, provided he could become the subject of a spiritual or religious experience - in short, a genuine conversion. You pointed out how such an experience, if brought about, might remotivate him when nothing else could.”

Jung confirms in his answer to Wilson that the conversation was “adequately reported” by his patient. We can conclude from this, as well as other autobiographical data, that Jung was a deeply religious man, that he had undergone religious conversion, and that he obtained motivation or strength from his personal relationship with God. At the same time, Jung’s letter reveals his lifelong preoccupation with keeping his relationship with God from appearing openly in his practice, lectures, and writings. He was focused on the ambitious work of constructing new psychological knowledge that can appear as scientific, and this cannot be based on merely personal or subjective experience, either his own or that of a visionary or mystic. He had to be careful not to have his psychiatric practice be based on religion or his own religious conversion.

About that conversation with his alcoholic patient, Jung informs Bill Wilson that “I could not tell him everything…In those days I had to be exceedingly careful of what I said.” Jung was concerned of his reputation and did not want being misunderstood or misreported. In his letter, Jung reveals that at that time he did not feel comfortable saying the following to his patient: “His craving for alcohol was the equivalent of … the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed … as the union with God.”

Jung shares his conviction that “the evil principle prevailing in this world leads the unrecognized spiritual need into perdition, if it is not counteracted by a real religious insight”. Jung saw “real religious insight” as involving a personal and meaningful relationship with God. Jung states that “these are the reasons why I could not give a full and sufficient explanation to Roland H. but I am risking it with you”.

It is noteworthy that Jung ends his letter to Bill Wilson with this statement:

“Alcohol in Latin is “spiritus” and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison. The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum.”

This title in Latin encapsulates Jung’s theistic psychiatry and scientific dualism. He is acknowledging thereby the existence of spiritual good and evil that is powerfully active in the mind of individuals. God’s angelic forces of good (“spiritus”) battle the devil’s infernal forces of evil (spirit alcohol). In this view, the human mind is a battleground between societies of good spirits and hoards of evil spirits that exist in the collective unconscious of humanity. This would lead to the conclusion that mental alcoholism is a spiritual disease caused by evil psychic forces in the collective unconscious that have attacked an individual and are holding him or her as a mental prisoner.

The first two steps of the 12-step program are the most critical, which is why they are placed in rank 1 and 2. It is declared that nothing can succeed in the other steps without these first two. There is the warning that the tragic long painful failure of the alcoholic man and woman will continue if the first two steps are not completed. The first step is to declare psychological bankruptcy or failure. This must come after years of seeing one’s life break apart at the seams despite our desperate attempts to control our mental sickness. We must admit defeat to ourselves. We must see that we are completely hopeless trying to solve our problem by ourselves. That is step 1. Nothing goes without it. To admit hopelessness, and to actually mean it, is to give up delusional arrogance and obsessive self-pride. Now there is room for step 2.

Step 2 is to replace the self that is at the helm of our mind, with God being at the helm. This is the confession and admission of the existence of a “Higher Power”, higher than one’s own power. The quote below from the official A.A. guidebook shows up various types of mental conflicts that new AA members have regularly experienced in the form of rebelling against faith, invocation, and reliance on God. It is asserted that nearly everyone has a culture of religion from childhood but many have in their adult life departed from that “childish” idea of God. This constitutes an intellectual rejection of God. Others experience an emotional rejection because God wouldn’t do what they asked Him for, or worse, God did not protect their loved ones from disaster and early death [2].

The guidebook asserts that all this psychological resistance is just that, resistance. It does not present an actual obstacle that prevents the solution. With practice and group support the new members gain courage in dethroning themselves from their delusional status of self-power, and this internal action allows God into their thinking and emoting. Now help is given on a daily basis through affective strength and self-confidence that relies on God. The process of psychopathological recovery has begun and continues endlessly.

The official A.A. Guide points to the ineffectiveness of traditional religious interventions with alcoholics. They insist that these have no power over the sickness. In contrast to this, a personal relationship with God does have the power to heal the mental and spiritual sickness of the alcoholic victim.

To clergymen, doctors, friends, and families, the alcoholic who means well and tries hard is a heartbreaking riddle. To most A.A.’s, he is not. There are too many of us who have been just like him, and have found the riddle’s answer. This answer has to do with the quality of faith rather than its quantity. This has been our blind spot. We supposed we had humility when really we hadn’t. We supposed we had been serious about religious practices when, upon honest appraisal, we found we had been only superficial. Or, going to the other extreme, we had wallowed in emotionalism and had mistaken it for true religious feeling. In both cases, we had been asking something for nothing. The fact was we really hadn’t cleaned house so that the grace of God could enter us and expel the obsession. In no deep or meaningful sense had we ever taken stock of ourselves, made amends to those we had harmed, or freely given to any other human being without any demand for reward. We had not even prayed rightly. We had always said, “Grant me my wishes” instead of “Thy will be done.” The love of God and man we understood not at all. Therefore we remained self-deceived, and so incapable of receiving enough grace to restore us to sanity.

Therefore, Step Two is the rallying point for all of us. Whether agnostic, atheist, or former believer, we can stand together on this Step. True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith, and every A.A. meeting is an assurance that God will restore us to sanity if we rightly relate ourselves to Him.

Jung describes “faith” or religious belief as a psychological process that goes through two phases of development. First, in the initial phase, people believe that they are “saved” because of their faith and the strength of their self-confidence in that belief. This initial phase is a superficial state that does not penetrate into the interior levels of personality structure from where we derive our motivations and emotions. This initial phase is immature and selfcentered because people do not yet have the deep capacity for mutual love or respect for others. They are still focused exclusively on gaining dominance over everyone else for the sake of selfgain and self-supremacy. A.A. follows the universal principle that every human being is born with the mental predisposition to do all things for the sake of self, and if not for the sake of self, then for the sake of others who are allied to self, thus ultimately for the sake of self. This selfishness is unhealthy and injurious to the individual’s psychological well-being and functioning. Selfishness is also destructive of society and community, thus of the entire human race.

The A.A. guidebook asserts that those who are motivated to leave this self-injurious and self-limiting phase behind can enter the “inner chamber” in their mind, initiating a sincere relationship with God. The influence of God in the individual’s mind challenges and confronts the self-centered and self-serving focus. The person then experiences a spiritual battle or psychological conflict in the form of the temptation to act contrary to spiritual principles for the sake of satisfying some selfish love or interest. This is the level of the psychological and spiritual battle that the alcoholic faces daily. This is where the A.A. group and community values and rationales need to be acquired and practiced.

In 1937 Jung wrote: “People sometimes call me a religious leader. I am not that. I have no message, no mission; only an attempt to understand. We are philosophers in the old sense of the word, lovers of wisdom. That avoids the sometimes questionable company of some who offer a religion”.

In 1999 Anthony Storr, a well-known Jung interpreter, wrote: “Analytical psychology does not aim at curing neurotic symptoms, but at bringing about a change in the patient's attitude to him or herself, and therefore to life in general. This new attitude can be described as 'religious', but it has nothing to do with creeds or conventional forms of worship. Analytical psychology is not a religion, but can be described as a prolegomenon to religion or religion in statu nascendi.”

A 2005 book published by the American Psychological Association makes this statement about Jung: “Personality development and psychopathology cannot be seen in purely secular terms, and no longer can psychotherapy be considered a purely secular pursuit. … Within the Jungian perspective, the removal of symptoms as a final goal of therapy is an incomplete approach. The symptom is a wakeup call from the Self to greater consciousness.” (L. Corbett & M. Stein, Contemporary Jungian approaches to spiritually oriented psychotherapy).

In 1999, Shamdasani [3] a well-known Jungian commentator wrote this: “Given the significance of religion in people's lives, it followed that a psychology that failed to consider religious phenomena did not deserve to be called a psychology. Thus the psychology of religion was not simply a regional or peripheral domain, but was essential to the possibility of a general psychology. Thus Jung did not approach the topic of religion with a pre-established definition of psychology. Rather, the study of religious phenomena was one of the critical issues that helped define Jung's concept of psychology.”

College of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii, USA

*Corresponding Author: Leon James Professor, College of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology University of Hawaii, USA Tel: 808-295-2702 Fax: 808-261-2382 E-mail: leon@hawaii.edu Received date: January 26, 2015; Accepted date: January 27, 2016; Published date: February 04, 2016

Citation: James L. Carl Jung and Alcoholics Anonymous: is a Theistic Psychopathology Feasible? Acta Psychopathol. 2016, 2:7. doi: 10.4172/2469-6676.100033

Visit for more related articles at Acta Psychopathologica The reputed success in rehabilitating so-called “hopeless” alcoholics through the Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) program depends in large measure to convincing the members of the group or community that they are totally helpless in changing themselves through their own efforts, but that God can do it when they give themselves and their lives over to God. This theistic approach and method may influence future theory and practice in psychopathology and psychiatry, as this aspect of Carl Jung’s psychology [1] becomes the focus of attention.

References James L (2015) A comparison of keywords in the dynamic psychology of Jung, Swedenborg, and Freud. Journal of Psychology and Clinical Psychiatry 3: 1-13. James L (2015) Jung and Swedenborg on God and Life After Death. Print and Kindle Editions. Amazon Digital Services. Shamdasani S (1999) Is analytical psychology a religion? In statu nascendi. Journal of Analytical Psychology 44: 539-545

Dr. Jeffrey Levine - Counseling Hartford - is a Licensed Psychologist with over 40 years of clinical experience. He specializes in treating adults in individual psychotherapy, with expertise in trauma focused hypnosis, energy transformational healing and Internal Family Systems. Therapist serving Hartford - Mansfield - Glastonbury.

[theoveldsman]

PEOPLE EXCELLENCE An Integrated Strategic Stress Test (6)

Excellence Domain 3 – Delivery  

Excellence Questions 12: Culture, 13: Climate and 14: Engagement  

At a glance

The People Excellence Star – used to direct, guide and track the organisation’s ‘People Credit Worthiness’ - is composed of five interdependent, reciprocally influencing, Excellence Domains: Identity, Capacity, Delivery, Outcomes, and Relationships.

The People Excellence Domains 1: Identity and 2: Capacity have already been discussed. The former Domain encompasses the question of whether the appropriate strategic positioning of people in the sustainable, future success of the organisation has been explicitly and deliberately deliberated and chosen. The latter Domain refers to whether the organisation has put the required people potential – the needed people investment - in place to achieve what is set out in its Identity (=Purpose, Vision, Ideology, Strategic Intent, Strategic Initiatives).

This article, and the next one, address the People Excellence Domain 3: Delivery. This Excellence Domain deals with actual people performance, and therefore the enablers (and on the downside, the barriers) to real time, high organisational performance. The Domain relates to the organisation’s excellence ‘in action’ regarding its people, so to speak.

LOCATION OF THE EXCELLENCE DOMAIN 3: DELIVERY WITHIN THE PEOPLE EXCELLENCE STAR  

The Excellence Domain 3: Delivery is made up of five Excellence Elements as depicted in the figure below.

                         As can be seen from the figure above, the Excellence Domain 3: Delivery encompasses the Excellence Elements of Culture, Climate, Engagement, Resilience, and Line of Sight. This article deals with the first three Excellence Elements: Culture, Climate, and Engagement.  

QUESTION 12: CULTURE  

Is the organisation ‘glued’ together by an appropriate, strong but flexible, distinct organisational culture?  

Organisational Culture refers to the shared ways of seeing, interpreting and acting upon the world, ingrained in an organisation. It is the glue holding the organisation together. Organisational Culture is made up of a collection of shared assumptions, beliefs, values and norms which are translated in distinct ways of thinking, deciding, and doing things in the organisation.

Organisational Culture hence consists of three interdependent layers (adapted from E.H. Schein) as depicted in the figure below. A deeper layer enfolds and shapes a shallower layer.

Functions of Organisational Culture

Organisational Culture provides the organisation and its members with:

a Personality (or character) - who are we; what do we aspire to, and what drives us, and why? 

An Ideology – what value do we place on persons, things, events and outcomes: what is right/ wrong; important/ unimportant, beautiful/ ugly, true/ false? 

a World View – What is our explanation, understanding and prediction of the make-up of the world, and how the world works/ should work?   

A Mode of Working – what is our style of relating to people, things, events and outcomes, also in terms of the use of power - how do we interact and behave?

Organisational Culture, Identity and Performance

Organisational Culture enables people to ‘see’ things but also ‘blind’ them to others. It frames, mobilises, directs, guides, and focuses people energy in a shared way in the organisation in its endeavour to perform relative to its strategic aspirations. It has been found that the leadership used in an organisation, and its Organisational Culture corresponds 70%. 

Organisational Culture enables the appropriate and successful conception, crafting, roll out, and execution of the organisation’s Identity, inter alia its Strategic Intent. As has been said: ‘Organisational Culture eats Strategy for breakfast.” (Peter Drucker). 

Thus a Strategic Intent of Product/ Service Innovation, and a Strategic People Choice of people as value unlockers and wealth creators, presume a corresponding, highly enabling, empowering and partnering Organisational Culture, giving the organisation a difficult to imitate distinctiveness.  

A strong, distinct Organisational Culture can improve organisational performance by 20% to 30% compared to a weak, unremarkable culture (Heskett). However, though strong, an Organisational Culture must be flexible (or malleable) concurrently to change ‘easily’ in tandem to  Organisation’s Identity changes and/ or contextual challenges, demands and requirements shifts.  

Types of Organisational Culture

Organisational Culture can be characterised on two dimensions, resulting in four types of Organisational Culture (Harrison). These dimensions are:

a Performance vs. a Relationship orientation; and 

a Control vs. a Commitment orientation.

Four organisational culture types can be constructed from the two dimensions:

Achievement (Performance/Commitment); 

Supportive (Commitment/Relationship); 

Power (Relationship/Control); and 

Role (Control/Performance)

The figure below provides detail descriptions of the four types of Organisational Culture.  These are pure types. Usually, an organisation has a dominant culture type with elements of the other types being present at the same time.

 Hardware and Software of Organisational Culture  

All types of Organisational Culture are translated into, and find their manifestation in, the ‘hard- and software’ of the organisation, as given in the figure below. The elements of the hardware and software that should mutually support and re-inforce each other, are placed in proximity of each other in the figure. The approximate Layers of Organisational Culture they represent, are also indicated.  

The affirmative answer to the People Excellence Question 12 – Culture is: the organisation is glued together by an appropriate, strong but flexible, distinct Organisational Culture – congruent with its Identity, and translated into the hard- and software of the organisation - that enables and empowers people to perform outstandingly in mutually supportive ways.

Reflective Question: What is the answer of your organisation to the People Excellence Question 12: Culture? Does it have to change, why, where, and how?

QUESTION 13: CLIMATE

Is the organisation infused by a conducive, healthy organisational climate?

Whereas Organisational Culture pertains to the glue holding the organisation together in a distinct way, its personality, Organisation Climate refers to the mood (or vibe) permeating the organisation, often as a consequence of the Organisational Culture. It is the specific ‘touchable’ atmosphere‘ under and style which people work together, the ‘spirit’ imbuing the organisation. 

The atmosphere can be comfortable, bearable or uncomfortable, unbearable. Analogous to weather conditions, Organisational Climate is either performance and interaction enhancing or detracting, impacting on people engagement.

Organisational Climate arises out of the shared meanings organizational members give to their daily experiences within and of the organisation, resulting in certain shared perceptions, thoughts, judgements, and feelings. These are shared experiences of, and meanings awarded to aspects such as organisational goals, policies and standards, work structures and processes, authority and accountability, relationships, leadership, recognition/ rewards, organisational events and  achievements.

Dimensions of Organisational Climate

Organisational Climate can profiled in terms of contrasting climate poles – the mood infusing the organisation in response to the experiences and meaning awarded - on various dimensions of Climate (given in bold):  

World view: Inclusive, open minded vs. Exclusive, closed minded 

Attitudinal: Optimistic, confident vs. Pessimistic, anxious; Positive vs. Negative 

Relationships: Warm, personal, close, inclusive, comfortable vs. Cold, impersonal, distant, exclusive, stressful; Engaging vs. Abrasive; Polite, considerate vs. Rude, inconsiderate 

Power: Empowering, enabling, nurturing vs. Controlling, disabling, exploitative 

Action building: Risk taking, experimenting, creative, stimulating vs. Risk avoidance, mistake minimisation, more-of-the-same, boring; Disciplined, accountable vs Chaotic, blame shifting   

Outcomes: Fair, fulfilled, satisfied vs Discriminatory, unfulfilled, dissatisfied

Ideal Organisational Climate

A positive Organisational Climate – profiled on the left hand side of the contrasting pairs of the above Climate dimensions - nurtures and affirms the dignity, worth and efficacy of individuals. Concurrently, enabling, empowering, meaningful work experiences are created, resulting in highly positive leadership and high follower engagement. In this way the physiological, psycho-social and spiritual (not religious) well-being of leadership and followers are grown, nurtured and sustained.  

A positive Climate will be manifested in a high ‘stock’ of psycho-social capital among organisational members, namely leadership and followers:

high levels of efficacy, optimism, hope, perseverance, and resilience (after Luthans,  Youssef & Avolio); and 

strong virtue-ality, as modelled by the leadership in their areas of accountability/ responsibility, e.g., a high presence of humaneness, courage, open-mindedness, creativity, curiosity, prudence (after Ungerer, Herholdt & Le Roux).  

Concurrently, a high stock of psycho-social capital and virtue-ality will engender an increasingly more positive Organisational Climates though a virtuous, upward cycle. And vice versa, in the case of a vicious, downward cycle.  

The affirmative answer to the People Excellence Question 13 – Climate is: the presence of a conducive, healthy Organisational Climate – a positive vibe - resulting in a high stock of psycho-social capital and virtue-ality in the organisation, in turn building an even more conducive, healthy climate.  

Reflective Question: What is the answer of your organisation to the People Excellence Question 13: Climate? Does it have to change, why, where, and how?

QUESTION 14: ENGAGEMENT

Are people of the organisation engaged and performing?

Affirmative answers to all of the preceding People Excellence thirteen questions imply that the preconditions are present under which people can be highly engaged and perform outstandingly. This People Excellence Domain is all about obtaining a high return on the people investment of the organisation through the actual value people unlock, and the real wealth they create for the organisation. The organisation is realising its created people potential as manifested in the upward spiraling of value unlocking and wealth creation by them.  

In this instance, the People Excellence question is: does the organisation completely harness and utilise the full capability contained in its people in terms of their available capabilities (hard and soft), expertise, experience, energy, enthusiasm, creativity and diversity through the use of the resources put at their disposal? And through their engagement and utilisation, people become even more masterful at heightened value unlocking and wealth creation through disruptive innovation and re-invention?  

Levels of Engagement  

People Excellence regarding Engagement implies that the majority of the organisation’s people are:

positively engaged = going the extra mile; improving, innovating and/ or transforming the current state; 

instead of neutrally = doing the minimum required, demonstrating only satisfysing performance by merely meeting work requirements; or 

negatively engaged = whether passively – doing nothing by ducking and diving, being absent, not necessarily only physically - or actively disengaged – sabotaging/ undermining the organisation.

The typical engagement distribution coming out of engagement surveys globally is: around 60%-70% of organisational members are neutrally engaged; around 15% are positively engaged; and about 15%-20% are negatively disengaged, whether passively or actively.  

Engagement Equation

It has been found that the following “10:6:2” rule applies regarding the commitment (= engagement) of an organisation’s people (Corporate Leadership Council):

every 10% improvement in the commitment (or engagement) of a person, increases her/ his effort level by 6% , and decreases the probability of her/ him leaving by 9%. 

In turn, every 6% improvement in effort, increases a person’s performance by 2%

The above implies that if an organisation gets the people side right - higher engagement by more people at more times in more places - it can achieve substantively better, and infinitely more with the same people.

The affirmative answer to the People Excellence Question 14 – Engagement is: the majority of the organisation’s people are highly engaged - unlocking more value and creating higher wealth -  resulting in an outstanding yield (=return) on the people investment made by the organisation.

Reflective Question: What is the answer of your organisation to the People Excellence Question 14: Engagement? Does it have to change, why, where, and how?

WHAT WAS COVERED

The People Excellence Domain 3: Delivery deals with actual people performance, and therefore the enablers (and on the downside, the barriers) to real time, high organisational performance, and continued organisational success. It is the organisation ‘in action’ regarding its people.  

The People Excellence Domain 3: Delivery encompasses the five Excellence Elements of Culture, Climate, Engagement, Resilience, and Line of Sight. This article dealt with the first three Excellence Elements: Culture, Climate, and Engagement. 

The affirmative answer to the People Excellence Question 12 – Culture is: the organisation is glued together by an appropriate, strong but flexible, distinct Organisational Culture – congruent with its Identity, and translated into the hard- and software of the organisation - that enables and empowers people to perform outstandingly in mutually supportive ways. 

The affirmative answer to the People Excellence Question 13 – Climate is: the presence of a conducive, healthy Organisational Climate – a positive vibe - resulting in a high stock of psycho-social capital and virtue-ality in the organisation, in turn building an even more conducive, healthy climate.  

The affirmative answer to the People Excellence Question 14 – Engagement is: the majority of the organisation’s people are highly engaged - unlocking more value creating higher wealth - resulting in an outstanding yield (=return) on the people investment made by the organisation.  

Next up: People Excellence Domain 3: Delivery    

People Excellence Questions 15: Resilience and 16: Line of Sight  

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Equal Consideration: A Modern Hunter’s Investigation of “Animal Liberation”

I am probably the first person in history to pack two boxes of shotgun shells and a copy of Peter Singer’s seminal work on animal equality, Animal Liberation, in the same bag for a road trip, but as a thoughtful hunter and a writer, I thought it important to get to know the philosophy of people who oppose eating meat. To my surprise, I found in Animal Liberation an extremely compelling and logically sound argument in support of animal equality—one which, in many ways, agrees with my own philosophy about how we should interact with animals.

Singer’s primary argument is that it is morally wrong not to consider the suffering of nonhuman animals in the choices we make in our lives. He makes a particularly strong case against animal experimentation and factory farming, in which animals are simply a means to human ends and suffer greatly, sometimes even for trivial benefits to humans. His call for concern over animal suffering has indeed become mainstream since the book was first published in 1975, evidenced in part by the labeling of beauty products as not having been tested on animals and the ongoing movement toward ethically raised animal products.

Singer illuminates for the reader that the same reason why racism and sexism are immoral is also the reason speciesism, “a prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one’s own species and against those of members of another species,” is immoral. The principle of equality applies to all nonhuman animals in the same way it applies to humans, and does not “depend on intelligence, moral capacity, physical strength, or similar matters of fact.” It is this equal consideration of interests that, in Singer’s view, must define our relationship to other animals, because regardless of their abilities, all animals have an interest in avoiding suffering.

My question, then, is what about the cases in which human beings have a genuine conflict of interest with other species? Singer acknowledges this question in the book, but I think he underestimates the extent to which we are actively in conflict with other animals, and the consequences of truly equal consideration. We compete with wildlife for food, shelter and water. He doesn’t appear to consider things like the fact that when any new development is built, animals are displaced. It seems to me that equal consideration would mean a permanent moratorium on all human developments, because by his line of reasoning, it would be unfair to expel the resident fauna for human expansion.

He cites as an example of conflicting interests the damage that rodents can do to to crops, but fails to comprehend the scale of the conflict, especially from big animals like deer. Wildlife damage to American agriculture is estimated to be $4.5 billion annually. Deer also cause $1.6 billion of losses each year in vehicle collisions. Without hunting, deer in good habitats like farmland can double their population every two years. One of their favorite crops is soybeans. Imagine what would happen to the price of soy-based vegan foods if we suddenly stopped hunting deer.

Singer appeals for us to find nonlethal solutions like birth control for these problems, but even if he’s right about this as something we have an imperative to strive for, what should we do in the meantime? This technology does not exist in a way that is either effective or affordable. Regardless of its possible moral superiority, birth control is not currently a viable solution to the problem of crop degradation and property damage resulting from our genuine conflict of interest with other animals.

There are parts of the book I disagree with outright. For example, Singer claims that humans are the only animals that kill for nonessential reasons and sometimes “torture . . . their fellow animals before putting them to death.” With regard to killing, this assertion is in direct conflict with the well-documented fact that male lions will sometimes kill and eat the former patriarch’s cubs when they take over a pride, or that chimpanzees conduct warfare against neighboring communities. With regard to torture, cats and killer whales are both known to toy with their prey for extended periods of time before killing them. In another section, Singer writes that “killing animals for food (except when necessary for sheer survival) makes us think of them as objects we can use casually for our own nonessential purposes.” While I agree and have witnessed that this can be the case, this correlation is not evidence of causation. I know from personal experience that killing animals for food does not cause objectification in everyone, and that one’s emotional relationship to the act of killing changes over time. In my many years of hunting, I’ve learned that killing animals and taking their suffering into consideration are not mutually exclusive ideas, but the author does not fathom this as a possibility.

 To his credit, Singer acknowledges many of the challenges presented by his argument and shows himself to be much more reasonable than I had assumed he would be based on the self-righteous zeal I’ve seen from some animal rights advocates. As strongly as he feels about reducing animal suffering, he concedes that determining “the wrongness of killing a being is more complicated,” noting the “widely different views about when it is legitimate to kill humans” in cases of capital punishment, euthanasia, and abortion as reasons he can’t come to a conclusive opinion on the matter. He also explains that, while he thinks it is best for us, the environment, and animals for all of humanity to become vegetarians, he “can respect conscientious people who take care to eat only meat that comes from” animals that have lived a “pleasant existence” and are “killed quickly and without pain.”

Like all ethical hunters, I take great pains to ensure that I do not cause unnecessary suffering in my prey. Like Singer, we find the act of wantonly or deliberately causing animals to suffer needlessly to be reprehensible. I love the challenge of pursuit and am often thrilled by its successful conclusion, but I do not take some kind of psychopathic pleasure in the killing itself. I am in complete agreement with Mr. Singer that “if a being suffers there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering into consideration,” but I think we have to make our final choices based on the realities of the world in which we live. It seems to me that he’s right about the fact that all of the planet would benefit if humans became mostly vegetarian, mainly because of the large volume of greenhouse gasses emitted by animal agriculture and the inefficiency of its land use. It takes a lot of land to raise the crops needed to feed our livestock, not to mention the land they require for themselves, and the effect of shifting this land’s use to other crops could be large.

Still, even if we stopped buying meat in grocery stores, I think we are a long way from removing hunting as a means of effectively managing our conflicts with wildlife, and it would be wasteful not to eat animals we’ve killed in the process. Singer doesn’t acknowledge the existence of the kind of hunting I practice in his book, but I’m convinced that, upon careful consideration, this practice would fall within the range of “conscientious people” whom he can respect for eating meat from animals who’ve lived “free range” lives. I am already committed to cooking only with meat I’ve hunted myself, and while convenience has stopped me from taking the leap to vow never to eat factory-farmed meat when I’m out of the house, Singer has convinced me that most factory farming is immoral.

All in all, Animal Liberation is an exhaustive and well-reasoned piece of philosophy that is worth reading. Whether or not you agree with its conclusions, it will force you, as it forced me, to reconsider your choices as they relate to animal welfare—and I think we can all agree that thoughtful consideration of other beings is a good thing for the world.

References

Conover, MR. Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts: The Science of Wildlife Damage Management. Lewis Publishers, 2002.

Stoll, RJ, Parker WP. “Reproductive Performance and Condition of White-Tailed Deer in Ohio.” The Ohio Journal of Science. 86.4 (1986): 164–8.

Singer P. Animal Liberation. HarperCollins, 2002.

The post Equal Consideration: A Modern Hunter’s Investigation of “Animal Liberation” appeared first on Paleo Magazine.

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Shiller Pe Adjusted For Interest Rates

Where To Find Shiller Pe

If you are spending for a regular routine and buck cost balancing with meaningful cash, then you obviously will certainly be able to benefit from reduced prices in a modification; and. With comprehensive experience in the precious metals industry, PM Capital is the premier source for buying gold and silver in the United States. We market and disperse a variety of exclusive products varying from gold and silver bars and rounds to uncommon numismatic coins. The mission of our whole service operation is committed to providing these important items straight to your doorstep. Our main workplace is located in the Salt Lake Valley, where the scenery is unbelievable and business environment is primed for massive growth. Many significant corporations from around the globe are broadening or opening workplaces in Utah, making the most of the special environment and the extraordinary quality of a young and lively labor force. As strong as the Granite Mountains that surround PM Capital, our Client Care combined with our commitment to individualized service makes PM Capital your number one trusted source for acquiring precious metals. The quality of our products is our leading goal and we achieve that objective with a staff devoted to serving you. Combining our service with the market's finest wholesale network makes sure that every new coin, round or bar meets or exceeds present quality requirements established by the NGC and PCGS. Structure your rare-earth elements portfolio can be an obstacle which's why PM Capital is committed to streamlining the task every action of the way.also you are also hedging to the advantage in the situation where capitalists agree to pay increasingly more for companies revenues. And also as lots of will certainly compose, maybe incomes development will be extremely solid over the following few years and decade. There are likewise many reasons to continue to be invested in the markets at your risk tolerance level.

The highest top for the normal P/E was 123 in the very first quarter of 2009. Already the S&P 500 had actually collapsed greater than 50% from its top in 2007. The P/E was high since earnings were depressed. With the P/E at 123 in the initial quarter of 2009, a lot greater than the historic mean of 15, it was the most effective time in recent background to purchase supplies. On the various other hand, the Shiller P/E went to 13.3, its least expensive level in decades, correctly showing a much better time to buy supplies.

In May 2013 it was reported that securities market in southerly Europe were beginning to draw in the attention of hedge funds as a result of their reduced cyclically changed PE ratios. The US market looks either at, or over, long-term evaluations, depending where you take your beginning point. Spain's supply market got on a Shiller revenues multiple of 8.9 -- less compared to half its long-run evaluation of 20.8.

As well as offered the high Shiller PE ratio of the day I wished to by hand damage it down by year so we can see the real annual returns in periods when the ratio is as high (or near) where it is today. I utilized multpl.com for the ratios and also moneychimp.com for the S&P 500 yearly returns.

The globe's most intelligent investor is remaining on over $51 billion in cash, the fund's [Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B)] largest money holding ever. Mr. Buffett understands the worth of cash from these degrees. One might require completely dry powder to flourish in this setting. One might likewise should handle the risk of a market decline create these levels. For some with lower risk tolerance, they might think about taking the gift that the marketplace has actually offered and also relocate to more of a balanced portfolio with at least 25% bonds direct exposure (based on Mr. Benjamin Graham's recommendation). That bond exposure may additionally supply a rebalancing possibility that might enhance returns via a market adjustment.

The most recent bubble top, 2000, was without a doubt one of the most severe we have ever before experienced. In 2000, the S&P 500 by prof. Shiller's measure exceeded 40X (it had actually never ever before gone beyond 30X). With the S&P 500 hitting 700 today, the PE has actually currently dropped back to 12X. (See graph over.)

Shiller Pe Investopedia

I have no idea where the markets are looking at the next couple of months or years however PE levels as well as PE patterns are obvious. It is most likely that there's no actual return available at these levels. Genuine money that will be made from below will certainly visit the means of a market adjustment, when financiers could pay less for incomes power.

To begin with let's be clear, Mr. Shiller does not recommend that the model needs to be used as a procedure to obtain in or from the markets, or be used as a timing tool. Nobody understands where the market is going to go, short term.

Shiller Pe Calculation

That claimed, the Shiller PE Ratio could have anticipating capacities as it concerns the long-term stock exchange complete return capacity from an offered PE ratio. There are lots of detailed studies that show the anticipating powers of the Shiller PE proportion, and many show that the Shiller PE measurement does hold some predictive powers. However with whatever in life, there are no guarantees as outliers happen and also shocks occur.

That's a wager that paid off for numerous, yet it would be spending not based on the suggestion from Mr. Benjamin Graham to have that margin of security, not at all. And also as for choosing individual stocks, take care, Mr. Graham was also a supporter of reliable market concept. To discover value in standard large cap or big cap dividend development business may be a fruitless. If a firm has a reduced PE to the market, that's due to the fact that it is priced in for revenues development possibility. It's hard for big cap companies to conceal in ordinary sight. Mr. Graham believed you needed to do something strong and remarkable to defeat the marketplace.

As quick history, the Shiller PE ratio is motivated by the job and also trainings of investing's greatest educator, Mr. Benjamin Graham. Mr. Graham recommended that the cost to profits proportion be smoothed out over longer periods of 5, also 10 years to eliminate any type of anomalies or brief term events that might influence the analyses, as well as bring about imprecise takeaways or projections. Certainly, Mr. Shiller made a Noble prize for his operate in this area.

GuruFocus determines the Shiller P/E ratio of specific supplies as well as various sectors. Below you could see the Sector Shiller PE, it shows you which markets are the cheapest. Below you could see Shiller P/E of specific stocks.

Disclosure: The writer is long SPY, VIG, EWC, EFA, AAPL, ENB, TRP. Dale Roberts is a mutual fund connect at Tangerine Investment Funds Limited. The Tangerine Investment Portfolios offer total, low-fee index-based profiles to Canadians. Dale's commentary does not make up investment recommendations. The opinions and also details must only be factored right into an investor's total viewpoint forming procedure.

At the time of the research study the market (NYSEARCA: SPY) was in the Shiller PE ratio of 22-23, and the PE proportion predicted returns in the area of 3%. Presently the Shiller PE stands at 26.4, the 5 year returns from that area remain in unfavorable region.

Vocabulary

The smoothing achieved by taking a look at earnings over a 10-year duration prevents ending a market is economical or costly based on unsustainable 1 year swings in profits, either up or down. However critics mention the selection of a 10-year period is arbitrary, and neither the financial nor earnings cycles adhere to neat 10-year patterns. Lots of also question making use of information provided by Prof Shiller commercial back to the late 19th century, saying that adjustments to accountancy requirements - as well as varying enforcement of the rules - makes them tough to compare. [1]

Shiller Pe For S & p 500

I would certainly think these are difficult times for stock pickers these days. There's a lot information conveniently and readily offered as well as most on Seeking Alpha seem playing because large cap or returns growth area. PE proportions and also growth prices are baked in. However maybe if one slants to a lot more affordable valuations that could enable them to offer even more of a margin of safety and security, as well as probably defeat the marketplace returns if they could locate an out of support company or three.

Shiller Pe Expected Return

We could see that in today's array we are checking out 10 year returns that balanced below 0.5%. The outright best case circumstance might be returns in the area of 6%, if the marketplaces provide an additional amazing outlier.

How Low Can The Market Go?In September 2013 a FEET evaluation checked out the clash of viewpoints in between Robert Shiller and another renowed economist, Jeremy Siegel. Inning accordance with Prof Shiller United States equities were really misestimated whereas Prof Siegel said the data on which CAPE depends were unstable. His very own design showed United States supplies to be underestimated.

Shiller PE

The Shiller P/E and also the proportion of overall market cap over GDP can act as good advice for investors in determining their financial investment approaches at different market appraisals. Historical market returns show that when the marketplace is reasonable or overvalued, it'ses a good idea to be protective. Companies with top quality organisation and also solid annual report will give much better returns in this environment. When the market economicals, oppressed business with strong balance sheets can supply outsized returns.

Shiller Pe Ratio 2017

Keep in mind, the Shiller PE ratio is best made use of for and was intended to offer chances of lengthy term returns. These likelihoods can offer a heads up to investors in numerous scenarios as well as help them prepare in the build-up as well as retired life phases.

Just how Low Can The Market Go?In truth, it will certainly never be the instance that Shiller P/E will certainly turn around precisely to the mean after 8 years. Table listed below provide us a far better idea on the series of the future returns will be if the marketplace are within 50% to 150% of the mean.

Based upon Professor Shiller's newest numbers, we're at concerning a 12X P/E. (Prof. Shiller's last update went to 805 on the S&P 500, which produced a 14X P/E. Plugging in today's 700 on the same earnings number, we get concerning a 12X P/E). The 12X PE contrasts favorably to the long-term arithmetic standard of 16X, yet it's still way over the historic troughs of 5X-8X.

Shiller Pe International

3 major bubbles are inadequate historical precedent to confidently wrap up where the S&P 500 will certainly bottom this time around around, yet it seems reasonable in conclusion that the trough will remain in line with-- or below-- the preceeding lows (Given that we simply had the highest top in history by a mile, it does not appear ridiculous to think that we may be movinged towards the most affordable trough in history by a mile.)

Bogleheads.org

From this we will certainly estimate that at the Shiller P/E's current level, the future market return will be around -2.1% a year. This is the historic implied return, real return and long-term rate of interest. Rate of interest does have an effect on the marketplace returns. Click the tale of the graph below to show/hide chart collection.

The Shiller PE intends to ravel the financial as well as earnings cycles to provide a much more educated sight of a firm's cost compared to the standard rate revenues proportion, which makes use of just one year of revenues. The traditional P/E proportion contrasts the share cost to either the previous year's incomes or forecast earnings, commonly for the next 12 months.

Shiller Pe Individual Stocks

It becomes noticeable that when the Shiller proportion has actually been 24 and above, genuine returns have primarily been meager or unfavorable PM Capital. It is the revenues power of business that drive returns, returns growth as well as returns. It's hard for firms to use a whole lot of long-term worth when you give them $20 making a buck. They need to have incredible income and also revenues development to give any type of meaningful actual returns from those assessments. From there, you are depending on somebody to pay you much more for your company ownership, and also that minimized earnings power or potential - but you could find that customer, which is the wager. To me, that ends up being even more about gaming compared to getting a company that will certainly compensate you with real profits.

PM Capital 125 East Main Street Suite #522 American Fork, Utah 84003 Call Us: 1-800-599-8391

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Shiller Pe Ratio Index

Shiller Pe Individual Stocks

For one, it concentrates on internet profits as opposed to, state, running incomes or free cash circulation. Second of all, a much more interesting factor is that it doesn't set apart in between more recent and older stocks. For example, just because the P/E of the marketplace is high, that does not necessarily suggest it's misestimated, since you might have firms like Amazon with legitimately big growth pulling up the ordinary evaluation, while stocks like Chubb Corporation are marching along at constantly reduced valuations.

Shiller Pe Individual Stocks

That's a wager that repaid for many, however it would be investing not based upon the suggestion from Mr. Benjamin Graham to have that margin of safety and security, not at all. And also as for picking private stocks, be mindful, Mr. Graham was additionally an advocate of reliable market theory. To locate worth in conventional large cap or huge cap dividend growth companies could be a fruitless. If a firm has a reduced PE to the marketplace, that's due to the fact that it is priced in for profits development possibility. It's difficult for big cap companies to hide in plain view. Mr. Graham thought you had to do something strong and also extraordinary to beat the marketplace.

A comparable result could occur to the whole market. Throughout business cycles, revenues could increase as well as contract. The present incomes at any type of provided time may not be an excellent representation of just what the company performance truly is.

Vocabulary

Some individuals might state that you can't forecast exactly what the stock exchange will certainly do. Generally I agree, yet a lot of this is just common sense- if the Shiller P/E is high, then that indicates that stock assessment techniques like standard Discounted Cash Flow Analysis or the Dividend Discount Model (DDM), are going to show that stocks are misestimated as a whole unless amazing growth is presumed. Incorporating unbiased assessment approaches with a graph that reveals 100 years of domino effect makes a respectable situation.

That stated, the Shiller PE Ratio can have anticipating capabilities as it pertains to the lengthy term securities market overall return capacity from a provided PE ratio. There are many in-depth researches that show the anticipating powers of the Shiller PE proportion, and also many demonstrate that the Shiller PE dimension does hold some anticipating powers. However with whatever in life, there are no warranties as outliers take place and surprises happen.

Shiller PE

Disclosure: The author is lengthy SPY, VIG, EWC, EFA, AAPL, ENB, TRP. Dale Roberts is a mutual fund link at Tangerine Investment Funds Limited. The Tangerine Investment Portfolios use complete, low-fee index-based profiles to Canadians. Dale's discourse does not comprise investment advice. The opinions and details need to only be factored right into a financier's total point of view developing process.

The Shiller P/E as well as the proportion of overall market cap over GDP can act as great guidance for investors in deciding their financial investment approaches at various market valuations. Historic market returns verify that when the marketplace is reasonable or miscalculated, it'ses a good idea to be protective. Firms with premium quality service as well as strong balance sheet will certainly supply far better returns in this atmosphere. When the market is economical, beaten down business with strong balance sheets could offer outsized returns.

Shiller Pe International

Remember, the Shiller PE proportion is best made use of for and also was meant to provide chances of long term returns. These likelihoods could supply a direct to capitalists in numerous scenarios as well as aid them intend in the accumulation and retired life stages.

Profits can be unpredictable. For a single business, a short-lived profits cut could make the stock look wildly misestimated also if it's not. For instance, AT&T presently has a P/E of around 50, yet this is completely because of their tried T-Mobile purchase which led to billions of dollars in losses, as well as as a result a temporary revenue hit that is unrelated to regular operations. I do not view AT&T as an especially great value currently, yet it's certainly not legally at a P/E of 50.

Several will indicate the early as well as mid 90s as a duration when the Shiller index was higher compared to regular or average, but the marketplaces provided some extremely good returns. Naturally, that was mainly based upon several expansion as capitalists wanted to pay even more for business earnings and profits potential.

Robert Shiller is popular for mentioning that stocks were in a bubble prior to the dotcom collision based upon this rather straightforward formula, as well as directed out real estate evaluations in advance of the real estate bubble by using similar ideas to realty.

Shiller Pe Adjusted For Interest Rates

And also offered the high Shiller PE proportion of the day I wanted to by hand simplify by year so we could see the actual yearly returns in durations when the ratio is as high (or near) where it is today. I utilized multpl.com for the ratios and moneychimp.com for the S&P 500 yearly returns.

Shiller Pe For S & p 500

If you are investing on a regular routine and buck expense averaging with significant loan, then you obviously will certainly have the ability to benefit from reduced costs in an improvement; and you are likewise hedging. With comprehensive experience in the rare-earth elements industry, PM Capital is the premier source for buying gold and silver in the United States. We market and disperse a variety of exclusive products ranging from gold and silver bars and rounds to rare numismatic coins. The objective of our whole service operation is dedicated to providing these valuable items straight to your doorstep. Our main workplace is situated in the Salt Lake Valley, where the landscapes is extraordinary and business environment is primed for huge development. Numerous major corporations from around the globe are broadening or opening workplaces in Utah, taking advantage of the special environment and the extraordinary quality of a young and vibrant labor force. As strong as the Granite Mountains that surround PM Capital, our Client Care integrated with our dedication to customized service makes PM Capital your primary relied on source for getting precious metals. The quality of our items is our leading objective and we accomplish that objective with a staff dedicated to serving you. Combining our service with the market's finest wholesale network guarantees that every brand-new coin, round or bar meets or goes beyond existing quality requirements developed by the NGC and PCGS. Building your precious metals portfolio can be an obstacle which's why PM Capital is devoted to streamlining the job every action of the way.to the benefit in the situation where financiers agree to pay increasingly more for firms earnings. And also as numerous will compose, probably profits growth will certainly be extremely solid over the next few years as well as years. There are also numerous reasons to stay bought the markets at your risk tolerance degree.

Shiller Pe Yale

From this we will certainly approximate that at the Shiller P/E's current level, the future market return will certainly be around -2.1% a year. This is the historical implied return, actual return as well as long-term passion. Rate of interest does have an influence on the market returns. Click on the legend of the graph listed below to show/hide graph collection.

Shiller Pe Ratio For The S & p 500

Strategic Dividend Stock Newsletter: Sign up for the free returns as well as income investing newsletter to obtain market updates, beautifully valued stock suggestions, resources, investing tips, discourse on current market assessments through the Shiller P/E, and special investing strategies:

In truth, it will certainly never ever be the instance that Shiller P/E will reverse precisely to the mean after 8 years. Table below provide us a much better concept on the series of the future returns will be if the marketplace are within 50% to 150% of the mean.

Shiller Pe Expected Return

The Shiller PE intends to ravel the economic and revenue cycles to offer an extra educated view of a firm's price compared to the typical cost revenues ratio, which utilizes just one year of revenues. The conventional P/E proportion compares the share cost to either the previous year's revenues or forecast earnings, normally for the next 12 months.

Shiller Pe Ratio Definition

At the time of the research the marketplace (NYSEARCA: SPY) remained in the Shiller PE ratio of 22-23, and also the PE ratio predicted returns in the location of 3%. Presently the Shiller PE stands at 26.4, the 5 year returns from that location are in adverse area PM Capital.

The highest top for the routine P/E was 123 in the very first quarter of 2009. By after that the S&P 500 had crashed greater than 50% from its peak in 2007. The P/E was high due to the fact that profits were depressed. With the P/E at 123 in the initial quarter of 2009, much greater than the historical mean of 15, it was the very best time in recent history to buy stocks. On the other hand, the Shiller P/E went to 13.3, its cheapest degree in years, properly indicating a better time to purchase stocks.

PM Capital

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My Abortion video...

So I was going to and still want to make a video series called “The compromise” talking about controversial issues and looking at both sides of the argument to come to a centred opinion or viewpoint, but I don't want to do it until I’ve written and filmed a few episodes... but I haven't written one other than an abortion episode so maybe I’ll write a few others then film the series and release it weekly or something I don't know, but basically I want to have the script out there so I don't feel like its wasting away in my notes. So here is my not yet, but hopefully soon to be filmed video on abortion

The Compromise: Abortion Abortion... it's a controversial topic no doubt, and it's likely you already fall into one of two camps - pro-life or pro-choice. But what if maybe, just maybe we shouldn’t divide ourselves into camps, sides and denominations and could come to some sort of mutual understanding, where we take both sides and hold a measured view of a contentious issue.  This is the compromise, and today we're discussing abortion. *intro* firstly lets look at what both sides believe, people on the pro-life side of the argument believe life begins at conception and that terminating a foetus in the womb is akin to murder and that all unborn children have the god-given right to life. people on the pro-choice side believe that a woman’s autonomy over her body overrides her duty to carry out a pregnancy to full-term and if she desires to end the pregnancy that is her right.

Firstly the trickiest component of the abortion debate is the fact that both sides believe “rights” to be their trump card and that they can dismiss the other sides arguments by bringing up the “rights” of the baby or the mother respectively. This doesn’t get us anywhere in the discussion because it shows an inability to acknowledge all sides of the argument. any pregnancy should have the opportunity to come to fruition as should any woman have autonomy over her body, the two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. but thats a hard concept for some to grasp, that there is no moral absolution on either side; an unplanned pregnancy can negatively effect a woman, and an abortion discriminates against a foetus’ lack of ability to defend themselves.

To make a bit of headway lets have a look at some commonly held beliefs or misbeliefs on either side and see where we can become more centred in our understanding. firstly to debunk some positions on the pro-life side, abortion doesn’t hold any substantial mental or physical health risks for those who decide to get an abortion, it is safer than childbirth by 14 times according to the national institute of health and there is no substantial scientific evidence linking abortion to things like infertility, breast cancer, or depression. regarding the comparison to childbirth, proponents to this fact will say that abortion deaths are underreported but that can be defied by the fact that so too would childbirth deaths be underreported. often times, any mental anguish is felt leading up to an abortion, however women and men can still be mentally affected but more on that later. The majority of abortions happen in the first trimester, and those that occur later are very few with as little as 1.3% happening after 21 weeks, those that do, often occur because of a risk being posed the woman’s life. additionally a foetus doesn’t actually get to the point of neocortical development until a while after the first trimester. that means they can’t feel pain, now yes pain is subjective, but scientifically they haven’t developed the sensory capabilities for pain to be sent up their spinal cord and to their brain, what I’m saying is that as tragic as abortion is, hopefully some solace can come from the fact that it is painless for the baby more often than not.

Now to debunk some pro-choice beliefs. Firstly and this is a large one, while many pro-choice believers use the scenario of a rape or incest victim to justify the morality of abortion, and whilst I’m not diminishing the tragedy of that situation, very few abortions are the result of incest or rape. there are estimates of fewer than 1%, and whilst polls show that overwhelmingly, people support a legal abortion for rape cases even in the third trimester, it just isn’t representative of the reasons people cite for getting abortions. in fact often reasons for abortion are misrepresented by pro-choice advocates, they will say people can’t afford a child, or are forced into abortion through circumstance and while this happens, its not as common as you might think, its estimated to be about 30% of abortions in the U.S, are because of financial strain, rape/incest, or physical problems with the woman or the foetus. The rest are for reasons that aren’t necessarily strenuous circumstances, such as not being ready for a child in terms of maturity or emotional capacity, not wanting to be a single mother, or stuck in a bad relationship, having had too many children and not wanting another, or wanting to focus on education, now I wouldn’t be naive enough to presume these reasons couldn’t overlap with financial strain, but it needs to be acknowledged that these reasons for abortion aren’t necessarilly morally justified.

now with those facts in mind, lets address some further issues both sides fall into. firstly abortion is perpetuated as an inherently religious viewpoint by both sides, however the catholic bible doesn’t actually have a lot to say about abortion. You can do research into this but essentially abortion was around and practised in bible times, and would’ve been a known practise, but the bible doesn’t mention it, maybe it wasn’t so controversial back then. The only parts of the bible that are relevant to abortion are passages that characterise unborn foetus’ as humans or babies, such as john the baptist who “leaped for joy” in the womb, and other similar characterisations. The other reference being to the act of a man inducing a miscarriage in a woman through violence, it says they must pay a fine to the husband. Some pro-choice advocates look at the fact that murder is said to be punishable by death in the same passage to mean that inducing a miscarriage cannot be equated to death as they bear different punishments, its very hard to equate what was written thousands of years ago to a modern context, as well as the fact they are talking about a miscarriage as a consequence of violence, not as a conscious choice by any parties involved. now, its important to look at the most contentious part of the debate which is what constitutes a human life, and taking a human life, and the answer is that its completely subjective, my definition may differ to yours, there are some facts to take into account such as the fact that a heartbeat appears in a foetus at about 3 weeks, at 8 weeks all organs have been formed, at 14-16 weeks the foetus starts to exhibit voluntary movement and can react to external stimuli, I mentioned the cortical development earlier that happens around week 20, and the truth is nobody but you can define what life means, because it has a different meaning to everyone. some people think those who are brain dead are dead and some think coma patients should be kept alive for years because of their right to life. I can't give you clarity on this, it's something each person decides based on their values and beliefs, often times its contingent on whether you believe in the concept of a soul or not. Although for reference, a baby isn't considered able to live outside of the mothers womb until approximately 24 weeks, some specialists claim to be able to keep a baby alive from 23 weeks on and the earliest recorded surviving baby was born at 21 weeks and 6 days.

Moving onto mental health, abortion can have bad effects on both men and women who may feel regret or shame over the decision, thats unavoidable and its a consequence people may have to face, however as earlier stated there isn't much scientific basis that abortion necessarily correlates to mental ill health in the longterm, not on a large scale at least.

Finally we need to look at contraception and safe abortion. Often pro-life advocates will oppose the legalisation of abortion on the grounds that it will enable women to have abortion more frequently or more conveniently, but studies show that there is no correlation to the legality of abortion and the frequency of abortion, in fact the one thing that does show correlation to abortion is the availability of contraception, as well as sex education. More often in developing countries, there are more abortions due to the fact they have very little access or education available for contraception. Additionally the illegality of abortion does seem to correlate to unsafe abortions, which can have a much higher chance of resulting in harm, both physical and mental or even death. And so to surmise there are a range of differing beliefs on abortion, and whilst a few tragic and deserving cases of abortion don't justify abortion morally for the majority, I think it logically justifies legal access. Now before you call me a liberal pro-choice cuck I want it to be clear that I say that only out of the belief that nobody wants women or babies in danger, and if legal abortion doesn't result in more abortion that's good, and if it results in less unsafe abortion that's also good. Polls from Gallup show that many people welcome the legality of abortion in limited situations, but the unfortunate truth is that if you legalise abortion with the limit to rape victims or mental health sufferers then you run the risk of encouraging people to falsely claim they've been raped or have a mental illness, which hurts the credibility of actual rape victims and mental health sufferers. At the end of the day I think this issue is a lot like cigarettes, it’s not necessarily moral, but people who want to do it, will do it, whether it's legal or not. And if it were illegal the way they would do it could be dangerous for them to pursue, imagine if every smoker in the world became involved with a drug dealer, it would be pandemonium, so I think abortion is something that you can have an opinion on from all sides of the argument but that shouldn't deny legal access to, only because a separation of morality and law is important, people who risk national security to expose lies of governments break the law but may be doing a moral good, law is grey and so is morality, ultimately we have to what works best for society and allows safety for all. Thank you. This has been the compromise on abortion. But don’t take my word as gospel, everyone has a different opinion and as centred as I’ve tried to put mine, you may well disagree with me, and if you do, thats fine… discussion is good let me know where I’m wrong and whether or not my presentation of the facts was adequate, thanks a lot and I’ll see you next time.

(And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. "But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, (NAS, Exodus 21:22-24)
 Reference List: http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/unsafe_abortion/en/ http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152224 https://www.thoughtco.com/pro-life-vs-pro-choice-721108 https://www.thoughtco.com/what-does-the-bible-say-about-abortion-p2-721093 https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-abortion-3528243 https://www.thoughtco.com/buddhist-perspectives-on-abortion-449712 https://www.thoughtco.com/arguments-for-and-against-abortion-3534153 http://www.gallup.com/poll/191834/americans-attitudes-toward-abortion-unchanged.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-a-grimes/how-safe-is-abortion_b_6391460.html https://www.ranzcog.edu.au/RANZCOG_SITE/media/DOCMAN-ARCHIVE/Use%20of%20mifepristone%20for%20medical%20termination%20of%20pregnancy%20(C-Gyn%2021)%20Amended%20February%202016.pdf https://www.ranzcog.edu.au/RANZCOG_SITE/media/DOCMAN-ARCHIVE/Termination%20of%20pregnancy%20(C-Gyn%2017)%20Review%20July%20%202016.pdf https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/tables/370305/3711005t3.pdf http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/abreasons.html https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22270271 https://www.livescience.com/54774-fetal-pain-anesthesia.html https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318531/ http://www.christianbiblereference.org/faq_abortion.htm http://brainblogger.com/2009/05/10/medical-controversy-when-does-life-begin/ https://www.verywell.com/coping-with-neonatal-death-or-loss-of-a-premature-baby-2371779

These are the sources I used, I tried to use unbiased sources everywhere I could but its hard to find someone without an opinion on this topic, fact check me! let me know if one of these sources is far-left or far-right! I know huffpo is left, but the rest I tried to make pretty unbiased, I mostly took the legitimate sources of delegitimate websites with an agenda like abort73.com for example, which led me to the guttmacher institute. thanks a lot and if you like this series let me know how I can improve!

[dilsewill]

Is nomination enough to transfer the ownership of any assets?

            According to the encyclopedia the meaning of “Nomination” is the act of officially suggesting someone or something. The term “Nomination” has wide meaning. Nomination is the act or process  through which any person who owns assets (like Mutual Funds, Insurances Policies, other Securities/ Bonds/ Debentures, Shares, Bank Accounts, Societies, NSC, Post Office, PF, PPF & gratuity, Demat Accounts, Lockers), may appoint one or more nominees for such financial assets. Nominee is entitled to receive such financial assets after the death of actual owner. Through nomination one can authorize someone to receive assets on his/her behalf. Nomination comes into effect after the death of the actual Owner. The most important thing in nomination is that nominee can be changed at any time during the life span of the Owner of such financial assets.

Basically, nominee exclusively holds the right to receive and takes care of the asset of such Owner but not the ownership of the said asset/assets. In a renown judgment (Smt. Sarbati Devi V. Smt. Usha Devi AIR 1984 S.C. 346) of Supreme Court, it was decided in 1984, that nominee is a trustee of the property and is liable to hand over the same to the lineal descendants/ legal heirs. It had been decided by the Court nomination does not confer any beneficial interest in the nominee and other heirs can claim that amount in accordance with the law of succession governing them. Nomination does not create any title or interest in favor of the nominee. Therefore, nominee is mere trustee to whom assets has been transferred as prima facie after the demise of such owner of asset(s). All the legal heirs of the deceased owner have right to claim such asset as per succession laws and the nominee cannot exclude such other legal heirs. In other words, it can be easily said that a provision of succession law will not be affected by nomination. Technically, it can be said that nominee is just custodian or care taker.

 Important Information related to Nomination:

·         Any person can be selected as nominee of one’s asset. Even a minor can also be selected as nominee. There is no prowess required to be nominee.

·         Nominee can be appointed by the Bank Account holders who have their bank account(s) either under their individual names or under the joint

·         Non-individuals including society, trust, body, corporate, partnership firm, Karta of Hindu Undivided Family(HUF), holder of Power of Attorney can neither nominate nor be a nominee. All the afore said non-individuals can nominate or be a nominee in their individual capacities.

·         Nomination cannot be made in case of representative capacity such as the holder of an office e.g. Secretary of an Association, Director of a Company, Karta of an HUF, Partner of a firm.

 ·         A sole proprietor can appoint a nominee for the sole proprietorship bank account.

 ·         There are some investments (e.g. Mutual Fund, other Insurance Policies) where investor/ owner of such investment can appoint more than one nominee.

 ·         A Non Resident Indian can also be appointed as nominee.

 ·         One can appoint nominee for his/her safe deposit locker(s).

 ·         A minor can also be nominated for bank account(s) or for other cases. Provided that the name, address and contact number of the guardian of the minor nominee(s) should be given in nomination form.

If there is no nominee against your assets, it might not be a hassle free work for the dependents/ legal heirs of the deceased to claim such asset and get share out of such asset.  Nomination is not mandatory rule. It is an optional rule by following which hassles can be avoided.

We all are oblivious about all the laws of nomination. Rules of Nomination against financial assets are here under-

·         The RBI guidelines clear specifies one thing that the money lying deposited in the account of the depositor should be distributed among the legal heirs/claimants as per the Succession laws or according to the instruction of the depositor’s Will/ Testament but the nominee cannot claim any absolute right over it.

 ·         In case of EPF (Employee’s Provident Fund) and mutual funds, insurance and for other financial assets, employee can select multiple nominees and the ratio of distribution of fund will be mentioned therein. There is an exclusive rule for EPF that family members can only be chosen as a nominee but employee who does not have any family, can choose any one as nominee. After having family, one should instantly change the nominee and has to keep any family member as nominee. In case of mutual funds or other assets, it is not mandatory rule to appoint family member as nominee.

 ·         In case of PPF (Public Provident Fund), the nominee has to show the proof of being successors/ legal heirs (Succession Certificate) before receiving any assets from the actual owner.

 ·         The funds of actual owner shall be passed on to the appointed nominee after the demise of the actual owner. After transferring the assets to the nominee, it ought to have been transferred to the legal heirs or other claimants of the deceased owner as per Succession Laws. The enigma in the rule of nomination is always persists in each case of nomination but it is oblivious to all most people.

 Henceforth, we should make Will along with nomination. Mere nomination does not fulfill our desires and by making nomination, nominee’s right is not protected too. In spite of making nomination, nominee is not completely entitled to retain the assets of the deceased owner permanently.

Both in regard to joint holding as well as nomination, it needs to be borne in mind that the joint holder enjoys the privilege of withdrawing the investment and the nominee is entitled to collect the proceeds of the investment. This essentially facilitates the smooth operation and passing over of investments. But the joint holder or the nominee do not automatically become the legal owner of the property of the deceased, until so specifically directed under his Will.

Nomination is not the substitute of Will. Even it will never be…… Now the question is “what if the legal heir is your nominee!!!”  I must say here clearly that still the right of your legal heir in the form of nominee is not secured until you are making Will by specifying his benefits. Now the question is “WHY??” Your nominee would be lucky enough if there is no claimant, in that case, nominee can enjoy 100% your asset alone by producing succession certificate/ showing other corroborative proof to be a legal heir. What if there is any other legal heir/ claimant!! Even you might not be well acquainted about the complication of classes of legal heirs. In this case the nominee in the form of legal heir is not secured. Here, nominee must distribute such asset/ assets amongst the legal heirs/ claimants as per succession laws and he might keep his share of such asset by giving proof to be legal heir. Estate planning is not a cakewalk thus it is suggested that please make yourself aware before making any estate planning. For making an immaculate Will to secure the rights of the legal heirs in the form of Will, please do contact us at www.dilsewill.com

 Thanking You.

Wishing you a long & healthy life.

We celebrate your success in life.

Let’s add the awesomeness in our lives.

To know more, please visit www.dilsewill.com

Author: Shreya Nandi (Legal Executive Officer)

This blog is informative in nature. Please do not consider this blog as the legal advice. For any legal assistance, please do contact us at www.dilsewill.com or call us 033 4006 9589.