Friday, February 26, 2016

Diversity and Inclusion: Inspiring Learning for a Changing World

With globalization and shifting demographics, understanding diversity and inclusion (D&I) is a requirement for every training professional to ensure that learning is relevant in a changing world. In this one-hour interactive webinar, you will learn how key trends are transforming the workplace, workforce, and marketplace and what the implications are from a training perspective. The presenters will provide practical tools that you can adapt in your training initiatives going forward to address this business imperative.
  • Learn what D&I is and why it matters to you.
  • Discover D&I best practices for greater effectiveness.
  • Enhance your professional skills to address changing requirements for success.

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What is an Expat?


The word expat is a contraction of expatriate, which derives from the Latin word expatriatus. In medieval times, an expatriatus was someone who had left his or her home country to live somewhere else. So in today’s culture an expatriate is exactly that; someone who lives in a different location than that which they were born and brought up. In general expatriates are considered to be people who are residing in their host country temporarily, with the ultimate intention of returning home at a later date. However, in recent times, more and more expatriates have left their home country and found that they can experience a higher standard of living and a better of quality of life abroad and, for this reason, many of them never return home.

Becoming an Expat

There are many reasons why people become expatriates. For some it is due to work reasons, others fall in love with a person or a place, and others still seek a different life from that which they have been accustomed by living overseas. It is important to note, however, that expatriates will differ enormously from one another and although they are often referred to as a homogenous group, the reality is that within that group people will differ enormously from one another and should therefore be treated as individuals. Whatever your reasons for becoming an expat, this expat guide contains everything you need to know when moving overseas.
Do you have a comment about this article, a further question or even a correction? If so please do let us know. We may edit your comments and cannot guarantee that all comments will be published, please be nice!


What Is The Future For The U.S. Dollar?

Currencies / US DollarSep 01, 2015 - 04:47 PM GMT
CurrenciesChina, the biggest foreign creditor of the United States, owns a truckload of our government bonds. Over the past several weeks, it’s been selling some of those bonds to prop up their currency, the yuan. This is supposed to signal the end of the dollar. As the Chinese put our bonds out for the bid, interest rates are going to shoot higher, driving down the value of the greenback and making imports unaffordable. At least, that’s what dollar haters have expected for years.


There’s only one problem. It’s not happening. And in our view, it won’t happen in the near future.

China’s actions have everything to do with their problems, and nothing to do with the valuation of the dollar or their assessment of U.S. policy moves. Besides, when it comes to U.S. Treasury bonds, we’ve got an ace in the hole, even if we don’t like it very much.

In the early 2000s, the Federal Reserve devalued the U.S. dollar by holding interest rates exceptionally low. Since the Chinese yuan is pegged to the dollar, Chinese goods became ever cheaper in currency terms on the world market.

They sold a lot of stuff, so their exporters were flush with foreign currency. They traded their dollars, euros, and yen for yuan, which the Chinese government had to print to satisfy demand. The process led to inflation in China from all the newly-printed currency, and a rapid buildup of foreign reserves in their central bank.

After cries of currency manipulation and a lot of inflation at home, the Chinese allowed their currency to strengthen a bit. The pegged rate moved down from just over 8 yuan per dollar to about 6 yuan per dollar over the course of a couple of years. On a daily basis, the government allows the yuan to trade 2% above or below the pegged rate. To keep the yuan within the band, the Chinese government uses some of its foreign currency to buy or sell yuan as needed.

This all works great until economic trends change.

The last two years have been particularly painful for China. Economic growth in the Middle Kingdom slowed and property prices turned lower. But instead of their currency easing as would be expected if it floated freely, it got stronger. The rising value had nothing to do with the economics of China of course, they were just along for the ride as the dollar powered higher.

The strengthening yuan made Chinese goods more expensive to the world, which is the exact opposite of what they needed to get their economy growing through higher exports. Meanwhile, the currency of competing countries like South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan fell against the U.S. dollar and, to some extent, the euro. This made Chinese goods even less competitive.

In response to all of this, the Chinese recently devalued their yuan. In a surprise move they increased the number of yuan per dollar by 2.5%, and then allowed the rate to edge up an additional 1.5% over the next few trading sessions. The moves sent shockwaves through the financial markets.

Was this the end, or would they devalue more? What exactly was their currency worth? Are their economic reports believable, or are things much worse than we know?

At the same time, carry trade investors got crushed. These folks borrow money in countries with low interest rates, like the euro zone and the U.S., and invest it in higher interest rate markets, like China. The trade depends on stable interest rates and exchange rates. Since the Chinese yuan is pegged, this was perfect. Right up until it wasn’t. When the Chinese devalued, these investors lost billions of dollars.

Both carry traders and those spooked by the general economic state of China are rushing for the financial exit from the country. To do this, they must exchange their yuan for foreign currency, which puts downward pressure on the yuan. To stop their currency from dropping more than they want, the Chinese must defend it by selling foreign reserves and buying their currency.

This is where the U.S. dollar comes in. The Chinese hold $1.27 trillion of U.S. Treasury bonds, which is the largest component of their $3.1 trillion in foreign reserves. Over the past two weeks they’ve reportedly sold $100 billion of U.S. Treasurys. This has dollar haters screaming about the coming crash of the greenback.

But as I said, nothing of the sort is happening. The market has easily absorbed the U.S. Treasuries China recently sold, as is evidenced by the fact that U.S. interest rates aren’t shooting to the moon. The world recognizes that China is the one with a currency problem, not the U.S.

Even if the Chinese sold another $100 billion, or even $200 billion, it’s hard to see the effects on U.S. interest rates, and therefore the dollar, being more than just a passing blip.

If a short-term pop in rates did occur, that would be an opportunity, not a risk. It would give investors a chance to grab some yield before rates fell again in what we see as a long-term deflationary environment.

As for the ace in the hole, the same group that’s failingly tinkered with the economy can always step in. If the Fed felt that the Chinese were going to sell a block of bonds that would destabilize the markets, the Fed could always buy the bonds directly, adding them to their already swollen inventory of U.S. Treasuries.

I imagine such a move has already been discussed.
Rodney
Follow me on Twitter ;@RJHSDent
By Rodney Johnson, Senior Editor of Economy & Markets

What Is Glass-Steagall? The 82-Year-Old Banking Law That Stirred the Debate


With the 2016 presidential primary season gathering steam, candidates on both sides continue to debate a banking law passed in the middle of the Great Depression.
The Glass-Steagall Act, whose partial repeal in 1999 has been blamed by some for the financial crisis of 2008-09, had imposed a regulatory separation between traditional banking and higher-risk investing activities.
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton says she would not reinstate the banking law, but has instead laid out amultipronged plan to mitigate risk in the financial industry, including so-called shadow banking, which, she says, played a greater role in the crisis than the commercial banks covered by Glass-Steagall.
Clinton’s leading opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, would fully reinstate the law, and a 2015 bill to that end has the support of politicians from all corners of the political spectrum. Also among those in favor: two Republicans, former candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
Also on the Republican side, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says he’s “open to the idea” of reinstating Glass-Steagall, but, like Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and businessman Donald Trump, he has called for the repeal of Dodd-Franklegislation, which includes a rule some have called “Glass-Steagall light.”
Read on for more about:
  • The original Glass-Steagall Act
  • Its repeal and the subsequent financial crisis
  • Its partial reinstatement as the Volcker Rule in 2010
  • The congressional proposal to fully reinstate it
Image result for money matters pic

How we got here

Glass-Steagall and the Banking Act of 1933: The Glass-Steagall Act is actually a set of provisions included in the broader Banking Act of 1933, a response to the bank failures of the Great Depression. The Banking Act created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to safeguard consumers’ deposits at commercial banks and included the Glass-Steagall provisions to reduce the risk of providing such insurance.
Most critically, Glass-Steagall made it illegal for a bank that held FDIC-insured deposits to invest in anything other than government bonds and similarly low-risk vehicles. Joseph Stiglitz, winner of a Nobel Prize in economics and a professor at Columbia University,wrote in a 2008 opinion piece:
“Commercial banks are not supposed to be high-risk ventures; they are supposed to manage other people’s money very conservatively. It is with this understanding that the government agrees to pick up the tab should they fail. Investment banks, on the other hand, have traditionally managed rich people’s money — people who can take bigger risks in order to get bigger returns.”
Glass-Steagall attempted to keep commercial banks low-risk to make it safer for the government to back those banks with deposit insurance, which would, in turn, prevent another Great Depression.
The partial repeal of Glass-Steagall and the financial crisis: After decades of lobbying and proposed legislation, some of the Glass-Steagall provisions were repealed in 1999, when the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was signed. Glass-Steagall’s opponents had objected to what they perceived as over-regulation of the banking industry.
Some critics believe Glass-Steagall’s partial repeal contributed to the 2008-09 financial crisis, alongside earlier weakening of the act’s effects through various government actions. Even John S. Reed and Sandy Weill, the former co-chairmen of Citigroup — created in 1998 as the acquisition of an investment bank, Salomon Smith Barney, by a commercial bank, Citibank — have both said, in effect, that Glass-Steagall protected the U.S. economy.
Others, including economists Paul Krugman and Mike Konczal, have argued that Glass-Steagall would have done nothing to prevent the financial crisis, because it didn’t cover the shadow banks that had engaged in the riskiest behavior.
The Volcker Rule, or “Glass-Steagall light”: Pursuant to the view that the 2008-09 crisis resulted in part from a lack of sufficient separation, post-Glass-Steagall, between investment and commercial banking activities, Congress included the Volcker Rulein the Dodd-Frank reform legislation, signed into law by President Obama in 2010.
The part of Glass-Steagall known as Section 16, which was not repealed, limits the kinds of investments banks can make with customers’ deposit funds. Section 20, which was repealed, limited what banks could do even with their own money. The Volcker Rule reinstated some of the prohibitions of Section 20.

The future of Glass-Steagall

Potential issues with Volcker, including loopholes and gray areas that may impede enforcement, led to the introduction of the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act. Four U.S. senators introduced the bill in July seeking to revive the broader banking law.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., among others, introduced the act. In McCain’s words, the act aims to “rebuild the wall between commercial and investment banking that was in place for over 60 years, restore confidence in the system, and reduce risk for the American taxpayer.”
The fate of the legislation, and of financial regulation in generally, will likely hinge on the results of the 2016 election.
Although Clinton’s plan to address the issues doesn’t include a full reinstatement of Glass-Steagall’s provisions, as Sanders’ does, Clinton would:
  • Close one of the Volcker rule’s biggest loopholes, involving hedge-fund investing
  • Instate risk fees on large financial institutions engaged in certain activities
  • Increase the government’s regulatory power over “shadow banks” such as Lehman Brothers, whose role in the financial crisis is widely accepted even by those who don’t believe Glass-Steagall’s partial repeal was a factor
On the other side of the aisle, apart from supporting the repeal of Dodd-Frank — including the Volcker rule — most candidates have said they would sign into law the REINS Act (for “Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny”). The act, sponsored by former GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, would require major regulations issued by federal agencies in the executive branch to be subject to congressional approval.
Importantly, REINS would not be retroactive as a law, and the banking regulations opposed by the act’s supporters were not agency-issued, but congressional legislation. Still, the REINS Act would meaningfully inhibit the power of agencies to issue new regulations across economic sectors.
Apart from Paul, Cruz and Rubio are listed as co-sponsors, and all three, along with Bush and Trump, have said they would sign the bill.

The bottom line

Despite its complexity, regulation of the financial sector will likely remain one of the most hotly debated issues of the 2016 presidential race. Depending on the state of the economy heading into summer, the issue may play a strong role in deciding the election.
Devan Goldstein is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: dgoldstein@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @devan_.
This post was updated. It was originally published on June 11, 2012.


SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Earth is seen above the Moon's limb, in this handout picture taken by the Apollo 8 crew nearly half a century ago, on December 24, 1968, courtesy of NASA.

New Study Suggests We Are Alone in Universe

Computer model created at Sweden’s Uppsala University says planet Earth may in fact be only one supporting life

FILE - NASA astronaut Scott Kelly listens to a question about his scheduled mission aboard the International Space Station during a briefing at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Dec. 5, 2012.

NASA Astronaut Set to Return After Year in Space

Scott Kelly talks about flight's legacy, what he’s learned, what he misses most, and whether a trip to Mars is possible

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the awarding ceremony of the newly established Axel Springer Award in Berlin, Feb. 25, 2016.

Zuckerberg: No Place for Hate Speech on Facebook

Answering a question Friday at a town hall event in Berlin, Zuckerberg says "hate speech has no place on Facebook'' and that he had being instituting better controls on monitoring and removing it

User Interface Design Basics


User Interface (UI) Design focuses on anticipating what users might need to do and ensuring that the interface has elements that are easy to access, understand, and use to facilitate those actions. UI brings together concepts from interaction designvisual design, andinformation architecture.

Choosing Interface Elements

Users have become familiar with interface elements acting in a certain way, so try to be consistent and predictable in your choices and their layout. Doing so will help with task completion, efficiency, and satisfaction.
Interface elements include but are not limited to:
  • Input Controls: buttons, text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown lists, list boxes, toggles, date field
  • Navigational Components: breadcrumb, slider, search field, pagination, slider, tags, icons
  • Informational Components: tooltips, icons, progress bar, notifications, message boxes, modal windows
  • Containers: accordion
There are times when multiple elements might be appropriate for displaying content.  When this happens, it’s important to consider the trade-offs.  For example, sometimes elements that can help save you space, put more of a burden on the user mentally by forcing them to guess what is within the dropdown or what the element might be. 

Best Practices for Designing an Interface

Everything stems from knowing your users, including understanding their goals, skills, preferences, and tendencies.  Once you know about your user, make sure to consider the following when designing your interface:
  • Keep the interface simple. The best interfaces are almost invisible to the user. They avoid unnecessary elements and are clear in the language they use on labels and in messaging.
  • Create consistency and use common UI elements. By using common elements in your UI, users feel more comfortable and are able to get things done more quickly.  It is also important to create patterns in language, layout and design throughout the site to help facilitate efficiency. Once a user learns how to do something, they should be able to transfer that skill to other parts of the site. 
  • Be purposeful in page layout.  Consider the spatial relationships between items on the page and structure the page based on importance. Careful placement of items can help draw attention to the most important pieces of information and can aid scanning and readability.
  • Strategically use color and texture. You can direct attention toward or redirect attention away from items using color, light, contrast, and texture to your advantage.
  • Use typography to create hierarchy and clarity. Carefully consider how you use typeface. Different sizes, fonts, and arrangement of the text to help increase scanability, legibility and readability.
  • Make sure that the system communicates what’s happening.  Always inform your users of location, actions, changes in state, or errors. The use of various UI elements to communicate status and, if necessary, next steps can reduce frustration for your user. 
  • Think about the defaults. By carefully thinking about and anticipating the goals people bring to your site, you can create defaults that reduce the burden on the user.  This becomes particularly important when it comes to form design where you might have an opportunity to have some fields pre-chosen or filled out.

References

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