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Denise Lewis is a current student at The CUNY School of Professional Studies, enrolled since Spring 2010 in the Online Bachelor’s Degree in Business. As a single parent she raised three children, often working two jobs to support her family, while maintaining an excellent GPA. Each of her children currently attends or has graduated from college. Academic Advisor, Jaye-Anne Sartoretto recently had the chance to ask Denise a few questions about her goals and motivation for pursuing higher education, and here is what she shared with us:
Jaye-anne: What are you hoping to accomplish in the next five years?
Denise: What I intend to accomplish in the next five years is to be on my way to a successful Fashion Styling business. I have an Associate’s Degree in Fashion Buying and Merchandising from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and when I get my Bachelor’s Degree in Business it will give me the business foundation from which to build and establish a business. I have already started drafting a simple business plan from which I can build upon and add more detail to bring my business into fruition.
Jaye-anne: What or who inspires you and keeps you motivated?
Denise: I am basically self-motivated. I know what I have to do, and I plan out my assignments and do them. After not completing my degree when I was young and fresh out of high school, it has always been my goal to finish college. I was always inspired by:
- My grandmother, who was a West Indian woman who always instilled in her family that education is important;
- My mother, who although she did not go to college went to nursing school and became a Licensed Practical Nurse while raising five children;
- My oldest sister who has a Master’s Degree in Counseling and is a Study Skills College Counselor at the Fashion Institute of Technology;
- My daughter, who won a full scholarship to a private college (DePauw University in Indiana) and graduated, and who, by the way, is back in Graduate School studying accounting and plans to become a CPA;
- My other two children, who have some college and plan to return to get their degrees;
- And last but certainly not least, my four grandchildren, for whom I would like to be an example to show them that no matter what age you are, it is never too late to finish college and to instill in them that college is an important life goal to accomplish.
Jaye-anne: What challenges do you face as an online student? And how have you overcome those obstacles?
Denise: The challenges that I face as an online student are sometimes being tired; or if I am studying a subject that is a little challenging for me, such as mathematics, I have to find a tutor or someone to help me. I have overcome these challenges by just pushing along and doing the best that I can and asking for help from someone who is more knowledgeable in a subject that I am, or I ask the professor for more time to complete an assignment if I am having trouble with it. Most professors understand and grant the extension. Another challenge for me was dealing with the noise of my grandchildren (who only wanted to play) when I was studying. However, I overcame that challenge by purchasing a laptop and retreating to a quiet room to complete my assignments. There were also times that I stayed late at work to get my homework and studying done.
Jaye-Anne Sartoretto is an Admissions and Academic Advisor for The CUNY School of Professional Studies Online Baccalaureate Program. When asked to reflect on her work here at SPS, she said:
“As an advisor, I see my role as helping students integrate their academic path with career planning. Equally important is what transpires during the academic process. My goal as an advisor, is to encourage students to discover strengths, define interests and become more confident in what their capabilities are. But the environment for this to manifest needs to be an environment that is built on trust and support. It is most important to build a relationship with each student. Each student is different and has different needs. Therefore it is crucial to be sensitive to what those needs are and advise accordingly. As advisors we get to understand the vicissitudes our students overcame. That is why there is nothing more rewarding and praiseworthy then to watch my student graduate. I can only hope that I somehow made a difference in their lives.”
I know I could graduate two or more semesters early if only I would take summer classes. But I won’t. Two courses a semester on top of working full-time and trying to have a life (and have some fun!) is too stressful and I need the three-month break from formal education, tests, papers, discussion boards, wikis and required reading. I admire and applaud those that go to school year round and know that we all have different goals, restrictions and time frames.
I spent most of this summer on my self-help project. I realized that I needed to let go of some things, move on with others, change some behaviors, and learn why I keep making some of the same mistakes and how to make better choices. I also needed to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.
I did a LOT of reading—blogs, articles, and books. Not all information is good information. In fact, some of it is garbage. However, a little discernment and fact checking can do wonders. A beauty magazine suggested a biotin supplement to improve my soft, splitting nails. Dr. Oz said it was OK. I have been taking it for several months and my nails have improved. Speaking of Dr. Oz, I work in the same complex and happened to be in the elevator with him one morning. He must have been experiencing a bad day, because he was not the same persona as on TV. Excuuuuuse me.
I read all kinds of relationship advice, ranging from carving my initials into the leather seats of someone’s car to reciting the following mantra over and over again: “I’m sorry; please forgive me; I love you; thank you.” Forgiveness of a behavior does not mean acceptance, and it allows the forgiver to find peace and move on. Acknowledging my part in a failed venture and seeking forgiveness for my failures is an important ingredient in recovery. Grudges and holding onto hurts destroy the soul.
I read some excellent books, including one with simple yet creative ideas on how to handle money, a beautifully written but disturbing book about the spiritual, physical, and bureaucratic struggles of inhabitants of a Mumbai slum and a poorly written but “different” trilogy about alternate lifestyles. OK—it was the Fifty Shades of Grey books. The first one was riveting and thought provoking, but the experience became less interesting through book two and turned into a boring, eye-rolling page-turner by the third installment. Part of the problem may have been that I read all three books over a several day marathon. Even though I was number 1,000 something on the New York Public Library e-book list for each book, they happened to become available at the same time and I did not want to have to re-request them and become number 1,000 something again.
I tried some new recipes and made food I enjoy but usually buy prepared or in a restaurant. Hummus did not turn out as good as Sabra’s, but my gazpacho is very tasty (but not as good as Billy’s, the brother of a friend) and my sesame noodles are not bad. Since I had so much leftover fresh ginger from the sesame noodles, I chopped it and added it to boiling water for a few minutes. I ended up with ginger water that tastes great in a tall glass of ice or mixed with tea.
Besides cooking, I took time to enjoy crafts again. I made a few pieces of jewelry, picked up a needlepoint that I hadn’t touched in many years, and will finish (I will finish!) the sweater I started about 10 years ago and left more than half done.
One of the best suggestions I learned on the self-help journey is to expand my social group. Be open to new people, different types of people, other experiences and settings. Meetup.com has a meetup group for any and every interest. Joining a group is free and I now belong to several. I have been on walking tours of lower Manhattan, visited Coney Island and City Island, went out to dinner and brunch, explored my ancestry and did other really interesting things with people I did not know a few months ago. I have old and dear friends, but we don’t have the same interests in everything, the time or the resources. I have made some new friends and I am taking a trip with one of them through our travel meetup group.
I have learned so much through my informal education this summer. I am grateful for everything that has brought me to this point in my life (the good and the bad, because nothing is a mistake if you learn from it) and the sense of accomplishment and empowerment that comes with the ongoing and never ending self-discovery process. The journey is as important, if not more important, than the destination.
Mary Casey is a student in the MS in Business Leadership and Management program at CUNY School of Professional Studies and is an alumna of Lehman College. She is an administrator for a university in NYC. She loves to travel and wants to see as much of the world as possible. Mary created and maintained a community/political blog from 2002 to 2004.
I was embarking on a long plane ride back to New York when I decided to rifle through the random literature available in the pocket in front of my seat whilst the stewardess engaged in the standard mime routine showing what might, but probably won’t, increase your luck in the event of some objectionable, airborne misfortune. As it were, however, luck was on my side just then. British Airways has a fun magazine called Business Life (eat it Delta!) that just so happened to have a story on one of the most weird-yet-innovative ideas I have seen in awhile: trading trash. So much was I intrigued that I decided I would have to dedicate one of this semester’s blog posts to the brilliant entrepreneur of other people’s rubbish: Brooke Farrell.
Farrell has a background in marketing and advertising and was a former waste management consultant in the US for years where she learned the ins and outs of the colossal amount of trash percolating its way into landfills and on unfortunate occasions, other parts of the earth not suitable to handle it. In an interview with Smart Planet, Farrell stated of her experience in the trash industry:
“I got a huge exposure to different angles on trash. The real learning there was the scale, the scope of how much stuff is generated both by communities of residents and also by business and industry. There’s just so much more than any of us can imagine. I calculated, based on the latest EPA estimates, that there was enough waste to fill trucks and wrap garbage trucks around the equator 600 times. That’s just what’s generated in the U.S. in one year”.
According to Farrell, only 30% of trash today is sent for recycling, a number she says is unacceptable. This means that the other 70% (usually) goes to landfills – those horrible smelly places where VCRs and cassette players go to die. As distressing as all of this may sound, for Farrell, it presented an opportunity – one that no one had ever thought of before.
In 2009, Farrell quit her job and together with her business partner/brother-in-law Chad Farrell started a company called RecycleMatch. What RecycleMatch does is similar to what eBay does, only it does it with trash. It is essentially “the E-Harmony for trash”, as Chad Farrell has described it – a web 2.0 platform that helps companies to maximize the value of their waste materials and lower disposal costs by matching them with another company who can make use of the waste. To start off, the pair located companies with different kinds of trash that was destined for a landfill and it would pitch those companies to list the trash on their website instead. It wasn’t that difficult; who wouldn’t want to make a few bucks on something they were about to pay a landfill to throw out? After the trash was listed, they set out to find a buyer – someone who could use the waste material for something else. Little by little, a market emerged.
Most of what is listed on the site is material waste and RecycleMatch also offers sustainability software on their website that “enables corporations to maximize the economic and environmental impact of their Zero Waste initiatives”. Since its inception, RecycleMatch has attracted thousands of buyers and sellers to its website and the rubbish trade has gotten off to a good start. Some examples of trades on RecycleMatch include food waste that was bought and converted to an energy source and damaged, non-recyclable glass that was bought, crushed and used to make counter tops and other materials for building.
RecycleMatch has been listed in a myriad of magazines, including Entrepreneur and Forbes, for its innovative idea and the success that it has seen as a result. As the company continues to grow I can only imagine that it will continue to expand both in content and in location and soon, more like it will appear. The future of cleaner trash disposal has arrived, landfill moguls be warned!
Nina Michael is in her senior year in the BS in Business program at CUNY School of Professional Studies. Nina has been all over the world and loves traveling; she currently lives between Italy and New York where she works as a professional English teacher and translator. She loves languages, food, coffee, wine and a good book; she is also a first-rate bartender.
The recent Eurozone sovereign-debt crisis has caused a serious dilemma for not only the weaker economies of the European Union within the Eurozone, but also the stronger ones. Germany, the fifth largest economy in the world and one of the leading EU countries has played a big role in the attempts to solve this crisis, which has put it in a bit of a rough position in its internal political sphere in regards to bailouts for countries like Greece, Portugal and Ireland, and the possibility of future default, yet has also given it an advantage in influencing the economic policies of weaker Eurozone countries who are dependent on bailout money. After many deliberations amongst EU leaders, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was approved, which will replace the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) upon its expiry in June 2013.
The ESM is meant to safeguard financial stability within the Eurozone and provide assistance to Eurozone member states who are experiencing financial distress. Starting in June 2013, all new sovereign bonds will include a Collective Action Clause (CAC), which will enable creditors to pass a decision, based on a majority vote, to change the terms of payment through application of a standstill, an extension of maturity or an interest-rate cut/haircut in the case of insolvency. The purpose of the ESM is essentially to make default less risky for creditor countries. The problem is that this doesn’t solve the problem of the heavily indebted economies of Greece, Portugal and Ireland and their subsequent affect on other, stronger Eurozone economies such as Germany.
One obvious flaw in the ESM is the fact that it’s just not enough to fix the problem; the fund amounts to €700 billion, allowing for a €500 billion loaning capability, of which each member country will contribute €80 billion each in annual installments that begin in 2013 while the rest will be made through guarantees, direct purchases of government bonds in the primary market or what Wolfgang Münchau has called “callable capital” – when shareholders supply the depleted fund with new capital – a highly unlikely scenario. A mere €500 billion will not cover the debt problem of Greece by itself, let alone that of Ireland, Portugal and other countries teetering on the brink of a debt crisis such as Italy and Spain whose economies simply cannot afford to be further burdened with bailouts for another member state. Furthermore, the ESM fails to tackle some of the most pressing issues regarding the restructuring of the financial systems of all the Eurozone countries that are suffering financially, something that is needed if this crisis is ever going to be settled in the near future.
Eurozone countries with AAA ratings, which are limited to Germany and France, have devised a get-out-of-jail-free card of sorts: the privilege to not have to actually put up the cash for the fund but simply give a guarantee. This will certainly work to their advantage but that at the same time will work toward the demise of the weaker economies, who do not get such a privilege, which seems likely to produce those awful long-run effects that any economics student is so often advised to avoid. It is understandable that Germany and France do not wish to be burdened with the debt of the fiscally irresponsible, if it can be said that simply, yet nonetheless, a customs union/partial economic-union bears with it certain responsibilities and certain burdens, a fact that is always in direct competition with the social welfare programs of the participating countries and thus, will produce a political nightmare for those involved. But if Germany and France allow this circle of debt to continue (Italy backing Spain backing Greece backing Portugal backing Ireland, etc.…) at some point, the bubble will burst and they will be forced to fork over the money and commit political suicide or let the whole Eurozone economy collapse. In the meantime, speculation may kill any chance that the weaker countries have of digging themselves out of the hole, only deepening the problem even more. As an example, Portugal’s government bond rating went from an A- to a BBB after the announcement of the ESM in March, pushing Portugal ever closer to the abyss of dire insolvency.
This does not mean that the ESM is a bad thing. On the contrary, it’s a step in the right direction, but it fails to promote stability amongst Eurozone countries and burdens those who are already on the brink of financial collapse. Countries whose fiscal problems have led them to the point where they must tap into the ESM will be forced to follow “pro-cyclical budgetary policies”, whose tactics of budget cuts and tax increases may not necessarily work to the advantage of the country in question. Another reason that this might cause problems is the fact that a decrease in the money supply of any given country produces a rise in interest rates and a subsequent appreciation of the currency. The last thing that any debt-stricken Eurozone country needs at the moment is an increase in the Euro, which is too strong for many of the weak countries to handle. Of course, the CAC allows for interest rate cuts, but these must be approved by a majority vote, and speculation damages must be taken into consideration; if investors start pulling out due to interest rate cuts, this would also increase the problem.
Another suggestion that has seen some media time has been that of a single European Bond that would replace all national debt in the Eurozone. This prospect was heavily advocated by Wolfgang Münchau in an article for the Financial Times; the flexibility that would be offered by such a mechanism, including the option to be sold and traded on secondary markets could provide an alternative to “cross-country transfers”. Alas, this option might be an even more difficult sell on the internal political scene since combining Germany and France’s AAA bonds with those of the less fortunate is not something that either of the former would be too keen on, and in fact, the idea was shot down by the German Finance Minister in 2009.
Unfortunately, the Eurozone is between a rock and a hard place. Germany’s economy is running strong but the struggling economies of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy are in dire need of a revamp. The most important thing for the EU to do right now is to jump in to the gritty task of restructuring the failed financial and economic systems of these countries and demand that the government’s of these countries make a serious effort to stabilize, organize and amend their economic and financial infrastructures in a way that will help them to work their way out of the crisis slowly (Buiter et al.). This will be no easy task and will demand the active participation of all debt-ridden Eurozone countries. The future may seem bleak but at some point, the Eurozone countries will be forced to a point where they will have to stop “muddling through”, as Münchau calls it, and take a decisive action. Just what this action may entail remains to be seen.
Nina Michael is in her junior year in the BS in Business program at CUNY School of Professional Studies. Nina has been all over the world and loves traveling; she currently lives between Italy and New York where she works as a professional English teacher and translator. She loves languages, food, coffee, wine and a good book; she is also a first-rate bartender.
We all need to save more money. Whether it’s the result of not having enough disposable income, a tendency to outspend our paychecks, or simply the mental disposition of there’s-plenty-of-time-to-save-for-my-future, time has a tendency of passing us by at a rate of speed that seems far quicker in hindsight than it does when looking forward. And yet, in spite of the most genuine and adamant of intentions, people simply fail to save anywhere near the amount of money they must to retire in a financially comfortable manner.
Last year, CNNMoney posted the results of a survey which found that 54% of working Americans have less than $25,000 saved for retirement. Worse, 43% of Americans had less than $10,000 saved for retirement and, even more startling, 27% said they had less than $1,000 saved. As most of us will attest to, one thousand dollars in savings is essentially one un-forecasted mishap away from being forced to borrow money. You do not need a PhD in finance to come to the conclusion that we have a problem in this country; we do not save enough money. Saving for retirement is a progressive, cumulative endeavor that requires discipline to manage one’s own finances and the ability to see beyond next week. This is to say that almost everyone – albeit, surely there are outliers – is capable of saving some of their income, ideally 6% – 10% of their gross salary.
This year, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants issued a report which found that 40% of Americans will never be able to afford retirement. Never! It’s a frightening prognostication and one that any person with decades remaining before reaching retirement ever really envisions as a possibility for him or herself. Remarkably, it actually now seems a fait accompli – the natural default outcome – unless proactive steps are taken to ensure this reality never comes to fruition. So start saving, early and often!
The video below provides an illustrative explanation of the extraordinary power of compounding interest. Although this approach alone may not be sufficient to afford you the opportunity to retire to Bora Bora by age 45, it should certainly position you well enough financially to retire comfortably by age 65.
John Brigantino is a graduate student in the Master of Science in Business Management & Leadership Program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies. He enjoys writing, non-fiction books, traveling and the many cultural and leisure experiences Manhattan has to offer.
I am Itamar Kestenbaum – a Business student at the CUNY School of Professional Studies.
I am taking an extremely interesting course this semester – Oceanography with Professor Kathleen Schnaars-Uvino. Professor Uvino has been very enthusiastic about the topic of the course throughout, and while I had at first just been trying to get through the course to get the credits – I found myself engrossed in the subject of Oceanography and the different components of oceanic life, meteorological and lunar phenomenon affecting the oceans, and the general science of Oceans.
In particular – with my deepening understanding of what causes beaches to erode or to become swampy and littered, I grew uneasy.
When Professor Uvino offered an extra-credit assignment that involved cleaning up a beach – it goes without saying that I jumped at the opportunity. I wanted to see what a beach looked like when what we learned about happened in real life. When, after many ebbs and flows in the bay – sediment and debris washed and deposited onto the shore, leaving it a swampy mess.
On Saturday, the 30th of April – the weekend after Earth Day (which has recently extended itself into Earth Week) – the American Littoral Society met up at Breezy Point, NY for the third day of a massive cleanup operation. Most of Breezy Point is actually quite beautiful – and houses several beach and nautical clubs along the thin strip of land parallel to the Belt Parkway.
However, Rocky Point – the beach at Breezy Point that we were tasked with cleaning, had been used as a dumping ground for excess lumber and other debris. But the littering of this specific beach was not onset by humans. The beach, due to poor up-keeping and general desertion, had become the ideal place for sediment and particles to settle in the bay, and nature did its part in creating an appalling marsh where a beach would have been,
When I showed up, the American Littoral Society was already deeply engaged in carrying the lumber and trash out of the swamp and into a large dumpster by the road. There were large representative groups from Bloomberg, CUNY, and the Girl Scouts among others.
Approximately fifty people in total were involved in the operation – and what a difference it made.
When I had arrived – they had cleaned up half of the wood (the piles were about 5 feet high, and 14 feet in diameter.) I jumped right in to help clean up the other half – and by the end of the day only a small amount of wood remained – and the container was completely full.
Aside for the general cleanup – there was a special operation underway closer to the shore, where about ten people were actively and enthusiastically sawing away and hammering together a professional-looking osprey tower completely out of the spare wood that was found at the site!
At the end of the day, the entire group gathered by the swampy shore. There, laying on the mud, was a large pole with a flat surface attached to the top. Two ropes were strung to the top of the pole, and a large hole was dug near the other end of it. Twenty people gathered – ten on each side of the pole, and pulled the rope up at the count of ten, while a few people at the base of the pole guided it into the ground. It looked like the mast of a ship being pulled up by sailors – it was beautiful.
Once it was in the hole, and standing at 90 degrees with the ground, they secured it in with some wooden planks, and by shoveling mud back into the hole. There were cheers and celebration at the success of the osprey nest erection, and group pictures were taken.
Thank you, Professor Uvino, for the opportunity to have this great experience! I know I would have never found myself in Breezy Point, NY cleaning up a beach without your help and guidance!
Here is a great time-lapse of the some of the cleanup and the osprey nest building provided by the American Littoral Society:
Untitled from Irene Roxanne on Vimeo.
Itamar Kestenbaum is a Junior at the CUNY School of Professional studies – working toward his BS in Business. He also works in Marketing in NYC, and loves hanging out with his wife and son.
I haven’t yet, but I certainly will before the summer is over.
After10 years of Sporadic college, off and on classes and an ever changing graduation date I’ve finally found myself in a committed relationship, or at least one that I’ll get something out of, and boy it’s about time! Yes, my drunken wife and I (you’ll only get that if you read my first post) have set a date, Dec 2011, assuming of course that my procrastination tendencies and I can make it through a year of serious studying and commitment.
I had my heart set on that date awhile back, but there were a few problems that were making it impossible. First, I was missing about 4 classes worth of core credits that I would need to graduate and the spring, summer and fall semesters were already fully booked with the requirement courses I needed to graduate.
Unsure of a better way to solve this dilemma I begrudgingly accepted my 2012 graduation fate until late one night, when I happened upon what seemed like an answer to my problem. A friend who had been in a similar situation informed me of something called C.L.E.P., which stands for College Level Examination Program, and I feel it is my duty to share it with everyone in proper missionary style, just in case someone else might benefit.
Basically, C.L.E.P. offers 33 different exams under the themes of Composition and Literature; World Languages; History and Social Sciences; Science and Mathematics and Business. Each exam is generally worth 3 credits, at least this is the case for CUNY, and, if passed, suffices the requirement for that class. This means that if you’ve been putting off that last requirement in science or English lit, you can get it taken care of without having to register and pay for an additional semester. Each C.L.E.P. exam costs $77 to take, which can be a lifesaver if you’re only lacking a couple courses for your major.
Don’t get me wrong, this is not as easy as I’ve made it sound thus far; while it may not involve an entire semester’s worth of coursework, it does require competence in the area that you are testing in. This means that you have to study, and study hard.
The way C.L.E.P. works is almost akin to the Italian University Exam system in that you get a textbook, study the life out of it, and then take an exam to see if you’ve mastered the subject. However, in Italian University, unlike C.L.E.P., there is a classroom; attendance is not mandatory, but you better make sure you pass that exam at the end of the semester or you won’t be getting any credit. C.L.E.P. doesn’t offer you a classroom or a course to follow; you’ve got to do that on your own. It does, however, give you a gist of what information will be required of you in order to pass so that you can make sure to study what you need. Exam guides and sample questions are also available for an extra $10 and additional information and suggested textbooks are also listed on the website.
Almost 3000 accredited Universities both in the US and throughout the world accept C.L.E.P. exam credits. A tool on the website will help you locate these colleges and will also help you find the nearest university test center where you can register and take the exam.
If you are an SPS student, you can transfer up to 30 C.L.E.P. credits, which is 10 exams. Obviously, this also depends on what credits you need; usually, major requirements must be taken on campus. Each college is different so you should check with an advisor before registering for a C.L.E.P. exam to see what courses are acceptable and what courses must be taken through the university.
To those of you who are already graduating this year, many congratulations! To those of you who are working hard to graduate soon, I hope this information can help you out in some way!
Happy New [school] Year to all!
Nina Michael is in her junior year in the BS in Business program at CUNY School of Professional Studies. Nina has been all over the world and loves traveling; she currently lives between Italy and New York where she works as a professional English teacher and translator. She loves languages, food, coffee, wine and a good book; she is also a first-rate bartender.
Workers want out! Such is the collective sentiment felt in unison by the American workforce. They show up to work, fulfill their job requirements, and act like good soldiers, all the while surreptitiously knowing they already have one shoe out the door with the other closely behind.
In December 2010, CNNMoney ran a story depicting the current state of employee discontent: New Year’s Resolution: I Quit! In summation, “[a]ccording to a recent survey by job-placement firm Manpower, 84% of employees plan to look for a new position in 2011. That’s up from just 60% last year.” It is a truly staggering figure. If you’re an employee at a company, then take a moment and scan the office. For every ten workers you see almost nine of them want to quit. That’s remarkable. It is no secret that hiring abated dramatically during this recession which is why many unhappy workers toiled away quietly while anxiously waiting for the bell to ring. The economic upswing is now accelerating and hiring is ramping up again. There’s the bell.
Albeit problematic for management, losing employees is more accurately a symptom of a more systemic undercurrent of discontentment enhancers. Underlying issues often prompt workers to run for the exits. The top three motivations behind why employees quit are as follows: (1) better opportunity, (2) more money, and (3) clashes with management. People move on, that is just the natural order of things in the corporate world whatever the geneses of discontentment may be. But although quitting may be a net positive for the employee, it often is a transaction that has a negative effect on the company, particularly on management. Quitting disrupts organizational continuity, and costs countless dollars to train new hires. Retention is vital but remains an enormous challenge for companies. Elements that deserve consideration are: increasing compensation and vacation time, allowing employees to participate in a four-day workweek, retraining or eliminating bad managers, allow for employee feedback, and making a genuine attempt to determine what employees want!
So who is to blame? Are employees asking for too much in return for their services? After all, isn’t a job merely one compartment of a person’s life? Sure, most workers would privately exclaim they are more deserving of greater compensation and perhaps some of them are justified in that claim. But one has to wonder, is the grass necessarily greener or is this simply a delusional, unending search for the Holy Grail that inevitably succumbs to exhaustion with the epiphany that no perfect job scenario really ever existed in the first place? Perhaps there is room for blame on both sides of the equation. But companies must realize that the job market is just that, a market. They are competing to purchase worker productivity through compensation and benefits. It is a zero sum game; one company’s loss is another company’s gain. And although there may be numerous skilled, educated, and dedicated workers in the current applicant pool, this almost certainly will not always remain the case. One thing is for certain, if companies do not reexamine and revamp their current approaches to employee retention, then they just might as well install revolving doors at their entrances.
John Brigantino is a graduate student in the Master of Science in Business Management & Leadership Program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies. He enjoys writing, non-fiction books, traveling and the many cultural and leisure experiences Manhattan has to offer.
Questionable financial protagonist Moody’s is once again in the cross-hairs, only this time, the antagonist comes with an Italian name, Michele Ruggiero. The conflict? Market manipulation.
In spring of this year, Greece’s economy hit rock bottom, striking fear in the hearts of euro investors who were primed to react irrationally at the slightest news of doom.
Enter Moody’s, international rating agency giant.
On 6 May 2010 at 11:15am, Moody’s circulated a report that rated the Italian banking and economic systems to be “at risk”. In a matter of hours the value of the Italian financial market turned into a figurative picture of a Christmas tree after New Years: thrown to the sidewalk with only a few remnants of cheap tinsel hanging off a deadened pine needle. Unlike the unfortunate tree however, the walk of shame only lasted for one day. Prime minister and part-time political scandal spotlight-stealer Silvio Berlusconi, who interestingly holds the opinion for rating agencies that much of the Italian public holds of him – lost credibility – came to the rescue, stating that the “Italian public accounts are solid [and] the country is not at risk”. Other powerful figures in politics, finance and the banking industry also intervened to debunk Moody’s claims and sustain that Italy was not at risk of default. Fitch, another international rating agency, affirmed the same and the next day Moody’s decided to change its position.
Nevertheless, the misleading information and resulting freefall, however brief, prompted the main consumer associations of Adusbef and Federconsumatori to file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office of Trani. Carlo Maria Capristo, head of the office, passed the case to Michele Ruggiero, the deputy public prosecutor who was already investigating charges against American Express regarding a fraud scandal involving revolving credit cards. Ruggiero was also part of the prosecution team investigating allegations of pressure from Berlusconi on Agcom, the Italian Communications Authority, to shut down Annozero, a political talk show whose guests frequently roast the prime minister.
At the center of the market rigging investigation is Ross Abercromby, the senior analyst who backed the statements made by Moody’s in its report. Abercromby has been issued a cautionary warrant by the prosecutor’s office of Treni; charges include manipulation of the finance market and disclosure of false information, among others. The prosecution is looking for evidence that Moody’s engaged in market rigging at the cost of investors by issuing the detrimental report that resulted in a severe alteration in the value of Italian securities. If found guilty, Moody’s could be forced to make retribution payments.
This is not the first time Moody’s has come under scrutiny. The first drama happened in 1976 when Moody’s dropped the rating of NYC MAC bonds from A to B after the state of New York had issued a moratorium on payment of principal for city notes that were outstanding, causing a huge drop in the sale of bonds and prompting allegations against Moody’s of political bias as reasons for the rating drop. In 2007 Moody’s, along with Standard and Poor’s and Fitch, came under fire for failing to predict the housing bubble crash, allowing the bubble to grow to the size it did and failing to properly adjust its ratings until the last minute when it was already too late for many investors. In April of this year Moody’s was issued a subpoena from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission for its role in assigning misleading credit ratings for toxic assets, which ultimately helped to contribute to the financial crisis of 2008.
Whether or not Moody’s did intentionally manipulate the market or whether they simply made an overly negative judgment call remains to be seen. Italy, like the rest of the world, has had its struggles since the 2008 global financial disaster. It has certainly seemed to hold its own in comparison to Greece, Portugal and Ireland as of late, although last month, Citi economist Willem Buiter cited his pessimism for the future of Italy’s risk ratings as a result of continued political instability and high debt levels. The recent Parisian-worthy mob riot in Piazza del Popolo in Rome after Berlusconi won the confidence vote by 314 to 311, in addition to the many student riots (see photos) that have taken place throughout Italy in response to University reforms, can attest to a severely divided government and angry citizens, two things that can certainly give investors reason to shudder.
Nevertheless, risk or no risk, one thing is sure; Italy will not be devaluated without a fight!
Nina Michael is in her junior year in the BS in Business program at CUNY School of Professional Studies. Nina has been all over the world and loves traveling; she currently lives between Italy and New York where she works as a professional English teacher and translator. She loves languages, food, coffee, wine and a good book; she is also a first-rate bartender.
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. ~ Aristotle
One night last summer, I decided to click on one of those ubiquitous dating website banner ads. I appropriately selected each required search criterion, clicked search, and I was on my way. Truth be told, I never officially signed up with the site but simply opted for the course of least resistance; the just-try-it-out-with-no-commitment route. As I scanned through the profiles of results my search had yielded, one profile characteristic kept leaping out at me: Most of the women had obtained graduate degrees. At that moment I felt a deep sense of educational inferiority.
My malaise eventually dissipated. After all, higher learning institutions do not possess a monopoly on the entire spectrum of educations life has to offer. The totality that makes each of us who we are far exceeds the mere response to highest educational level attained. Yet, that feeling that I needed to challenge myself educationally and pursue a secondary degree remained entrenched in my consciousness.
Last summer the N.Y. Times printed an article, “What’s a Master’s Degree Worth”? The article elicited 791 comments, some more illuminating than others. If you had taken the time to read through many of the responses, you would have been inevitably let down if your search pinned its hopes on discovering a conclusive verdict. What this illustrates is that there really is no correct answer to how much a master’s degree is really worth. We each possess varying motivations and desires to pursue those missing pieces we believe will properly fill voids in the mosaic that makes up who we wish to be in life. It’s not so much a question of the worth of a master’s degree but rather the value it bestows to the student.
Pursuing a master’s degree – or any degree – through a rigorous course-by-course approach, in a methodical and comprehensive manner, within dictated time schedules and stringent parameters, is a pursuit that truly conveys to the participant that he or she is absolutely immersed in an endeavor that is gratifying on an intellectual and an educational level. If one’s motivations are genuine, on a personal level, the value of a master’s degree will almost certainly exceed its cost. But caveat emptor, unlike a dating website, this is one process that demands unyielding commitment, has many strings attached, and cheaters will not receive a second chance.
John Brigantino is a graduate student in the Master of Science in Business Management & Leadership Program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies. He enjoys writing, non-fiction books, traveling and the many cultural and leisure experiences Manhattan has to offer.
