The Watergate Scandal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The Watergate Scandal - Essay Example Taken one at a time, each crime may not have been that egregious. However, the gravity of the scandal comes from the sheer number of crimes, the number of people involved, their sweeping impact, and the unbridled willingness to cover-up the crimes at any cost. . While the term Watergate referred specifically to the break-in at the Watergate Hotel, the scandal would ultimately involve a complex tapestry of political corruption, obstruction of justice, illegal domestic spying, abusing public agencies for political purposes, tax fraud, and corruption. The word has worked its way into the popular culture as a descriptive term for anything associated with political corruption such as Iran-gate, Whitewater-gate, and Paula Jones-gate. The case would drag on through numerous investigations, eventually resulting in the jailing or resignation of more than 40 public officials, many of them for the actions taken during the infamous cover-up. The Watergate scandal that broke into the public realm with the news that five men had been arrested while breaking into the Democratic National Headquarters on June 17, 1972 had actually begun much earlier. In September 1971, G.Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt had burglarized the office of a psychiatrist in an effort to obtain the medical files on Daniel Ellsberg, a defense analyst who had released documents to The New York Times that would prove embarrassing to the administration's war effort.1 An additional break-in in May of 1972 had placed an illegal listening device in the headquarters of the Democratic National Party. These operations had been financed by the operation of a secret slush fund consisting of tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions. In addition, the administration had used the CIA and FBI to spy on Nixon's political opponents, which illegally used public agencies for political purposes. By the time of the Watergate break-in in June 1972, the Nixon administration had already established a pattern of illegal activity. The report of the break-in at the Watergate Hotel initially dew very little public attention, but within a year would mushroom into a major political scandal. According to the Washington Star News, within two weeks of the 1972 burglary the Philippines sugar industry had funneled $30,000 into the Nixon campaign to help pay for the Watergate cover-up.2 The cover-up would eventually involve scores of White House insiders. Later investigations would reveal the existence of a cash fund kept in a White House vault to be used for hush money and to finance other illegal operations. During the trial of the burglars, Judge John Sirica learned that the men and the money connected to the crime were a part of the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP), headed by John Mitchell.3 The defendants in the trial refused to cooperate, but subsequent hearings in the Senate would lead to the highest levels of the government. White House Counsel John Dean would be the lone White House official that wou ld come forward and cooperate with the government's investigations. Dean claimed that Nixon was aware of a secret $300,000 campaign donation by the dairy industry designed to influence the government,

DP World Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

DP World Company - Essay Example DP World operates in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Indian sub-continent, Australia and in America. The company has taken initiative in the process of reducing frequency of lost time injuries and has been successful in bring down the value of the same to 7.6 in 2011 from 10.1 in 2009. The company also focuses on the internal control of the company related to the organizational structure of the company, code of conduct, whistle blowing policy, risk management and performance, etc. Pensions and post retirement benefits are provided to the employees of the company, which shows that the company takes enough care of its employees even after the termination of employment (â€Å"DP World 2011 Annual Report† 1-10). Reason for DP stock being overvalued The stock of a company is said to be overvalued if the current price of the stocks of the company is greater than stock’s intrinsic value. Here the price earnings of the stock are primarily being considered in order to explain the reasons behind the overvaluation of the stocks of DP World. The price earnings ratio of the company has been relatively high in comparison to the historical price earnings ratio of the company, which is why the stock of DP World is considered to be overvalued. The growth in the global container traffic has risen by three times the rate at which the world used to trade in the past decade. This has also benefited the investors of the DP World due to the emerging trend of the global economy. DP World has escaped the Wall Street crunch and the consecutive downturn of the global economy as witnessed in 2008 and have successfully returned to the range of 40% with $2.7 billion of cash along with the long-term debt of the company. Thus, the rise of DP World has been a consistent one. But the company has clearly shown signs of overvaluation with its IPO price which has turned out to be 22times the value of the shares of the company. The main reason behind this is the fall in the share price of the company from $1.20 to $ 0.70 at the time of the global financial meltdown in 2008-09. The IPO rate of the company was traded at a higher range which led to the investors investing in the higher range to get a substantial return from the company. In a process of making quick profit, the stocks of the company became overvalued. Generally, global container companies trade 9 times the earnings of the company, so the DP World’s valuation metrics increased by 12 times the earnings of the company. This resulted in the price earnings ratio of the company to rise at 25 times in 2011. An increase in the price earnings ratio of the company can also be another reason for the over valuation of the stock of DP World. Moreover, listing of the stocks of DP World in the LSE (London Stock Exchange) can be the reason behind the overvaluation of DP World stock. Even the stock split strategy of the company was a reason for the overvaluation of the stocks of DP World. The volat ility of the market can result in the valuation of the stocks of the company to be either over valued or undervalued. The consistency of the DP World can be witnessed from the annual report of the company, which shows the company is progressing randomly whereas the financial global economy has not revived likewise causing the overvaluation of the stocks of DP World. However, the fall in the revenue of the company from $3,188,941,000 (in 2010) to $2,977,731,000 (in 2011) is slowly leading to the