Ethics in Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Ethics in Financial Management - Essay Example In the article discussed in this paper we see how a person in power takes advantage of his position for personal gain. Henry M. Paulson was the Treasury secretary during the Bush Administration. He was also a major shareholder of Goldman Sachs. Mr. Paulson wanted to make it seem as if his ethical standards were implacable. He sold all his shares of Goldman Sachs and vowed not to get involved in any issues associated with the investment banking sector since he had many friends and colleagues in the industry. Getting involved in issues associated with the investment banking sector would constitute a conflict of interest ethical violation. A conflict of interest occurs when a person has a conflict between his private interest and the individual public obligations (Answers, 2009). The Treasury secretary was in the middle of the entire bailout package scandal. When the government allocated $85 million dollar of the bailout money to the American International Group (AIG), Mr. Paulson’s former employer, Goldman Sachs, received millions of dollars in debt collection from AIG as a consequence of the b ailout package deal. Even though Henry Paulson claims he did nothing wrong and that his actions were not unethical in any way because he was simply doing his job as secretary of treasury, many Wall Street experts believed Goldman Sachs received preferential treatment during the entire process. During the AIG bailout package took place Mr. Paulson spoke the CEO of Goldman Sachs over two dozen times (Morgenson & Van Natta, 2009). The amount of phone calls exceeds by a lot the conversations the governmental official had with any other Wall Street executive. Mr. Paulson claimed he received an ethics waiver. To me this waiver seems like a cheap excuse because the treasury secretary’s actions were clearly an ethical violation since his former employer was receiving preferential

Democracy in Singapore Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Democracy in Singapore - Essay Example Despite all of this, Singapore is consistently ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. The Singapore government is led by a Prime Minister and a President. The latter plays largely a ceremonial role, although the position does contain some veto powers. The Members of Parliament are voted into parliament by the first-past-the-post system. The PAP has controlled Parliament every since the first election in 1959, although the opposition Workers’ Party was able to make significant inroads into Parliament in the 2011 elections. If Singapore’s citizens are able to demand more freedom, it is possible that the country will be able to become a more democratic society. The one thing in Singapore’s favor is that it is relatively corrupt free and is one of the better educated nations in Southeast Asia. If the government realizes that greater freedom will lead to a more productive economy then political change is possible in the not too distant