Marketing Plan of FORD MOTOR

Marketing Plan of FORD MOTOR Executive Summary The main objective of this assessment is to accomplish a detailed marketing plan of the Ford Motor Company within the perspective of the international automotive industry. In doing so, the paper would focus on epitomizing an appropriate company profile of Ford Motor, considering the financial overview of the company, formulating a SWOT Analysis, reviewing the current marketing situation of Ford along with a BCG matrix, and creating a comprehensive competitive review of the industry.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Marketing Plan of FORD MOTOR specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Furthermore, the paper would illustrate the potential marketing strategies of the company with consideration of the marketing research, brand positioning strategy, brand-positioning map, target market, and marketing mix. To conclude, the appraisal shall focus on assembling applicable recommendations together with an apposit e conclusion. Introduction Presently, globalization has transformed the pace of the entire global commercial structure and the business environment influencing every sphere of the international trading issues both optimistically and pessimistically. The positive affects of globalization include the fact that together with many other industries, the automobile industry has also become open to the whole world and this has resulted in the business of Ford Motor to reach the market to a far-reaching level. Widely extensive international market means increasing sales and consecutively, higher annual profit margins for the motor company. However, despite of so many benefits that Ford Motor is receiving, a major issue that remains with the impact of globalization on the company is that the firm now requires a quite high amount of expenditure on carrying out its marketing activities. Company Profile Bloomberg Businessweek suggested that Ford Motor Company, one of the globe’s biggest vehicle manufacturers, started its journey in the twentieth century with brands that comprise of Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury (1). It is important to note that Ford runs in two main parts, namely, Automotive and Financial Services the Automotive sector consist operations of North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific Africa and Volvo; on the other hand, the Financial services consist operations of Ford Motor Credit Company and Other Financial Services. Ford is a multibillion-dollar automobile manufacturing business based in the United States with excellent trends as one of the largest industry players, which provides quality products and services to customers all throughout the globe; the company has over 5,000 Dealer Communication Network, such as FordStar, a largest interactive distance-training network in the world.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Fin ancial Overview Being such a giant player in the global automotive industry, Ford Motors possess a strong financial position enough well built to compete with the market leaders of the industry. According to Bloomberg Businessweek (1), year over year, Ford Motor has observed revenues shrivel from $129.2 billion to $105.9 billion, although it was capable to raise net income from $2.7 billion to $14.8 billion; reduction in percentage of sales, general, and administrative costs from 16.58-12.46 percent was a key-component in the bottom line growth in the face of falling revenues. The following table shows the five years financial review of the motor company for a better understanding of the Ford’s financial position: Determinants of Financial Position FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 Revenues $143,249 $154,379 $129,165 $105,893 $27,592 Total Revenues $160,065 $170,572 $145,114 $118,308 $29,893 Cost of Goods-Sold $145,066 $142,667 $121,737 $99,934 $24,233 Gross -Profit $6,970 $20,431 $14,908 $12,583 $4,750 Total General-sales and Admin-Expenses $19,148 $21,132 $21,414 $13,194 $2,654 Other Operating-Expenses $19,148 $21,132 $21,414 $13,194 $2,654 Operating-Income $-12,178 $-701 $-6,506 $-611 $2,096 Net Interest-Expense $414 $-650 $-1,110 $-1,306 $-344 Earnings of Discontinued-Operations $16 $41 $9 $5   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   _ Net-Income -$12,613 -$2,795 -$14,7660 $2,717 $1,687 Table 1: Financial Overview of Ford Motors Source: Self-generated from Bloomberg Businessweek (1) On the other hand, increasing rates of oil and gasoline prices, taxation rates, fluctuated global demand for manufactured car, and rising competitive pressure through domestic production intensity, recession’s effects, and the economic conditions of the automotive industry as a whole are notable to put external impacts over the financial position of Ford Motors. During the global financial downturn, the company suffered a loss of $6.3bn, and ca rried out 2600 job cuts; the company cut salaried employment costs by 10 percent by lowering compensations of the white-collar employees and sold off Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.bn to Tata Motors.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Marketing Plan of FORD MOTOR specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to NASDAQ (1), such adverse impacts of the recession were clearly visible in the company’s revenue and consequently on its share prices; the following figure (a five years stock price graph) gives an apparent idea of how the external economic environment of the industry affected the stock prices of the company in 2008 to 2009 period: Figure 1: Five Years Stock Price of Ford Motors Source: NASDAQ (1) SWOT Analysis of Ford Motors A brief account of the SWOT analysis of this automotive company has illustrated in figure 1: Figure 2: SWOT Analysis of Ford Motor Strengths:Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Brand awareness Financial capability Experience Promotion Leadership Diversified product line Weaknesses: Increase production and operating costs Lack of experience in new market Rules and regulation Opportunities: To be market leader in automobile industry Increase Interest Development of es of Some Products Car-models The company usually launches different cars in different countries; Ford-Taunus, Ford-Scorpio, Ford-Sierra, Ford-Fiesta, Ford-Festiva, Ford-Figo, Ford-Focus, Ford-Fusion, Ford-LTD-II, Ford-LTD (Crown-Victoria), Ford-Mainline, Ford-Marauder, and Ford-Maverick are significant among those Van-models Most well known ones are Ford-Aerostar, Ford-E-Series, Ford-Econovan, Ford-Endeavour, Ford-Freestar, Ford-I-MAX, Ford-Thames-300E, Ford-Thames-400E, Ford-Transit, and Ford-Windstar SUV-models The company has considered Ford-Bronco, Ford-Edge, Ford-Escape, Ford-Everest, Ford-Excursion, Ford-Expedition, Ford-Explorer, Ford-Fiera, Ford-Flex, Ford-Freestyle, Ford-Fusi on, Ford-Taurus, and Ford-Territory to be the best SUV-models Truck-models Ford has launched countless truck-model throughout its history, which includes Ford-Mainlin, Ford-N-Series, Ford-Panel-truck, Ford-R-Series, Ford-Ranchero, Ford-Ranchero, Ford-Ranger, Ford-Ranger-EV, Ford-Super-Duty, and many more Tractor-models Ford-600-Series Tractors and Ford-Workmaster are one of the company’s renowned tractor-models; some other types comprise of Ford-Powermaster, TW10, TW20, TW30, TW15, TW25, TW35, and so on Bus-models Ford Motor’s buses has manufactured for a number of purposes, for instance, for school-transport, public transport, and for industrial uses; Ford-Transit bus/van, Ford-E 450 Super-Duty minibus, Ford-B Series, Type-C-conventional-bus, Ford MB-IV100, Ford-MBC-IV 200, Ford Specialty-Trolley, Transit-Suburban Bus, Ford-G 99 7, Ford-R-Series, Ford-rader, Ford-Hawke, Ford-ET7, Ford 19B-29B, Ford-7 2B, and Ford-ET 7-Aqualina are most widely used throughout the world Table 4: Diversified Product Line of Ford Motor Source: Self-generated Price: Ford set the prices of the products by keeping in mind about the quality and production costs of the cars. It also considers the income levels of its targeted customers. Place: Ford has hundreds of showrooms throughout the world where it does its placements. Promotion: This vehicle-manufacturing firm is recently undertaking several strategic approaches to increase its sales-configuration; its advertising strategies are now concentrating on gratifying and impressing the people who put across abhorrence over Ford’s cars. Its latest shove for inducing the customers has designed for its critics; the firm provided hundred customers a car for a period of 6 months and requested them to accomplish diverse journeys every month; at the journeys, agents used their Fiestas to distribute Meals on Wheels along with many other offering for the customers like treats to the National Guard. The customers q uested for exiting-adventures, or even for mere entertainment within the activities; in addition, after all these, Ford marketed the stories of those missions on You Tube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter that contributed significantly over Ford’s marketing activities.The promotional strategy of the Ford varies accordingly with changing consumer trends, demands, and other external circumstances. The company plans the promotional packages depending on the factors such as different seasons, New Year festivals, Christmas Eve, occasions like Valentines Day, Easter Sunday, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Halloween, etc. The reason for these strategies lies behind the fact that most of the customer groups of Ford will be having a fluctuation in demand of the products offered by the company depending on these specific periods of the year. The customers more often like to buy more private-cars during festive events. During New Year, Christmas, Mother’s day, Father’s Day the numb er of people visiting the Ford Showroom raises for which reason depending on the type of festival or occasion, Ford sets special offers; for instance, special promotional packages that include discount-vouchers, money-off coupon codes for great discounts, and many other packages for clients as well. These offers will help the company to gain competitive advantage over the competitors by augmenting sales during these special periods of the year. This strategy benefits the company by generating an interest among the new Ford customers for being loyal in order to gain full advantage of the promotional packages, which in turn, would raise the profit margins of the company together with the advertising campaigns. Recommendation As the car manufacturing companies are showing positive attitude to save the world from global warming, they are producing environment friendly products. The competition is becoming high day-by-day among the companies; therefore, Ford Motor should launch new envir onment friendly brands considering purchasing power and attitude of the customer. To hold its existing global market share, the company needs to amplify its annual budget for RD to introduce quality products and develop technology. The rationale of this recommendation is the competitors of Ford offer differentiated environment friendly products at comparatively low price. As Ford has corporate social responsibility, it should consider safety issue more carefully; otherwise, brand image of the company would be destroyed. As a result, Ford always should remember the consequence of Ford Pinto the oldest model of the company, which was the cause of the accidental death of several people. That model also collapsed only for the safety problem; so, it should offer quality products to protect the passenger from accidents, save the money of customers, and reduce other problems. Conclusion Being one of the most popular brands in world, Ford has always concentrated on serving its customers wit h highest level of satisfaction. In so doing, it has undertaken countless marketing strategies throughout its history. Additionally, during recession, due to financial-losses, it fell behind in terms of marketing activities. However, Ford is recovering from this by undertaking numerous development-policies through which it has expected to lead the market in future. Bloomberg Businessweek. FORD MOTOR CO (F:New York). 2010. Web. Ford. Annual Report 2009: One Ford. (2009). Web. NASDAQ. Ford Motor Credit Company (F) Stock Charts. 2010. Web. https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/f/stock-chart

Pterodactylus Facts and Figures

Pterodactylus Facts and Figures Name: Pterodactylus (Greek for wing finger); pronounced TEH-roe-DACK-till-us; sometimes called pterodactyl Habitat: Shores of Europe and South Africa Historical Period: Late Jurassic (150-144 million years ago) Size and Weight: Wingspan of three feet and two to 10 pounds Diet: Insects, meat and fish Distinguishing Characteristics: Long beak and neck; short tail; wings of skin attached to three-fingered hands About Pterodactylus Pterodactylus is a case study in how confusing it can be to classify 150-million-year-old animals. The first specimen of this pterosaur was discovered way back in 1784, in Germanys Solnhofen fossil beds, decades before before naturalists had any conception of the theory of evolution (which wouldnt be scientifically formulated, by Charles Darwin, until about 70 years later) or, indeed, any grasp of the possibility that animals could go extinct. Fortunately, in retrospect, Pterodactylus was named by one of the first academics to grapple with these issues, the Frenchman Georges Cuvier. (See a gallery of Pterodactylus and Pteranodon pictures and 10 facts about pterodactyls.) Because it was discovered so early in the history of paleontology, Pterodactylus suffered the same fate as other before-their-time dinosaurs of the 19th century like Megalosaurus and Iguanodon: any fossil that remotely resembled the type specimen was assumed to belong to a separate Pterodactylus species or a genus that later wound up being synonymized with Pterodactylus, so at one point there were no less than two dozen named varieties! Paleontologists have since sorted out most of the confusion; the remaining two Pterodactylus species, P. antiquus and P. kochi, are pretty much beyond reproach, and other species have since been assigned to related genera like Germanodactylus, Aerodactylus, and Ctenochasma. Now that weve sorted all that out, exactly what kind of creature was Pterodactylus? This late Jurassic pterosaur was characterized by its relatively small size (a wingspan of only about three feet and a weight of ten pounds, max), its long, narrow beak, and its short tail, the classic body plan of a pterodactyloid, as opposed to a rhamphorhynchoid, pterosaur. (During the later Mesozoic Era, some pterodactyloid pterosaurs would grow to truly enormous sizes, as witness the small-plane-sized Quetzalcoatlus.)Â  Pterodactylus is often depicted as flying low over the coastlines of western Europe and northern Africa (much like a modern seagull) and plucking small fish out of the water, though it may also have subsisted on insects (or even the occasional small dinosaur) as well. On a related note, because it has been in the public eye for well over two centuries, Pterodactylus (in the abbreviated form pterodactyl) has become pretty much synonymous with flying reptile, and is often used to refer to the entirely different pterosaur Pteranodon. Also, for the record, Pterodactylus was only remotely related to the first prehistoric birds, which descended instead from the small, terrestrial, feathered dinosaurs of the later Mesozoic Era. (Confusingly, the type specimen of Pterodactylus was recovered from the same Solnhofen deposits as the contemporaneous Archaeopteryx; its important to bear in mind that the former was a pterosaur, while the latter was a theropod dinosaur, and thus occupied an entirely different branch of the evolutionary tree.)

Careers in Finance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Careers in Finance - Assignment Example Cooperate finance professionals must integrate perfect mastery of management structures to withstand global business challenges such as competition. Negotiation skills are equally necessary for corporate finance professionals. Some companies prefer centralized functions for corporate finance functions. Professionals should expect to work in an environment of shared services. Professionals should be team-oriented to work best in environments of decentralized services. Corporate finance professionals serve in a challenging work environment that demands high proficiency levels. Global nature of operations for most companies makes it disadvantageous to operate as a corporate finance professional. Investment banking job entails advising companies and governments issues regarding financial securities. It aids investment by performing the following functions to the investors; help the investors to purchase securities, manage their financial assets, trade securities, and provide financial advice to them. One must offer concrete explanations on matters concerning financial security to the companies, government, or potential investors (Careers in Business 1). A career in money management involves analyzing market trends in the sectors as the stock market. Success of money managers depends on the choice of technique employed. Some successful money managers employ use of simple intuition while other uses quantitative techniques. Besides the aforementioned techniques, success in money management requires unique skills, discipline, acceptance of defeat, and broad-mindedness. The main operational fields available for money managers involve corporate bonds, agency securities, mortgaged-backs, or market stocks. Choice of a starting point in investment management may be a difficult task and an individual needs to identify the best money managers. The best starting points are insurance companies, bank trust, and state and local pension

Employee Engagement in Sainsburys Supermarkets Dissertation

Employee Engagement in Sainsburys Supermarkets - Dissertation Example The Nature of Employee Engagement Increasingly, employees have been faced with more, and more exacting, demands by their employers in the workplace. As a result, employee health and satisfaction have suffered as work life has proceeded to encroach upon personal and family life. Employee health and satisfaction have begun to deteriorate, fostering an escalating cynicism and mistrust by the employee against the firm. In return, corporations have given little in return, rendering most jobs staid and frustrating, something employees would have resigned from long ago were it not for the paycheck. According to Flade, more than 80% of the workforce in the UK have expressed a lack of commitment to their jobs, resulting in an untapped reservoir of potential energy that organizations could, with the proper approach, tap to improve productivity while fostering greater employee satisfaction. When employees are unhappy about their jobs, their disinterest and apathy become a hindrance to their smooth and competent performance on the job, and may impact negatively on the firm’s productivity and profitability. It is for this reason that employee engagement, has been developed as a tool for the proper and productive motivation of employees. Kennedy and Daim state that employee engagement is taken by many to signify the â€Å"management of discretionary effort†. Employees are so situated that they would choose to act in furtherance of their organization’s goals, because their own goals are identified with it.

Views of Barack obama vs. Hillary Clintons. Essay Example for Free

Views of Barack obama vs. Hillary Clintons. Essay Barack Obama and John Edwards, Mrs. Clinton’s are two main rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination. They are both running outsiders/ agents of change. Both Clinton and Obama say they would change a number of things if elected as presidents. They argue that tax, health, gun control and war in Iraq are their key issues to be looked at. Mrs. Clinton argues that change can only be a word without strength and experience to make it happen. There are various similarities and differences in the way they view change if they are to be presidents of the USA. We will view the following key issues that are more important for the people of the USA. Issue on The Economy. Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama and challenger, Hillary Clinton are both zipping on the economy as the campaign moves to big industrial states full of losses and foreclosures . Since the economy in the USA seems to be declining it’s important that this question in seriously looked at by all the democratic parties. They are both saying they want to bring a complete transformation to the US economy that almost the whole world depends on. Clinton says the economy is not serving the middle class urging that for the past four years productivity has risen and wages have declined she said I quote â€Å"America did not build greatest economy in the world because we had rich people; we built the greatest economy in the world because we built the America middle class†. Both of them want to repeal President George W. Bushs tax cuts, provide economic liberation to the middle class and increase regime spending on health care and education. Both embrace free trade to an incomplete extent, and say of helping those who lose out because of globalization. Clinton presents herself as a problem-solver, stressing cooperation between business and government, calling to diminish sponsorship in especially Washington. She attacks obama claiming that she has action not words and that she has policies and experience to rebuild the manufacturing base in the US and look at mutual interests, she will crack down on unfair trade with countries like china by reviewing all existing trade liberalization bargain. She is seemed wanting to resolve issues on energy, infrastructure investment, health care and values that built the U. S. economy. She wants to bring United States challenges globally back to its fundamentals. Barack Obama says they should invest in infrastructure projects like roads, bridges and airports and also plan to create green-energy jobs he says that he wants to major focus going forward, that from Obama’s economic adviser, saying he speaks about the brake of the economy in the short run, and what investments in terms of occupations, technology and workforce dexterities needed for the future. Since Obama received major votes from the lower income voters he is really looking forward to see that the economy favors them in terms of creating better jobs for them and improving their lifestyles. They are repeatedly conflicting over the economy which is becoming the central point of debates ahead. As for the differences Clinton is offering targeted tax cuts while Obama wider middle-class tax relief. Issue on Health care. Both Obama and Clinton are looking forward for means and ways and ways that we improve the health standards for the Americans especially the low-income people. They are suggesting ways of seeing that public health care is improved. Democratic presidential candidate senator Hilary Rodham Clinton (NY) has explained he widespread monetary enclose than has a proposal to broaden health insurance to all U. S. residents she was telling insurance companies not to distinguish of any sick person. (Washington Post reports (weisman/Kornbult, Washington Post, 2/15). She was warning against drug companies and insurance. Finally she was for diminution in health costs make them more affordable and try craft more jobs for the Americans that will have a strong built-up base in America. She is recommending ways of helping workers in their late fifties and early sixties to buy Medicare and also wants to promote medical information machinery sponsored Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist(R-Tenn). With Senator Barack Obama 76% of people with health concerns about health costs and 72% have concerns about prescription drug exposure and the safety and eminence of care. He says that most of the health insurance companies are doing well so he does not encourage on more people taking insurance covers but rather improve in their services to people. There are great controversies between the two candidates on health issues. Obama criticizes Clinton’s health care plan for requiring everyone to purchase an insurance cover saying his plan. While Clinton mandates health-care coverage Obamas plan doesnt have a mandate on any of the health care issues. Issue on America at war. There are no differences when it comes to the war because of the candidates seem t o be against this war especially the Iraq war, though Obama seems to be the more outstanding candidate who is more against this form of war. According to Washington times politicians like Clinton and McCain voted for the Iraq war that should have never been authorized and remunerated. In Barack Obama’s interviews and speeches oppose the war from the start even now. He really wants peace between the two countries because it has really taken too many resources especially precious lives and billions of dollars a week than would have been used for other development projects like building collapsed schools and bridges; roads and buildings; that would have invested in child job guidance and care; or even making health care affordable. He has taken clear and unswerving antiwar position on the Iraq war He has emerged as the antiwar candidate constantly lashing home his point. Obama says the cause of the war is due to Bush’s mismanagement, poor administration and because he did not want to be disappointed. Obama’s stand is stable and definite against the war. He says the problem can be solved by dialogue with Iraq. (Bbc. co. uk) Hillary ways she was against starting the war she does not have a strong position on the war in Iraq. First she has never voted against the war nor does she give any suggestions to end the war. Issue on tax reform Both Barrack Obama and Hillary have similar thought on wounding down or reducing costs of taxes for the residents of U. S. , but Obama does not seem to have better stratagems to accompany his in realizing his goals like Hillary Clinton has. Hillary has a plan of cutting down taxes for the middle class people. Another ample plan to end the housing catastrophe with a moratorium of foreclosures and a freeze in finance rates for at-risk homeowners. She plans on redirecting millions of dollars to oil company proceeds to alternative energy research to find solutions to the energy crisis and create about 5 million jobs. Contrary Barack Obama has no plans of putting a suspension on home foreclosures, he is for the Dick Cheney’s energy bill that will give huge tax breaks to oil companies and to raise Social Security taxes y billions and billions of dollars. Issue on guns Control On this final issue both Barrack Obama and Hillary have similar opinions on the use and control of guns. Obama proposes these principles on the issue of guns. He says there should be a ban in the sale or transfer of all varieties of semi-habitual weapons; there should be an increase in the state of curbs on the attainment and tenure of firearms; and makers are required to provide child safety locks with firearms. Hillary says there should be entirety bun of all guns in America. She further continues to say that they need to stand compact on behalf of gun control legislation, laws that will keep guns off children’s hands, scandalous and mentally unstable people. Finally she says that she has a strong believe that all Americans as a nation should fight to keep off guns off people not authorized to have guns. To conclude the Democratic candidates have similar views but different interpretations so as to be better presidents for the United States’ most powerful country. They are both challenging one another positively with their ideas and innovations that they are better than the other all for the betterment of the nation and themselves. All of them want U. S. to be the best place for the world that the rest of the world may learn by example for them.

Partytime Equals a Lifetime - Original Writing :: Papers

Partytime Equals a Lifetime - Original Writing Tears roll down my cheeks as I lay staring at my bedroom ceiling. Memories of the previous week, still haunting me. The distorted image of his face appearing everytime I close my eyes, the smell of his breath still tickles my nose, the thumping of the base still bangs in my head as I can feel the weight of his body pressing against me. Even the hairs on my arms stand to attention as I remember my 17th birthday party. The alcohol concoction that my best friend Kelly handed to me from my dad's overtowering cupboard; burnt my throat as I swallowed! The taste of the sharp, acidic solution that created this burning sensation, that I know believe was whisky; passed my lips more times than I remember. Everything then turned hazy! My stomach began to churn. Colours blurred. The room began to spin. The music became one humongous buzz. I stumbled to the stairs. Slumped on the stairs, head in my hands I struggled to breathe. A tall dark shadow was then cast over me. Confused, I slowly raised my head. Twinkling in the light the figures belt buckle stung my eyes. Blinking to refocus, a bright white shirt caught my eye, blending perfectly with the figures pale skin. Two dark brown eyes stared right at me like needles piercing my skin. Immediately I became agitated and rose to my feet. The room began to spin again! My breathing shuddering as the contents of my stomach was churning like a boiling cauldron. Loosing my balance I fell forward. The figure reached out and prevented me from hitting the floor, at the time I was so appreciative; I just wish I had fallen now. A couple of bruises would be nothing compared to the torture I'm suffering from now! After not receiving any bruises but still in the stranger's arms, my feet left the floor. Quite relieved to not have to try and balance anymore I didn't think to complain. I just gently floated upstairs and

The Analysis of Kaiser and the War by Simon J. Ortiz

Simon J. Ortiz is a Native American who was born on May 27, 1941 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He belongs to the Acoma Pueblo tribe. He is considered as one of the most respected Native American writer. He grew up in the Acoma village of McCartys and spoke his native tongue of Keresan with his family. Ortiz’s father was a railroad and a wood carver. As a member of the Acoma Pueblo tribe, his father was tasked to preserve the tradition and religious beliefs of the clan (Wiget, 1994, p. 115)Simon J. Ortiz went to the McCartys Day School and then to St. Catherine’s Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In school, Native Americans were prohibited to speak their native language. Ortiz had a difficult time assimilating with the new culture he was exposed to. He began to write in his diary his experiences and create short stories. He channeled his energy to read books (p.117)While studying away from his family, Ortiz can’t bear his loneliness and returned to his hometown . He enrolled at the Albuquerque Indian School. The school is a vocational school which taught the students plumbing and mechanics. Ortiz learned metal and woodworking. After graduating from Grants High School in Grants, New Mexico, Ortiz worked at Kerr-McGee uranium plant. His experience at the mining plant inspired him to write his work, â€Å"Fight Back: For the Sake of the people, for the Sake of the Land† (p.123)Through an educational grant, Simon J. Ortiz was able to attend Fort Lewis College and he majored in Chemistry (p.125).Simon Ortiz’s Career PathOrtiz served the U.S. Military for three years. Fresh from the army, he enrolled at the University of New Mexico. He pursued his passion for writing and he was able to write his life experiences as a Native American. In 1968, he became a fellow at the University of Iowa. â€Å"In 1982, he was made an editor at the Pueblo of the Acoma Press. In 1988, he was tasked to be an interpreter for the Acoma Pueblo tribe and the following year Ortiz became the First Lieutenant Governor for the clan† (p.130)Throughout the years, Ortiz was recognized and given numerous awards for his literary works. He received the Pushcart prize for his work â€Å"From Sand Creek: Rising in This Heart Which Is Our America†. He was also given the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work â€Å"Returning the Gift† (p.133)Literary ThemesSimon J. Ortiz presented issues common to people particularly the plight of his Acoma Pueblo tribe. His work discusses themes of â€Å"alienation, colonialism, Native American struggles, the environment and the effects of technology† (Native American Literature, 1985, p.178)â€Å"Kaiser and the War†We can not divorce the life of the author from his art because his life experiences have a profound influence on his literary works. A case in point is Simon Ortiz’s short story, Kaiser and the War.The story revolves around a man who had little knowledge of the English language;   Kaiser, the protagonist opposed the idea of being enlisted in the U.S. Military Service. As a result, he escaped to the Black Mesa Mountains while being pursued by the county sheriff and the draft board agents. As I see it, Kaiser avoided the draft because he feels that the war is senseless. Like most Native Americans who mostly lived in their communities,   he does not feel an affinity towards mainstream America. So, why would he go to war? His flight for avoiding the draft is the only way he could free himself from the dictates of the Americansociety. It is a   sense of freeing himself physically and spiritually.. It is also a way of expressing his desire to return to his roots and his essence as a human being.   His escape to some extent provided him the option of dealing with his chaotic life.   However, Kaiser’s escape did not only alienate him even more from the society; it also alienated him from his family. Finally after years of hidi ng, Kaiser surrendered and he was sent to jail for escaping the draft. After serving his time in prison, Kaiser becomes isolated from society. From this experience, Kaiser succumbed to depression. He was unable to keep his life together after what transpired. He failed to reunite with his family. In the end, he lived alone and died a broken man.The themes of alienation and separation surround the story. In the Norton Anthology of American Literature, Nina Baym, â€Å"implies that this theme represents the Native Americans’ struggle†, (Baym, 1997, p.2778). The story also include events that transpired in Ortiz’s life like his childhood experiences in school where he had limited knowledge of the English language and lastly, his enlistment to the U.S. Military. The tale appears to link the past and the present with regards to feelings of alienation and separation (Encyclopedia of American Literature, 1998, p. 858).The Economic, Social and Political Conditions of th e Native Americans TodayTowards the 21st century, the themes of alienation and displacement thrive in the Native American communities. They are always dealing with issues and struggling to keep up with the changes in the American society.Many Native American tribes seek to be recognized by the government. There are currently ‘561 Native American tribes recognized by the U.S. government. These tribes are designated to have their own form of government, to enact laws, to establish tribal memberships, to issue license and regulate activities† (The U.S. Relationship to American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, 2005).Today, Native American Indians continue to be a part of the American landscape and in the U.S. economy. Native American tribes established their own governments that offer services in law enforcement and disaster management. Most of the Native American tribes have their own legal system to settle disputes (Bureau of Indian Affairs, 2006).Gambling has become a big industry for the Native Americans. Most casinos operated by the Native American governments are seen profitable and has encouraged business diversification (Columbia Law Review, 2006).Sadly, most people are unaware of the plight and struggle of the Native American communities. For many Native Americans they still believe that they are still outsiders in the country and many feel that they are mistreated by the general public.Simon Ortiz used his own personal experiences from to shape his story. He tried to reach his audience by exposing the issues that surrounds the Native American community and their continued plight. His works reveal that the Native Americans want to restore their sense of â€Å"self† in order for them to fight for their rights and preserve their way of life.ReferencesA Resolution By the Native American Caucus. (2006). http//:www.turtletrack.org 8 February  2006. Retrieved on 15 December 2007.Baym, Nina. (1997). Norton American Anthology of American Lite rature. (p.2778). London:Oxford University Press.Bureau of Indian Affairs. (2006). http//:www.doiu.nbc.gov/orientation. 8 February 2006.Retrieved on 15 December 2006.Encyclopedia of American Literature. (1998). (p.858). Connecticut: Greenwood Press.Kaplan, Karen. (2005). Ancestry In A Drop Of Blood. http//:www.racesci.org. 30 August2005. Retrieved on 15 December 2007.Mixing Bodies and Beliefs: The Predicament of Tribes. (2006).Columbia Law Review.http//:www.columbia.org. 8 February 2006. Retrieved on 15 December 2007.Rock, Roger O. (1985).Native American Literature. Connecticut: Greenwood Press.The Black Mesa Syndrome: Indian Lands, Black Gold. (2006).http//:www.shundahai.org.8 February 2006. Retrieved on 15 December 2007.The Mukeman Ohlone. (2007). http//:www.mukema.org. 22 June 2007. Retrieved on 15December 2007.The U.S. Relationship to American Indian and Alaska Native Tribe. (2006). http//:www.usinfo.state.gov.8 February 2006. Retrieved 15 December 2007.ReferencesWalking A Mile: A Qualitative Study Exploring How Indians and Non-Indians Think AboutEach Other. (2007). http//:www.publicagenda.org. 7 December 2007. Retrieved 15December 2007.Wiget, Andrew. (1994). Dictionary of Native American Literature. (pp.115-133). New York:Garland Press.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I was finally able to get into the zone, but couldn't do anything once I got there. I keep a steno pad handy for notes character lists, page references, date chronologies and I doodled in there a little bit, but the sheet of paper in the IBM remained blank. There was no thundering heartbeat, no throbbing eyes or difficulty breathing no panic attack, in other words but there was no story, either. Andy Drake, John Shackleford, Ray Garraty, the beautiful Regina Whiting . . . they stood with their backs turned, refusing to speak or move. The manuscript was sitting in its accustomed place on the left side of the typewriter, the pages held down with a pretty chunk of quartz I'd found on the lane, but nothing was happening. Zilch. I recognized an irony here, perhaps even a moral. For years I had fled the problems of the real world, escaping into various Narnias of my imagination. Now the real world had filled up with bewildering thickets, there were things with teeth in some of them, and the wardrobe was locked against me. Kyra, I had printed, putting her name inside a scalloped shape that was supposed to be a cabbage rose. Below it I had drawn a piece of bread with a beret tipped rakishly on the top crust. Noonan's conception of French toast. The letters L.B. surrounded with curlicues. A shirt with a rudimentary duck on it. Beside this I had printed QUACK QUACK. Below QUACK QUACK I had written Ought to fly away ‘Bon Voyage.' At another spot on the sheet I had written Dean, Auster, and Devore. They were the ones who had seemed the most there, the most dangerous. Because they had descendants? But surely all seven of those jacks must, mustn't they? In those days most families were whoppers. And where had I been? I had asked, but Devore hadn't wanted to say. It didn't feel any more like a dream at nine-thirty on a sullenly hot Sunday morning. Which left exactly what? Visions? Time-travel? And if there was a purpose to such travel, what was it? What was the message, and who was trying to send it? I remembered clearly what I'd said just before passing from the dream in which I had sleepwalked out to Jo's studio and brought back my typewriter: I don't believe these lies. Nor would I now. Until I could see at least some of the truth, it might be safer to believe nothing at all. At the top of the sheet upon which I was doodling, in heavily stroked letters, I printed the word DANGER!, then circled it. From the circle I drew an arrow to Kyra's name. From her name I drew an arrow to Ought to fly away ‘Bon Voyage' and added MATTIE. Below the bread wearing the beret I drew a little telephone. Above it I put a cartoon balloon with R-R-RINGG! in it. As I finished this, the cordless phone rang. It was sitting on the deck rail. I circled MATTIE and picked up the phone. ‘Mike?' She sounded excited. Happy. Relieved. ‘Yeah,' I said. ‘How are you?' ‘Great!' she said, and I circled L.B. on my pad. ‘Lindy Briggs called ten minutes ago I just got off the phone with her. Mike, she's giving me my job back! Isn't that wonderful?' Sure. And wonderful how it would keep her in town. I crossed out Ought to fly away ‘Bon Voyage,' knowing that Mattie wouldn't go. Not now. And how could I ask her to? I thought again If only I knew a little more . . . ‘Mike? Are you ‘ ‘It's very wonderful,' I said. In my mind's eye I could see her standing in the kitchen, drawing the kinked telephone cord through her fingers, her legs long and coltish below her denim shorts. I could see the shirt she was wearing, a white tee with a yellow duck paddling across the front. ‘I hope Lindy had the good grace to sound ashamed of herself.' I circled the tee-shirt I'd drawn. ‘She did. And she was frank enough to kind of . . . well, disarm me. She said the Whitmore woman talked to her early last week. Was very frank and to the point, Lindy said. I was to be let go immediately. If that happened, the money, computer equipment, and software Devore funnelled into the library would keep coming. If it didn't, the flow of goods and money would stop immediately. She said she had to balance the good of the community against what she knew was wrong . . . she said it was one of the toughest decisions she ever had to make . . . ‘ ‘Uh-huh.' On the pad my hand moved of its own volition like a planchette gliding over a Ouija board, printing the words PLEASE CAN'T I PLEASE. ‘There's probably some truth in it, but Mattie . . . how much do you suppose Lindy makes?' ‘I don't know.' ‘I bet it's more than any three other small-town librarians in the state of Maine combined.' In the background I heard Ki: ‘Can I talk, Mattie? Can I talk to Mike? Please can't I please?' ‘In a minute, hon.' Then, to me: ‘Maybe. All I know is that I have my job back, and I'm willing to let bygones be bygones.' On the page, I drew a book. Then I drew a series of interlocked circles between it and the duck tee-shirt. ‘Ki wants to talk to you,' Mattie said, laughing. ‘She says the two of you went to the Fryeburg Fair last night.' ‘Whoa, you mean I had a date with a pretty girl and slept through it?' ‘Seems that way. Are you ready for her?' ‘Ready.' ‘Okay, here comes the chatterbox.' There was a rustling as the phone changed hands, then Ki was there. ‘I taggled you at the Fair, Mike! I taggled my own quartermack!' ‘Did you?' I asked ‘That was quite a dream, wasn't it, Ki?' There was a long silence at the other end. I could imagine Mattie wondering what had happened to her telephone chatterbox. At last Ki said in a hesitating voice: ‘You there too.' Tiu. ‘We saw the snake-dance ladies . . . the pole with the bell on top . . . we went in the spookyhouse . . . you fell down in the barrel! It wasn't a dream . . . was it?' I could have convinced her that it was, but all at once that seemed like a bad idea, one that was dangerous in its own way. I said: ‘You had on a pretty hat and a pretty dress.' ‘Yeah!' Ki sounded enormously relieved. ‘And you had on ‘ ‘Kyra, stop. Listen to me.' She stopped at once. ‘It's better if you don't talk about that dream too much, I think. To your mom or to anyone except me.' ‘Except you.' ‘Yes. And the same with the refrigerator people. Okay?' ‘Okay. Mike, there was a lady in Mattie's clothes.' ‘I know,' I said. It was all right for her to talk, I was sure of it, but I asked anyway: ‘Where's Mattie now?' ‘Waterin the flowers. We got lots of flowers, a billion at least. I have to clean up the table. It's a chore. I don't mind, though. I like chores. We had French toast. We always do on Sundays. It's yummy, ‘specially with strawberry syrup.' ‘I know,' I said, drawing an arrow to the piece of bread wearing the beret. ‘French toast is great. Ki, did you tell your mom about the lady in her dress?' ‘No. I thought it might scare her.' She dropped her voice. ‘Here she comes!' ‘That's all right . . . but we've got a secret, right?' ‘Yes.' ‘Now can I talk to Mattie again?' ‘Okay.' Her voice moved off a little. ‘Mommy-bommy, Mike wants to talk to you.' Then she came back. ‘Will you bizzit us today? We could go on another picnic.' ‘I can't today, Ki. I have to work.' ‘Mattie never works on Sunday.' ‘Well, when I'm writing a book, I write every day. I have to, or else I'll forget the story. Maybe we'll have a picnic on Tuesday, though. A barbecue picnic at your house.' ‘Is it long 'til Tuesday?' ‘Not too long. Day after tomorrow.' ‘Is it long to write a book?' ‘Medium-long.' I could hear Mattie telling Ki to give her the phone. ‘I will, just one more second. Mike?' ‘I'm here, Ki.' ‘I love you.' I was both touched and terrified. For a moment I was sure my throat was going to lock up the way my chest used to when I tried to write. Then it cleared and I said, ‘Love you, too, Ki.' ‘Here's Mattie.' Again there was the rustly sound of the telephone changing hands, then Mattie said: ‘Did that refresh your recollection of your date with my daughter, sir?' ‘Well,' I said, ‘it certainly refreshed hers.' There was a link between Mattie and me, but it didn't extend to this I was sure of it. She was laughing. I loved the way she sounded this morning and I didn't want to bring her down . . . but I didn't want her mistaking the white line in the middle of the road for the crossmock, either. ‘Mattie, you still need to be careful, okay? Just because Lindy Briggs offered you your old job back doesn't mean everyone in town is suddenly your friend.' ‘I understand that,' she said. I thought again about asking if she'd consider taking Ki up to Derry for awhile they could live in my house, stay for the duration of the summer if that was what it took for things to return to normal down here. Except she wouldn't do it. When it came to accepting my offer of high-priced New York legal talent, she'd had no choice. About this she did. Or thought she did, and how could I change her mind? I had no logic, no connected facts; all I had was a vague dark shape, like something lying beneath nine inches of snowblind ice. ‘I want you to be careful of two men in particular,' I said. ‘One is Bill Dean. The other is Kenny Auster. He's the one ‘ ‘ with the big dog who wears the neckerchief. He ‘ ‘That's Booberry!' Ki called from the middle distance. ‘Booberry licked my facie!' ‘Go out and play, hon,' Mattie said. ‘I'm clearun the table.' ‘You can finish later. Go on outside now.' There was a pause as she watched Ki go out the door, taking Strickland with her. Although the kid had left the trailer, Mattie still spoke in the lowered tone of someone who doesn't want to be overheard. ‘Are you trying to scare me?' ‘No,' I said, drawing repeated circles around the word DANGER. ‘But I want you to be careful. Bill and Kenny may have been on Devore's team, like Footman and Osgood. Don't ask me why I think that might be, because I have no satisfactory answer. It's only a feeling, but since I got back on the TR, my feelings are different.' ‘What do you mean?' ‘Are you wearing a tee-shirt with a duck on it?' ‘How do you know that? Did Ki tell you?' ‘Did she take the little stuffed dog from her Happy Meal out with her just now?' A long pause. At last she said ‘My God' in a voice so Low I could hardly hear it. Then again: ‘How ‘ ‘I don't know how. I don't know if you're still in a . . . a bad situation, either, or why you might be, but I feel that you are. That you both are.' I could have said more, but I was afraid she'd think I'd gone entirely off the rails. ‘He's dead!' she burst out. ‘That old man is dead! Why can't he leave us alone?' ‘Maybe he has. Maybe I'm wrong about all this. But there's no harm in being careful, is there?' ‘No,' she said. ‘Usually that's true.' ‘Usually?' ‘Why don't you come and see me, Mike? Maybe we could go to the Fair together.' ‘Maybe this fall we will. All three of us.' ‘I'd like that.' ‘In the meantime, I'm thinking about the key.' ‘Thinking is half your problem, Mike,' she said, and laughed again. Ruefully, I thought. And I saw what she meant. What she didn't seem to understand was that feeling was the other half. It's a sling, and in the end I think it rocks most of us to death. I worked for a while,' then carried the IBM back into the house and left the manuscript on top. I was done with it, at least for the time being. No more looking for the way back through the wardrobe; no more Andy Drake and John Shackleford until this was over. And, as I dressed in long pants and a button-up shirt for the first time in what felt like weeks, it occurred to me that perhaps something some force had been trying to sedate me with the story I was telling. With the ability to work again. It made sense; work had always been my drug of choice, even better than booze or the Mellaril I still kept in the bathroom medicine cabinet. Or maybe work was only the delivery system, the hypo with all the dreamy dreams inside it. Maybe the real drug was the zone. Being in the zone. Feeling it, you sometimes hear the basketball players say. I was in the zone and I was really feeling it. I grabbed the keys to the Chevrolet off the counter and looked at the fridge as I did. The magnets were circled again. In the middle was a message I'd seen before, one that was now instantly understandable, thanks to the extra Magnabet letters: help her ‘I'm doing my best,' I said, and went out. Three miles north on Route 68 by then you're on the part of it which used to be known as Castle Rock Road-there's a greenhouse with a shop in front of it. Slips ‘n Greens, it's called, and Jo used to spend a fair amount of time there, buying gardening supplies or just noodling with the two women who ran the place. One of them was Helen Auster, Kenny's wife. I pulled in there at around ten o'clock that Sunday morning (it was open, of course; during tourist season almost every Maine shopkeeper turns heathen) and parked next to a Beamer with New York plates. I paused long enough to hear the weather forecast on the radio continued hot and humid for another forty-eight hours at least and then got out. A woman wearing a bathing suit, a skort, and a giant yellow sunhat emerged from the shop with a bag of peat moss cradled in her arms. She gave me a little smile. I returned it with eighteen per cent interest. She was from New York, and that meant she wasn't a Martian. The shop was even hotter and' damper than the white morning outside. Lila Proulx, the co-owner, was on the phone. There was a little fan beside the cash register and she was standing directly in front of it, flapping the front of her sleeveless blouse. She saw me and twiddled her fingers in a wave. I twiddled mine back, feeling like someone else. Work or no work, I was still zoning. Still feeling it. I walked around the shop, picking up a few things almost at random, watching Lila out of the corner of my eye and waiting for her to get off the phone so I could talk to her . . . and all the time my own private hyperdrive was humming softly away. At last she hung up and I came to the counter. ‘Michael Noonan, what a sight for sore eyes you are!' she said, and began ringing up my purchases. ‘I was awfully sorry to hear about Johanna. Got to get that right up front. Jo was a pet.' ‘Thanks, Lila.' ‘Welcome. Don't need to say any more about it, but with a thing like that it's best to put it right up front. I've always believed it, always will believe it. Right up front. Going to do a little gardening, are you?' Gointer do a little ga'adnin, aaa you? ‘If it ever cools off.' ‘Ayuh! Isn't it wicked?' She flapped the top of her blouse again to show me how wicked it was, then pointed at one of my purchases. ‘Want this one in a special bag? Always safe, never sorry, that's my motto.' I nodded, then looked at the little blackboard tilted against the counter. FRESH BLUBERRYS, the chalked message read. THE CROPS IS IN! ‘I'll have a pint of berries, too,' I said. ‘As long as they're not Friday's. I can do better than Friday.' She nodded vigorously, as if to say she knew damned well I could. ‘These were on the bush yest'y. That fresh enough for you?' ‘Good as gold,' I said. ‘Blueberry's the name of Kenny's dog, isn't it?' ‘Ain't he a funny one? God, I love a big dog, if he's behaved.' She turned, got a pint of berries from her little fridge, and put them in another bag for me. ‘Where's Helen?' I asked. ‘Day off?.' ‘Not her,' Lila said. ‘If she's in town, you can't get her out of this place ‘less you beat her with a stick. She and Kenny and the kids went down Taxachusetts. Them and her brother's family club together and get a seaside cottage two weeks every summer. They all went. Old Blueberry, he'll chase seagulls until he drops.' She laughed it was a loud and hearty one. It made me think of Sara Tidwell. Or maybe it was the way Lila looked at me as she did it. There was no laughter in her eyes. They were small and considering, coldly curious. Would you for Christ's sake quit it? I told myself. They can't all be in on it together, Mike! Couldn't they, though? There is such a thing as town consciousness anyone who doubts it has never been to a New England town meeting. Where there's a consciousness, is there not likely to be a subconscious? And if Kyra and I were doing the old mind-meld thing, could not other people in TR-90 also be doing it, perhaps without even knowing it? We all shared the same air and land; we shared the lake and the aquifer which lay below everything, buried water tasting of rock and minerals. We shared The Street as well, that place where good pups and vile dogs could walk side-by-side. As I started out with my purchases in a cloth carry-handle bag, Lila said: ‘What a shame about Royce Merrill. Did you hear?' ‘No,' I said. ‘Fell down his cellar stairs yest'y evening. What a man his age was doing going down such a steep flight of steps is beyond me, but I suppose once you get to his age, you have your own reasons for doing things.' Is he dead? I started to ask, then rephrased. It wasn't the way the question was expressed on the TR. ‘Did he pass?' ‘Not yet. Motton Rescue took him to Castle County General. He's in a coma.' Comber, she said it. ‘They don't think he'll ever wake up, poor fella. There's a piece of history that'll die with him.' ‘I suppose that's true.' Good riddance, I thought. ‘Does he have children?' ‘No. There have been Merrills on the TR for two hundred years; one died at Cemetery Ridge. But all the old families are dying out now. You have a nice day, Mike.' She smiled. Her eyes remained flat and considering. I got into my Chevy, put the bag with my purchases in it on the passenger seat, then simply sat for a moment, letting the air conditioner pour cool air on my face and neck. Kenny Auster was in Taxachusetts. That was good. A step in the right direction. But there was still my caretaker. ‘Bill's not here,' Yvette said. She stood in the door, blocking it as well as she could (you can only do so much in that regard when you're five-three and weigh roughly a hundred pounds), studying me with the gimlet gaze of a nightclub bouncer denying re-entry to a drunk who's been tossed out on his ear once already. I was on the porch of the neat-as-ever-you-saw Cape Cod which stands at the top of Peabody Hill and looks all the way across New Hampshire and into Vermont's back yard. Bill's equipment sheds were lined up to the left of the house, all of them painted the same shade of gray, each with its own sign: DEAN CARETAKING, No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. Parked in front of No. 2 was Bill's Dodge Ram. I looked at it, then back at Yvette. Her lips tightened a little more. Another notch and I figured they'd be gone entirely. ‘He went to North Conway with Butch Wiggins,' she said. ‘They went in Butch's truck. To get ‘ ‘No need lying for me, dear heart,' Bill said from behind her. It was still over an hour shy of noon, and on the Lord's Day to boot, but I had never heard a man who sounded more tired. He clumped down the hall, and as he came out of its shadows and into the light the sun was finally burning through the murk I saw that Bill now looked his age. Every year of it, and maybe ten more to grow on. He was wearing his usual khaki shirt and pants Bill Dean would be a Dickies man until the day he died but his shoulders looked slumped, almost sprained, a-s if he'd spent a week lugging buckets that were too heavy for him. The falling-away of his face had finally begun, an indefinable something that makes the eyes look too big, the jaw too prominent, the mouth a bit loose. He looked old. There were no children to carry on the family line of work, either; all the old families were dying out, Lila Proulx had said. And maybe that was a good thing. ‘Bill ‘ she began, but he raised one of his big hands to stop her. The callused fingertips shook a little. ‘Go in the kitchen a dight,' he told her. ‘I need to talk to my compadre here. ‘T'won't take long.' Yvette looked at him, and when she looked back at me, she had indeed reached zero lip-surface. There was just a black line where they had been, like a mark dashed off with a pencil. I saw with woeful clarity that she hated me. ‘Don't you tire him out,' she said to me. ‘He hasn't been sleepin. It's the heat.' She walked back down the hall, all stiff back and high shoulders, disappearing into shadows that were probably cool. It always seems to be cool in the houses of old people, have you noticed? Bill came out onto the porch and put his big hands into the pockets of his pants without offering to shake with me. ‘I ain't got nothin to say to you. You and me's quits.' ‘Why, Bill? Why are we quits?' He looked west, where the hills stepped into the burning summer haze, disappearing in it before they could become mountains, and said nothing. ‘I'm trying to help that young woman.' He gave me a look from the corners of his eyes that I could read well enough. ‘Ahuh. Help y'self right into her pants. I see men come up from New York and New Jersey with their young girls. Summer weekends, ski weekends, it don't matter. Men who go with girls that age always look the same, got their tongues run out even when their mouths are shut. Now you look the same.' I felt both angry and embarrassed, but I resisted the urge to chase him in that direction. That was what he wanted. ‘What happened here?' I asked him. ‘What did your fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers do to Sara Tidwell and her family? You didn't just move them on, did you?' ‘Didn't have to,' Bill said, looking past me at the hills. His eyes were moist almost to the point of tears, but his jaw was set and hard. ‘They moved on themselves. Never was a nigger who didn't have an itchy foot, my dad used to say.' ‘Who set the trap that killed Son Tidwell's boy? Was it your father, Bill? Was it Fred?' His eyes moved; his jaw never did. ‘I dunno what you're talking about.' ‘I hear him crying in my house. Do you know what it's like to hear a dead child crying in your house? Some bastard trapped him like a weasel and I hear him crying in my fucking house!' ‘You're going to need a new caretaker,' Bill said. ‘I can't do for you no more. Don't want to. What I want is for you to get off my porch.' ‘What's happening? Help me, for Christ's sake.' ‘I'll help you with the toe of my shoe if you don't get going on your own.' I looked at him a moment longer, taking in the wet eyes and the set jaw, his divided nature written on his face. ‘I lost my wife, you old bastard,' I said. ‘A woman you claimed to love.' Now his jaw moved at last. He looked at me with surprise and injury. ‘That didn't happen here,' he said. ‘That didn't have anything to do with here. She might've been off the TR because . . . well, she might've had her reasons to be off the TR . . . but she just had a stroke. Would have happened anywhere. Anywhere.' ‘I don't believe that. I don't think you do, either. Something followed her to Derry, maybe because she was pregnant . . . ‘ Bill's eyes widened. I gave him a chance to say something, but he didn't take it. ‘ . . . or maybe just because she knew too much.' ‘She had a stroke.' Bill's voice wasn't quite even. ‘I read the obituary myself. She had a damn stroke.' ‘What did she find out? Talk to me, Bill. Please.' There was a long pause. Until it was over I allowed myself the luxury of thinking I might actually be getting through to him. ‘I've only got one more thing to say to you, Mike stand back. For the sake of your immortal soul, stand back and let things run their course. They will whether you do or don't. This river has almost come to the sea; it won't be dammed by the likes of you. Stand back. For the love of Christ.' Do you care about your soul, Mr. Noonan? God's butterfly caught in a cocoon of flesh that will soon stink like mine? Bill turned and walked to his door, the heels of his workboots clodding on the painted boards. ‘Stay away from Mattie and Ki,' I said. ‘If you so much as go near that trailer ‘ He turned back, and the hazy sunshine glinted on the tracks below his eyes. He took a bandanna from his back pocket and wiped his cheeks. ‘I ain't stirrin from this house. I wish to God I'd never come back from my vacation in the first place, but I did mostly on your account, Mike. Those two down on Wasp Hill have nothing to fear from me. No, not from me.' He went inside and closed the door. I stood there looking at it, feeling unreal surely I could not have had such a deadly conversation with Bill Dean, could I? Bill who had reproached me for not letting folks down here share and perhaps ease my grief for Jo, Bill who had welcomed me back so warmly? Then I heard a clack sound. He might not have locked his door while he was at home in his entire life, but he had locked it now. The clack was very clear in the breathless July air. It told me everything I had to know about my long friendship with Bill Dean. I turned and walked back to my car, my head down. Nor did I turn when I heard a window run up behind me. ‘Don't you ever come back here, you town bastard!' Yvette Dean cried across the sweltering dooryard. ‘You've broken his heart! Don't you ever come back! Don't you ever! Don't you ever!' ‘Please,' Mrs. M. said. ‘Don't ask me any more questions, Mike. I can't afford to get in Bill Dean's bad books, any more'n my ma could afford to get into Normal Auster's or Fred Dean's.' I shifted the phone to my other ear. ‘All I want to know is ‘ ‘In this part of the world caretakers pretty well run the whole show. If they say to a summer fella that he should hire this carpenter or that ‘lectrician, why, that's who the summer fella hires. Or if a caretaker says this one should be fired because he ain't proving reliable, he is fired. Or she. Because what goes once for plumbers and landscapers and ‘lectricians has always gone twice for housekeepers. If you want to be recommended and stay recommended you have to keep on the sunny side of people like Fred and Bill Dean, or Normal and Kenny Auster. Don't you see?' She was almost pleading. ‘When Bill found out I told you about what Normal Auster did to Kerry, oooo he was so mad at me.' ‘Kenny Auster's brother the one Normal drowned under the pump his name was Kerry?' ‘Ahuh. I've known a lot of folks name their kids alike, think it's cute. Why, I went to school with a brother and sister named Roland and Rolanda Therriault, I think Roland's in Manchester now, and Rolanda married that boy from ‘ ‘Brenda, just answer one question. I'll never tell. Please?' I waited, my breath held, for the click that would come when she put her telephone back in its cradle. Instead, she spoke three words in a soft, almost regretful voice. ‘What is it?' ‘Who was Carla Dean?' I waited through another long pause, my hand playing with the ribbon that had come off Ki's turn-of-the-century straw hat. ‘You dassn't tell anyone I told you anything,' she said at last. ‘I won't.' ‘Carla was Bill's twin sister. She died sixty-five years ago, during the time of the fires.' The fires Bill claimed had been set by Ki's grandfather his going-away present to the TR. ‘I don't know just how it happened. Bill never talks about it. If you tell him I told you, I'll never make another bed in the TR. He'll see to it.' Then, in a hopeless voice, she said: ‘He may know anyway.' Based on my own experiences and surmises, I guessed she might be right about that. But even if she was, she'd have a check from me every month for the rest of her working life. I had no intention of telling her that over the telephone, though it would scald her Yankee soul. Instead I thanked her, assured her again of my discretion, and hung up. I sat at the table for a moment, staring blankly at Bunter, then said: ‘Who's here?' No answer. ‘Come on,' I said. ‘Don't be shy. Let's go nineteen or ninety-two down. Barring that, let's talk.' Still no answer. Not so much as a shiver of the bell around the stuffed moose's neck. I spied the scribble of notes I'd made while talking to Jo's brother and drew them toward me. I had put Kia, Kyra, Kito, and Carla in a box. Now I scribbled out the bottom line of that box and added the name Kerry to the list. I've known a lot of folks name their kids alike, Mrs. M. had said. They think it's cute. I didn't think it was cute; I thought it was creepy. It occurred to me that at least two of these soundalikes had drowned Kerry Auster under a pump, Kia Noonan in her mother's dying body when she wasn't much bigger than a sunflower seed. And I had seen the ghost of a third drowned child in the lake. Kito? Was that one Kito? Or was Kito the one who had died of blood-poisoning? They name their kids alike, they think it's cute. How many soundalike kids had there been to start with? How many were left? I thought the answer to the first question didn't matter, and that I knew the answer to the second one already. This river has almost come to the sea, Bill had said. Carla, Kerry, Kito, Kia . . . all gone. Only Kyra Devore was left. I got up so fast and hard that I knocked over my chair. The clatter in the silence made me cry out. I was leaving, and right now. No more telephone calls, no more playing Andy Drake, Private Detective, no more depositions or half-assed wooings of the lady fair. I should have followed my instincts and gotten the fuck out of Dodge that first night. Well, I'd go now, just get in the Chevy and haul ass for Der Bunter's bell jangled furiously. I turned and saw it bouncing around his neck as if batted to and fro by a hand I couldn't see. The sliding door giving on the deck began to fly open and clap shut like something hooked to a pulley. The book of Tough Stuff crossword puzzles on the end-table and the DSS program guide blew open, their pages riffling. There was a series of rattling thuds across the floor, as if something enormous were crawling rapidly toward me, pounding its fists as it came. A draft not cold but warm, like the rush of air produced by a subway train on a summer night buffeted past me. In it I heard a strange voice which seemed to be saying Bye-BY, bye-BY, bye-BY, as if wishing me a good trip home. Then, as it dawned on me that the voice was actually saying Ki-Ki, Ki-Ki, Ki-Ki, something struck me and knocked me violently forward. It felt like a large soft fist. I buckled over the table, clawing at it to stay up, overturning the lazy susan with the salt and pepper shakers on it, the napkin holder, the little vase Mrs. M. had filled with daisies. The vase rolled off the table and shattered. The kitchen TV blared on, some politician talking about how inflation was on the march again. The CD player started up, drowning out the politician; it was the Rolling Stones doing a cover of Sara Tidwell's ‘I Regret You, Baby.' Upstairs, one smoke alarm went off, then another, then a third. They were joined a moment later by the warble-whoop of the Chevy's car a larm. The whole world was cacophony. Something hot and pillowy seized my wrist. My hand shot forward like a piston and slammed down on the steno pad. I watched as it pawed clumsily to a blank page, then seized the pencil which lay nearby. I gripped it like a dagger and then something wrote with it, not guiding my hand but raping it. The hand moved slowly at first, almost blindly, then picked up speed until it was flying, almost tearing through the sheet: I had almost reached the bottom of the page when the cold descended again, that outer cold that was like sleet in January, chilling my skin and crackling the snot in my nose and sending two shuddery puffs of white air from my mouth. My hand clenched and the pencil snapped in two. Behind me, Bunter's bell rang out one final furious convulsion before falling silent. Also from behind me came a peculiar double pop, like the sound of champagne corks being drawn. Then it was over. Whatever it had been or however many they had been, it was finished. I was alone again. I turned off the CD player just as Mick and Keith moved on to a white-boy version of Howling Wolf, then ran upstairs and pushed the reset buttons on the smoke-detectors. I leaned out the window of the big guest bedroom while I was up there, aimed the fob of my keyring down at the Chevrolet, and pushed the button on it. The alarm quit. With the worst of the noise gone I could hear the TV cackling away in the kitchen. I went down, killed it, then froze with my hand still on the OFF button, looking at Jo's annoying waggy-cat clock. Its tail had finally stopped switching, and its big plastic eyes lay on the floor. They had popped right out of its head. I went down to the Village Cafe for supper, snagging the last Sunday Telegram from the rack (COMPUTER MOGUL DEVORE DIES IN WESTERN MAINE TOWN WHERE HE GREW UP, the headline read) before sitting down at the counter. The accompanying photo was a studio shot of Devore that looked about thirty years old. He was smiling. Most people do that quite naturally. On Devore's face it looked like a learned skill. I ordered the beans that were left over from Buddy Jellison's Saturday-night beanhole supper. My father wasn't much for aphorisms in my family dispensing nuggets of wisdom was Mom's job but as Daddy warmed up the Saturday-night yelloweyes in the oven on Sunday afternoon, he would invariably say that beans and beef stew were better the second day. I guess it stuck. The only other piece of fatherly wisdom I can remember receiving was that you should always wash your hands after you took a shit in a bus station. While I was reading the story on Devore, Audrey came over and told me that Royce Merrill had passed without recovering consciousness. The funeral would be Tuesday afternoon at Grace Baptist, she said. Most of the town would be there, many folks just to see Ila Meserve awarded the Boston Post cane. Did I think I'd get over? No, I said, probably not. I thought it prudent not to add that I'd likely be attending a victory party at Mattie Devore's while Royce's funeral was going on down the road. The usual late-Sunday-afternoon flow of customers came and went while I ate, people ordering burgers, people ordering beans, people ordering chicken salad sandwiches, people buying sixpacks. Some were from the TR, some from away. I didn't notice many of them, and no one spoke to me. I have no idea who left the napkin on my newspaper, but when I put down the A section and turned to find the sports, there it was. I picked it up, meaning only to put it aside, and saw what was written on the back in big dark letters: GET OFF THE TR. I never found out who left it there. I guess it could have been any of them.

Budget System In Republic Of Macedonia Social Policy Essays

Budget System In Republic Of Macedonia Social Policy Essays Budget System In Republic Of Macedonia Social Policy Essay Budget System In Republic Of Macedonia Social Policy Essay As stated by Jung and Ian, it has to be taken into history that all of the rules that will be discussed farther in this paper are of import, but non equal due to their constitutional significance. This paper evaluates the budget system in Macedonia and all of its environing statute law utilizing the 10 rules as chief standards. At the terminal of the paper, recommendations are being drawn out that should assist the Ministry of Finance in the hereafter to beef up some of the rules these rules in footings of the budget system of Macedonia. EVALUTION Authoritativeness Legislature s authorization The Ministry of Finance is responsible for the readying and executing of the Budget. At the same clip the Ministry is responsible for opening Treasury history which is managed by the Treasure and for describing on the executing of the budget and the budgetary users. Presented holla are the processs that are explicating the duties of the Ministry of Finance and the rule of authoritativeness as defined above. The Minister of Finance is responsible for fixing the Budget of Republic of Macedonia and for the bringing of the Budget to the Government of Republic of Macedonia. [ 2 ] The Ministry of Finance is fixing the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy for a period of three old ages in order to suggest the waies and the ends of the financial policy and is finding the sum of the chief classs of the estimated grosss and approved resorts for that period. [ 3 ] The Strategy is being passed by the Government of Republic of Macedonia latest by the 31 of March. [ 4 ] Based on the proposed Medium Term Fiscal Strategy the Ministry of Finance is suggesting the maximal sum of resources for the budgetary users of the cardinal authorities and the financess. [ 5 ] After the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy is adopted the Ministry of Transport is presenting instructions in signifier of Budget handbill to the unit users by the 15th of June and to the city managers of the local authorities by the 30th of September. [ 6 ] In footings of the Budget handbill, Draft plans for plans from the budget users are derived to budget users by the 15th of June. These programs are delivered to the Government by the 15th of July in the current twelvemonth and the Government is O.K.ing the same by the 15th of August. [ 7 ] The sanctioned program for plans together with extra paperss is derived to the Ministry of Finance by the 1st of September in the signifier of Budget application. [ 8 ] In the same footings, the Draft plans from the local authorities are delivered to the Council of the local authorities by the 20th of October and the same is O.K.ing the Draft program by the 15th of November of the current twelvemonth. ( Article 21-b ) . An underling rule that needs to be taken into history in footings of the legislative authorization and the executing of the budget defines the duty for fixing budget executings. [ 9 ] In Republic of Macedonia, the executing of the budgets of the different budget users is carried out harmonizing to the amalgamate fiscal programs and study on quarterly bases that the budget users are subjecting to the Treasury. The Treasury is so apportioning the sanctioned resources harmonizing to the one-fourth of the fiscal programs but transfers the fundss to the budget users on monthly footing. [ 10 ] Parliamentary power in footings of O.K.ing and executing Parliamentary power is another underlying rule of authoritativeness. The Ministry of Finance is presenting the Draft budget, incorporating general, specific and developmental portion [ 11 ] , to the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia ( hereinafter Assembly ) latest by the 1st of November. The Assembly is O.K.ing the Budget latest by the 31st of December. In instances when the Budget has non been approved by the 31st of December of the current twelvemonth by Assembly, the Ministry of Finance approves use of resources for the period till the 31st of March for the undermentioned twelvemonth which should non transcend the sum of the resources used in the first one-fourth of the old twelvemonth. The sum spent in this period is included and decided from the concluding budget when the same 1 has been approved. However, if the budget still has nt been approved by the 31st of March in the current twelvemonth, the Assembly makes a determination for go oning the timely funding. [ 12 ] As mentioned in the old point I ) an implicit in rule of authoritativeness is the coverage on executing. In this portion since we look at the executing from the parliamentary side we besides need to look at the rhythm of coverage of the budget in Macedonia. In these footings, the executing of the Budget is regulated by Law for executing of the budget for the following twelvemonth which is passed after the blessing of the budget from the Assembly but non subsequently than the 31 of December of the current twelvemonth. This jurisprudence specifies the executing of budget that should be based on four chief rules viz. purpose-made, rational, economic and efficient executing. [ 13 ] Furthermore, the Law for accounting on the budgets in Article 28 and Article 29, the Government of Republic of Macedonia should subject its one-year study, after it has been approved by the Government, to the Assembly together with the one-year studies of the all its budgetary users no subsequently than 30th of June in the current twelvemonth for the budget of the old twelvemonth [ 14 ] . Separate one-year study for the budget and the budget users should be submitted to the Registry for Annual Account of the Central Register of Republic of Macedonia and to the State Audit Office by the terminal of February the current twelvemonth for the old twelvemonth. [ 15 ] Budget authorization in the fundamental law The Constitution of Republic of Macedonia provides the basic authorization of the Assembly and the Government in footings of the budget. Within these frames, in Article 91 and 68 defines the function of the Government and the Assembly in footings of the budget, viz. suggesting the budget, and following the democracy s budget and the one-year study. In add-on, the rule of amendment is of high of import as good when we discuses authoritativeness in footings of the Constitution. Jung and Ian in their paper Is there an Optimum Legal Framework for the Budget System? argue that in order to fulfill the democracy regulation of the county, amendment powers should be given to the parliament. [ 16 ] Looking at these amendment powers in Macedonia, it should be stated that the Draft budget can be amendment by each member of the parliament of groups of the Assembly. Copy of each amendment should be given to the members of the parliament before the start of each parliamentary argument. [ 17 ] As mentioned before, the Assembly is O.K.ing the Budget for the following twelvemonth by the terminal of the current twelvemonth, every bit good as the Law for executing of the budget for the following twelvemonth. Annual footing Looking at the one-year footing as a 2nd rule in of this model we are traveling to look at specification on the financial twelvemonth, whether revenue enhancement and other gross imposing governments are lasting or merely for the financial twelvemonth, whether some outgo governments are lasting, carryovers and adoptions from the following twelvemonth s budget. The budget of Republic of Macedonia and the budgets of the municipalities refer to period of one twelvemonth that starts at the 1st of January and ends at the 31st of December. In footings of revenue enhancement, harmonizing to the Law on revenue enhancements for the citizens [ 18 ] , all revenue enhancements are determined harmonizing the footing and the rates that are valid from the 1st of January in the twelvemonth for which these duties are being set. This implied, as stated by Jung and Ian that all revenue enhancement is for 12 months merely. [ 19 ] Outgos are every bit good non lasting as defined by the Legal model in Republic of Macedonia. As mentioned above all budget users need to subject programs for outgo to the Treasury in order to utilize their budgets. Furthermore, the Law on public internal alteration recognizes ex-ante and ex-post fiscal audit in this instance. [ 20 ] Ex-ante regulates the process by which no fiscal duty and outgo can be carried out prior an blessing from a higher degree public retainer. The ex-post regulates refers to a process of look intoing the minutess after they are wholly finished. The fresh sanctioned resources are non valid with the termination of the budget at the terminal of the financial twelvemonth as it is underlined in the Budgets Law. [ 21 ] As it was mentioned before the budget of Republic of Macedonia is divided into general, specific and developmental portion. In instances when approved resorts for plans and sub-programs from the developmental portion of the budget would non be used in the financial twelvemonth, the same are being transferred in the sum of 50 % to the undermentioned twelvemonth as already approved resorts. [ 22 ] Borrowing from the undermentioned twelvemonth s awaited budget is non applicable for the budget of Macedonia, because the system does non utilize Medium Term Expenditure Framework that would supply allotment of beginnings for several old ages. As it was defined above, the budget of Republic of Macedonia refers merely to one financial twelvemonth that starts on the 1st of January and ends on the 31st of December. Universality This rule represents the 2nd rule which importance should be mentioned in the Constitution, as stated by Jung and Ian. [ 23 ] In these footings the Constitution of Macedonia recognizes the levying governments of the local authorities in Macedonia nevertheless it does non acknowledge the outgo governments for the same. Harmonizing to Article 114 from the Constitution the local authorities is financed by ain beginnings of grosss determined by jurisprudence and by beginnings of the Government. [ 24 ] Article 117 of the Construction states the same rights in footings of the financing the unit by ain beginnings of gross for the City of Skopje, which represents specific unit of the local authorities defined by a specific jurisprudence. [ 25 ] However, the Constitution does non stipulate on the authorization for outgo of the local authorities. Jung and Ian in their paper every bit good indicate out to the demand of amalgamate gross fund where all grosss are received and all outgo are paid from. [ 26 ] For the intents of pull offing with the fiscal resorts of the Budget, the Ministry of Finance opens one individual Treasury history in the National Bank of Macedonia. The Budgets Law of Macedonia specifies that sub-accounts are created for the budget users and the unit user. [ 27 ] Harmonizing to Article 40 and 41, all grosss and outgos are recorded in the Main book of the Treasure. Furthermore, these articles province that the Main book of the Treasury and the Treasury history are being consolidated on regular footing, but it does non supply the period of consolidation. Exception to the catholicity rule in Macedonia can be seen in the extrabudgetary financess such as the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund of Macedonia, the Health Insurance Fund of Macedonia, the Fund for National and Regional Roads of the Republic of Macedonia, and the Employment Service Agency of the Republic of Macedonia which as this exclusion underscores should be included in separate Torahs. [ 28 ] Having said this it is of import to province the amalgamate budget of the cardinal Government and the extrabudgetary financess represent amount of the grosss and outgos of the cardinal budget and the budgets of the extrabudgetary financess, non speaking into history the budgets of the units of local self authorities, by ignoring the common transportations and the cardinal budget to the extrabudgetary financess and the transportations between the extrabudgetary financess themselves. However, with the alterations of the Law on accounting for the budgets and budget users from 2005, t he demand for fixing amalgamate budget has been removed. [ 29 ] Integrity The rule of integrity as defined by Jung and Ian that the budget to show all grosss and outgos at the same clip, every bit good as that the micro scheme should associate to the sanctioned outgo and grosss. [ 30 ] In these footings, Article 29 of the Budget Law states that the Draft budget of the Republic of Macedonia contains sketch of the micro indexs, economic policies including the policy for public investings and a sketch of the plans of the Government and the budget users. Specificity Specificity as a rule within this model refers to the inside informations of the budget estimations and to maximum outgos for specific intents of the budget, as presented by Jung and Ian. [ 31 ] . Similarly to the rule of integrity, the specificity can be besides found in the Article 29 of the Budget Law. [ 32 ] Here the jurisprudence refers to the Draft Budget as a papers that besides includes the sketch of the bill of exchange functional categorization, economic categorization and plans of the Government. Other paperss that are contained into the Draft Budget are Draft program for grosss and other grosss and approved outgos for the budget users ; Midterm Fiscal Framework including grosss and expected outgos, inside informations about the capital investings undertaking harmonizing plans, inside informations about the exposed dept at the beginning and the terminal of the twelvemonth every bit good as the new dept and its estimated payment. As mentioned in the first rule, the authoritativeness, the bill of exchange Midterm Fiscal Strategy that the Ministry of Finance is suggesting the maximal sum of resources for the budgetary users of the cardinal authorities and the financess which are subsequently approved by the Government and are added to the compete Draft Budget. [ 33 ] Furthermore, Article 34 from the Budget Law states that outgo can be increased or decreased. In instances when the budget users are necessitating increasing or decreasing of the sanctioned resources, they need to subject petition for alterations in the resorts to the Ministry of Finance. The jurisprudence nevertheless does non stipulate if merely certain plans can bespeak decreasing or increasing and the per centum of this alteration. In footings or the accounting system used for the budget, harmonizing to the International Federation of Accountants, Macedonia presently is the procedure of following the hard currency footing International Public Sector Accounting Standards ( IPSAS ) , will so travel to follow accumulations footing IPSAS [ 34 ] . This information has non been reference in the Budget Law or related Torahs that have been analyses for the intent of this paper. Balance In term of the balance Article 36 of the Budget Law defines the alterations and the amendments of the budgets [ 35 ] . In these footings, the Ministry of Finance in instance when the expected grosss and other grosss of the basic budget are being realized on a higher degree may transport out extra payments of the base and the involvement rate of the dept [ 36 ] . In instances when the Ministry of Finance evaluates the necessary redistribution is needed and that the execution of the grosss and other grosss significantly recede from program, it proposed to the Government alteration and amendment of the budget [ 37 ] . The Assembly based on the proposal of the Government carries out the alterations and the amendments latest by the 1st of September of the current twelvemonth. [ 38 ] During this process the certain sanctioned resources of the budget that are concerned with these alterations are stopped. Furthermore, harmonizing to Article 36-a from the Budget Law in instances when during the financial twelvemonth important budget discrepancy occur the Government upon a recommendation of the Ministry of Finance can halt the executing of some sanctioned resources for a period no longer than 45 yearss and the Assembly is informed. If in a period of 30 yearss conditions for regular executing of the budget are non created, the Government upon a recommendation of the Ministry of Finance is presenting Draft for alterations and amendments to budget to the Assembly. Accountability The rule of answerability when looking the budget system, foremost and foremost is defines on the Article 46 of the Budgets Law. This Article refers to the answerability for purpose-made use of the sanctioned resources. [ 39 ] The article states that the budget user and the unit users are required to the resources intentionally and are non allowed to transport out duties that exceed the sanctioned resorts of the budget [ 40 ] . Furthermore, when we discus accountability we need to look at who is responsible for the executing of the budget. As mentioned earlier in the paper, the budget users and the budget units are execution the budget which confirmed the underlying thought of the Article 46 of the Budgets Law mentioned in the old paragraph. In the frames of the executing, it is from importance to mentioned every bit good that the Ministry of Transport is subjecting mid-year study and concluding study to the Government for the executing of the budget [ 41 ] . It is of import to emphasize that particular portion in the executing and the audit over the executing, have the Ministry of Finance, the Treasury, the State Audit Office and the Internal Audit. In these footings the Law on Public Internal Revision recognizes ex-ante and ex-post fiscal audit [ 42 ] . The ex-ante as it was specified earlier in the paper regulates the process by which no fiscal duty and outgo can be carried out prior an blessing from a higher degree public retainer. The ex-post regulates refers to a process of look intoing the minutess after they are wholly finished. In footings of answerability the Budget Law besides specified deadlines that need to be met in the procedure of readying and the executing of the budget. Deadlines for describing on the same are besides given within the frames of the same jurisprudence. Law for accounting on the budgets in Article 28 and Article 29, the Government of Republic of Macedonia should subject its one-year study, after it has been approved by the Government, to the Assembly together with the one-year studies of the all its budgetary users no subsequently than 30th of June in the current twelvemonth for the budget of the old twelvemonth. The budgets and budgets users harmonizing to the Law for accounting on the budgets [ 43 ] are responsible for subjecting their one-year studies to the Central Register and to the State Audit Office until the terminal of February the current twelvemonth for the old. Transparency The rule of transparence is underlined in the Articles 53 and 54 of the Budgets Law of Macedonia. These articles define that the studies related to the executing of the Budget should be publish on the web site of the Ministry of Finance on monthly footing. In add-on, the Minister of Finance is subjecting the mid-year study on executing to the Government latest by the 31st of July during the current twelvemonth. [ 44 ] Article 54 provinces that the Budget and the Annual study on the budget are being published in the Official Gazette of Republic of Macedonia [ 45 ] . Extra regulations that define the rule of transparence are besides defined with the Law on free entree to information of public character. With this jurisprudence the citizens are accomplishing their constitutional right to free entree of information, the freedom to have information and portion information every bit good as the promotion in the work of the information keepers. [ 46 ] Stability The rule of stableness as defined by Jung and Ian refers largely to Medium Term Fiscal Strategy and its planning. Harmonizing to Article 16, the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy is planned for period of three old ages in order to suggest the waies and the ends of the financial policy and is finding the sum of the chief classs of the estimated grosss and approved resorts for that period [ 47 ] , where as Article 5 of the Budgets Law clearly defines that the budget refers to merely one financial twelvemonth that starts on the 1st of January and ends on the 31st of December. [ 48 ] Performance ( efficiency, economic system and effectivity ) The Budgets Law on Macedonia recognizes efficiency, economic system and effectivity as budget ends and chief rules. These rules refer to the process of readying, blessing and execution of the budget every bit good as to the coverage of the executing. In general, as provided by Article 3 from the Budgets Law, economic system implies that all sanctioned resources are used in timely mode, in appropriate sum, taking into history the monetary value and the quality [ 49 ] . Furthermore, the same article defines efficiency as the best ratio between the used resources and the achieved consequences, whereas the effectivity implies accomplishing the consequences and the coveted consequences. [ 50 ] Recommendation Duty for amalgamate balance of the Budget With the Law on alteration and amendment of the accounting of the budgets and budget users in 2005 the demand for outlining amalgamate balance of the budget has been abolished. Originating alteration in the statute law for returning this duty for outlining amalgamate one-year study would emphasize the importance of covering all of the entire grosss and outgos of the Republic, every bit good as the histories receivable and histories collectible. Strengthening the rules on specificity in footings of multi twelvemonth and appropriations of limitless continuance As defined by Jung and Ian some outgos require long term planning. [ 51 ] In these footings, the statute law environing the budgets system in Macedonia should clearly specify the conditions and footings of undertaking which are on multi-year footing which will let these undertakings to be approved every bit good on multi-year footing. Exceptions to gross recording The statute law behind the budget system of Macedonia does non indicate out to projections that are shown on a net footing. This as pointed by Ian and Jung can supply authorities bureaus to maximise gross [ 52 ] and might supply strong inducements to project grosss realistically and guarantee aggregation as projected [ 53 ] . Furthermore, this will besides beef up the transparence and insure stronger responsibly of the disposal in Macedonia. Development of capital budgeting The development of the capital budgeting would indicate to specific attempts and entire coordination of all budget establishments. Overall planning of the capital undertaking represent important of import for timely and successful realisation of these undertakings. Showing the undertakings as separate capital routines together with the kineticss of realisation of the undertakings by old ages and months will supply justification for the undertakings, and as reference will add to timely execution to the activities of these undertakings. The purpose of the Ministry of Finance will be to guarantee that activities environing activities of the capital undertaking would non be postponed and at the same clip will guarantee timely payment of these activities. Bettering the transparence Even thought Macedonia can see betterments in the transparence thought the publication of the appropriate paperss underlined in the statute law in Macedonia on the official web site of the Ministry of Finance, it is of import these publication to be in line with the deadlines given in the Budget jurisprudence. [ 54 ] The Government might see publication every bit good the Sublimate of the budget every bit good the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy and macroeconomic policy. Improvement of the strategic planning Even though there is a clear budget calendar in the Budget Law of Macedonia, this frame frequently is non obliged the budget users. In these footings, the strategic planning demands to be adjusted to the budget procedure in entire. Possible alterations might be made in the accommodations with the strategic planning in a manner that the budget users will present sector precedences which so can be applied to the strategic precedences and will convey easiness to the planning procedure. Limits of the budgetary user s budgets Even thought the Ministry of Finance started puting up bounds and controls these bounds for the budget users, the budget users themselves concentrate on maximising the absolute volumes of the fiscal resources because the deficiency of steps of public presentation. In these footings, the Ministry of Finance might see altering the budget as a whole from line up to public presentation, which might stand for an extra load to the disposal and make extra jobs in the budget system in Macedonia, or might see presenting steps for public presentation that would non alter the budget as a whole but would convey elements of public presentation measuring in order to guarantee more realistic budgets. Jung, Moo-Kyung and Ian Lienert. 2004. Is there an Optimum Legal Framework for the Budget System? In The Legal Framework for Budget Systems: An International Comparison, erectile dysfunction. Jon R. Blondal. Particular Issue, OECD Journal on Budgeting, 4, no. 3: 125-152 Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 14 Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 16 Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 18 Ibid. Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 19 Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 21-a Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 22 Furthermore, the Budget application contents the undermentioned paperss: Filled Circular, Strategic program for budget users, Plan for public procurance, Approved program for plans accompanied by elaborate justifications, Plan on systematic and filled employments of the budget user and other paperss harmonizing the demands and waies given in the Budget curricular. Jung, Moo-Kyung and Ian Lienert. 2004. Is there an Optimum Legal Framework for the Budget System? In The Legal Framework for Budget Systems: An International Comparison, erectile dysfunction. Jon R. Blondal. Particular Issue, OECD Journal on Budgeting, 4, no. 3: 125-152 Law on executing of the budget of Republic of Macedonia for 2009 ( Zakon za izvrsuvanje na budgetot za 2009 ) . 2008. Official Gazette 166/08 Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 30 Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 32 Law on executing of the budget of Republic of Macedonia for 2009 ( Zakon za izvrsuvanje na budgetot za 2009 ) . 2008. Official Gazette 166/08 Law on accounting of budgets and budget users ( Zakon za smetkovodstvo za budgetite I bidgetskite korisnici ) . 2002. Official Gazette 61/02, article 28. Law on accounting of budgets and budget users ( Zakon za smetkovodstvo za budgetite I bidgetskite korisnici ) . 2002. Official Gazette 61/02, article 29 Jung, Moo-Kyung and Ian Lienert. 2004. Is there an Optimum Legal Framework for the Budget System? In The Legal Framework for Budget Systems: An International Comparison, erectile dysfunction. Jon R. Blondal. Particular Issue, OECD Journal on Budgeting, 4, no. 3: 125-152. Zidas Daskalovski et al. , Guide to budgets ( Skopje: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2006 ) . Law on revenue enhancements of the citizens ( Zakon za danocite na graganite ) . 1992. Official Gazette 79/92, article 4 Jung, Moo-Kyung and Ian Lienert. 2004. Is there an Optimum Legal Framework for the Budget System? In The Legal Framework for Budget Systems: An International Comparison, erectile dysfunction. Jon R. Blondal. Particular Issue, OECD Journal on Budgeting, 4, no. 3: 125-152. Law on public internal fiscal control ( Zakon za javna vnatresna finansiska kontrola ) . 2009. Official Gazette 90/09. Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 7. Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 10. Jung, Moo-Kyung and Ian Lienert. 2004. Is there an Optimum Legal Framework for the Budget System? In The Legal Framework for Budget Systems: An International Comparison, erectile dysfunction. Jon R. Blondal. Particular Issue, OECD Journal on Budgeting, 4, no. 3: 125-152. Fundamental law of Republic of Macedonia. Fundamental law of the Republic of Macedonia Jung, Moo-Kyung and Ian Lienert. 2004. Is there an Optimum Legal Framework for the Budget System? In The Legal Framework for Budget Systems: An International Comparison, erectile dysfunction. Jon R. Blondal. Particular Issue, OECD Journal on Budgeting, 4, no. 3: 125-152. Budgets jurisprudence ( Zakon za budgetite ) . 2005. Official Gazette 64/05, article 39 The exclusion of the catholicity principles says that extrabudgetary financess need to be included in the budget system jurisprudence or in separate Torahs. In these footings the four different financess in Macedonia, Pension and Disability Insurance Fund of Macedonia, Health Insurance Fund of Macedonia, Fund for National and Regional Roads of the R