As the executive director of Advocates for Children, you have had a change of
heart. You decide not to attempt to maximize revenues in this second seminar. You
decide to exclude a profit margin in the fee computation, but you will include indirect
costs. Additionally, the local United Way in the community hosting the seminar
has guaranteed 45 participants. If fewer than 45 participants register for the
seminar, the United Way will make up the difference. In exchange for this guarantee,
the United Way has asked you to set the seminar fee as low as possible. Following
the checklist in Figure 11.1, perform all the computations necessary to set a
fee. What will your fee be?
1. Conference room rental $175.00 $ 175.00
2. Audiovisual equipment Rental 75.00
3. 4 presenters @ $500 2,000.00
4. 45 workbooks @ $15 675.00
5. 45 lunches @ $12 540.00
6. 45 coffees @ $3.50 158.00
Subtotal $3,623.00
7. Indirect costs @ 25% of $3,675.00 $ 906.00
Subtotal $4,529.00
8. Profit margin @ 5% of $4,594.00 $ 227.Ǡ
Total $4,756.00

Okay so I was thinking of going on a student exchange second semester next year to belgium or switzerland. It would cost about $10 000 dollars in total. I wouldneed the year to work and save up for it.
I would still like to go.
However, there is a program that only costs $130 or lower in total+ transportation and you go somewhere for 6 weeks (this summer) like quebec or something (its specifically for french studies) and you learn and can get a university or college credit. You live in either residence or with a host family.
Registration is due on the 28th for this program and i dont know if i woudl be accepted…should I apply to this one though? I would like to goon this one…but i don’t know which one would be more beneficial or enriching. On the 6 month exchange i would miss a semester of high school because the credits arent transferable to a candian school.
Which one sounds better?

The “Friends of Pakistan” initiative is quite original in the face of the utter lack of direction the government has demonstrated in dealing with the economic crisis. But are we confident, despite noise from certain “friends” to the contrary, that Pakistan will get financial aid only because we are too important to be allowed to fail? That may be the driver of why others will give aid, but it also explains their reluctance because they are unsure again of our intent to use it responsibly.

But, once again after nearly a decade of abeyance, the sexed-up terms of economics have come to life again…stabilization programmes, devaluations, structural adjustments, liquidity, and a host of other terms that seek to try and address the ills of what ails us now. It is needed, but it shall remain woefully inadequate. The truth is, the time for Pakistan now is to use some unsexy solutions, long-term ones.

The core of the argument is simple, develop rule of law and economic growth can follow. It doesn’t mean you won’t have economic troubles (look at Iceland now, great rule of law but in dire trouble), but from where we are now, it will provide a huge jumping start.

The economist Daniel Kaufman had worked out what was called the “300 per cent dividend”, explained as the縬 per cent rise in income if a country improved governance by one standard deviation according to their calculations. The rule of law engenders trust, a relatively overlooked concept in economics until fairly recently. Trust is the ground beneath your feet in economic activity. Trust can, for example, lower transaction costs if it is in high supply, making the economic engine more efficient. At the same time, trust is a collar of confidence.

Look at this way. In countries where there is the rule of law, they help inform social codes and vice versa. By establishing in law what the social contract between citizens is, it helps explain the relationships collectives can have, such as businesses. Whatever the legal situation of a country in terms of its legal origins, if it has consistent application investment flows with greater confidence.

The past two years have been extremely bad for Pakistan as far as rule of law is concerned. Musharraf was playing with the political landscape and literally changed the face of the legal system by implementing the NRO. Some financial scandals under the tutelage of Shaukat Aziz began to emerge when it came to the disposition of state property. Then the least trusted man in Pakistan replaced the most hated man. Add to that the subsequent filling of posts in the most sensitive ministries and bureaucratic divisions of those reputed to have plundered the country and one begins to understand how the state is not trusted, especially since the persistent break down in law and order.

The government might get us out of the current crisis through stop gap measures, but it will not be enough. Our crisis is not economic, that is just a symptom, but the sore spot is governance. The capital flight we witness today is not just hot money finding its way to better returns, it’s simply the fear of the owner of the capital that returns can no longer be projected or estimated.

Anjum Niaz recently put it brilliantly when she alluded to the whole economic significance of the lack of trust when she asked both Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif (amongst the richest in the country) to put their money where their mouth is by keeping their money in the country and investing here.

While Pakistan may need four billion dollars in the short run, what it really needs now is hope it can believe in. While this may sound cheesy, actually it will do more for the economic well being of the country than anything the IMF can throw at us. Right now Pakistan has done an excellent job of demonstrating financial need, but an extremely poor job of showing what it will do with it.

For example, where is the austerity of government that was once promised? The seeds of doubt were inadvertently planted long ago when both the PML-N and the PPP would rendezvous in Dubai as their venue of choice. The fact that the PML-N cannot take an in-camera briefing by the army seriously is not indicative of us getting back on our feet. And no matter what happens, if the situation with the Tehrik-e-Taliban is not resolved then no amount of short- or long-term cash infusions for balance of payments will do any good.

These are all unsexy solutions to this pressing problem. Sure, none of these will quell inflation which is also contingent on transnational forces, but, as odd as this may sound, it can help reduce inflation. Imagine a situation where everyone starts believing once again in the government, the rush to invest in Dubai will be mitigated and the desire to hold dollars will ebb somewhat. The government, and Asif Ali Zardari can start the process of creating trust that feeds into economic stabilization, enforcing rule of law that guarantees investors