A Financial Analysis Of Starbucks Coffee

A Financial Analysis Of Starbucks Coffee The aim of this financial analysis of Starbucks is to obtain a deep knowledge of annual financial reports and other corporate information, which can provide us measurable conclusions about the company. It is essential to understand the nature of companys business, by analyzing its economic and financial environment and strategy choices made in the past. This report will begin with industry and company description, followed by financial performance overview and projection of company development over the next two years. Conclusions drawn from above analysis will support managers in making a decision whether to invest in the company. 2. The industry description The coffee industry is growing since 2002, and in recent years there was a boom caused by consumers becoming more educated about espresso-based drinks and how they are made (H. Holmes, 2004). The coffee industry includes 20,000 outlets with combined revenue of $11 billion. Approximately 20 million people work in the coffee industry worldwide. Market is very concentrated at the top with the 50 companies taking up 70% of the sales, and fragmented at the bottom. Starbucks is the market leader (Franchise direct, 2010). 2.1. Starbucks description Starbucks Corporation is involved in: purchasing, roasting, and sale of whole bean coffees, cold-blended beverages, various food items, selection of teas, and beverage-related accessories and equipment, primarily through its company-operated retail stores. It was established in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. In 1986 Howard Shultz, Retail Sales and Marketing Manager, left the company to start his own retail coffee outlet, Il Giornale. In 1987 the original investors of Starbucks bought Peets Coffee and sold Starbucks to H.Shultz, who renamed Il Giornale to Starbucks. Firm expended with shops in Chicago and Vancouver. Starbuck was the first coffee company to offer employee stock options in 1991 and went public in 1992. In 1990s Starbucks started distributing coffee through department stores, bookstores, hotels, supermarkets and online; it signed contract with PepsiCo, AOL and Dyers and opened stores in Japan, Singapore, and UK. (Hoovers.com, 2008) Starbucks has built one of the worlds most powerful and recognizable brands and the image of a unique Starbucks Experience. Its mission statement was to revolutionize the coffeehouse industry by building a perception of a coffee shop as the third place between work and home. Wi-fi internet access in all stores makes it a place where customers can work. The companys goal was to make each location a community center for higher-income crowd of the young and college-educated, a group that tends toward higher luxury-consumption levels. (Wikinvest.com, n.d.) 2.2. Competition Starbucks close competitors include other specialty coffee shops, doughnut shops, and restaurants. Starbucks holds a dominant position in the coffeehouse market which is dispersed among the thousands of independent or small-chain coffee shops. Their largest direct competitors are Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds. Both offer specialty coffee at a lower price. Main competitors short description: Dunkin, specializes in fresh baked goods, but began offering coffee in 2005. Their level of sales is at $4.3b. Currently, their coffee sales start to exceed food sales, 5-10% of total sales are from espresso-based drinks. Dunkin has a 22.9% market share. (Starbucks in the aggregate category controls a 24.7% market share) McDonalds entered the coffeehouse industry in 2007, offering coffee at its flagship stores and opening its espresso-centric McCafe concept in some markets. McDs coffee sales generate $813m in additional annual income. Current revenue from coffee is around $490m, about 6-6.5% of Starbucks coffee sales. Their price point is at 18% discount on Starbuckss. The two competitorss targets are slightly different from Starbucks. They focus on cheaper coffee to go, whereas Starbucks is providing a premium experience for a luxury price. Consequently, they compete with each other more directly than with Starbucks, however McCafe has a negative impact on Starbucks. Analysts believe that competitors will settle into separate niches, McDonalds being the better value proposition and Starbucks offering higher quality experience. 3. Financial Performance 2007-2009 3.1. Overview of Starbucks performance 2007-2009 In the fiscal year 2007, Starbucks achieved a solid performance. All goals like new stores opening, total revenue growth, comparable store sales growth and considerable cost rises from dairy products were completed. The consolidated operating income in 2008 was $503.9 and operating margin 4.9%. This was a significant decrease compared with the past few years, the reason for decrease was a changing of structure. In 2009, Starbucks faced many challenges caused by unexpected economic environment and more intense competition, which had impact on the revenue, comparable store sales, operating income and margins. 3.2. Income statement analysis 2007-2009 While net revenues of Starbucks havent been stable from 2007 to 2009 (first increasing then decreasing), its total operating income have also been moving in 2008 it decreased by 52,2% and it was $503.9 million, 4.9% of total net revenues. The reason for decrease was high distribution costs and high rent expenses. In 2009 it increase again by $58.1. Main reason for this improvement was the restructuring charges which contain: assets impairment, lease exit and severance costs. In 2008 and 2009 while net revenues were $10,383 million and $9,774.6, total operating expenses were $9,992.7 million in 2008 and $9,334.5 in 2009 that means expenses were highly eating up more than 96% of the net revenues. The company suffered a major loss of 113.185% in net earnings between 2007 and 2008. Starbucks realized that he need to re-think its business strategy. In 2008, the company incurred restructuring charges of $266.9 million due to store closures in the US and Australia and reduction of the work force. Starbucks Company derived 84% of total net revenue from the company-operated retail stores. They opened 681 new stores in the last 12 months and this offset -3% losses in comparable store sales. Total net revenue of 2009 was showed a decrease of 5.9%, stayed at $9,774.6. The company-operated retail also went down. In detail, there was a change of nearly 6.7% in comparable, for 4% decrease in transactions and a 2% decrease in the average value per transaction. Figure 1: Net Revenue of Starbucks 2007-2009 (Starbucks annual financial report) Figure 2: Operating Income of Starbucks 2007-2009 (Starbucks annual financial report) Figure 3: Net earnings of Starbucks 2007-2009 (Starbuck annual report) 3.4. Balance sheet In term of assets, the total assets for the three years kept staying around $5,600 million. The total current assets in 2009 were $2,036 million. This was higher than in 2008 and 2007 due to the high cash and cash equivalents in 2009. The marketable securities in 2007 were $157 millions so in 2007 the company had more short term investment. On the other hand, the total liabilities in 2008 were the highest in three years because of the commercial paper and short-term borrowing in 2008. Additionally, there was no short-term debt in 2009 but it was the highest accrued expenses during the three years. The shareholders equity in 2009 was the highest in three years owing to the additional paid-in capital. 3.4. Ratio analysis: By doing ratio analysis, the company performance would be evaluated more clearly. As we can see the current ratio for the 2009 was higher than 2008 and 2007. In 2008 and 2007, the current ratio was under 1. That means Starbucks was not in good financial health in these two years. However, this situation didnt exist for a long time but it was not a good sign. The current ratio for 2009 was 1.29, so the company had 1.29 times more current assets than current liabilities. That means Starbucks was able to cover its own obligations. As the Exhibit 1 shows the quick ratio was low for 3 years that is all below 1. This indicates that the company had difficult to turning their inventory into cash like a short-term liability which the company could not pay off immediately. In 2007, the profit margin of Starbucks was 7.15%. This means 7 cents of each dollar is companys profit. In the next two years, the profit margin decreased by nearly 3 percent. That means the net income in 2009 was visibly lower than 2007. It may mainly caused from the increase of the restructuring charges. The return on assets ratio in the year 2007 was 13.77% while the ratio declined to 6.95% in 2009. From this we know Starbucks earned more in 2007 and the net income in 2007 was higher than in 2009. The reason for this decrease results is also from increase cost of the restructuring and innovation in 2008 and 2009. In terms of leverage ratio, to measure its ability to meet financial obligation from 2007 to 2009 the debt ratio was around 50%. That means nearly 50% of funds for assets came from debt. This does not seem good for the company and the most liabilities were long-term liabilities. The debt to equity ratio from 2007 to 2009 was pretty high and the highest point was in 2007, so in 2007 more debt was used. Interests earned ratio in Starbucks during the 3 years was extremely high like in 2007, the ratio was nearly 28 times, but finally in 2009 the ratio was around 15 times a year. It could be a really good margin since the company was able to cover its interest expenses 15 times with operating income. 3.5. Cash flow Operating activities: the net cash provided by operating actives in 2009 was highest during the 3 years. The main part of activities was depreciation and amortization. Same as in 2008 the company spent $604.5 thousands on depreciation and amortization. Investing activities: the net cash used by investing activities in 2007 was $-1201.9 thousands. The main costs here were addition to property, plant and equipment and the company also spent money on purchasing available-for-sale securities. But in 2009 the net cash used by investing activities was $-421.1 thousands. This was much less than in the 2007. The reason for this was the company spent less money on additions to property, plant and equipment. Financing activities: the net increase/ (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in 2009 was $330.0 thousands. That means Starbucks gained money from financing activities in 2009 while in 2008 and 2009 they had losses in financing activities. The reason for the gain of money in 2009 was the profit in short-term borrowing and nothing spent on the issuing of long-term debts. 4. Forecasting 2010-2011 In order to project the next two fiscal year performance of Starbucks, particularly to construct the pro forma income statements of 2010 and 2011, establishing the revenue (or sales) projection should be the first task of all. In the next steps, the rest items of the statement would be projected by the percent of sales method since it does provide simple, logical estimate of many important variables (Higgins, 2009). In fact, there was a visible growth of Starbucks revenue in both volume and speed during the period of time from 2000 to 2009. Especially, from 2000 to 2007, the annual company sales increased in steady pace in the range of 20% to 29%. This impressive growth of Starbucks revenue was a sophisticated proof for its great business strategies during the beginning of this decade. However, the story had some changes since 2008. At the end of this fiscal year, Starbucks finished with $10,383 million revenue, in comparison with 2007, the growth ratio was 10.3% only, the lowest rat io since 2000. Continuously, in the midst of the US economic crisis, Starbucks sales got negative growth at 5.9% after finish the fiscal year 2009, stay at $9,744 million. Figure 4: Starbucks Sales chart in 2000-2009 (in Millions) Obviously, the trustable estimation should be the sophisticated one, that normally came from data base statistic analyses. Specifically, with the availability of the last ten years data of Starbucks revenue, it was possible to apply most of time series forecast methods such as moving average, weighted moving average, exponential smoothing, and so on. Since each method had its own advantages and limitations, it is necessary to compare how every method would reflect the same provided data (Exhibit 4). The value of W3 (for the Weighted moving average method) and ÃŽÂ ± (for the Exponential smoothing method) were decided high at 0.6 and 0.3 due to the emphasis of the closest time period in term of its impact to the next following year. As a result, the forecasts for 2010 sales were quite low though there was still a slightly growth than 2009. Among the three methods, the weighted moving average method seems to be the most appropriated one since it had the smallest value of the Mean Absolute Deviation. Basically, it proved that this method had less forecasting error than others and might be the best choice of all. To be clear, the plot chart was established base on the result of the three forecast methods in Figure X. Figure 5: Plot of Actual Sales and Forecast Sales for 2010 in three different models (in $ Million) Visibly, the line created from weighted moving average method was the closest one to the actual sales line. Its trend reflected almost similarly to the actual during the period of time from 2003 to 2009. That is why this method was chosen to determine the 2010 Starbucks sales instead of the two methods remaining. Objectively, $9,920.81 million may not be a number that Starbucks shareholders and investors really expect, even it showed slightly growth at 1.5% than 2009. However, in some levels, it seems to reflect quite appropriately the reality of the economic conditions as well as the Starbucks status. In spite of many positive signs of the economic recovery, Starbucks is still continuing its plan to close 800 retail stores over two year 2009 and 2010. Since the 566 stores had already released in 2009, another 244 are expecting to be cleared in fiscal year 2010. Thus, it could be hard to see a rapid growth in revenue of Starbucks at the end of fiscal year 2010. In regard to fiscal year 2011, since all of the three forecasting method above only allowed forecaster to see the result of 2010 revenue, the Linear Regression method was applied to estimate the sales in 2011. By collecting the sales data from the last three years (2007 to 2009) in quarterly, by the calculation of the regression line (Exhibit 11), the value of a ( the y intercept) and b (slope of regression line) were found. These two values were use to determine the dependent variable (y). The regression forecast of sales in equation is: y = a + bx (Exhibit 5 ). The forecast results of $10,078.21 and $10,189.41 for each year of 2010 and 2011 once again confirmed about the growth trend of Starbucks sales in the next two year. Nonetheless, base on the Starbucks plan of opening over 500 new stores in US and over sea during 2011, there should be a stronger increase in sales of Starbucks in this year. Subjectively, the authors believed that Starbucks revenue would increase no less than 15% in 2011. In other words, if the 2010 revenue was forecasted at $9,920.81 million, the same item in 2011 would be around $11,408.93 million. This result was also determined base on many positive factors that Starbucks could get benefits from such as the economic recovery in higher volume and speed, the more effective operating of Starbucks after the reorganizing process in its retail stores system as well as the objective increase in customers demand. Moreover, the volume of average transaction would be higher due to the increase in cost of goods sold and the im pact of inflation. In the Exhibit 6, all the operating performances of Starbucks from 2005 to 2009 were displayed in detail by the percent of total revenue. Base on those historical data and theirs visible trends, it was possible to anticipate logically the operating results for next two fiscal years 2010 and 2011 (Exhibit 7). According to the Exhibit 14, the net income of Starbucks stays at $466.27 and $479.18 million for each of 2010 and 2011. This may be considered as the acceptable results in regard to the challenges of the current circumstance. In fact, the forecast net income of 2010 is 19.3% higher than 2009. Since the revenue of 2010 did not rise in a strong level (only 1.5%), this impressive net income mainly came from the reducing the stores operating expenses and the more effective tax rate. In 2011, the operating expenses are expected to increase and stay at 95.2% of total sales, this is an objective fact that many items in operating expenses areas are in trend of steady increase year by year accompany with the business enlarge strategy of Starbucks, such as store operating expenses or general and administrative expenses. However, this ratio might be less in the next following years if the restructure process of Starbucks would get its aims of improving efficiency of cost control in various act ivities. Conclusion and recommendation Starbucks has been the largest specialty coffee retailer in its industry, but due to the problems with our economy, it has been seeing an effect on its sales and profits. The economic situation has affected consumers spending at Starbucks and other luxury goods. Starbucks also raised prices by an average of 9 cents a cup in July of 2007, causing U.S. customers who face higher food, fuel and housing expenses to go to McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts for cheaper coffee. These issues have affected Starbucks stocks performance in the market and are slowly making this stock an unfavorable one for potential investors. My recommendation for potential investors would be to hold off on purchasing stocks from Starbucks at this moment because now is not a good time to invest in them. I would advise these investors to keep looking into this stock until they see a positive change in its market pattern and that would be when I would advise them to purchase the stock; before its price increases higher t han the average market price. My recommendation for investors holding the share of the company would be to hold on to it until they can see for certain if Starbucks stocks will continue to go down and become a loss or maybe potential go back up and become profitable as they once were. After conducting my research, I believe the Starbucks stock will eventually start going up again after they put into effect their plans for the upcoming year. This stock is definitely a valuable one that I would not let go of if I owned shares in it. Starbucks hold value to its stock, which is why my advice to shareholders is to hold off on selling their shares until they see how the upcoming year goes for the company. In a response to the McDonalds challenge Starbucks is teaming up with Burger King, which has announced that by September 2010 it would begin selling Starbucks Seattles Best Coffee in about 7,250 U.S. outlets it would launch its first national advertising campaign.

School Dress Code Standards

Most schools impose regulations on how students should dress. The sole intent is to keep students safe and get focused on academics. A well centered dress code couple with other appropriate interventions can have a position impacts on the fraternity of the school’s social environment (Hanks, 2004). School Dress Code Standards The supporters of the dress codes have come up with a list of advantages of standardized dress code in school. First, a sincere concern about safety is an overriding impetus towards the implementation of dress code policies. If everyone in school dresses alike there will be less violence in schools. There is a definite connection between clothing style and violence in schools. This is because many students will associate an image or sometimes a stigma to certain styles mostly gang-style clothing (Hanks, 2004) In many cases students have become targets of unintentional violence simply because of wearing a certain color combination which can be afflicted to a certain gang. An example is a popular style where boys wear baggy pants and oversized shirts. This image is closely associated with inner-city gang members who wear such loose fitting clothes so as to better hide weapons or drugs, which can also be carried to schools (Hanks, 2004). The students hunger to be fashionable is another dimension connecting clothing style and school violence. In this case students may envy other children’s clothes due to the lack of financial resources to purchase similar clothes and get abreast with style. Subsequently students’ have been injured or even get killed for their designers’ clothes or the professional sport-team paraphernalia. When students feel safe and secure they tend to perform better academically. Hence, enhancing academic performance is another argument that favours dress code policies (Feiler, 2004). Dress code in general helps children to follow on their school work instead of paying attention to what they and others are wearing. Imposing a dress code will prohibit wearing of clothing that can be disruptive. The other benefits attached t uniforms that can help enhance performance, includes; enhanced displine, respect for teachers, fewer distractions and improved classroom behavior. The other point to make on dress code in schools is the peer pressure. Middle school students’ can sometimes become cruel. In this case, if a child does not wear the right brand or style of clothing other student can make life a difficult for that student (Feiler, 2004). By removing the status depicted by clothing labels uniform becomes a great equalizer. The income of the child’s family is also concealed by the uniform which can thus eliminate a mark of distinction or shame. If the school uniform is attractive it promotes school spirit and self image the same way an athletic team uniform promotes spirit and unity (Feiler, 2004). If a dress code is instituted, many families will realize the great benefit of not having to buy so many expensive clothes for their children who maybe fashion conscious. With some comparisons the cost of uniform is significantly less compared to the cost of the latest fashions. Parents will also welcome uniforms because they have an added peace to the home. This means that if the school imposes what to the students should wear to school it will become one less battle to fight in the morning (Feiler, 2004). Dressing seductively poses a great distraction to the opposite sex. This makes sense why it’s important to put restrictions to what can worn in school. Sexual thoughts are frequent in middle school and in high school and hence most students do not need visual aids because their imagination is active enough. Uniform makes school not to be the appropriate avenue to express oneself especially in terms of clothing. The student should use his mind and voice so as to appropriately express his thoughts opinions and questions. Uniform and dress codes should be used as a part of life. Most of jobs have certain kind of restrictions that pertains to dress. Children and students should be made to adhere to simple roles such as those of dress codes while in school (Craik, 2005). Attendance is improved by imposing school uniform because the student will always have something acceptable to wear. Sometimes students may miss school just because they do not have something cool to wear or because their shirt that was cool was wet to wear to school. How we dress matters a lot as even for the entrepreneurs that work out of their home tend to feel that their working is more productive if they dress appropriately other than working in pajamas (Craik, 2005) Conclusion Students should dress respectively when in school. They can be allowed to wear what they want but only to a certain extent. They should not be allowed to wear their pants around their knees or miniskirts. This is sloppy and does not show self respect or self confidence. Also there is no business that wants to hire a man with pants down her knees. If one wants a good job, then one needs too wear properly, as this shows respect. There are many reasons to why schools should impose dress codes its not for the hindrance of individuality but to promote a better life and one’s self-confidence. If you want to have a good education and a well paying job you have to dress for it (Craik, 2005)

What is the meaning of the Ninth Commandment to a college student?

The basic premise behind the ninth commandment is truth, whether it is truth in deed, truthful speech or honest thoughts.   If we take the meaning of the commandment further and interpret the words to mean that a person should not lie, then we can understand better how this commandment might impact our daily life, especially in today’s modern environment where deception, and white lies appear to be condoned by our western society. The ninth commandment requires for each individual to be honest in his or her dealings with others, but analysis of the term â€Å"lying† reveals that there is more to being truthful than accurate reporting.The Oxford Modern English Dictionary (1996) defines â€Å"truth† as being â€Å"the quality or state of being true or truthful† (p. 1114) and â€Å"truthful† as â€Å"habitually telling the truth† (p.1114).   By comparison the definition of the term â€Å"lying† in the same dictionary is listed as â₠¬Å"part of a lie†¦deceitful, false† (p.595) where â€Å"Lie† is described as â€Å"an intentionally false statement† (p. 573).   From these interpretations it is easy to reach the conclusion that the definition of both truth and lying is steeped more in the intention of the individual rather than individual acts or words spoken.Brevard Childs (1974) believed that the original idea behind the ninth commandment was a legal one, rather than an ethical one, in that he translated the original text to mean that a person should not tell lies in a court of law (Childs, 1974), however the more modern viewpoint on the meaning of the commandment appears to be related to individual accountability and a desire to live a life of truth (St. John in the Wilderness, 2001, [online]).There are many different ways a person can lie including withholding the truth, slandering another person or action, or telling white lies and despite ethical discussions to the contrary all of these actions are considered untruthful from a biblical perspective.   For example in Leviticus 19:11, we are told, â€Å"you shall not steal, you shall not deal falsely, and you will not lie to one another† (NRSV).   Later in the same chapter we are again told, â€Å"you shall not go around as a slanderer among your people†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Leviticus 19:16). These are just two of the copious number of biblical references that can be found that encourage each individual to be a truthful person, but how relevant is this truth in modern society?Terence Fretheim (1991) interpreted the ninth commandment to convey a foundation for community and social living.   He wrote, â€Å"unless there is an arena in which there is public confidence that social reality will be reliably described and reported† (Fretheim, p.848), the concept of community could not exist.  Ã‚   Blatnik (2004) corroborates that idea and goes on to say, â€Å"there is no community on the face of public lies† (p.3).   Blatnik (2004) also mentions verses in Ephesians that point towards the idea that â€Å"we are bound to each other in a way that a lie in one place, a lie at one level, a lie by one person, is like a ripple in a pond – the whole pond is ultimately affected† (p.3).Walter Brueggemann (1994) wrote in his book that the ninth commandment is â€Å"a recognition that community life is not possible unless there is an arena in which there is public confidence that social reality will be reliably described and reported† (p.26).   He believed that not only was truth an important part of a just and fair legal system, but that truth should be evident in all forms of public interaction.   For example the modern idea that skewing the truth in the advertisement of products in mass media forums is an accepted part of society, but essentially if public truth cannot reflect public reality then an important part of society is undermined and we as members of this society tend, over time, to distrust the messages we get from mass media sources.In his book Commandments of Compassion, Keenan (1999) suggest that as a society we need to â€Å"create a space where truth can be told† (p.4). He believes that truth should be evident in personal relationships, family relationships and public dealings we have with other members of our community.   Unfortunately this level of truth can only be created if all members of society were totally honest with each other and as it is not possible for us as human beings, to read the thoughts of another person, it is often difficult to tell if a person we are dealing with has the same commitment towards living a truthful life as we ourselves would like to have.John Timmerman (1997) also wrote about how to be truthful in all of our relationships, both personal and public. He emphasized the different ways we as individuals could achieve this level of truthfulness and suggested that if we were caref ul in the words we spoke so that we did not give another person the wrong impression, and combined this with attentive listening to another person, then these actions could increase our own individual ability to be truthful at all times.   Timmerman also noted that the idea of promises were almost a sacred act, in that as we believe in the promises from God, so we should ensure that we only make promises we can keep (Timmerman, 1997).According to John Ritenbaugh (1997) lying is rife in our communities.   His article mentions surveys that show that students lie to their parents about 50% of the time, that people in personal relationships lie about 30 percent of the time to their partner, while 12% of four million Americans in the job market had lost their jobs because they had misleading information on their resumes (Ritenbaugh, 1997).   He suggested that the reason lying was so prevalent in our society was because we tend to use other terms for lying, such as â€Å"exaggerati ng† or â€Å"inaccuracy† to describe the untruths.We seem as a society to accept that politicians are up to no good, that a salesman is probably â€Å"putting us on† and that big corporations must be doing something illegal because they make so much money.   The fact that these beliefs have permeated our social fabric to such a degree that these thoughts are commonplace shows just how little truth we expect from others in our daily lives.   This fact alone would suggest that because we do not expect others to tell us the truth, we might be less likely to be truthful ourselves.   It would seem that much of society is based on the idea that ‘everyone else is doing it† so therefore we can absolve ourselves of being accountable and honest in our own dealings with others.The Bible gives us countless examples of what it means to be truthful.   Deuteronomy 32:4 says â€Å"He is the rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of tr uth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He† (NSRV). The teachings from Jesus also contain ideas on how to be truthful, especially in terms of the role model he became for other people.   Jesus was an example of a person who lived by his words on a daily basis, and it is through his example that we can see what changes we might need to put in place in our own lives, to be a better and more truthful person.A Christian student goes to a Christian college with the expectation that the people who share the campus with them are going to live by the same standards as themselves.   One of these expectation is that the other students, the tutors and even the administration staff of the college will all want to abide by the ten commandments and sometimes it can be bit of a shock to us to find that not only are there countless people in general society that fail to live by the commandments on a daily basis, but that some of the people in the college are also failing to li ve by the high standards set by Jesus Christ.However, it is my personal opinion that when it comes to attendance at a Christian educational institution that rather than condemn or alienate those students who might lie to us, or fail the commandments in some way or another, that we need to be forgiving and use the positive Christian influence of the college to help understand why some people find it difficult to be truthful in voice and deed and encourage these people back onto a Christian path in life.   We need to heed the words by Keenan (1999) mentioned earlier that we need to create the space where a person can feel comfortable enough to tell the truth.One of the main reasons people lie to others is based on their own fear of being judged by another person.   Most of us feel the need to make a good impression on others, so we feel we are not doing any harm by just omitting a few pertinent facts, or telling a few white lies to make ourselves appear better in a public light. A lthough the intention behind these actions may not be malicious, any form of untruth is a lie, and the only way we can be truthful people, and keep the ninth commandment is to be totally honest in all our dealings, both personal and professional.As students we are all well aware of how easy it is to be tempted to appear â€Å"better† in the way we behave, especially among our peers (Christian and non-Christian), but as Christians we are also aware of how important it is for us to live by higher standards than other non-Christian people might be prepared to live.   We need to remember that we are all sinners in some way or another, which is why I think that it is so important, when we do become aware that one of our Christian classmates is having problems being honest in their dealings, that we help rather than condemn him.   For example one of our classmates might be telling â€Å"white lies† to his parents because his grades are not as high as they should be.Even though we all learn the importance of being truthful in all of our thoughts, words and actions, it is not our place to ignore or shun that failing student – it is not our place to judge him.   Rather we should help him in spiritual ways by studying scriptures that are appropriate for the situation, and in practical ways by offering to help him study harder so that he is able to get a grade he can be proud of.   Blatnik (2004) told us that just one lie by one individual in a community can affect the whole community, but if we as Christian individuals hold fast to our own truths then through the power of prayer and understanding we can help our fellow students stay true to the teachings of Jesus Christ.The ninth commandment tells us we should not bear false witness against our neighbour – what it is asking us to do is to make truth the foundation for our lives here on earth.   Only when we are completely truthful in all of our dealings with other people around us c an we have an honest relationship with God, and that fact applies to all of us, not only as Christians, not only as college students, but also as members of the human race. ReferencesBlatnik, D.J., (2004).   The Ninth Commandment. Second Presbyterian Church Sermons, accessed online at http://www.2prelex.org/S040418.htm October 2, 2005Brueggemann, W., (1994).   The Book of Exodus, in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 1.   Nashville:   Abingdon PressChilds, B.S., (1974).   The book of Exodus: A critical, theological commentary.   Louisville: Westminster Press.Fretheim, T.E., (1991).   Exodus: Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching, Louisville: John Knox Press.Keenan, J.F., (1999).   Commandments of Compassion.   Franklin, WI: S.J. Sheed & WardOxford Modern Dictionary (Second Edition), (1996), New York: Oxford University Press.Ritenbaugh, J.W., (December 1997).   The Ninth Commandment, Forerunner, Personal. Charlotte, NC:   Church of the Great GodSt. John in the Wilderness [online] (2001).   The Ten Commandments: 9. You shall not answer against your neighbor as a false witness.   Accessed at http://www.stjohnadulted.org October 2 2005.Timmerman, J.H., (1997).   Do we still need the Ten Commandments? A fresh look at God’s Laws of Love.   Minneapolis: Augsburg

Disproportionate Incarceration of African Americans Essay

Disproportionate Incarceration of African Americans The disproportionate numbers of African Americans in the prison system is a very serious issue, which is not usually discussed in its totality. However, it is quite important to address the matter because it ultimately will have an effect on African Americans as a whole. Of the many tribulations that plague Americans today, the increase in the amount of African American men and women in prisons is unbelievable. It would be naà ¯ve to say that the increase is due to the fact that more African Americans are committing crimes now than before. When in actuality it has very prevalent connections to a systematic plan to incarcerate a race of people by creating harsh drug laws to†¦show more content†¦Today, the opposite is true with 35% of the prison population made up of whites. Specialists have speculated that by the end of the year 2000, roughly one million African American adults will be behind bars. That will constitute for almost one in every 14 black men being in jail . And as of December 31, 1999 there were 1,366,721 African American men and women under federal and state jurisdiction. This implies that there has been a 3.4% increase since December 1,1998. The face of crime to white America is now that of a black man says David Bositis, Center for Political and Economic Studies, senior political analyst. While incarceration statistics have skyrocketed, crime rates have increased much more slowly. Politicians sought out political points by enforcing tough on crime laws. By doing this the politicians increase public panic by portraying the urban underclass as young black males. The Prison Industrial Complex The Prison Industrial Complex can be described as a contract or lease from a private corporation that allows them to contract convict labor. 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