 Subscription Information |
 |
Members Login |
|
|
|
ANSWER 0001 Every American knows of the existence of the Statue of Liberty and has seen a picture of it, but the story behind is not well known and a believer of Democracy should know more about it. What is well known is that the Statue of Liberty was given by the French government to the American people and sculpted by a French sculptor, Auguste Bartholdi. The inner frame supporting the statue was build by the famous engineer Gustave Eiffel. That seemed to be for the American government a wonderful deal. In appearance the only thing they had to do was to receive a gift, the statue. It was a very large and heavy statue, so the Americans had to build a large pedestal made of stone and concrete. Money had to be found by the American government or the City of New York to build this pedestal. The French created the "Union Franco American Committee" to raise funds in France to finance the Sratue and they did it successfully. After some reluctance, the American Congress accepted the Statue. As the statue was to be erected on New York City land, it was assumed that the City of New York, as well as the Federal Government would come up with the money for the pedestal. However, the mayor, the United States President, Glover Cleveland, and the richest and powerful inhabitants of New York such as J.P. Morgan, Mr Vanderbilt and their wealthy friends nicknamed the robbers baron, (at this time, New York was without contest was the richest city in the United States), opposed very strongly the idea of the Statue of Liberty standing on New York soil. Because, they said, the Statue of Liberby will give ideas of freedom to the poor who were almost slaves in their factories. No money came from the rich Americans, no money came from the mayor and the City of New York, no money came from the Federal Government. Many people, among them, a young journalist, Mr. Pulitzer, decided to raise money nationwide in many different ways to build the necessary huge pedestal to erect the Statue of Liberty. They started among other ways, to sell postcards, posters, little cups with the statue picture on it and many other everyday objects. To raise the very important sum for the pedestal they had to sell tens of thousands of these objects involving an army of volunteers. Almost all of them among the underprivileged classes. Despite the tremendous efforts of tens of thousands of people the money raised was not sufficient but that is a true example of a good side of democracy. When people bind together to defend a just cause.
The same people became more inventive and the committee negotiated a
contract with many companies allowing these companies to use the picture
of the Statue of Liberty and the name to advertise their products, any
kind of products, drink, food,and also very small statues of liberty
in exchange for money paid for building the pedestal. They were still short of money and Mr. Pullitzer called on a poet, Miss Emma Lazarus to write a poem, quote, "The New Colossus", who became very famous, still now, and the first line read, "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor.....". And at the same time, as there was a passionate momentum for this project, he raised the remaining of the money by printing in his newspaper the list of the donors among the poor, who gave pennies and dollars to raise the amount of $102,000.
At
the same time, Mr. Vanderbilt’s daughter gave a party dressed as
the Statue of Liberty. This party cost more than the money needed for
the Piedestal. Women were forbidden to attend the ceremony, but they chartered a boat, stormed the island and attended the ceremony anyway. Now the Statue of Liberty was
standing proudly on American land.
---------------------------------------
GEORGE
WASHINGTON
You do not become a great Democrat by seizing Power, but by giving the
Power back to The People who entrusted it to you. ANSWER 0003 He slept all year long with the window of his
bedroom open, exercised half naked in front of his open window at sunup
doing his aerobic, kept a very frugal diet without drinking any
alcohol till his golden years when he indulged in elaborate food and
good wines. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN in his teens around the
year 1710 a good swimmer at this time designed and attached to his feet
a pair of wooden flippers in order to swim faster and experimented them
in the waterways around Boston. Mark is one of 10 Penn College students receiving a scholarship funded with money Benjamin Franklin left in his will to benefit Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. Franklin's small bequest has grown to millions of dollars and is being used to support scholarships, symphonies, and projects in Boston as well. In his will, the famous printer, philosopher and Founding Father first set aside 2,000 pounds sterling to be used toward making Pennsylvania's Schuylkill River navigable. But in a codicil, Franklin gave 1,000 pounds sterling each to the cities of Boston, where he was born, and Philadelphia, his adopted home. "I wish to be useful even after my death, if possible, in forming and advancing other young men, that may be serviceable to their country in both these towns," wrote Franklin, who died in 1790. Loans, philanthropyBut Franklin wasn't about to leave his philanthropy to chance. For the first 100 years after his death, the money he left was to be used to make low-interest loans to young tradesmen getting their start in business. Franklin knew his bequest would grow over the years, so he stipulated that after 100 years about one-quarter of the sum should continue to be used to make loans, while the remaining three-quarters could be used for public works in each city. That money helped to create The Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, an educational center and museum, and the Franklin Institute of Boston, a technical school now known as the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. And Franklin wasn't done there. He estimated that after 200 years his bequest would be worth millions in each city. At that point, the total was again divided, allowing Philadelphia and Boston to keep about one-quarter of the total, with the remainder going to their respective states -- and any restrictions on how the money could be used were removed. In Massachusetts, that money has continued to support the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. In Pennsylvania, then-Gov. Robert P. Casey signed a bill in 1990 dividing the state's share -- about $1.7 million -- evenly between the Franklin Institute and Harrisburg-based Community Foundations for Pennsylvania, which then divided its share among the state's various community foundations. Some foundations have devoted their grants to things Franklin had supported in his lifetime, such as firefighting -- with the Chester County Community Foundation's $1,300 grant to the Po-Mar-Lin Fire Company. Others grants have supported women's health and disabled children. The Williamsport-Lycoming Foundation, which serves north-central Pennsylvania, received an initial grant of $64,000, which it later decided to use for scholarships. "Even though, in a sense, these funds were unrestricted, Ben Franklin's suggestion that it be used to support young artificers served as sort of a clue for us," said Kimberley Pittman-Schulz, president of the Williamsport-Lycoming Foundation. "That's where we came up with the idea of funding some technical-education scholarships. "The idea was -- What in our community would come closest to helping young tradespeople get started? -- and we really looked with the relationship with our area's technical college." Trades, technologyTo be eligible for the scholarship, students must come from the area served by the Williamsport-Lycoming Foundation and be a graduate of a tech-prep or vocational-technical high school program. That was perfect for Tanya Budman, of Allenwood, a scholarship recipient and freshman in the college's heavy construction equipment technology program. "I always liked to tinker with things as a kid, taking them apart and putting them back together," Budman said. "Growing up on a farm, there were always things to tinker with." When she graduates, Budman hopes to get a job operating heavy equipment on construction sites. Franklin could not have foreseen the massive diesel machines that Budman hopes to operate. Still, said John Alviti, senior curator of collections at The Franklin Institute, "he would have approved." "A tradesman is what he was, what he apprenticed as, where he made his money initially and what his great wealth was based on," Alviti said. "He felt something was owed to that field, and that's why he sponsored that type of apprenticeship for those exercising a skill or craft." It was not uncommon in Franklin's day for the well-to-do to leave large charitable bequests, and Franklin's was nowhere near the largest in Philadelphia's history. What was uncommon, Alviti said, was the way the bequest was structured, with very specific requirements at first, then an openness to new ideas over time. That, Pittman-Schulz said, was what made creating the scholarships so rewarding. "Very few organizations have the opportunity
to manage money left by one of the country's founders," she said.
"And for us in the community foundation field, it's also an example
to our donors of what, if you set aside some philanthropy now, what
can really happen in the future." First document at the end interesting facts in Italic and bold High unemployment zones that qualify for $500 000 investment instead
of $1 million and many are in Los Angeles USCIS administers the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as “EB-5,” created by Congress in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. Under a pilot immigration program first enacted in 1992 and regularly reauthorized since, certain EB-5 visas also are set aside for investors in Regional Centers designated by USCIS based on proposals for promoting economic growth. All EB-5 investors must invest in a new commercial enterprise, which is a commercial enterprise: Established after Nov. 29, 1990, or Commercial enterprise means any for-profit activity formed for the ongoing conduct of lawful business including, but not limited to: A sole proprietorship This definition includes a commercial enterprise consisting of a holding company and its wholly owned subsidiaries, provided that each such subsidiary is engaged in a for-profit activity formed for the ongoing conduct of a lawful business. Note: This definition does not include noncommercial activity such
as owning and operating a personal residence. Create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S.
workers within two years (or under certain circumstances, within a reasonable
time after the two-year period) of the immigrant investor’s admission
to the United States as a Conditional Permanent Resident. Note: Investors may only be credited with preserving jobs in a troubled business. A troubled business is an enterprise that has been in existence for at least two years and has incurred a net loss during the 12- or 24-month period prior to the priority date on the immigrant investor’s Form I-526. The loss for this period must be at least 20 percent of the troubled business’ net worth prior to the loss. For purposes of determining whether the troubled business has been in existence for two years, successors in interest to the troubled business will be deemed to have been in existence for the same period of time as the business they succeeded. A qualified employee is a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or other immigrant authorized to work in the United States. The individual may be a conditional resident, an asylee, a refugee, or a person residing in the United States under suspension of deportation. This definition does not include the immigrant investor; his or her spouse, sons, or daughters; or any foreign national in any nonimmigrant status (such as an H-1B visa holder) or who is not authorized to work in the United States. Full-time employment means employment of a qualifying employee by the new commercial enterprise in a position that requires a minimum of 35 working hours per week. In the case of the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, "full-time employment" also means employment of a qualifying employee in a position that has been created indirectly from investments associated with the Pilot Program. A job-sharing arrangement whereby two or more qualifying employees
share a full-time position will count as full-time employment provided
the hourly requirement per week is met. This definition does not include
combinations of part-time positions or full-time equivalents even if,
when combined, the positions meet the hourly requirement per week. The
position must be permanent, full-time and constant. The two qualified
employees sharing the job must be permanent and share the associated
benefits normally related to any permanent, full-time position, including
payment of both workman’s compensation and unemployment premiums
for the position by the employer. Capital means cash, equipment, inventory, other tangible property, cash equivalents and indebtedness secured by assets owned by the alien entrepreneur, provided that the alien entrepreneur is personally and primarily liable and that the assets of the new commercial enterprise upon which the petition is based are not used to secure any of the indebtedness. All capital shall be valued at fair-market value in United States dollars. Assets acquired, directly or indirectly, by unlawful means (such as criminal activities) shall not be considered capital for the purposes of section 203(b)(5) of the Act. Note: Investment capital cannot be borrowed. Required minimum investments are: General. The minimum qualifying investment in the United States is
$1 million. A targeted employment area is an area that, at the time of investment, is a rural area or an area experiencing unemployment of at least 150 percent of the national average rate. A rural area is any area outside a metropolitan statistical area (as
designated by the Office of Management and Budget) or outside the boundary
of any city or town having a population of 20,000 or more according
to the decennial census.
|
|
|
 |
© AllThePerspectives.
All Rights Reserved. |
|
