About Corporations in the United States

About Corporations in the United States Although there are many small and medium-sized companies, big business units play a dominant role in the American economy. There are several reasons for this. Large companies can supply goods and services to a greater number of people, and they frequently operate more efficiently than small ones. In addition, they often can sell their products at lower prices because of the large volume and small costs per unit sold. They have an advantage in the marketplace because many consumers are attracted to well-known brand names, which they believe guarantee a certain level of quality. How Large Corporations Benefit the American Economy Large businesses are important to the overall economy because they tend to have more financial resources than small firms to conduct research and develop new goods. And they generally offer more varied job opportunities and greater job stability, higher wages, and better health and retirement benefits. Nevertheless, Americans have viewed large companies with some ambivalence, recognizing their important contribution to economic well-being but worrying that they could become so powerful as to stifle new enterprises and deprive consumers of choice. Whats more, large corporations at times have shown themselves to be inflexible in adapting to changing economic conditions. In the 1970s, for instance, U.S. automakers were slow to recognize that rising gasoline prices were creating a demand for smaller, fuel-efficient cars. As a result, they lost a sizable share of the domestic market to foreign manufacturers, mainly from Japan. In the United States, most large businesses are organized as corporations. A corporation is a specific legal form of business organization, chartered by one of the 50 states and treated under the law like a person. Corporations may own property, sue or be sued in court, and make contracts. Because a corporation has legal standing itself, its owners are partially sheltered from responsibility for its actions. Owners of a corporation also have limited financial liability; they are not responsible for corporate debts, for instance. If a shareholder paid $100 for 10 shares of stock in a corporation and the corporation goes bankrupt, he or she can lose the $100 investment, but that is all. Because the corporate stock is transferable, a corporation is not damaged by the death or disinterest of a particular owner. The owner can sell his or her shares at any time or leave them to heirs. Disadvantages Large Corporations Have on the American Economy The corporate form has some disadvantages, though. As distinct legal entities, corporations must pay taxes. The dividends they pay to shareholders, unlike interest on bonds, are not tax-deductible business expenses. And when a corporation distributes these dividends, the stockholders are taxed on the dividends. (Since the corporation already has paid taxes on its earnings, critics say that taxing dividend payments to shareholders amounts to double taxation of corporate profits.) This article is adapted from the book Outline of the U.S. Economy by Conte and Carr and has been adapted with permission from the U.S. Department of State.

4 Options for Converting Slides to Digital Format

4 Options for Converting Slides to Digital Format Got stacks of slide carousels loaded up with old family photos? Unfortunately, the pictures on those slides are probably fading as you read this. Now is the time to save those memories for future generations by converting them to digital format.   There are  four  major options for digitizing 35mm  slides. Flatbed Scanner Many traditional flatbed scanners do a good job at slide scanning as well. Look for a scanner that is designed to scan negatives and slides in addition to traditional paper photos and documents. The optical (not digital) resolution should be at least 2400 dpi or greater. Many flatbed scanners require an extra transparency adapter attachment for scanning slides- sometimes it comes with the scanner, and sometimes you have to buy it separately. Good bundled scanning software is also a must, to give you control over the final results, although Hamricks VueScan offers an excellent alternative and works with most flatbed scanners. Read user and editorial reviews to find a flatbed scanner that handles slides well before you buy. Dedicated Film Scanner From an image quality standpoint, the best method for digitizing your slides is to use a high resolution dedicated film/slide scanner. They can be fairly expensive, so probably not the best option unless you literally have thousands of slides to scan. Dedicated film scanners do, however, offer excellent resolution, and the control they offer over the final images is something you generally dont have when you opt for a professional scanning service. Slide Duplicator If you own a good digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera, a slide duplicator, or  duper, offers a good, inexpensive option for digitizing your slides. A slide duplicator attaches to your DSLR cameras in place of the lens, using a T-mount adapter ring. The other end of the duper is a sliding gate that holds two slides. The duper also has an internal lens, with a fixed aperture and focusing distance, that focuses the slides image onto your DSLRs imaging plane so that you can then take a picture of the slide. While slide duplicators are  inexpensive and easy to use (they require no electricity or a computer since you can take the pictures directly onto your cameras flash card), dupers do not offer the digital quality you can get from a flatbed or film scanner. In most cases, youll find that some image cropping is unavoidable. Most digital cameras also dont offer the dynamic range (the amount of gradation between light and dark in the photo) of a scanner, which can affect the photos shadow detail. Scanners generally offer a better resolution (a 3200 optical dpi scanner is about equivalent to a 12-megapixel digital camera) as well, so if you want to print larger photos from your slides, this may be a deal breaker. Professional Photo Shop If you dont have too many slides, or if youre not very comfortable with computers and software, then your best bet is probably to opt for a professional service to scan your slides for you. Many such services can be found on the Internet, but you may find more peace of mind by checking with local photo labs. Definitely shop around because pricing and quality control vary widely. Do be sure to ask whether the photoshop cleans and scans each slide individually. If they batch scan, you probably wont be happy with the quality. Tips for Scanning Slides The trick to getting good digital scans of your slides is to start with clean slides. Dust both sides of each slide off with a quick hit of compressed air and be careful not to touch the emulsion. Make sure your computer is fairly new with a fast processor and plenty of memory and hard drive space to store all of the digital images. A plug-in external hard drive is a good option when scanning slides or photos. We highly recommend that you scan directly into a good photo organization/editing program such as Photoshop Elements, which can drastically cut down on the time spent scanning as you can save naming the files, cropping, rotating, etc for later once, the images are all on your computer in the organizer. After scanning, back up your new digital files onto DVDs - and make extra copies to share with your family members!