Pay-to-play
Pay-to-play, sometimes pay-for-play or P2P, is a phrase used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage in certain activities. The common denominator of all forms of pay-to-play is that one must pay to "get in the game", with the sports analogy frequently arising. Terminology The term "pay-to-play"' in the political context refers to a practice where individuals or entities, often through campaign donations or financial contributions, gain access or influence over government officials and decision-making processes (Smith, 2020). This term is used to describe a perceived link between political contributions and political favors or access (Jones, 2019). While it is a widely used term in discussions about campaign finance and political corruption, it doesn't have a single origin or a specific creator (Brown, 2017). Origin and usage The concept of "pay-to-play" has been present in political discourse for many years (Johnson, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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MMORPG
A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player character, character (often in a fantasy world or science-fiction world) and takes control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from Online game, single-player or small Multiplayer online game, multi-player online RPGs by the number of players able to interact together, and by the game's persistent world (usually hosted by the game's video game publisher, publisher), which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game. MMORPGs are played throughout the world. Global revenues for MMORPGs exceeded half a billion dollars in 2005, and the western world's revenues exceeded a billion dollars in 2006. In 2008, the spending on subscription MMORPGs by consumers in North America and Europe gre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment. Money was historically an emergent market phenomenon that possessed intrinsic value as a commodity; nearly all contemporary money systems are based on unbacked fiat money without use value. Its value is consequently derived by social convention, having been declared by a government or regulatory entity to be legal tender; that is, it must be accepted as a form of payment within the boundaries of the country, for "all debts, public and private", in the case of the United States dollar. The money supply of a country comprises all currency in circulation (banknotes and coins currently issued) and, depending on the particular definiti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Old Republic
Old Republic may refer to Star Wars *Galactic Republic, also known as the Old Republic, interplanetary state in the Star Wars universe **'' Star Wars: The Old Republic'', a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based in the Star Wars universe ** ''Star Wars: The Old Republic'' (comics), a comic book Places *First Brazilian Republic (1889–1930), ''Old Republic'' or ''República Velha'', a period in Brazilian history *Old Republic (Portugal), 1918–1926, an era within the First Portuguese Republic Facilities and structures * Old Republic Building, Chicago, Illinois, U.S., an office building Other uses * Old Republic International, U.S. insurance company See also * * * Old Republican (U.S. politics) * Old (other) * Republic (other) A republic is a form of government. Republic(s) or The Republic may also refer to: Governments * List of republics * First Republic (other) * Second Republic (other) * Third Republic (disambiguation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Preferred Stock
Preferred stock (also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds) is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt instrument, and is generally considered a hybrid instrument. Preferred stocks are senior (i.e., higher ranking) to common stock but subordinate to bonds in terms of claim (or rights to their share of the assets of the company, given that such assets are payable to the returnee stock bond) and may have priority over common stock (ordinary shares) in the payment of dividends and upon liquidation. Terms of the preferred stock are described in the issuing company's articles of association or articles of incorporation. Like bonds, preferred stocks are rated by major credit rating agencies. Their ratings are generally lower than those of bonds, because preferred dividends do not carry the same guarantees as interest payments from bonds, and becau ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Corporate Charter
In corporate governance, a company's articles of association (AoA, called articles of incorporation in some jurisdictions) is a document that, along with the memorandum of association (where applicable), forms the company's constitution. The articles define the responsibilities of the directors, the nature of business, and the mechanisms by which shareholders exert control over the board of directors. Articles of association are essential to corporate operations, as they may regulate both internal and external affairs. Articles of incorporation, also referred to as the certificate of incorporation or the corporate charter, is a document or charter that establishes the existence of a corporation in the United States and Canada. They generally are filed with the Secretary of State in the U.S. State where the company is incorporated, or other company registrar. An equivalent term for limited liability companies (LLCs) in the United States is articles of organization. Conten ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law (also statutory law), where in many cases it remains in force. The crime of larceny has been abolished in England, Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, broken up into the specific crimes of burglary, robbery, fraud, theft, and related crimes. However, larceny remains an offence in parts of the United States, Jersey, and in New South Wales, Australia, involving the taking (caption) and carrying away (asportation) of personal property without the owner's consent and without intending to return it. Etymology The word "larceny" is a late Middle English word, from the French word ''larcin'', "theft". Its probable Latin root is ''latrocinium'', a derivative of ''latro'', "robber" (originally mercenary). By nation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Money Laundering
Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds into a seemingly legitimate source, usually through a front organization. Money laundering is illegal; the acts generating the money almost always are themselves criminal in some way (for if not, the money would not need to be laundered). As financial crime has become more complex and financial intelligence is more important in combating international crime and terrorism, money laundering has become a prominent political, economic, and legal debate. Most countries implement some anti-money-laundering measures. In the past, the term "money laundering" was applied only to financial transactions related to organized crime. Today its definition is often expanded by government and international regulators such as the US Office of the Comp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Deloitte, EY, and KPMG. The PwC network is overseen by PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, an English private company limited by guarantee. PwC firms are in 140 countries, with 370,000 people. 26% of the workforce was based in the Americas, 26% in Asia, 32% in Western Europe, and 5% in Middle East and Africa. The company's global revenues were US$50.3 billion in FY 2022, of which $18.0 billion was generated by its Assurance practice, $11.6 billion by its Tax and Legal practice and $20.7 billion by its Advisory practice. The firm in its recent actual form was created in 1998 by a merger between two accounting firms: Coopers & Lybrand, and Price Waterhouse. Both firms had histories dating back to the 19th century. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Self-victimization
Playing the victim (also known as victim playing, victim card, or self-victimization) is the fabrication or exaggeration of victimhood for a variety of reasons such as to justify abuse to others, to manipulate others, a coping strategy, attention seeking or diffusion of responsibility. A person who repeatedly does this is known as a professional victim. An actual victim is someone or something that has been hurt, damaged, or killed or has suffered, either because of the actions of someone or something else, or because of illness or chance. For abuse Victim playing by abusers is either: * Dehumanization, diverting attention away from acts of abuse by claiming that the abuse was justified based on another person's bad behavior (typically the victim). * Grooming for abusive power and control by soliciting sympathy from others in order to gain their assistance in supporting or enabling the abuse of a victim (known as proxy abuse). It is common for abusers to engage in victim pl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cash Flow
Cash flow, in general, refers to payments made into or out of a business, project, or financial product. It can also refer more specifically to a real or virtual movement of money. *Cash flow, in its narrow sense, is a payment (in a currency), especially from one central bank account to another. The term 'cash flow' is mostly used to describe payments that are expected to happen in the future, are thus uncertain, and therefore need to be forecast with cash flows. *A cash flow is determined by its time , nominal amount , currency , and account ; symbolically, . Cash flows are narrowly interconnected with the concepts of value, interest rate, and liquidity. A cash flow that shall happen on a future day can be transformed into a cash flow of the same value in . This transformation process is known as discounting, and it takes into account the time value of money by adjusting the nominal amount of the cash flow based on the prevailing interest rates at the time. Cash flow analy ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vanity Gallery
A vanity gallery is an art gallery that charges artists fees to exhibit their work and makes most of its money from artists rather than from sales to the public. Some vanity galleries charge a lump sum to arrange an exhibition, while others ask artists to pay regular membership fees and then promise to organize an exhibition with a certain period. There is debate as to whether galleries that ask artists to contribute to expenses, e.g. by arranging for announcements of the exhibition themselves, fall into the same category. Derivation Vanity galleries are an offshoot of cooperative galleries (also called artist-run initiatives), galleries which are operated by artists who pool their resources to pay for exhibits and publicity. Unlike cooperative galleries, which carefully jury their members, vanity galleries will exhibit anyone who pays. In 1981, '' Village Voice'' reporter Lisa Gubernick posed as an artist and "within 20 minutes" of contacting the Keane Mason Woman Art Gallery ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Open Mic
An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, often taking place at night (an open mic night), in which audience members may perform on stage whether they are amateurs or professionals, often for the first time or to promote an upcoming performance. As the name suggests, performers are usually provided with a microphone plugged into a PA system so that they can be heard by the audience. Performers may sign up in advance for a time slot with the master of ceremonies, host, who is typically an experienced performer or the venue's manager or owner. The host may screen potential candidates for suitability for the venue and give them a time to perform during the show. Open mics are focused on performance arts such as comedy (whether it be sketch comedy, sketch or stand-up comedy, stand-up), music (often acoustic singer-songwriters), poetry, and spoken word. It is less common f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |