Reasons for the recent global financial crisis Essay

Reasons for the recent global financial crisis - Essay Example The present article has identified that the cause of the recent financial crisis and economic recessions has been attributed to various factors in the economy. The initial trigger of the financial crisis has been traced to the toxic mortgage backed assets whose decline in value and uncertain duration led to massive losses in the U.S economy. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were both taken over by the US government. Lehman Brothers was declared bankrupt since it could not increase its capitalization. Merrill Lynch was bought by the Bank of America while American International Group (AIG) was rescued by the Federal government through an $ 85 billion capital bailout. Washington Mutual which is currently the largest bank failure was purchased by J P Morgan Chase. The crisis can be traced to the failure of the real estate market due to subprime lending which saw the commercial and residential housing prices increase for a decade from 1990. The Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998 saw the econom ies in Asia generate huge current account surpluses which were invested offshore in economies like US and UK in order to keep the nominal exchange rates low. The US stock prices went high due to the influx of capital. The high growth in economic demands and especially in China saw commodity prices such as minerals, oil and food soar up from late 2004 to late 2007. There are numerous explanations and arguments which have been proposed as the causes of the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the recessions.... The burst of the housing bubble led to massive loan defaults which led to the decline in the values of the mortgage backed securities (Freedman 2010). The subprime mortgages were risky since their true values were hidden in the house price appreciation which allowed mortgage refinancing. The real estate bubble was occasioned partly by easy credit in the economy which was facilitated by expansionary monetary policy of the Federal Reserve where the Fed funds rate was cut from 6.5% in 2000 to 1% percent in 2003 (Freedman 2010). Innovations in the financial system resulted to collateralized debt obligations and other derivatives which fueled the housing bubble. Losses of US subprime mortgages were estimated at $ 250 billion dollars in 2007 while the decline in the stock market capitalization was $ 26,400 billion dollars from the period July 2007 to November 2008. Weak banking regulations and poor risk assessment methods forced coupled with the government regulations which blended the ope rations of mortgage providers and investment banks saw many risky and unqualified customers access the housing mortgages (Freedman 2010). According to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the aggregate collateralized debt obligations issuance expanded from USD $ 150 billion in 2004 to US $ 500 billion in 2006 before increasing further to US $ 2 trillion by the end of the year 2007. The value of the Mortgage backed assets held in banks’ books, insurance companies and other major financial institutions explains how the burst of the housing bubble led to massive losses to holders of the mortgage backed securities. However, subprime mortgages had higher interest rates after the initial offer and only 43 percent of the adjustable rate mortgages were subprime

Hospital Administartion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hospital Administartion - Essay Example Within the context of what was previously mentioned, Sentara offers a variety of services, for patients ranging from newborn to elderly, and in almost every field. Sentara has also focused on providing first aid, as it pioneered the first air ambulance service in the region called Nightingale, as well as implementing new protocols in 2000 that dramatically improved the survival rate and lowered the effects of stroke. Also, in 2006, it implemented the 12-Lead EKG system that enabled doctors in Sentara hospitals to receive EKG's from paramedics on route to the hospital. While providing both inpatient and outpatient services, it should be mentioned that Sentara has focused the past years on several fields, improving their methods and technology. These fields include oncology, cardiology and urology. Oncology is an ever developing field, and Sentara managed to develop their methods and expand the scope of their treatments to provide the best care for its customers. In 2000, it implemented a computer-aided detection system for breast cancer, revealing cancers earlier, and therefore improving the effectiveness of treatments. It also implemented several systems in 2002 for a better effectiveness of radiation treatments, such as stereotactic radio surgery, Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy and brain wafers, all with the purpose of effectively delivering chemotherapy and radiation treatments to tumors without damaging surrounding tissue. In addition, in 2005 it is the first healthcare network in the region to use the recently approved FDA chemotherapy ViaCirqO method for treating abdominal cancers. Sentara also implemented certain revolutionary surgical techniques in treating cancers. In 2002, the Zeus surgical robot was used to treat prostate cancer, making small incisions and m inimizing scars. From 2004-2007 has been implementing the Da Vinci surgical robotic system that has been implemented in several aspects of thoracic, urinary and oncologic surgery, reaching the number of 500 surgeries performed in 2007 since its implementation. As cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the United States, Sentara has also focused on perfecting the procedures and machinery involved in treatment of such diseases. Procedures like transmyocardial revacscularization that increases the blood flow to the heart is beating-heart bypass surgery is one of the many techniques utilized by the physicians. In 2002, Sentara performed the first adult congenital atrial septal defect interventional repair. In 2004, this procedure was improved even further, by pioneering a new transcatheter technique, reducing patient's recovery time from 6 weeks to 2-3 days. It also pioneered several new devices in the region, such as the HeartMate II, which is a device assisting in transplants in 2005, and a latest in CT and MRI technology in 2007 in order to better detect cardiac tumors, septal defects and the percent of damage after a heart attack. Urology is also one of the more prominent areas of healthcare that Sentara focuses on. They provide the InterStim therapy, which is a rare procedure throughout the hospitals in US, and just recently made available for patients. It is also the healthcare

Darwins Rib Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Darwins Rib - Essay Example Science follows a series of research by scientists while the bible summarizes the story of creation. The theory needs people to believe (Root-Bernstein 1). The bible has two ways of explaining how the creation story theory came about. One is that, God makes things to appear and the other one is God works through his chosen ways. He created Adam and removed one of his ribs to create Eve though they committed sin by eating the forbidden fruit. Creationism should not be taught as a science lesson because the theory does not have the series of evidence like evolution. Additionally, creationism involves a super natural being and science does not approve its existence. Several unanswered questions appear in the story of creation. For example, creation answers the origin of God while evolution answers all questions through research (Root-Bernstein 1). The two theories are respectable. The theory of evolution by Darwin gives enough evidence and challenges the creation theory. His research findings prove a point that humans have evolved. However, the creation theory makes a lot of sense because religion is about believing in the unseen God who affects our lives. His work is also

Plagiarism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Plagiarism - Research Paper Example People may differ as to what constitutes the act of plagiarism but there is a general consensus on the undesirability of it in the academic world. The need to acknowledge the work of the person from whom an idea or a passage of words originated is accepted as a fair one by the academic and non-academic fraternity, most of all, to protect their own interests. Writers like Judy Anderson talk of the exclusivity that writers need as the cause for plagiarism being recognized as a crime. This need for exclusivity is intrinsically linked to the idea of intellectual property and the need that writers feel to protect their creations, which may stem from reasons that may be economic or ethical. This crime is directed against this need for exclusivity that writers feel (Anderson, ix). This is tied in with the idea that the work of art is similar to the offspring of the author and any attempt to appropriate the content created by the author is similar to an attempt to violate the maternal instinct of the author. This authorial-maternal instinct, while it destabilizes notions of masculinity and femininity and the instinct of the mother that is conventionally considered to be characteristic of only women, is something that is common to most writers, big and small. These writers are able to bring out the point from the perspective of both the writer and the reader. While the writer feels as if he or she is being deprived of his right of exclusive ownership, the reader of a modern world is likely to feel that the text that he or she reads is recreated or even created by him, in the context of the erasure of the author in the pro cess of providing a text with meaning. This theory, which was propounded by the French literary critic, Roland Barthes, places the onus of processing the meaning of a text, on the reader of the text and not the writer. This, while

Guillermo Furniture Store Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Guillermo Furniture Store Concepts - Essay Example The labor component in furniture manufacturing, in case of Guillermo, is substantial because all its products are hand-crafted and the company has no way to control its labor cost. On the contrary, it is on increase due to influx of other businesses for the favorable conditions in the region. Financial Concepts Involved Guillermo has to view the whole business scenario from a different perspective. If the company decides to be high-tech just like its competitor to replace its costly labor, then the company needs to estimate the risk-return trade-offs as making the company automated will require huge capital investment. In this process, Guillermo will need to apply numerous financial concepts to arrive at the conclusion whether it is worth investing huge capital to thwart the challenge posed by the competitor. First of all, the company needs to undertake a detailed budgeting exercise to evaluate the viability of high-tech model of manufacturing in its case. The company would need to e stimate the total fund requirement for going high-tech in this business. The company will have option of financing this capital expenditure either through equity or through mix of debt and equity. In the case of later, important thing will be to find appropriate debt-equity ratio for financing the project. Guillermo being a running and profitable company can certainly attract banks and other financial institutions to lend them for this project but leveraging should be within the prevailing norms as applicable for these kinds of businesses. High leveraging (high debt) creates higher business risk and that must be avoided as often occurs during economic slowdown. In a bid to ascertain financial viability of the investment, the company will need to estimate the break-even point in terms of volume (no. of pieces of each product variety) and value both. Break-even volumes will mean all revenue earnings meet all expenses of the company including fixed and variable ones. The break-even cal culations (Break-even analysis, 2012) will also force them to chalk its marketing and sales strategy – the distribution channels, number of retail shops and the geographical reach necessary to achieve those sales. The financial budget formation, capital required, capital structure deciding about equity-debt ratio, break-even volume analysis, cost of capital including weighted average cost of capital (Weighted Average Cost of Capital – WACC, 2012) present value of all expected future streams of revenue (Present value, 2012) until the useful life of machines, internal rate of return (Internal Rate of Return, 2012) will finally decide whether it is worth investing in the automation process so as to compete with the overseas firm effectively. Conclusion It is certain that Guillermo has gone through above mentioned detailed financial viability analysis to ascertain whether the company should go for this new business model or not. Having found the return on investment not lu crative, the company thought of outsourcing entire supply from a second competitor who has similar business model of manufacturing process

Love Brief case state v stark Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Love Brief state v stark - Case Study Example Proceeding: The proceeding can be correctly categorized into multiple counts; for the first of these Stark was found to be guilty and hence charged to a total of one twenty months or ten years. As far as the second and third counts are concerned through a bench trail Stark was found guilty and then charged for a duration of ten years with an additional consecutive forty three months. Issue: There are certain area’s of concern as far as this case is concerned. The first line of argument is that of Starks intentions; more specifically that of his actions being solely carried out with the objective of causing bodily harm. Another issue is that of the courts specified sentence, which 120 months only for the first count. A question that rises here is whether the sole reason for this specified sentence was based purely on future dangerousness of Stark’s actions. Holding: The ruling of the case was based primarily on the specific dictations by law which holds an individual responsible for his actions, which are intended to do bodily harm to another person, making him guilty of second degree assault. Stark’s careless behavior and reckless actions that transmit or expose other individuals to HIV do just that. Reasoning: Stark’s conviction was based on the availability of evidence that can easily be concerned as sufficient to establish intent. Testimonies from the victims, Stark’s neighborhood friends as well as his doctor and nurse all pointed towards his consciously aware reckless behavior and intent to do harm. Stark clearly stated in one of reported conversation â€Å"I don’t care. If I’m going to die, everybody’s going to die† leaving no room for doubt of his intentions and hence making an appropriate court sentence inevitable. Prior to this case, other cases such as, Commonwealth v. Brown and State v. Haines can be analyzed to find that similar sentences were given for comparable crimes by

Determine how our society decides gender and what elements you believe Research Paper

Determine how our society decides gender and what elements you believe are the most influential in this construction - Research Paper Example er couple from Jayme Poisson’s article â€Å"Parents Keep Child’s Gender Secret† consider a social gender as a stereotypic and tyrannical issue, scholars of social science, particularly Thomas D. Steensma in â€Å"Gender Identity Development in Adolescence† and Curt Hoffman and Nancy Hurst in â€Å"Gender Stereotypes: Perception and Rationalization?† are looking for a scientific explanation of a social gender prejudice. Gender firstly should be given a correct definition, and Steensma describes gender in â€Å"Gender Identity Development in Adolescence† as a very complex issue. It’s different from sex, because sex is an inborn biological characteristic which usually matches with genitals differentiation, while gender can be revealed during life (Steensma 289). Gender constitutes of biological inborn characteristic and gender identity, which is a personal revelation of gender, and of a gender role, which is determined by social expectations on males and females (different behavior, social roles and different personal characteristics are expected) (Steensma 291). Thus, gender depends on biological (hormones, chromosomes and genitals) and psycho-sociological (nurturing) factors. It doesn’t seem possible to reveal gender without social interference in a process. Society affects a gender identity by imposing different natures of male and female nurturing: parents and a social environment both tend to raise male and female children with a view of their future social roles (Hoffman & Hurst 197). A nurturing starts early, already from a new born period, and society behaves differently towards babies of different sex, starting from a lexicon used when talking about a baby to different toys and activities imposing. It seems important for society to define gender from the very first days of life. Witterink and Stocker who raise a transgender child admits, â€Å"When baby comes out even the people who love you and are close to you firstly ask if it’s a boy or a girl†