The Effects of Roosevelts Worst Mistake - 890 Words

One of Roosevelt’s [most fatal] mistakes occurred before he was even inaugurated into office. His mistake was the fact that he didn’t listen to Herbert Hoover’s advice. Between Roosevelt’s election in 1932 and his inauguration on March 4, 1933, Hoover sent Roosevelt letters and scheduled meetings to tell him what he thought about Roosevelt’s New Deal plan. Herbert Hoover believed that the origins of the Depression were international, while Roosevelt believed they were local. For this reason the New Deal focused primarily on domestic reforms. Hoover believed that international affairs should take precedence, and he didn’t hesitate to tell FDR this. He suggested a return to gold-based currency and to balance the budget. Franklin D. Roosevelt ignored all of Hoover’s suggestions and started implementing his New Deal policies as soon as he entered office. Roosevelt was not blind to the effects the international crisis had on the Unites States, but he didn’t want to restrict his freedom as president by committing himself to others’ ideas to fix it either. His first priority was to address the problems in the United States, and as a result his first term in office resulted in very few successes in fixing the problems abroad. [] Roosevelt’s New Deal had many flaws. One of these was the Silver Purchase Act of 1934. This Act was actually signed on April 5, 1933, but other laws had prevented it from getting passed at the time. The Act authorized the president to nationalizeShow MoreRelatedFranklin Roosevelt (FDR) Essay1224 Words   |  5 Pageswould be okay. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One of Hoover’s big mistakes was the acts that he passed in â€Å"attempt† to help the U.S. Herbert Hoover is known as a president who allowed the United States to continue to slide into its worst depression ever. Though Hoover did take some action, it was too little, too late. Hoover did intervene after the Stock Market crash, but the acts passed by Congress and signed by Hoover were the worst kind of interventions. They worsened the problem. The most infamousRead MoreEssay on The Features of the New Deal2660 Words   |  11 PagesThe Features of the New Deal Roosevelt was elected in 1932 after the former president Hoover. Roosevelts New Deal was a group of different projects to pull America out of the Depression, and back into the economic boom of the 1920s. The New Deal consisted of direct government action which followed Rooselvelts campaign based on fireside chats, the establishment of alphabet agencies and the pursuit of new social and economic programmes, which were the complete oppositeRead MoreEffects Of The Great Depression On Society1905 Words   |  8 Pagesthe longest-lasting economic downfall in America’s history. During the Great Depression there were approximately 15,000,000 unemployed Americans, which was about one quarter of America’s entire workforce. The effects that the Great Depression had on society where so massive that these effects can still be felt today. The causes of the Great Depression can be linked back to economic problems within America during the late 1920s, specifically â€Å"installment buying† and buying stocks â€Å"on the margin† whichRead MoreThe Great Depression s Impact Socially, Politically, And Economically Essay2071 Words   |  9 PagesGreat Depression. Furthermore, Americans lost nearly 20% of their deposits when the banks failed. Since there was no FDIC yet, and most state deposit insurance schemes had shut down already, this meant that everyday fol ks lost their savings. The effects of the Depression were felt around the world in the social, global, political, and economic, lives of nations and individuals; some of the social and global impacts include; Between 1929 and 1933, the quantity of goods and services produced in theRead MoreDust Bowl : The Southern Plains1782 Words   |  8 Pagesto sell, and that profitability of that product depended on pushing the land as far as it could go.† (Worster, p.57) To fully illuminate the problems at hand, he uses Cimarron County in the Oklahoma panhandle, and Haskell County, Kansas some of the worst hit areas in the Dust Bowl. They shared many similarities in farming technique, such as land division, speculative planting, and overspecialization of a single product, and also their disillusionment about the end of the drought. To make matters worseRead MoreThe Sources of Kennan’s Conduct: George F. Kennan as a Shaper of U.S. Foreign Policy 2029 Words   |  9 Pagesthe war’s victors. 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I will discuss the causes of the Great Depression and the Great Recession, and what polic ies were implemented to reverse the economic downfalls. The Great Depression of 1929 is said to have manyRead MoreThe Great Depression Of America3487 Words   |  14 PagesOctober 1929, until 1930 when the United States went through the great depression. The great depression was a time where people lost nearly everything, from houses and farms, to families and children. People were starving and left out in the cold. The worst part about this was that once people lost their belongings, they were gone forever. In the 1900’s there weren’t many programs to help the public such as health insurance, welfare programs, or unemployment. All the money that individuals had saved throughoutRead MoreElectronic Media vs Print (Thesis Paper)13276 Words   |  54 PagesGoing Global: The World Wide Web†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦...†¦24 Section 2: Electronic Media versus Print†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..26 Electronic Media’s Impact on Society†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦26 Society Embrace Electronic Media†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.26 Negative Effects of Electronic Media†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦....30 Attitudes Towards Electronic and Print Media†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦32 Newspapers: Top Dog to Under Dog†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦37 Origins of Newspapers†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦37 Personal Journalism: When Newspapers ShapedRead MoreAmerican Slang Essay 115481 Words   |  62 Pagesfelt to be somewhat formal. After a while it loosens up and the language becomes less formal. The effects are certainly noticeable if the formality of the language changes without there being a corresponding change in the formality of the situation. In the sociolinguistic literature this has been called a metaphorical shift. It can occur for a number of reasons and have many different effects. Suppose, for example, that you have worked for an employer for about half a year and you have talked

Searching For Identity And Personality - 996 Words

Searching for Identity and personality Howard W. Hunter former precedent for the american church society said â€Å"The greatest search of our time is the search for personal identity and for human dignity.†(Brough.m 1995). The search for identity is a key search for one to find an idol that can become a role to lead the lifestyle of himself or herself. Identity is to understand and define one self; developing a concept of the purpose of our existence(onecountry.org).Their is a relationship between your identity and personality, whenever, a person released his or hers identity what he or she stands for it will be reflected on their personality. What gives us our identity? why we engage with others in specific way? This are questions that confront us as we lead our lives every day. personality is complex it changes throughout life time from the time of infancy to adulthood(griffen.p et al). Adolescence is the stage where maturity in physical as well as a development of one’s personality and identi ty, it is also a transition to adulthood which involves a continuous growth of character in a sense of identity(Waterman, A. S.341). This is the stage where people search for their identities of them self; It might become easy for some but not for every body. The sense of identity in Young children begins early as they were infants (changingminds.org). They know which is their favorite toy is and start to imitate others. it can be their parents or any body aroundShow MoreRelated The need for social belonging1218 Words   |  5 Pagesadults; both relational and by acquaintance, certain aspects of personality, specifically; the need for social belonging, raised the thought that it was this rather than true contemplation of ideas and beliefs, that had influence over the rapid contrast in ideological belief. In search of validation, a review of the literature on this topic was needed. 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Conrads Obsession with Voice in Conrads Heart of Essay Example For Students

Conrads Obsession with Voice in Conrads Heart of Essay Darkness Heart Darkness essaysConrads Obsession with Voice in Heart of Darkness For the moment that was the dominant thought. There was a sense of extreme disappointment, as though I had found out I had been striving after something altogether without a substance. I couldnt have been more disgusted if I had travelled all the way for the sole purpose of talking to Mr. Kurtz. Talking with . . . I flung one shoe overboard, and became aware that that was exactly what I had been looking forward toa talk with Mr. Kurtz. I made the strange discovery that I had never imagined him as doing, you know, but as discoursing. Marlow in Conrads Heart of Darkness The above quotation suggests what has been noted frequently in recent years as damning evidence of the literary racism in Conrads Heart of Darkness. We will write a custom essay on Conrads Obsession with Voice in Conrads Heart of specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now That is, like his character Marlow, Conrad seems more interested in discourse than in its effects; more eager to write a story about story-telling than to consider directly the ugly realities of a brutal imperial regime contained (and deferred as unfathomable mysteries) in the story being told. Rather, readers are invited here and elsewhere to consider a series of clever doublings and treblings in the telling itself: the story told by the outside narrator (I) is quickly overtaken by the voice of Marlow, who at times gives over his voice to the Russian sailor and finally to Kurtz, who is himself described from beginning to end as pure voice. Each of these shifts draws us further into Conrads novella, and certainly these voices seem in some sense to carry us deeper and deeper into Africa, but in the end we find we have never leftand never been asked to leavethe deck of the Nellie, which sits waiting idly for the tide to turn. (Now theres a metaphor). Yet even as our attention is drawn to a series of narrative voices forecasting, echoing and reflecting one another in a coherent formal pattern of nested narrative frames, we must remember that there are other voices hereless coherent perhaps, but identifiable: the mournful cry from the jungle in the fog, the broken English of the natives on Marlows steamer, the voices of drums in the distance. It is difficult, of course, to integrate these voices with the various narrators, but in the very difficulty formal-minded critics may have in making them cohere in an overall pattern of narrative doublings, they should suggest to us a larger frame of reference to consider of which they are a part, and it is in this larger frame of reference where we find not only voices other than European, but also signs of those more-than-speaking acts of brutality from which Conrads formal obsessions with story-telling seem to divert our eyes. To illustrate this point in the quotation with which we began, lets reduce for a moment Marlow/Conrads obsession with voice in the novel as a whole to Marlows speaking voice in this series of sentences. A thought here is dominant (not an action), and that thought (of disappointment and disgust) is one that also leads away from ideas of action (rescuing Kurtz?) to ideas of talk. Even so, what triggers Marlows desire to talk (and not to act) is both one of the few acts in this passage (featuring mostly verbs of being and becoming)throwing overboard a shoean act which is itself the sign of the more brutal act which precedes it: a native speared through the chest filling that shoe with blood shed ultimately as a direct result of the Companys incursions upriver. Significantly, the murdered African is thrown overboard (and forgotten) like the shoe as Marlow moves ahead upriver and into his story, yet even as we continue the thought Marlow has momentarily left for an act, the reader is left to read in the momentary but unmistakeable breakdown of both Marlows story and the syntax of the superior stylist Conrads sentence a recognition of all that is missing here.

Role of International Financial Institutions in 2008 Financial Crisis

Introduction Late towards 2007, the earliest effects of 2008 financial meltdown were already being felt at some sectors of economy in several countries, notably in Europe and America. The financial crisis that would later become apparent throughout the year 2008 did not only catch the world unaware but would later turn out to be the worst in recent times.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Role of International Financial Institutions in 2008 Financial Crisis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The 2008 credit crunch did not only result to worldwide financial crisis but also caused slowed economic growth of the world’s largest and leading economy that eventually triggered the global recession that started as early as 2006 (Hines, 2008). In fact, the global credit crisis that is just ebbing away has its roots in United States banking system and more specifically as a result of lending towards mortgage housing and credit lending in general as we shall get to see in the following chapters. In 2005 the United States housing industry flourished and reached its peak in terms of value and business bustle, by then the banking industry had aligned their lending funds towards this end as a result of the positive and sustained growth in the housing industry. This is the point from which we shall trace the major root causes of the 2008 financial crisis; this paper intends to show that the current regulatory standards instituted by various financial institutions internationally largely contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. Even more disappointing is the fact that the financial regulatory standards that were in place were unable to anticipate and therefore avert the ramifications of the financial crisis before it happened as should have been the case. Background to the Financial Crisis In order to understand how the financial crisis came about it is important to review the factors that culminated to the widespread credit crunch that finally caused the 2008 financial crisis. By reviewing these factors it will be possible to identify specific financial regulatory standards that can be directly attributed to the crisis.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More But first let us briefly define what the term financial crisis implies in this context, which incidentally is our first indication that the recent financial crisis was largely a function of the failings of the international financial institutions policies. Credit crisis is a term that has been coined to describe the situation whereby accessibility of loans or credit finance becomes limited due to their unavailability. It is a trend that results to financial institutions reducing the amount of loans that they can disburse to clients irrespective of increased interest rates that they can charge on such loans (Pattanaik, 2009). In these circumstances, prerequisite conditions that are necessary before the loan can be disbursed are therefore reviewed and made stricter in order to limit the amount of credit finances that can be disbursed (Graham, 2008). Credit crisis is said to occur when the relationship between interest rates and credit loans being disbursed are heavily skewed, or when there is a general reduction of loans available in spite of increased demands (Pattanaik, 2009). Ideally the relationship between interest rates and availability of financial credit is such that increased interest rate in the market means that financial institutions are willing to increase lending in order to increase profits. Thus, because financial institutions are regulated by internationally accepted financial standards, their failure is therefore a reflection of these international financial regulatory standards. In a journal article by Acharya et al that sought to investigate the causes of 2008 financial crisis, it dire ctly attributed the crisis to have been triggered by the housing market collapse which occurred as early as 2006 (Acharya, Philippon, Richardson and Roubini, 2009). It is during this period that two prominent financial players in the housing market collapsed; the Ownit Mortgage Solutions Company and New Century Financial in what should have signaled to the policymakers that housing market was crumbling (Acharya et al, 2008). But instead no body realized this and the financial situation continued to aggravate further.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Role of International Financial Institutions in 2008 Financial Crisis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More By the time in what is now referred as housing bubble busted most banking institutions have invested significant amounts in the housing industry that had accumulated over time in a sort of loose credit lending. The aftermath was increased mortgage payment defaults an d foreclosures on existing loan repayment that was taking place on large scale. The steps that led to increased forfeiture of loans by lenders can be analyzed in the following steps. The first step was the induced easy loan terms and reduced interest rates by the banks tailored for housing finance (Hines, 2008). These incentives nudged borrowers to take up substantial mortgages with prospects of future renegotiation on mortgage terms and rate with hope of easier rates. In addition due to growth boom in the housing industry borrowers easily took up mortgage loans as an investment option with intention of selling the properties at higher values at a later time and this kept on happening (Hyoung-kyu, 2007). As we shall later discuss in this paper, this should not have happened with strong financial regulatory standards in place. Underlying all this was the fact that more housing constructions were taking place as investments funds that financed housing sector flowed from every other se ctor of the economy. By the time the housing bubble eventually busted many players had invested substantial amount of money in the industry that could not be written off easily without encountering huge losses that would lead to bankruptcy. This is because the housing value plummeted at a rate that had not been foreseen. The bank reacted immediately by increasing mortgage interest rates and phasing of earlier easy mortgage packages, additional lending on mortgage was tightened and all forms of lending in general almost halted (Acharya et al, 2009).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The borrowers on the other end moved to dispose-off housing properties and salvage finances that could still be obtained from the mortgages, thereby triggering drop in house values. In the resulting scenario many borrowers choose to forfeit their mortgage to the banks rather than sell the houses in a collapsed market since it would have eventually cost them additional funds to settle the difference (Hines, 2008). The other option of financing the full cost of the mortgage was now complicated by increased interest rates, and so now the credit crunch nightmare had began. In fact, housing industry is not the only sector that hoodwinked consumers to apply for large chunks of loans; it was the same case in automobile industry and in credit cards. Increased availability of liquid cash from foreign reserves had prompted the financial sector to invent financial packages such as Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and others like Collateralized-Debt Obligations (CDO) (Rose and Spiegel, 2010). B oth of these are forms of funds that allowed investors to finance the housing industry and gain financial returns through banking institutions. The consequences of housing industry collapse was therefore greatly felt by the banking institutions that had advanced loans in all the three sectors that were hardest hit, these sectors were the first to announce financial losses (Rose and Spiegel, 2010). It is from such financial reckless practices as this that exposed further the financial institutions to the shocks of financial crises similar to the one experienced at the time. Thus even at this point we get to see how lack of financial regulatory oversight failed and thereby directly contributed to the financial crisis itself, which is a factor that would become even more apparent as we discuss the major factors that caused the financial crisis itself. Major Factors Attributed to Financial Crisis To understand how the international financial regulation policies might have contributed to the financial crisis, let us discuss the major factors that significantly contributed to the financial crisis and investigate the failure of financial regulatory oversight for each of them. Credit crisis is a phenomenon that can be triggered by any of the various factors in the financial sector or combination of several such factors. There are mainly five reasons that directly affect financial institutions loans and which in extension can trigger a credit crisis assuming they happen all at once. One of the reasons is anticipated fall in value of collateral assets that are used by creditors to obtain loans from banks (Graham, 2008). In this case the financial institutions become reluctant and unwilling to give out loans that are secured by such assets where all indications points to their market values plummeting. Other reasons could be sudden exogenous adjustment in regulation by central bank that touches on lending requirements by banks or which elevates reserve requirements (Grah am, 2008). In both these two circumstances, Basel I and Basel II guidelines have been specifically developed to address this challenges by setting levels at which financial institutions should maintain their Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and Capital to Risk Assets Ratio (CRAR) (Claessens, 2008). Capital Adequacy is a financial term that is used to define the regulatory guidelines that requires financial institutions such as banks to reserve certain percentage of their Primary Capital Base that is consistent with the institutions lending (Basel.org, 2000). A bank must ensure that its capital base assets are at a minimum of 8 percent of its assets; the rule of thumb that applies is lending of $12 for each single dollar of the bank’s capital (Scott, 2005). The purpose of calculating capital adequacy is to ensure that a bank is not exposed to financial risks that are caused by the lending policy of the institution. These regulations were developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision which redefined the international Capital Adequacy standards on 2004 that are now used to regulate financial institutions all over the world (Rasmusen, 1988). As we can therefore infer from the happenings of the 2008 financial crisis, most banks were not adhering to these standards as set out by Basel II guidelines. The central bank might also trigger credit crunch through regulations that intend to tightly control financial institutions lending. In such instances the banks usually respond by enacting measures that prevent their loss or transfer their operating risks to the creditors usually through increased interest rates of loans or reduction in lending. However these factors alone cannot by their own trigger credit crunch, more often credit crisis is caused by an array of factors that combine together over a long duration of time. The hallmarks of a credit crunch usually include extensive sustained losses by lenders caused by sloppy and hasty lending policies over g iven period of time as was the case in 2008. Sometimes it is due to plummeting of collateral assets that were used to secure loans which substantially lose value overnight as it also happened to the United States housing industry. When this happens the bank sustains huge losses caused by loss in value of the assets. The implications that follow are two parts: the bank has no adequate loan reserve that they can continue to disburse to future consumers, and two despite the availability of loans the banks becomes timid and cautious towards future lending (Hyoung-kyu, 2007). The next phase of credit crisis is limited lending and inaccessibility of the loans by consumers and lack of funds in general that virtually affect every other sector of the economy triggering what is then referred as economic recession (Hines, 2008). This therefore are the major factors that are likely to cause a financial crisis, some of which as we have seen were attributed to the 2008 financial crisis. However t he effect of a credit crisis last for sometime only depending on the extent of loans that were disbursed by the banking industry, and the extent in which the losses can be absorbed assuming the banks affected were not much. In the following section we are going to analyzed in detail the specific financial regulatory policies that were flaunted by the financial institutions culminating to the 2008 financial crisis. Failure of Financial Regulatory Standards The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution body based in Switzerland that serves two important functions; develops and promotes financial policies and provides banking services. IMF on the other hand has the mandate to regulate global financial systems notably in two major areas that include balance of payments and stabilizing exchange rates. For this reasons BIS is better placed to influence the outcome of financial crisis since it is the institution that is mandated with the responsibili ty of developing various monetary policies. In fact BIS has very specific mandate to set and regulate one of the policies that is at the centre of the financial crisis i.e. CAR as we have so discussed. As a result it is the major sponsor of both Basel I and Base II financial regulations which are crucial in regulating safe lending as we shall get to see shortly The shortcomings of Basel financial frameworks have been apparent for as long as the first guidelines were instituted. Despite the many advantages that Basel guidelines were promoting, they also had inherent advantages. When Basel I accord was implemented its focus was on setting the minimum possible capital levels for financial institutions and also ensuring that banks embraced low value assets as collateral. The flip side of this rationale was an increased risk to financial institutions brought about by incomplete analysis of the dynamic market parameters. As a result numerous changes were required to be made on basel I fra meworks which culminated with development of basel II accord. One such amendment was in 1996 for market risk that saw the CAR expanded to incorporate the risks associated with other financial market force. However even then Basel I accord had still other inherent limitations (Basel 2000). The Capital Adequacy calculation for instance did not provide an accurate and reliable financial guideline for determination of CAR (Basel 2000). Another disadvantage under Basel I accord was the tendency of the banks to undertake regulatory capital arbitrage which enabled them to manipulate their core capitals in order to reflect favorable capital assets that made them compliant, lastly the accord did not offer ideal risk mitigations approaches to banks (Basel 2000). Hence Basel II was born in 2004 to address these shortcomings and incorporate other challenges that banks were facing in the financial sector. Throughout this period we can see how the BIS sponsored financial policies was wrecking hav oc and promoting a culture of dubious financial dealings that financial institutions kept even after these guidelines were overhauled. The new Capital Adequacy calculation is guided by three core principles that are referred as pillars: market discipline, operational capital requirement, and supervisory review (Basel 2000). Pillar number one pertains to regulatory capital of three critical risks that a bank encounters during it routine financial operations: market risk, credit risk and operational risk. For each of this risk the accord provides various calculation techniques that set the desired level of accuracy such as standardized approach, foundation Internal Rating-Based (IRB) approach and advanced IRB for calculating credit risk (Basel 2000). The underlying working definition of capital categorizes banks equity into two groups: tier I capital and tier II capital. Tier I Capital is defined as the actual equity inclusive of retained earnings while Tier II Capital is the subordin ated debt in addition to the preferred shares (Basel 2000). Tier I capital are financial institutions assets that can absorb financial losses of a bank during trading without necessitating the bank to enter into bankruptcy. Tier II capital are the other type of assets that are reserved primarily to absorb losses of large magnitude during the event of bankruptcy. It is this categorization of financial institutions capital that has provided a loophole for banks to circumvent and thereby lend more than they should ideally be allowed through invention of concepts such as financialization. For instance capital adequacy ratio is calculated by dividing the bank primary capital by the sum of the bank’s assets (Basel 2006). The core capital is a sum of both Tier I and II capital while assets in this case refers to the weighted assets or the minimum requirements as set by the banking regulator, such a ratio should not exceed the Basel accord threshold level that is set equal to or less than 8%. The CAR is further adjusted to calculate the three other subcomponents of the capital adequacy namely: standardized approach, basic indicator approach and advanced measurement approach that offer varying degree of accuracy (Basel 2006). For this purpose the approach used in calculating risk weighting requires the bank to categorize the nature of the assets into two: fund based assets and non-funded assets (Basel 2006). Fund based assets usually include bank investments, loans and liquid cash at its disposal, while non-funded assets include items in the Off-Balance sheet that are first taken through a series of conversions in order to ascertain their true value. Despite these elaborate calculations it is still possible for a bank to obtain a positive ratio if factors that affect market risk are not considered. What we know for a fact is that somehow just before the 2008 financial crisis; most financial institutions have been flaunting or circumventing basel II accords en ma sse up to the time of the crisis. One of the recent advanced theories in economic studies that attempts to explain the cause of the 2008 financial crisis has been advanced by Foster and Magdoff. Foster and Magdoff theory attributes the 2008 financial crisis to the broader factors of monopoly finance capitalism which is a function of a phenomenon that they refer as stagnation that is characteristic of all mature capitalist systems (Foster and Magdoff, 2008). Foster and Magdoff describe mature capitalist system as â€Å"stagnant† because of its monopolistic nature that is caused by few corporations that dominates and control most of the available capital flow (Fostor and Magdoff, 2008). When this happens as it has been taking place since the 1980s less capital becomes available for investment in economic sectors that are most in need while the real capital becomes restricted and unavailable, this outcome is what Foster and Magdoff also attributed to the occurrence of financiali zation. The implication of this unbalanced excessive capital availability in particular sectors only creates demands for investment opportunities that offer high returns and this is where the evils of monopoly-finance capital begin. Hence, from a more general perspective based on Foster and Magdoff theory monopolistic finance capitalism which are a function of international financial policies are to blame for the 2008 financial crisis. More specifically let us see how financial policies notably in United States which was the epicenter of the financial crisis systematically led to the 2008 credit crunch. One was the housing market boom and bubble that was characterized by low mortgage interest rates, increased availability of funds that pooled borrowers to taking unnecessary and inflated mortgages (Gjerstad and Vernon, 2009). Borrowers and investors in the process saved less and substantial funds were channeled to this sector, by the time the housing market was collapsing more than $ 10 trillion dollars was approximately held in the industry. The upshot was more than 50% of home owners that had negative equity or houses that just equaled their mortgage values which could not be sold due to house surplus in the market and cheap going prices (Gjerstad and Vernon, 2009). This was a major lax of the various financial oversight bodies that had the mandate to foresee and prevent such a ballooning financial effect that was taking place in the housing sector all this time. It is for this reason that the 2008 European head of States seminar resolved to have â€Å"An early warning system must be established to identify upstream increases in risks† (Rose and Spiegel, 2010). Perhaps one of the most blatant disregard to financial policies that took place at this time was by the financial institutions in their rush to make a killing from the booming housing market. In fact the financial institutions are to blame for the amount of mortgages that borrowers had obtained t hat were purely for speculative purposes and therefore for investment only, which is not actually a bad thing unless there are no policies to regulate such a widespread speculative investment. By 2006 the number of mortgage and houses that had been secured as investment options were approximately 40% of all the total houses in the market (Gjerstad and Vernon, 2009). This was the main factor that greatly contributed to the housing surplus that made their price falls. Another cause was the securitization, a term that is used to describe a practice where bank can transfer the value of the mortgage to their investors and therefore continue to obtain further funds for lending to borrowers (Gjerstad and Vernon, 2009). Ideally banks are supposed to hold on the mortgage as security until they are paid in full or forfeited; these way additional funds cannot be secured until such time when any of the two outcomes occur. But of course the banks in their rush to lend and make profit out of the interest disregarded this policy. So as it turned out securitization system allowed banks to continue pumping funds to an already saturated sector while hoodwinking investors to believe housing industry to be thriving by transferring mortgage agreements to them. In the process the banks were able to ease the lending terms and lower rates due to availability of funds in a bid to disperse as much funds as possible and therefore make profits. In fact, lending conditions to borrowers were even questionable verging on illegal practices, figures released by Federal Reserve indicates that 47% of borrowers did not make any down payment of the mortgages as required by law (Gjerstad and Vernon, 2009). Over time borrowers were not required to provide evidence of income nor employment as is usually the tradition, instead banks focus was on credit score which depended mainly on the amount that a borrower had in the bank beside other factors. The problem was that the system used to calculate cred it ratings was flawed in the first place and ended up misguiding investors on the value of borrower assets. Currently, the inflated credit ratings that were given to Mortgage-Based Securities (MBS) by credit rating agencies are now under investigations since their high ratings allowed transfer of MBS to investors who later ended up holding less valuable MBS than they initially paid for them (Gjerstad and Vernon, 2009). The government too was to blame for some of its policies which were clearly self defeating; this was because of the government policy that had been put in place mortgage policies which had the vision of promoting home ownership among Americans across the boards through legislations such as Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act (Hines 2008). As far as 1995 the government had started issuing tax rebate to all persons with mortgage. This and other government policies that also failed to control use of adjustable-rate mortgages which do not favor borrower in the lon g run resulted in fueling a housing boom that was already getting out of control under the very noses of financial policy makers. Thus, as we can see the inability of the government to intervene and enforce existing financial regulatory standards during the whole process also contributed to the financial crisis. While the US was dishing out numerous and unsecured mortgage loans to its citizens, Britain was also experiencing increased lending of loans to finance home but not at the unprecedented rates as witnessed in United States. For the rest of the world the global recession was hardly caused by mortgages but by collapse of industries that relied on investor funds that had now been retracted by timid investors and by international companies that were affiliated to US companies that had collapsed in the process (Saltmarsh, 2008). For many businesses the problem was the lack of funds to sustain daily business operations due to the credit crunch emanating from United States. Most thi rd world countries financial institutions are tied up with foreign international financial firms though they always function independently. These local financial institutions therefore adopted strict loan disbursement policies in the wake of the subprime crisis. Without access to regular funds that medium and small businesses have always relied on, most of the businesses had to close down thereby causing unemployment. As a result the most affected businesses in developing countries were the ones exporting goods to developed countries in America and Europe. Most of the businesses exporting commodities were the agriculture sectors, mining, and oil industry. Countries that predominantly relied on agriculture earnings through exports were required to export less due to fall in demand or suspended their exports all together. In the tourism sector the trend was the same with less people unwilling to spend in holidays. Overall the foreign reserves of many countries which are almost always in form of dollar shrunk affecting virtually every other sector of the economy (Saltmarsh 2008). The result was world economies hampered by lack of products market and liquidity funds to sustain growth. As the financial crisis reached its peak in 2009 many countries sprung to action with measures to halt and reverse the economic recession phenomenon by injecting billions of funds. The United Stated was the first to undertake an assortment of measures contained in the economic stimulus package that was signed into law by President Obama (Grabel and Weaver, 2009). The stimulus plan included $787 billion that aimed at reinstating and creating more jobs that were lost during the recession in addition to stimulating the economic activity and consumers spending (Grabel and Weaver 2009). But without restructuring the financial policies that originally contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, the world economies has been recovering at a slower rate than should have been the case. Conclusio n As one gets to analyze the facts that caused the financial crisis the extent of the housing market speculation is notable and significant whereby all the actors in the economy from consumers to bankers continued to pump more funds in housing industry as investment options. For this to have happened the weakness is seen to have been the breakdown of the international financial regulatory policies as we have so far discussed. Indeed, the failure of the international regulatory institutions to intervene and provide an oversight mandate is seen to be the critical factor that led to the occurrence of the financial crisis. At present policy makers continue to investigate and implement measures in order to avert a similar financial crisis from occurring in future and ensure it does not occur unnoticed as it happened in 2008. Meanwhile world governments remain apprehensive as the last impacts of global recession continues to recede without clear indications of what exactly needs to be don e in order to insulate economies from what appears to be the failings of international institutions of financial regulations. References Acharya, V., Philippon,T., Richardson, M Roubini, N. (2009). The Financial Crisis of 2007-2009: Causes and Remedies. Financial Markets, Institutions Instruments, 18(2): 89-137. Basel.org, (2000). A New Capital Adequacy Framework. Consultative Paper Issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Web. Claessens, S. (2008). The Political Economy of Basle II: The Costs for Poor Countries. The World Economy, 31(3): 313-344. Claessens, S. Dell’Ariccia, G. (2010). Cross-country experiences and policy implications from the global financial crisis. Economic Policy, 25(62): 267-293. Foster, J. Magdoff, F. (2008). The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences. New York: Monthly Review Press. Graham, T. (2008). The Credit Crunch: Housing Bubbles, Globalisation and the Worldwide Economic Crisis. London, UK: Pluto Press. Gabor, D. (2010). The International Monetary Fund and its New Economics. Development and Change, 41(5): 805-830. Gjerstad, S. Vernon, S. (2009). From Bubble to Depression? Why the Housing Bubble Crashed the Financial System but the Dot-com Bubble Did Not. Wall Street Journal, 15 (9): 165-172. Grabel, Michael., and Weaver Christopher 2009. The Stimulus Plan: A detailed List of Spending. Web. Hyoung-kyu, C. (2007). Do markets enhance convergence on international standards? The case of financial regulation. Regulation and Governance, 1(4): 295-311. Hines, P. (2008). From Crunch to Squeeze: Global Impact of the Credit Crisis on Commercial and Small Business Lending. Web. Pattanaik, S. (2009). The Global Financial Stability Architecture Fails Again: sub-prime crisis lessons for policymakers. Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, 23(1): 21-47. Rose, A. Spiegel, M. (2010). Cross-country Causes and Consequences of the 2008 Crisis: International Linkages and American Exposure. Pacific Economic Review, 15(3): 340-363. Rasmusen, E., (1988). Mutual Banks and Stock Banks. Journal of Law and Economics, 31(2): 188-199. Saltmarsh, M. (2008). Impact of Global Credit Crunch Expands in Europe. Web. Scott, H., (2005). Capital Adequacy beyond Basel: Banking, Securities and Insurance. Washington, DC: Oxford University Press. This essay on Role of International Financial Institutions in 2008 Financial Crisis was written and submitted by user Brodie J. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

4 tips for talking work-life balance with your boss

4 tips for talking work-life balance with your boss From time to time, almost every working adult will struggle with work-life balance. But what does work-life balance even mean? Simply put, work-life balance is how your obligations at work and home are prioritized. It boils down to how many hours a week you spend focusing on your career  ­Ã¢â‚¬â€œ completing projects, turning in assignments, responding to emails – versus the time in a week you spend engaging in activities in your personal life, like spending time with friends and family, running personal errands, exercising, or even just relaxing.Americans work a lot. In fact, a 2015 Gallup poll found that Americans who are employed full-time work 47 hours a week on average, or the equivalent of nearly six days a week. And, nearly four in 10 workers reported logging more than 50 hours a week working.With this amount of time being devoted to our professional lives, when the scales tip in work-life balance, it’s usually towards more work and less play. That can be fine for short periods but long term it can be problematic.When the delicate balance between your career and personal life are out of whack – and stay out of whack – it can leave you feeling off-kilter, frustrated, and resentful. But, since a demanding work life often stems from a demanding boss, it can be difficult to know how to broach the topic.We’ve compiled 4 tips for having a productive conversation with your boss or manager about work-life balance. Read on to learn how to find the balance you seek.Do some soul searchingBefore you discuss the issue with your manager, do your best to get to the root of the problem. Is your personal life suffering because of unrealistic expectations from your superiors at work, or is it possible that these expectations are self-imposed and that you are â€Å"overworking† your job?How do you judge? One way to gauge whether the problem lies with you or whether it lies with your boss is to work a normal 40-hour week and see w hat happens. Skip staying late for one week. Forbid yourself from logging work time over the weekends and then just wait.If your boss doesn’t notice that you haven’t worked longer hours or completed extra work, the demand might be self-inflicted. If your boss does notice and mentions it, make a note. This will become important in later discussions.Identify the problemIf you’ve determined that the pressure you feel at work is, in fact, coming from your manager, next you must identify the exact problem.Ask yourself: Is your work-life imbalance stemming from an unreasonable workload that is impossible to complete within the confines of a 40-hour work week? If so, you aren’t alone. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one-third of employed people in the U.S. spend some part of their weekends doing work.For others, the problem of balancing life and career lies in a rigid schedule that doesn’t offer the flexibility to duck out of work for, say, a n annual doctor’s appointment or important errand. Both scenarios can be frustrating and confining.Identify the source of the problem before you meet with your boss. This will allow you to come to the meeting armed with suggestions on how to handle the situation at hand.Arrange a meeting and come prepared with ideasOnce you have identified the problem, ask for a meeting and come equipped with solutions. This will look different for everyone but here are some possibilities:Suggest ways to delegate tasks to spread the workload more evenly across your team to lighten your workload.Request flexible hours that work better with your schedule. For example, if you are a parent and want more time with your children, you might suggest a schedule that allows you to work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. instead of the normal 9-to-5.Suggest an amended schedule. Instead of working five days a week, ask to work four 10-hour shifts. This will enable you to have three days off each week instead of the t ypical two-day weekend.Request a longer lunch break. This will allow you to run errands or attend appointments without taking time off work.Suggest one work-from-home day each week. Cutting your commute out of your day even one day a week can free up additional hours.While not ideal, asking for unpaid time off can be a solution in a pinch.Know when to move onA severe work-life balance can wreak havoc on your well-being. If you’ve exhausted all these possibilities and still can’t make headway in achieving a reasonable work-life balance, it may be time to move on. This means you’ll have to dust off your job application skills, and get ready to build a resume and cover letter for each new opportunity you discover. Put aside some time each week to begin looking for a new job. Finding this time will likely be tough, given that your work-life balance is already out of whack, but it’s critical that you find it. You’ll never move on to a better work-life b alance situation if you don’t.The best way to ensure a rational work-life balance next time around? Ask about it during the interview process, or do some research on the company you land an interview with to see what its employees (or past employees) have to say about work-life balance.

No Culture Is an Island Essays

No Culture Is an Island Essays No Culture Is an Island Essay No Culture Is an Island Essay No culture is an island means, cultures aren’t bound to say in one area as it’s stuck on an island. It influences people to people, community to community, country to country. All human interaction is influenced to some degree by the cultural, social, and physical settings in which it occurs. It’s given that culture powerfully influences thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Every person’s culture is his own mindset that they develop during childhood grooming and socialization.Social Change, every culture has its own lifestyle the way people dress, what roles genders have, what role children have and what they do in their leisure time. But the culture is influencing social change on other parts of the world too. As it’s the 21stcentury media helps people in other parts of the world to observe and most of them feel attracted to because it’s new to them and adopt in their culture.Example Jeans was a western culture gradually with time passing by rest of the world got familiar with it and now it’s been adopted in almost every culture. Arts, by arts I mean music, theatre and their creator/performers. They have a big influence on people all over the world. If they are really famous some people set celebrities as there role model and start adopting their cultures. The world come to knows what other cultures exist through Arts. Hollywood had a big role in changing cultures all over the world.The influence of Musicians and Actors is effective and brings a change in their fans culture really quick. Technology, now a day’s same technology is being used all over the developed and developing countries. Again I would say media helps spread the news that what types of technology is out there and rest of the world tries to obtain it and adopt it, because no one wants stay behind in the matter of technology and the people who adopt the new technology helps them compete with the world.

Stem Cell Reserch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Stem Cell Reserch - Essay Example These questions are fundamental to our social values and say a lot about the way we think about life. Indeed, I often think about such things. But one important difference between stem cells and abortion is that stem cells have the possibility of extending and improving life. Unlike the abortion issue, the stem cell issue is not a zero-sum gain. Whether or not you believe using an embryonic stem cell for research purposes is destroying a potential life, you must admit that it is opening up the possibility for someone else to live longer or better. That makes this issue more nuanced. Indeed, when all the fact are in about stem cells, it is very hard for someone to believe research involving them should be banned. Stem cells offer some of the substantial and important possibilities in the fields of medical science open to us today. I believe we must seize this opportunity. The world today is more complicated than ever. In part this is because we know more about it than ever before and technology has dramatically shaped our world views. Certain moral questions have exploded in recent years because of the way technology is changing the moral dimensions of our lives. We can now see foetuses in the womb using ultrasound technology and can tell a lot about them and their health early on. We now know that there are certain cells inside the body—called stem cells—that are effectively the building blocks for many different cells. They can become a fetus, they can become a brain cell, or, for example, they can become a skin cell. With the right type of manipulation—something scientists are becoming increasingly proficient at—it may be possible for many previously incurable diseases to be dealt with. There are also great possibilities involving the generation of organs for transplant, among a myriad of other good news stories. Many d egenerative

Discussion 6 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion 6 - Assignment Example From this point, I would say I am superstitions about a number of things, especially those that have to do with the Christian religion. For example, I belief that people die because of the sinful nature of humankind: as the bible says that the wages of sin is death. This is contrary to science, which gives reasons like old age and diseases as the natural cause of death. I also believe that the universe was architecturally structured and created (by God) though science says that the universe came about through evolution. I also believe that the world will come to an end all people will be judged though science denies this. The argument on the existence of God is a very dicey. This is perhaps because of the divergent debate around the existence of God. But the personality of God, just as science are both not conclusive and totally convincing. This is because in the case of science, not every phenomenon of the universe has been proven by science. This is why we have metaphysics. The personality of God is also too abstract to believe. But drawing a line, it would be said that both instances exist as science has never convinced the world of the genesis of the universe. Though science talks about evolution, the question will continue to be that â€Å"who created that first particle that started expanding and why has the human race not changed to something else if we evolved from apes. Why have apes not also turned into humans after a long time. So there is an unseen part of the existence of the world and that is God. Indeed, to belong to a religion is a good action to take. This is because all religions have a very high level of preaching and teaching that highlights on good and harmonious living. If indeed all persons were to stay by the core principles of religion, it is very likely that the world would be a peaceful place to live. But more importantly, he time should come when the debate will not be

Explain the significance of Marco Essay Example for Free

Explain the significance of Marco Essay In the play, Marco is very important. After all, he was the one person who killed Eddie Carbone which is the main event in the play. When Marco comes into the play for the first time, he is proven to be the most mature brother who has a quality life worth living. What can I do? The older one is sick in chest. My wife she feeds them from her own mouth. I tell you the truth; if I stay there they will never grow up. They eat the sunshine. Having children, Marco might feel they are a motivation to earn money to keep them alive as well as himself. The reason Marco came to Brooklyn, America to help and pay for food for his family as he would send money back to his wife in Italy to care for them. My wife I want to send right away maybe twenty dollars †¦ because I could send them a little more if I stay. Marco knows he has an obligation to Eddie and is trying to be good so he can stay in America in the house to earn money for his family. So to make sure he can stay, he is trying not to let Rodolph ruin his chances either by doing ridiculous tasks like singing which Marco thinks is inappropriate at the time so tells him, No no! †¦ Youll be quiet †¦ Youll be quiet. He also thinks Rodolph should tame himself down. ‘’They paid for your courage. The English like courage. But once is enough.’’ He is loyal and strong. He thinks before he acts which gives the impression that he is focused. He only punished Eddie by killing him as he felt threatened which is not a selfish action. He is the antagonist in the play and the Sicilian avenging angel that Alfieri hints at his comment to the audience. A man works, raises his family, goes bowling, eats, gets old and then dies. Now, as the weeks passed there was a future, there was a trouble that would not go away. Marco is also very important to the play as he is very respectful towards Eddie to begin with. Marco is willing to do any work to support his family as he is very proud of his wife and he is grateful to Eddie for his help and for giving him the opportunity to live in his home and work down the docks. Marco is realistic and tries to control Rodolpho’s exaggerations to keep them out of trouble. Even though during the play, Marco is furious and vengeful to some of the things Eddie does like snitching on them to the immigration officers; He is responsible, respectful, strong but silent towards his family, Eddie, Beatrice and even Catherine. Marco tries to bridge the increasing gap between Rodolpho and Eddie however as soon as Marco feels offended by Eddie he feels he needs to prove his strength and authority to him by lifting a chair up by one leg by one arm which is he successful in whereas Eddie cannot lift the chair. Marco if a family man because even though Marco cannot understand American justice when Alfieri tried to explain it and promised Eddie he will not betray or harm him if he promised the same, he did not apologise to Eddie as his honour means everything to him. As Marco will probably get deported back to Italy for immigration and killing Eddie, he is happy that Rodolpho has a chance of a green card a family with Catherine.

Examing the Picture Book The Gruffalo

Examing the Picture Book The Gruffalo I chose this text because I enjoyed reading it and believe children will like it as it contains many opportunities for participation due to the repetition. It has a great use of language and incredible illustrations. It will also help them use their imagination. This humorous, rhyming picture book is a narrative text written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. The mouse goes for a stroll in a dark, treacherous forest and smartly creates tales of an unbelievable creature called a gruffalo to frighten off other creatures who want to eat him; however to his amazement he then meets a real gruffalo! The Gruffalo is as a picture book designed to be read out loud to children of three upwards, but it can additionally be appropriate for young readers to read this independently. The vocabulary is diverse but not too difficult, and the repetitive sayings will aid those who still require confidence. The language cleverly flows, the pictures are in depth and pleasing to look at, and most significantly, it is a book that young children can really feel occupied and engaged with. Structure and content This is a chronological text, which narrates a series of events as they happen. It follows the most common structure of an opening that establishes setting and introduces characters, leading to a complication and resulting events, before the resolution/ending. The setting is immediately conveyed through the written text on the first line: A mouse took a stroll through the deep, dark wood, which is reinforced through the images and colours used. The main character is also introduced, which is important to enable the reader to understand the story and shows the story will be adhering to the common and successful structure of a great deal of small-childrens fiction, where by the protagonist(s) encounter a series of events of usually an identical nature. This is narrated in the third person, so it provides an unbiased viewpoint, allowing the children to become immersed within the world of the story and it also means none of the characters can know what Mouse is really thinking. The reader/ listener is in a better position than the predatory characters in the story as they know more about the way the mouse is thinking than them, which is dramatic irony. The use of dialogue, repetition and rhythm suggests that the text is written to be read aloud with children and the use of anthropomorphism is used with the protagonist, perhaps to enable the children to relate to the experience and feelings of the character. In this book the text is placed to the left on all pages. This encourages you to read the text and then explore what is happening through the pictures; however there are a few exceptions. For example we see a series of small pictures showing the parts of the Gruffalos body being described by the mouse- there is a picture of tusks, with the narration: He has terrible tusks written underneath, which enhances the childrens thoughts of what this creature may look like and enables them to picture the Gruffalo in their minds before they read about it. Grammatical choices It is written in the present tense, which adds to childrens involvement of the story because they are going on the journey with the mouse. This is further enhanced by the use of active voice because the focus is on the action of the mouse, which draws the reader in. Simple sentences are also used to gain the readers attention, help the children develop their reading skills and understand the story. However it does contain compound sentences: But who is this creature with terrible claws and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws? He has knobbly knees and turned-out toes and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose. Using a compound sentence to describe the Gruffalo is a significant part of the story, as the mouse discovers his imaginary character was real. Therefore this description heightens the feeling of adventure by increasing the readers awareness. The connective and seems to reinforce the oral tone of the narrative, but connectives are widely used throughout the book to make the narrative flow and to affect the reader/listener. There are many uses of questions and exclamations in this book. For example every time the mouse meets a new character they always ask: A gruffalo? Whats a gruffalo? to which he replies: A gruffalo! Why, didnt you know? This shows the animals curiosity and makes them look and feel inferior for not knowing the answer, by the way the mouse replies. The story is written in rhyming couplets and the pattern tends to be repeated numerous times throughout the story with one or two words changing every time. The entire text is straightforward and naturally flows, which allows the reader to sustain the rhythm. For example: Its terribly kind of you, Fox, but no- Im going to have lunch with a gruffalo.  Furthermore Donaldson utilizes the rhyming to build up to the climax in the middle of the story. The mouse encounters the fox, the  owl and the snake and tells them exactly the same story- he cannot  go with them because he is off to meet the imaginary and fictional gruffalo, who every time he describes in more vivid detail.  They quickly escape in fear, and every time he laughs theres no such thing as a gruffalo until the third occasion,  brings him face to face with this creature, and gruffalo becomes gruffal-Oh. This tension is assisted by the way you have to turn the page to get to the Oh! Word choice Few adjectives are used in this text, probably to encourage the reader to use the illustrations to add meaning. Similarly, adverbs are not used, perhaps because verbs used are often specific and therefore do not need description (for example slid, flew, sped etc). Alliteration is present throughout the book: terrible teeth, knobbly knees, turned out toes, which provides emphasis and allows the description to stick in the childrens minds. In addition to alliteration, there is an abundance of repetition of phrases used every time mouse comes across another animal.  Young children  will feel able to participate in these instances as they often hear the same lines repeated. Presentation Images are linked with the written text by the common background and natural colour used throughout the text and style of the font. All the way through the book the illustrations are an essential ingredient of the story as with no pictures the listener/reader would not be able to fully grasp their opinions of the characters and would not see the feelings of terror and worry on the faces of the predators and the gruffalo.  Many double page illustrations in which mouse frightens off his three predators- the fox, the snake and the owl contain four small illustrations and one larger one, as if only particular features of the gruffalo are known at certain intervals. Additionally the narrative text is dotted  over the two pages in sections, which gives the impression that there is similarity  between the verbal text and the visual text. The font is very clear and is all black; although there is some use of italics for all characters speech besides the mouse, but this aids the reader when reading aloud, as they will know when they need to change their voices. The majority of the time, the text is printed on a white background which enables easy reading. There are, however, several pages where the text is on a yellow-orange background but this is still easily readable due to the colour of the font. What challenges might children face in reading this text? A rare feature in this childrens book is a dual twist as books aimed at young children generally do not contain a twist, so they may struggle with the concept of the gruffalo being afraid of the mouse. The character of the gruffalo may also scare some children. Use of your text in the classroom Mouse uses alliteration when speaking to the other animals to explain about the gruffalo: terrible teeth, purple prickles, knobbly knees. Ask students to discuss or write down other words, beginning with the same letter, to describe these body parts. Then they could try using alliteration to describe other parts of the gruffalos body such as his head, eyes, ears, legs etc. Children draw or make their own idea of a gruffalo and describing it like the mouse does. Drama- acting out the story. Map making of the wood. Freeze framing to find out characters thoughts and feelings or writing diary entries for different characters. Hot seating of the mouse and the gruffalo. Use the same story pattern of The Gruffalo to write another story.

A Long Walk to Freedom- Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela in his book, Long Walk to Freedom argues through the first five parts that a black individual must deal, coop, and grow through a society that is hindering their lives† with apartheid and suppression of their rightful land. Rolihlanla Mphakanyiswa or clan name, Madiba was born on July 18, 1918 in a simple village of Mvezo, which was not accustomed to the happenings of South Africa as a whole. His father was an respected man who led a good life, but lost it because of a dispute with the magistrate. While, his mother was a hard-working woman full of daily choirs. His childhood was full of playing games with fellow children and having fun. In school, Mandela was given his English name of Nelson. After his father†s death, he moved to love with a regent, who was a well-off individual and owed Nelson†s father for a previous favor. The next several years were full of schooling for Nelson. These schools opened Nelson†s eyes to many things, which we will discuss later. He and the regent†s son, Justice decided to travel to Johannesburg and see what work they could find. They left on their journey without the regent†s permission, but eventually escaped his power and settled down in the town. In Johannesburg, Nelson settled down in a law firm as an assistant and went to University of South Africa and Witwatersrand University to further his law education. Witswatersrand University brought many new ideas to Nelson and awakened a spirit inside of him. The next several years, Nelson met many new political friends and began his involvement in the ANC. Also during this time, he met Evelyn and they became married. Gradually Nelson†s political involvement grew and his family life declined. Nelson and his good friend, Oliver Tambo opened a law firm, which took up most of Nelson†s time. Evelyn mothered two of Nelson†s children, but the gradually grew apart. Now, Nelson was an influential political individual and bans and jailing began to follow him around. One day, a young woman came into his life by the name of Winnie and they got married. Winnie gave birth to two more of Nelson†s children. As time passed, Nelson†s spirit for freedom grew more and more each day. Though his life was full of bannings and jailings, he never gave up his fight, but he knew that the south African government was becoming agitated with him and the ANC. The South African government became ruthless and strict and this forced Nelson to leave his family. After he left his family, he went underground. Nelson†s life has been full of hardships and decisions, but his heart for the struggle has never faltered. Now let us examine Nelson in closer detail. Nelson is an individual who fought through many hardships, but was also faced with decisions that affected his future, his family, and his livelihood. As we look at Nelson deeper, we can see many interesting points. He was opened to new ideas and beliefs through his experiences in the schools of Heraldtown and Fort Hare, but knew there was something better. He decided to travel to Johannesburg to find new and greater opportunities. While, in Johannesburg, he believed education would be a key asset. While working for a small firm, he took classes at University of South Africa and eventually Wits University. Here is where his mind and social life flourished. He interacted with great minds and influential political individuals. He talked to many Africans without proper education, who contained more knowledge and better social skills than many Africans with education. But, he still persisted in acquiring his B. A. Wits University brought his life to new extents. He was also talking to Indians, Coloureds, and whites for the first time in his life and Becoming friends with many more prominent African individuals. Nelson soon joined the ANC and became very prominent in the fight for freedom. Nelson was always open to listening to new ideas, but when his was just starting his fight. He believed that just Africans should fight the struggle and that the Indians, Coloureds, and communists would hinder their fight. As the ANC grew, Nelson also became well known. He was part of the Youth League, another beneficial part of the ANC. Nelson was not president yet, but was powerful enough to voice is opinions, which many people listened to and believed in. As Nelson†s political involvement grew, the police became more aware of him. Nelson received ban after ban, which ranged from months to years. He also experienced jail time constantly. Eventually, the police†s pursuit of him forced him to go underground. Nelson was also becoming more open-minded. He now believed that the fight should involve the Indians and the Coloureds. He also believed that Communism did have some good points, but he would never accept the whole communism aspect. There were many freedom fighters in South Africa. One that stood out was Dr. Xuma. Dr. Xuma was friend of Nelson and the president of the ANC, but the struggle forces many hardships on one†s life. Nelson gave everything up to pursue his fight for freedom. He left his family, his prospering law firm, and his past for the struggle. Dr. Xuma believed in the same ideas as Nelson, but would not give up his prominence with the whites and his wealthy occupation for the struggle. This decision had to be made by many freedom fighters. Nelson gave his life for the fight. While, Dr. Xuma thought his career was more important. Now let us look closer at some issues seen through Mandela†s book. Through this paragraph, I will compare foreign influence seen in Long Walk to Freedom to foreign influence seen in Mexico through Professor Hornibrook†s lectures and notes. As I have seen through your lectures, South Africa was affected by foreign influence from the British and the Dutch. Mandela†s autobiography helps give more detailed accounts of the European influence seen in South Africa. Ever since Mandela was born, the European†s power affected his people. European influence could be seen through every aspect of life. In Mandela†s school, he was given an English name and this was because â€Å"this was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. â€Å"(14) Also, â€Å"the education I received was a British education, in which British ideas, British culture, British institutions were automatically assumed to be superior. There was no such thing as African culture. â€Å"(14) This shows that it was difficult to get away from the British influence even for children in school. The British and the Dutch governments passed several acts that were instituted to fight against the Africans freedom struggle. The Africans struggle for independence was slowly growing and this scared the government. A new term was being seen and it was called â€Å"apartheid. † The government enacted laws and acts that prohibited Africans from doing Many things that were vital to their fight and survival. The Group Areas Act was one example. This act called for each racial group to be separated into separate areas. Another act was the Population Registration Act, which showed that race had become the most important and influential aspect of South African law and society. Another act was the Suppression of Communism Act. This act called for all communists to be brought to trial. The police could arrest anyone they believed were trying to overthrow the government by violence and communist ways. Lastly, the government put bans on individuals who were becoming to involved in the struggle and finally the government banned the ANC and all other liberation groups. This ban now made freedom fighting was illegal in South Africa. The effect of foreign influence was drastic. Africans lost sense of African culture in schools. While, the foreign government tried everything to break down the Africans chance for liberty. The foreign influence seen in South Africa crushed the African†s hope and survival. While this was occurring in South Africa, Mexico was also seeing the effect of foreign influence. Americans and Europeans came into Mexico and gained much power. Haciendas helped their rise and foreign investment in many minerals and oil. But, Mexico did not approve of this and changed it. In 1917, Mexico created a new constitution, which limited foreign investment and promised land reform. This showed that Mexico did not want an overpopulation of foreigners and would not allow it. While, in oil, the foreigners controlled much of the oil, which Mexico had an abundance of. In 1938, oil workers went on strike and the companies would not give in, but instead of allowing foreign influence to become too powerful. The Mexican leader, Cardenas sent in arbitrators. The arbitrators called for the one/third pay increase, but the companies refused. Therefore, Cardenas nationalized oil and limited the power of foreign influence in Mexico. Now, Mexican oil was controlled by PEMEX, which is controlled only by Mexico. Mexico become a large influence in the oil market during the oil crisis, but also went though hyperinflation and eventually needed some foreign help. But, the Mexicans would not allow foreign influences to dominate the Mexican state as foreigners have affected South Africa. Now I will examine another issue seen in the book. In this paragraph, I will examine the movement seen in Long Walk to Freedom to the movement seen in China during the 1900†³s. In South Africa, the movement I saw was the Africans fighting for freedom. In their time of struggle, they had little help from those with power. The liberation movement involved peasants, educated, and well-off Africans. But, the government did what ever they could to put down this struggle. They set up organizations, such as the ANC, Youth League, and others, but as seen in other places the wealthy and powerful would not help the struggle. Many people were blind to the struggle. â€Å"Most of these wardresses had no idea why we were in prison, and gradually began to discover what we were fighting for and why we were willing to risk jail in the first place. (249) Many individuals did not realize what the Africans were really fighting for and why the government was harassing them, but slowly they were learning. â€Å"Seeing prominent and educated white women discussing serious matters with a black man on the basis of perfect equality could only lead to the weakening of the wardresses† apartheid assumptions. â€Å"(249) The government tried to separate whites from blacks so whites would not turn sympathetic towards the Africans fight. This scared feeling made the government acts and laws stricter and harsher towards the African struggle. Therefore, in South Africa, the movement received little help from the people who had influence in the country and the help they truly needed. While, in China, their movement involved their peasants and they had help, which truly helped their struggle. Mao stated that â€Å"In a very short time,†¦ several hundred million peasants will rise like a mighty storm†¦ They will sweep all the imperialists, warlords, corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry into their graves†¦ â€Å"(Mao, 24) Here Mao stated that the peasants would destroy the landlords and corrupt individuals. He helped the peasants by making some reforms. He gave peasants land and made marriages a free choice. He also instituted the 100 Flowers Campaign. This campaign allowed peasants to speak out and have freedom of speech. We see here that the peasants had help in their struggle, while the Africans had very little. This assistance helped the peasants to get the things they were fighting for. Mandela†s Long Walk to Freedom, helped show the rise of an incredible individual, who fought with many of his countrymen against the oppression and apartheid of white supremacy in South Africa. Throughout the book, I have seen Nelson†s open-mindedness. Nelson always listened to communist ideas and Indian goals, eventhough he did not agree with them. Nelson faced many hardships through his struggle and this had to cause some resentment against his oppressors. But if anyone would not be bias in his writing, I would say it would be Nelson Mandela. He has showed in his book that he is great individual and that he will not let his past feeling cloud his writing. You can see his feelings in his book and that is what makes it so good, but I believe he does not hide anything from us on both sides of the stories. In conclusion, Mandela†s autobiography is a brilliant book written by an incredible individual. I wish I could of read the whole book for this essay, but that was not possible. It is hard to write an essay on the first 5 parts when I know some things that happened further in the book. I did not know if I should include that information in the essay, but I did not involve it. This book helped to show the other side of the story. We always hear the victor†s story and in this class we got to hear the other side of the story.

Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey Essay

In Wordsworth’s â€Å"Tintern Abbey† the poem begins as we are taken from the height of a mountain stream down into the valley where the poet sits under a sycamore tree surveying the beauty of the natural world. This introduction through nature sets the scene for the poet’s blending of his mind with that of the natural world. Here Wordsworth does not dwell on the imprint of mankind on the landscape but on the connection of an isolated individual enveloped within the wild world of nature. Although he refers to the presence of man – vagrant dwellers or hermits his connection is with the untouched splendour of the countryside. From his perspective, looking out on the verdant landscape, the speaker ties his connection with nature to the past. He remembers that during his long absence from the Wye Valley, years which he spent living in the city, he found consolation in calling back the memories of his time spent in nature ‘But oft, in lonely rooms, and mid the dim Of towns and cities, I have owned to them, In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart.’ It is important to note here that Wordsworth is not merely finding comfort in fondly remembering a past holiday, but is unequivocally using the natural setting as his source for transcendence. By specifically using nature as his escape from ‘†¦the heavy and weary weight Of all this unintelligible world’ , he asserts that the purity of nature holds no ill memories of man’s unkindness. This ability to gradually retreat from the trials of daily life by calling to mind the solace found in nature is key to the concept that only through withdrawal from the world of society and immersion in the natural world can one rise above present strife. Wordsworth continues speaking of his connection with nature to the past by relating how nature has held prominence during all stages of his past life. But here he also imparts the importance his intimacy with nature will have in his future as he states ‘that in this moment there is life and food For future years’. Wordsworth realizes that the memories of the past will continue to provide pleasure and connection even as he grows old. In the final refrain, the poem suddenly shifts perspective back to the present and instead of considering his own connection with nature, Wordsworth now turns his attention to being in the sylvan valley with his sister, Dorothy. He compares his sisters simple, intense pleasure on nature with his own at the earlier stages of his life. He parlays that she will benefit from the love of nature as he has done and find in it solace from the ‘dreary’ scenes of adult life. However, Wordsworth’s message to the readers seems didactic as he addresses what he is meant to be telling his sister to us, ‘Our cheerful faith that all which we behold Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon Shine on thee in thy solitary walk.’ His hopes for the future are that his sister will also experience the healing powers of nature that he himself has experienced. By stating ‘†¦Nature never did betray The heart that loved her’ Wordsworth assures his sister that she too will find solace from the heartless world by her communion with nature and her memories of his day that they are spending together. Wordsworth’s ability to look to the future to predict memories of events that are happening in the present is ingenious and complicated. But Wordsworth beautifully clarifies this concept by using nature as the ideal link between recollection, foresight, and his relationship with another. Wordsworth neatly ties together the significance of nature not only with his previous experience of remembering nature, but also with how he sees the natural world affecting the future to pass on his message that he has clearly matured over the past years hence the poem being the last one in the anthology. He further states that even â€Å"if I should be where I no more can hear Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams of past existence† , their memories shared in nature will endure to give Dorothy solace as she grows old. By looking to the future, Wordsworth comprehends that because of their shared recollection of their communion in the outdoors, he and his sister will be tied together even after his death. Wordsworth Other poets * Believed ordinary life and ordinary people were important enough to have poetry written for them. * Believed poets to be ordinary people who lived more intensely than others and cultivated their imagination and expressive powers. * Poetry should be written in a language understood by most people ‘man speaking to man’ * Poetry should be written about situations of everyday life. * Through use of memory poetry could recreate events although not religious WW believed that poetry rather than religion was to be given the mission of bringing humanity together * Childhood experiences affected adult mind. * Believed that a poem must have a definite direction and that the reader should be very clear as to what the poem is actually about. * Believed that in order for a short metrical composition to be a poem, it must be organized clearly and, according to Wordsworth â€Å"also thought long and lovingly about† * Poetry should have passion and emotion and be of great pleasure. * The pleasures that Wordsworth was referring to man being â€Å"accustomed to† are those experiences that are derived from nature. Nature in this sense may be the emotion of an experience with living nature, such as a majestic observance of a mountain, or it may be in the sense of human nature, such as the natural presence of a mother’s love * William Wordsworth thought that the poem should speak directly from common life â€Å"by fitting to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation† * Poetry was a tool to change peoples behaviour or as a learning mechanism. * Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World essays

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World essays For virtually 5,000 years man has been building inspiring and majestic wonders. It seems that one of man's greatest desires is to be remembered, and in doing so gives rise to these outstanding and beautiful structures, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, to be remembered for all time. The year was approximately 2560 B.C.; King Kufu and his trusted architect Imhotep, of Egypt, began construction on the Great Pyramid. Using over 100,000 slaves, they built a 450-foot-high, solid granite pyramid taking up thirteen acres of land in only twenty years. The outer layer was composed of highly polished, white limestone and was capped at the top in solid gold. In 465 B.C., Herodotus, a Greek historian, wrote: "as I came around the river bend, I was blinded by the brightness of the white limestone, and the golden caps took my breath away." Although it is nearly 2000 years older than any of the other six ancient wonders, the Great Pyramid of Giza alone withstood the test of time. It has been over 5,000 years since its completions, while no other wonder has lasted longer than 1,200 years. The majority of historians agree that the Great Pyramid of Giza is, perhaps, the most wondrous wonder of them all. Around 600 B.C., 150 years before Herodotus began traveling and writing the history of landmarks throughout the ancient world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were taking form. King Nebuchadnezzar II was building an outstanding, beautiful garden, to make his wife feel more at home. While passing by the Hanging Gardens, Herodotus stated: "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world". Although little has been written about the Hanging Gardens, some experts assume they were fictitious. Fifty short years later, Cherisphron and his son Metagenes completed the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Considered by many, then and today, the most beautiful building ever made. An observer of the beautiful structure, Antipater of...

Famous Japanese Fish Proverbs

Famous Japanese Fish Proverbs Japan is an island nation, therefore seafood has been essential to the Japanese diet since ancient times. Although meat and dairy products are as common as fish today, fish is still the main source of protein for the Japanese. Fish can be prepared grilled, boiled, and steamed, or eaten raw as sashimi (thin slices of raw fish) and sushi. There are quite a few expressions and proverbs including fish in Japanese. I wonder if this is because fish are so closely related to Japanese culture. Tai (Sea bream) Since tai rhymes with the word medetai (auspicious), it is regarded as a good luck fish in Japan. Also, the Japanese consider red (aka) as an auspicious color, therefore it is often served at weddings and other happy occasions as well as another auspicious dish, sekihan (red rice). On festive occasions, the preferred method for cooking tai is to boil it and serve it whole (okashira-tsuki). It is said that eating tai in its full and perfect shape is to be blessed with good fortune. The eyes of tai are especially rich in vitamin B1. Tai is also considered as the king of fish because of their beautiful shape and color. Tai is only available in Japan, and the fish that most people associate with tai is porgy or red snapper. Porgy is closely related to sea bream, while red snapper is only similar in taste. Kusatte mo tai (è… Ã£  £Ã£  ¦Ã£â€šâ€šÃ© ¯â€º, Even a rotten tai is worthwhile) is a saying to indicate that a great person retains some of their worth no matter how his/her status or situation changes. This expression shows the high regard the Japanese have for tai. Ebi de tai o tsuru (æ µ ·Ã¨â‚¬ Ã£  §Ã© ¯â€ºÃ£â€šâ€™Ã©â€¡ £Ã£â€šâ€¹, Catch a sea bream with a shrimp) means, To get a big profit for a small effort or price. It is sometimes abbreviated as Ebi-tai. It is similar to the English expressions To throw a sprat to catch a mackerel or To give a pea for a bean. Unagi (Eel) Unagi is a delicacy in Japan. A traditional eel dish is called kabayaki (grilled eel) and is usually served over a bed of rice. People often sprinkle sansho (a powdered aromatic Japanese pepper) over it. Although eel is rather costly, it has been very popular and people enjoy eating it very much. In the traditional lunar calendar, the 18 days before the beginning of each season is called doyo. The first day of doyo in midsummer and midwinter is called ushi no hi. It is the day of the ox, as in the 12 signs of the Japanese zodiac. In the old days, the zodiac cycle was also used to tell time and directions. It is customary to eat eel on the day of the ox in summer (doyo no ushi no hi, sometime in late July). This is because eel is nutritious and rich in vitamin A, and provides strength and vitality to fight against the extremely hot and humid summer of Japan. Unagi no nedoko (é ° »Ã£  ®Ã¥ ¯ Ã¥ ºÅ , an eels bed) indicates a long, narrow house or place. Neko no hitai (çÅ' «Ã£  ®Ã© ¡ , a cats forehead) is another expression that describes a tiny space. Unaginobori é ° »Ã§â„¢ »Ã£â€šÅ  means, something that rises rapidly or skyrockets. This expression came from the image of an eel that rises straight up in the water. Koi (Carp) Koi is a symbol of the strength, courage, and patience. According to Chinese legend, a carp which courageously climbed up waterfalls was turned into a dragon. Koi no takinobori (é ¯â€°Ã£  ®Ã¦ » Ã§â„¢ »Ã£â€šÅ , Kois waterfall climbing) means, to succeed vigorously in life. On Childrens Day (May 5th), families with boys fly koinobori (carp streamers) outside and wish for boys to grow strong and brave like carp. Manaita no ue no koi (㠁 ¾Ã£  ªÃ¦  ¿Ã£  ®Ã¤ ¸Å Ã£  ®Ã© ¯â€°, A carp on the cutting board) refers to the situation that is doomed, or to be left to ones fate. Saba (Mackerel) Saba o yomu é ¯â€"ã‚’è ª ­Ã£â€šâ‚¬ literally means, to read the mackerel. Since mackerel are a common fish of relatively low value, and also rot quickly when fishermen offer them for sale they often inflate their estimate of the number of fish. This is why this expression has come to mean, to manipulate the figures to ones advantage or to offer false numbers intentionally.​