The law and the media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The law and the media - Essay Example When defamation is established, there is a legal presumption of deceptiveness (Defamation). A report by the Washington post related to a weight lifting coach, Mr. Bob Hoffman stated that the coach sold valueless protein supplements called Hoffman’s high protein tablets. The article also clearly depicted that Hoffman also drove a Rolls Royce car and many of his athletes were discovered later to be using the banned anabolic steroids. Hoffman sued the newspaper stating that the news gave an impression that he supplemented himself by selling the protein tablets. The newspaper made counterclaims that the statements they collected were from individuals and there is no case of defamation. The law of defamation fully states or recognizes that truth is a complete defense, but defamation cases which are not direct, as in the above case always smudge the line between truth and fabrication. An article which is factually correct will omit or may imply falsely a material fact that will make the article harmful like a truly false report. Even though the weight lifting coach sold p rotein enriched tablets to his athletes, the fact that it contained anabolic steroids had no evidential support. The newspaper had published the article without undergoing scientific trials to establish the truth of their claim. Therefore the article was truly a case of defamation. Even courts have struggled to give a clear and true verdict to this matter. The media cannot defend false statements as facts. It is also not possible to defend on the basis of an omitted fact. The case of defamation against Mr. Hoffman is a true case of defamation because the newspaper has published false statement that caused loss of name and reputation for the coach in front of the public. The media should not use its influence and coverage to gain undue weightage among its readers by publishing defamatory articles (Cohn). Privacy can

Iraq and the Middle East Essay Example for Free

Iraq and the Middle East Essay worship of a god or gods or any such system or belief and worship. Religion may also refer to an activity, which some one is extremely ecstatic about and regularly. Social is an occasion when one member of a group or organization meet informality to enjoy him or herself. Economic is a system of trade and industry by which the wealth of a country is made and used. Dynamics are forces or processes that produce change inside a group or system. Cellular government not having any connection with religion. Islamic government will be one holding strong Islamic values. In the modern Iraq, a secular government will be most appropriate because the nation at the moment has immigrants form all parts of the world. Non Iraq vitas aimed at improving Iraqis economic performance and all people in the country are relevant therefore having an Islamic government will isolate some of the population and this may hinder their productivity toward nation building and it will be to the disadvantage to the public relations of Iraq. Iraq needs to lease with other nations, which may not have so much of Muslims. Different ethnicities have different culture and values and should be respected. A secular government will ensure that all the population’s interests are met and laws passed will not be based. Non-Islamism may feel rejected, isolated and affected in an Islamism government and may not be sue nationalists. For a citizen to be proud of his country / nation, his interests should be considered by the government in power and an Islamism government will not favour this. At nation – state is one that is sovereign, self-principled, political or even geographical entries. A secular government will therefore promote culture and balancing of ethnicity in the modern Iraq, which has no Islamists. Ethnic and religious groups are seeking to promote nationalism, which is the self-pride of somebody’s county. In the modern Iraq there are christens at the moment. Improving Iraq public relations with the international community calls for respect of all ethnic and religious groups. Some times back, non-Muslims could be executed, jailed for life or even deported. This created a bail relationship with the United States of America and it prompted the United Nations to work with ethnic and relations groups in Iraq to promote nationalism. People with different ethnic beliefs and values are being respected. Nation states come in with nationalism but it may be to the disrespect of humanity, the freedom to speak and the freedom to worship Nation state is particular form of a county, which aims at providing a power of a country to control its own government and gain its legitimacy form that purpose. Citizens of a nation state have a common language values or even culture and it is not the case for many states in history Nation states have determination and can govern it or organize its own activities. Nationalism is therefore enhanced in nation-states. Nationalism is the desire for and attempt to achieve political independence for your county or nation. It also impulse an effect comes for your own country. Iraq needs relationship partnership with other anions for its economic success in both growing and development. Therefore ethnic and religious groups are not interested in a nationalist in order to promote respect for all citizens’ beliefs, culture and language. In conclusion, having a common language, values or event culture is old fashioned. It may promote and enhance the muscling religion and self-determination of the nation. On the other side this may cause misunderstandings with world European like the United States of American. References Cia: Iraq / the Middle East instate. 2005 see www. mideasti. org/country/iraq Retrieved on 10/26/2007 ZehariO. MiddleEastandJewishStudies. Columbia. 1997 See http://mitworld. mit. edu/video/272/Retrieved on 10/26/2007

Comparing Henry David Thoreau And Herman Melvilles Writings :: essays research papers

Comparing Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville's Writings Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville focused their writings on how man was affected by nature. They translated their philosophies though both the portrayal of their protagonist and their own self exploration. In Moby Dick, Melville writes about Ahab's physical and metaphysical struggle over the great white whale, Moby Dick, symbolic of man's struggle against the overwhelming forces of nature. Ahab's quest is reported and experienced through the eyes of Ishmael. Melville's use of the third person's biographical standpoint exposes conflicting viewpoints that were both in agreement and disagreement with Ahab's quest, creatively allowing Melville to transcend the story line and expostulate his own philosophies. In contrast, Thoreau, wrote from an autobiographical standpoint revealing his own internal conflicts with mans struggle against nature. In, Walden - A life in the Woods, Thoreau reveals his mental and spiritual beliefs through a personal journey in which he strives to become in tune with n ature, working not to be victorious over these universal forces, but rather to participate in harmony with nature, in tern exposing love and truth. Both authors attempt to analyze all aspects of nature and its relevance to human life. They explore the powers and influences of nature over mankind. However, Melville centers his point of view upon mankind in conflict with nature's forces, while Thoreau believes that if mankind experiences nature, we will envelope ideas which will teach mankind to live harmoniously in our natural environment; in turn, allowing individuals to reach the highest levels of achievement synergistically with nature. In Moby Dick, Herman Melville illustrates man's quest to attain the supreme power of God through the monomaniacal Captain Ahab. Captain Ahab is obsessed with the desire to destroy Moby Dick, his nemesis, which is truly symbolic of man's overwhelming quest to control and conquer nature. Melville depicts Ahab as an evil, egotistical human whose willingness to combat the forces of nature represents man's failure to understand his place in the universe. Melville uses Ishmael to voice his philosophies which portray Ahab as a crazy captain who fails to realize that he's up an unconquerable force. Melville utilizes Ishmael further voice his life philosophies through grossly symbolic statements like, "No, when I go to sea, I go as a simple sailor†¦ I have the satisfaction that all is right; that everybody else is one way or other served in much the same way - either in a physical or metaphysical point of view." (pg. 14 - 15). Through, Ishmael, Melville expresses his longing, for beauty and nature, and a t the same time he contrasts his desires against

An Adolescent Ailment

Gun Violence: An Adolescent Ailment BY Arod56 On an unseasonably cold March morning in 1993, high school sophomore Edward Gillom exited his first period classroom and made his way through the crowded hallways of Harlem High School. After engaging in a heated argument, allegedly over a girl, with Ronricas â€Å"Pony' Gibson and Ricoh Lee, Gillom pulled out a . 38-caliber gun and opened fire. Gillom's shots fatally wounded Gibson and left Lee with a non-fatal gunshot wound to the neck (Washington Ceasefire, 2011 pg 1).The shooting in Harlem, Georgia sparked national attention as one of the first high school shootings nd added to the alarmingly high rates of gun violence by adolescents during the 1990s. According to the Virginia Youth Violence Project, forty-two homicides took place in American schools in 1993 (2009 pg/par). While the rate of gun violence in American schools has decreased substantially since the early 1990s, the death rate for adolescents due to firearms in the United States is still higher than in any other industrialized nation (Vittes, Sorenson, &ump; Gilbert, 2003 pg/par).The current generation of American teenagers has grown up surrounded by gun violence: in the ews; in their video games; and in the television programs they watch. In the last twenty years, the United States has seen an upsurge of gun related crimes among adolescents; as a result, political leaders and their constituents have become outraged at how accessible the nation's gun laws make firearms to children and the mentally unstable to obtain, especially considering the dramatic decrease of gun control, which will inevitably lead to increased gun crimes involving teenagers and young adults.Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States once said, â€Å"No free man shall be debarred the use of arms†. The constitutional right to keep and bear arms stems from the right to self-defense, and in the 2008 Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller, the court ruled that â€Å"the Second Amendment protects a pre-existing individual right to keep and bear arms†¦ ncluding, the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation† (National Rifle Association, 2011 par 4). Although the Constitution gives individuals the right to bear arms, it does not exclude â€Å"prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places†¦ or laws imposing onditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of firearms,† (Romano ;ump; Wingert, 2011 par 13).In recent years here has been much discussion among the nation's lawmakers and their constituents as to whether or not the Second Amendment is still constitutional; the question is whether or not the Second Amendment should be revised, to prohibit the sale of firearms to those who do not meet certain conditions and qualifications, or even removed from the constitution. According to a national survey of 1 ,005 high school students, conducted by Vittes, Sorrenson and Gilbert, â€Å"63. percent of high school students believe that regulating he sale of guns does not violate the constitution† (2003, pg 12). In the same survey, 64. 6 percent responded that they would support stricter laws addressing the sale of firearms, and 82. 2 percent of those surveyed, believe that the government should make and enforce laws making it more difficult for criminals to obtain a gun†even if it means law abiding citizens would have a harder time purchasing guns (2003, pg 9).While the probability ot the Second Amendment being removed trom the Constitution is highly unlikely, the regulations that pro-gun control lobbyists have suggested seem incredibly logical. But despite the seemingly widespread support of stricter gun control, the gun control legislation that many Americans would like to see has yet to be passed by congress. According to the Center for Responsive Politi cs, in 2008 the National Rifle Association, the largest anti-gun control agency, spent 2. million dollars lobbying for pro-gun legislation, which is forty one times more than what gun control lobbyist could spend (Romano &ump; Wingert, 2011 par 7). The Gun Control Act of 1968, which is a revision of the National Firearms Act of 1934, established regulations for the selling of firearms and was passed in an effort to educe the amount of illegal firearm sales, to confine the sales of firearms to the buyer's state and to restrict certain people from, buying, selling, or transporting firearms (National Rifle Association, 2011b pg/par).As a result, national law prohibits the sale of firearms to those whom are currently under indictment for a felony, have been convicted of a felony, an illegal alien, a fugitive from the law, has been dishonorably discharged from the military, addicted to illegal narcotics or are non- residents of the state in which they are trying to purchase a gun (Nation al Rifle Association, 2011b pg/par). Despite these laws, lack of enforcement allowed individuals like Seung-Hui Cho and Jared Loughner, the shooters at the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and the 2011 Tucson, Arizona shooting, to obtain firearms and take the lives of innocent people.The longer these laws go unenforced the longer gun violence crimes will continue to rise. There have been three noticeable periods in history during which the rates of adolescent gun violence peaked dramatically–1972-74, 1980 and 1992-3, with 1992-3 being the most dramatic increase (Wilkinson &ump; Fagan, 2001 pg 110). During the fourteen year timespan etween 1997 and 2011 there have been one-hundred and eighty-seven shootings on public school property in the United States (The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, 2010).In their study of adolescents and their exposure to gun violence Wilkinson and Fagan stated that, Although violence has been a recurrent theme for decades among urban delinquency, y outh gun violence has become more prevalent and more concentrated spatially and socially in the past two decades. Starting in 1985, gun violence among teenagers rose sharply in prevalence; it diffused quickly through a generation of teenagers; it sustained a high prevalence and incidence for ver 5 years; and it has declined steadily in the past several years.This patter resembles nothing less than the outbreak of a contagious disease (Wilkinson ;ump; Fagan, 2001 pg 109). Although this study was conducted in 2001, its findings remain true, according to the National Institute of Justice since 2002 the prevalence of adolescent gun violence in America has risen steadily since 2000 (2010, chart 1). This â€Å"outbreak† of violence among youth is most prevalent and abundant in urban communities with high rates of low-income families and gang activity like Chicago, Illinois.In their 2009 report on youth violence in Chicago Roseanna Ander, Phillip Cook, Jens Ludwig and Harold Pollack stated that, â€Å"Over the past 50 years, our society has made far less progress in understanding how to protect our citizens from violence than from all manner of disease.

Hamlet is a self-obsessed Essay

Throughout the course of the play, the character of Hamlet undergoes major upheaval, so a transition in his psyche is to be expected. One interpretation behind the reason for this transition is the one stated in the title (i. e. that he is a â€Å"self-obsessed, miserable typical teenager†); another may be that he is simply the victim of exceptional circumstances (namely his father’s death and his mother’s marriage to his uncle) – either way, it is clear that Hamlet is acting under severe emotional stress during the play. That Hamlet is a very obsessive young man is easy enough to tell – the list of things he obsesses about is extensive: the afterlife, his father’s murder, his new misogynistic feelings, suicide and general worldly dissatisfaction, to list the main bulk of his obsessions. Some of his soliloquies (which are the passages where Shakespeare allows Hamlet to reveal his complete emotions to the audience) are testament to this obsession, especially concerning suicide (â€Å"O that this too too solid flesh would melt†, â€Å"To be or not to be†). This self-obsession may be thought of as somewhat surprising when it is noted that Hamlet is meant to be heir to the Dane throne, as it portrays Hamlet as someone in a role of great social responsibility who only has the scope to think about his personal problems. Hamlet is by now old enough to attend university (although his age is unspecified), showing that he has reached an age where he can think independently and fully comprehend his duty to society, adding to the sense that he is being selfish in that he does not think of the well-being of his country, despite the numerous references to problems in Denmark (â€Å"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark†). It is this personal fixation and irresponsibility on Hamlet’s part that ends up bringing the ultimately Danish monarchy into ruin, with Fortinbras of Norway ascending to the throne. The claim that Hamlet is also miserable is also a valid one: the audience usually finds Hamlet in a highly melancholic state of mind (whether it is mere sullen impetuousness or full-blown suicidal depression). Hamlet seems dissatisfied with everything: his family, his nation, the world, his very existence. Part of the reason for this depressed nature is Hamlet’s tendency to philosophise and contemplate complex aspects of existence, such as the afterlife, which contrasts with the straight-forward â€Å"action† men that surround him, and is more typical of the modern moody teenager. For all of these reasons, it can be argued that Hamlet is indeed a â€Å"self-obsessed, miserable typical teenager†. However, a different interpretation of Hamlet is that he is the victim of exceptionally harrowing circumstances. His age is indeterminate, although the reader is sure that he is a young man. Already with the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders, his father dies, only for his mother to wed with â€Å"wicked speed† to his father’s brother: such a combination in such a short space of time for one as young as Hamlet is bound to have a detrimental effect on his outlook. Add to this the plainly insensitive handling of this shocking series of events by Claudius which serves only to exacerbate Hamlet’s sorrow and confusion (â€Å"but to persever/ In obstinate condolement is a course/ Of impious stubbornness, ’tis unmanly grief,†) and it becomes evident that Hamlet cannot be compared to a moody teenager, because the events that usually make teenagers stroppy cannot be compared in any way to the mental anguish that Hamlet is probably suffering. Such a comparison would be callous and thoughtless. Hamlet’s apparent descent into a self-crafted madness is indicative of the huge pressure placed upon him by the ghost of his father, who seems only interested in revenge rather than helping his son (â€Å"Remember me. â€Å"). This emphasises the feeling that Hamlet is alone, with no-one truly understanding his situation (with the possible exception of Horatio). Teenagers nowadays have a vast array of methods in which they can seek help (i. e. relatives, hotlines, the police), again stressing the vast chasm between the situation of a moody teenager and the agonising plight which Hamlet finds himself in. The sheer exceptional scale of tragedy that occurs during the play and the profound effect they have on Hamlet are enough to ensure that he should not be compared to a moody teenager: to do so would be highly inconsiderate. Hence the interpretation that Hamlet is â€Å"self-obsessed† is a highly unfair one, as the world he knew previously has been shattered, and the one he finds himself in now is so intolerable to him that he ponders suicide, meaning that the affairs of Denmark do not find such a high priority in his mind because his personal life is in disarray. Even through the catastrophes in the play, as Hamlet lies on the ground dying, he names Fortinbras as the next ruler of Denmark – this shows that, after he has resolved all of his issues, he starts to once again think of his nation, even as he is dying; the claim that he is miserable is a fair one, but he is justifiably miserable. He is not miserable because his parents will not let him attend a party: he is miserable because his father is dead and his mother has begun an incestuous relationship with his uncle. This is a legitimate reason for misery, and so Hamlet should be treated with a fitting level of compassion – at least certainly not compared to typical teenagers. It is for the reasons above that the statement â€Å"Hamlet is a self-obsessed, miserable typical teenager† does not resonate well with the reader: the very fact that he is able to be sullen and even jocular initially (â€Å"A little more than kin, and less than kind. † â€Å"Not so much, my lord, I am too much in the son. â€Å") is a testament to his strong personality – his true feelings are revealed in the following soliloquy. The character of Hamlet is far more complex than a comparatively simple teenager; the circumstances far more tragic; the pressure upon him far greater.

My Cousins Wedding Essay Example

My Cousins Wedding Essay Example My Cousins Wedding Paper My Cousins Wedding Paper Cousin Feet Story This past summer, I was invited to my wedding in India. I was very excited and happy for her that she was getting married during the time I was visiting my parents. She was twenty-seven years old and her future husband was 28 years old. The wedding was 2 days long. The first day was the wedding ceremony and the last day was the wedding reception. Today I will be telling you a story of a traditional Indian Wedding. My mom was screaming at the top of her lungs, like always, ask UT]o, shady pee Joana hail?C,-. ?0, which means she was telling us all to wake up, and that e all have a wedding to got to! I scrammed out of my bed and ran to get my outfit and hurried into the shower. My outfit was a sky, blue gown (a. K. A length) that ran past my feet, and with a veil that was taller than I was; 5 foot 3 and ?,?%. I finished getting ready, hoping that I have to wait in the 1 50 degree weather! But guess what? I DID! I yelled off of my lungs, tine garage (which means that It Is very hot here) out loud. My mother yelled at me and I was told to shut up. So we all got ready and ran Into my Safari and cranked up the alarm conditioner. Of course, my dad loves being green, so he shut off the alarm intentioned and turned down window. He fresh alarm of said my dad laughing as my my and my hair got ruined from the breeze. Yeah dad we just love the hot air and the sand being thrown in our yelled my sister. So we reached the wedding. It had a very long name but since I read Indian language I gave up in trying to figure out what the heck the plaza was called. I saw my cousin from afar waving to me in her beautiful red, burgundy, wedding dress which was similar to mine but since It was red that meant she was getting married. (If you have a red gown on, that means that you are either already married or you are getting aired. Another color represent anything special. ) She was tall and beautiful and looked so nervous, it was funny! Her husband was very tall; Just Like her. He was walling for her In the a holy place where you give your vows. He was not allowed to see the bride until they were facing each other; which happen until the end The priest read some holy stories that took, for me, forever. He told the couple to go around the ring of the fire 4 times. After that, the husband put a pure gold necklace with black beads around the bride and they were now known as husband and wife. It was so exciting that my other ND I started clapping so hard that our hands started to ache. After the ceremony was over, the (when the bride is leaving her family; going into a whole deferent family which waits for her arrival) was leaving. All of us started to cry from the fact that my cousin was leaving to her new home. Out of everyone the one who cried the most was the mother; surprisingly! Now, I will be telling you a little bit of the wedding reception. The couple was slating at their seats on the stage. My family started walking In and everyone was told that whoever wants to take a picture with the couple can go an take It now. I ran across ten anal Ana went to get my picture taken TLS so I have to wait in the crazy line! This time my cousin (the bride) was wearing a dark pink gown (a. K. A length) and looked so beautiful! We all danced and had a merry time. Everyone danced next to the wide stereos so the music would be blasting at their ears so they have to hear again in there whole life. After all it was a great wedding. This is my story about my wedding. This was the first time that I have ever been to a traditional Indian Wedding in India! Shari (This means Thank You)

Free sample - Tattooing and Perceptions. translation missing

Tattooing and Perceptions. Tattooing and PerceptionsA tattoo can be described as a mark on the skin which is made by putting a rather permanent ink meant for decoration purposes. This is mostly the case with persons, but it is different with animals as their tattoo is meant for identification purposes (Armstrong Fell, 2000). As far as perception of tattooing is concerned, I can say it is influenced by the environment we are staying in. This has something to do with people close to us, cultural background and the community’s acceptance (Armstrong Fell, 2000). This essay will start by giving a brief trend on tattoo in regard to men’s fashion. It will proceed to focus on the perception of tattoo in our society. How do people perceive tattoos? What are they basically associated with? What influence do they have in our society? And how popular is this trend? It appears like all and sundry has a tattoo now a days. This trend which was a habit associated with bandits has surprisingly been given a second look by many. A new trend is in the offing a people try to establish themselves using tattoos (Armstrong Fell, 2000). From logos of big institutions to their own creations people are streaming in tattoo shops to have their designs put on them. Unlike the archaic way of putting these tattoos, that was very common in the past a new trend where tattoos are being administered using a machine is in the offing. This has made the whole process more comfortable and easier (Taylor, 1970). Some researchers argue that the trend in tattooing and piercing indicates a shift in fashion and a break with body art's exclusive association with lower class people and deviant activities (Taylor, 1970). In this argument, the concept that tattoos or piercings are a form of self-mutilation or a way of expressing a negative attitude is rejected (Martin, 1997). However, little evidence has been presented to demonstrate that the association between tattooing and various negative behaviors or personality disorders was unjustified in the past or has changed in the current culture. Different people have portrayed diverse perceptions on tattoos. A good example is given with yakuza tribe in Japan who normally use tattoo to identify themselves with their clan. Going by the evil deeds one has committed, they usually tattoo a ring which is black in color to indicate that (Taylor, 1970). Generally, the tattoo is used by the yakuza to indicate their unwillingness in getting in touch with other societies, in other words they just want to be. The perception in Japan, just like in many places in the world has not changed a lot. For instance, in some restaurants in Japan they usually turn down offers on those people who are tattooed (Armstrong Fell, 2000). Secondly, another perception about tattooing is that, it has been viewed by many as an impulsive or irresponsible behavior and has been associated with psychiatric disturbances in some literature. As increasingly diverse groups of people get tattoos, popular perceptions are often discordant with the individual meanings behind tattoos. Still, tattooing is often seen as a negative behavior (Armstrong Fell, 2000). Previous research has highlighted several stereotypes about those with tattoos, including being unsuccessful in school, coming from broken homes, having an unhappy childhood, rarely attending church, having poor decision-making skills, usually obtaining body modifications while inebriated, and being easy victim to peer pressure (Armstrong, 1994). Tattoos are associated with so many thins ax explained in this case study. A recent study examined the attitudes toward tattooing of 287 participants using ratings of "avatars" or virtual computer human characters. Researchers found that those avatars with tattoos and other body modifications were rated as more likely to be thrill and adventure seekers, to have a higher number of previous sexual partners, and to be less inhibited than non-tattooed avatars, and that this was more so for male avatars with body modifications (Taylor, 1970). In yet another perception on tattoo, Taylor (1968) found that among delinquent girls incarcerated in juvenile facilities, the more heavily tattooed were more aggressive, uncooperative, and unstable in addition to being more criminal in their attitude and behavior. Female prison inmates with tattoos were more likely to have been in all four types of institutionsjuvenile halls, reformatories, jails, and prisons (Fox, 1976). In a later study, tattooed women prisoners had more violent and aggressive offenses in addition to more prior convictions (Taylor, 1970). While in prison, women with tattoos were more frequently charged with violation of prison rules, with fighting, and with insubordination. In research involving college student respondents, males with tattoos were more likely to report having been arrested and females with tattoos were more likely to report shoplifting (Drews et al., 2000). Tattooed people have been found to be more likely to engage in substance abuse. Prior studies have reported strong associations between tattoos and homosexual orientation for both males and females (Fox, 1976; Taylor, 1970). With tattoos becoming more popular, stereotypes once commonly held, and sometimes supported by older literature or by studies done with particular subpopulations (e.g., prisoners, juvenile delinquents), may no longer be true. It will be interesting to see how the literature shifts as norms change, and whether or not stigmatization is slow or rapid in its catching up to reality (Fox, 1976; Taylor, 1970). What influence do tattoos have in our society? In the recent research, tattoos have been confirmed as the most recent of all the time to most parents. It has been indicated that, a good percentage of teenagers have been affected by this trend. This trend is emanating from the celebrities with whom the teens associate with (Fox, 1976; Taylor, 1970). What is even more worrying is the fact that, while imitating these people, they are also picking on other habits apart from tattoos. In one of the states, this trend has led to establishment of a law to curb this worrying yet rampant behavior. A good example is Minnesota, where the authority categorically stated that underage won’t be allowed to have tattoos even with approval of their parents. It has been confirmed that most of these teenagers are deriving pleasure from getting tattoos and is affecting their life later. They ignorantly engage in putting them to identify themselves with certain groups.   Sooner or later they realize the mistake and start regretting looking for solutions (Armstrong Fell, 2000). The end result is that, they are left with more problems than earlier thought. In Minnesota, the laws are very clear on this and it’s only grown ups that are recognized to enjoy this privilege. It is worth noting that, unless something is done to curb this behavior we are son going to have all teens adopting this behavior (Armstrong et al., 2000). Tattoos have become very popular with time. Estimates for the prevalence of tattooing itself have varied from a low of 3% in a random national survey conducted in 1990 (Armstrong Fell, 2000) to 25% of people 15-25 years old (Armstrong et al., 2000). The Alliance of Professional Tattooists estimates that 15-20% of teenagers are tattooed (Braithwaite et al., 1998). Nationwide estimates vary from 7 million people to 20 million people with tattoos (Grief, et al., 1999; Martin et al., 1995) In conclusion, the above essay is a clear indication that tattoos have become part of our lives and it is a fact we cannot deny. To see that it has been adapted as a tradition in some communities is no mean achievement. However, the society cannot bury its head in the sand on the effects the tattoo has on the teens (Armstrong Fell, 2000). Works cited: Fox, J. (1976). Self-imposed stigmata: A study among female inmates. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, State University of New York at Albany. Drews, D., Allison, C., Probst, J. (2000). Behavior and self concept differences in tattooed and nontattooed college students. Psychological Reports, 86, 475-481 Armstrong, M. (1991). Career oriented women with tattoos. Image-The Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 23(4), 215-220. Greif, J., Hewitt, W., Armstrong, M. (1999). Tattooing and body piercing. Clincial Nursing Research, 8(4), 368-385. Martin, A. (1997). On teenagers and tattoos. Journal of American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 36(6), 860-861. DeMello, M. (1995). Not just for bikers anymore: Popular representation of American tattooing. Journal of Popular Culture, 29(3), 37-52.

Wood Surname Meaning and Origin

Wood Surname Meaning and Origin WOOD Surname Meaning Origin: 1) Originally used to describe a person who lived in or worked in a wood or forest. Derived from Middle English wode, meaning wood. 2) Possibly derived from the Old English wad, meaning crazed or crazy, the name was sometimes used to describe someone considered mad or violent. 3) An ancient Scottish surname, first called De Bosco, because the family bore trees in their coat of arms. Wood is the 75th most popular surname in the United States. Ward is also popular in England, coming in as the 26th most common surname. Surname Origin: English, Scottish Alternate Surname Spellings: WOODE, WOODS Genealogy Resources for the Surname WOOD: 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames Their MeaningsSmith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census? WOOD Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Wood surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Wood query. FamilySearch - WOOD GenealogyFind records, queries, and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Wood surname and its variations. WOOD Surname Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Wood surname. Cousin Connect - WOOD Genealogy QueriesRead or post genealogy queries for the surname Wood, and sign up for free notification when new Wood queries are added. DistantCousin.com - WOOD Genealogy Family HistoryFree databases and genealogy links for the last name Wood. Looking for the meaning of a given name? Check out First Name Meanings Cant find your last name listed? Suggest a surname to be added to the Glossary of Surname Meanings Origins. - References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Avotaynu, 2005. Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997. Back to Glossary of Surname Meanings Origins

The Future of Healthcare Delivery in The United States Essay - 1

The Future of Healthcare Delivery in The United States - Essay Example For now healthcare expenses in the United States are too high, they are higher than in any other developed state. â€Å"NO ONE will be astonished to hear that health care costs more in Indiana than in India. However, a few might be surprised to learn that Americans spend more than twice as much per person on health care as Swedes do† (Heading for the emergency room). Thus, universal healthcare system can be considered as the way to regulate and control the healthcare costs. Due to the reason that medicine in the United States is too expensive, people have to change insurance plans frequently and finally turn to Medicare. Moreover, the United States is the state, where insurance companies are for profit units and they do their best to get profit. Consequently, the percent of claims they deny is high. Difficult structure of medical care system in the United States also contributes to its high cost. Notwithstanding that Obama’s Affordable Care Act is highly criticized, it represents the step towards the establishment of Universal healthcare. It provided us with the necessary regulation of healthcare system insurance. First, more people are able to have the plan of their parents as the insurance plan. Insurance companies can’t deny children’s applications any more as well as they can’t refuse to cover costs in case if there are some discrepancies found in the application (Starr, 1982). Some service provided by Medicare now became free of charge. Thus, Affordable Care Act is very helpful for Americans, it‘s only drawback was too fast implementation that led to problems, which made many experts dissatisfied with it. Really, such measures need more time to be implemented and the mistake made by the President was his desire to implement all the changes at once. â€Å"The Affordable Care Act is a monumental accomplishment. Thanks to its expansion of health care coverage and new regulations, tens of millions of Americans will feel more secure,

Major works of Western classic music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Major works of Western classic music - Essay Example Piano played an important role in this nationalistic era of music composers and Charles Ives is an important person who inspired other composers in filling the nationalistic music with folk, march tunes as well as Piano rhythms. The composers of Nineteenth Century composed to nationalistic songs, thus giving rise to nationalistic tones to be famous. Significant among them is Charles Ives, born on 20th October 1874, who has composed music using experimental techniques and ideas. He has been considered as the first true great American Composer, as he composed for American hymns as well as songs and dance tunes. In addition to that he used polyrhythms and poly tonality in his composing that make use of dissonant harmonies and tone clusters. Though his works became famous in 1930 after he ceased to compose music, he received Pulitzer Prize in 1947 for his Symphony No. 3. The use of brass band, march tune, out of tune piano and all of them occurring at same time resulted in a path for a n ew breed of twentieth Century. Many young composers in 19th Century had nationalistic ideas regarding composing in contrast to their seniors who concentrated on romantic music. The composing of tunes by pioneers like Charles Ives had the sense of nationalism in them. The radicalism in the music of Europe influenced the composers in United States of America and resulted in a nationalistic era of music composing. Though the musical training of Ives is not much systematic, he learnt from his father, experiments and has become an eclectic musician. (Broyles, Michael (Author), 2004). The important fact in the career of Ives is that his tunes caught fame when he ceased composing by finding his fortune in insurance business. The reason might be that he did not have systematic training in music and might have lacked confidence in marketing his own music. That can be assumed from his own words "As a boy I was partially ashamed of my love of music an entirely wrong attitude". He convinced himself later that most of boys in America too felt the same and considered music as emasculated art and that might have forced him to quit music career after composing some tunes and symphonies (Hubbs, Nadine (Author), 2004). The nationalistic tones in his tunes and symphonies is due to his idealistic and democratic views and his quest to represent the unified American voice with the forms and traditions of European Classical Music. The musical sense and his interest in music came from his musician father, who settled in Danburry as a musician after the Civil War. As Charles Ives grew in aftermath of Civil War patriotic feelings that are popular in those days made him attract towards them and he mixed those feelings with his musical caliber to produce a pioneering tunes and symphonies. The nationalistic tone in his tunes came from his radical view of creating tone clusters. As a child he used Piano as a drum and his father sent him to drum classes. As he grew up his radicalism reflected in creation of tone clusters thus reflecting the quest of people for democracy and patriotism. Tone clusters are suitable tunes to represent the patriotic and nationalistic songs. His radical way of representing democracy

External Environment Analysis session long project 2 strategice Essay

External Environment Analysis session long project 2 strategice management 599 - Essay Example The link below is an example of the clothing industry: Michael Porter has devised a framework which provides a better understanding of the industry and how companies can be affected by forces within the markets. The five forces that he has described are: a) Threat of new entrants, b) Determinant of buying power, c) Threat of substitutes, d) Determinants of supplier power, and e) Rivalry among the firms. This allows a focused and better analysis of the external factors of the industry. a) Themanager.org: This website provides a clear explanation of the Porter’s Five Force model and gives a deep and clear understanding of each and every point of the analysis. This can be retrieved from the following website: http://www.themanager.org/Models/p5f.htm. This site is more detailed and helps understand the topic in a deeper manner. b) Marketing Teacher.com: This website provides students with all the concepts of marketing and helps business students to a great extent as it allows a simple explanation of all the topics making it simpler for all students. This can be accessed from the following link: http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_fivefoces.htm. This website is very simple and to the point form of explanation of the topic. This analysis is to provide for a better understanding of the major external elements that affect the performance of a company. This highlights the major elements like the political, economical, social and also the technological factors that can cause any affect to the company’s performance. a) NetMBA.com: Similar to the marketing teacher website, this website also provides business students with a chance to learn the concepts in a simple and straight forward manner. The language is simple and the explanation is very helpful to deepen the knowledge of the topic. The website can be retrieved from http://www.netmba.com/strategy/pest/. b) QuickMBA: The second reference that can be

The Step in the Design of Effective Teaching and Learning Programs Essay

The Step in the Design of Effective Teaching and Learning Programs - Essay Example Assessment that enhances learning recognizes that learners use their current understanding to discover, develop and incorporate new knowledge, understanding and skills. Assessment for learning helps teachers and students to know if that current understanding is a suitable basis for future learning. assessment influence student learning and learning processes. This involves using assessment activities to clarify student understanding of concepts and planning ways to remedy misconceptions and promote deeper understanding. Assessment for learning encourages self-assessment and peer assessment. Students can develop and use a range of strategies to actively monitor and evaluate their own learning and the learning strategies they use. The feedback that students receive from completing assessment activities will help teachers and students decide whether they are ready for the next phase of learning or whether they need further learning experiences to consolidate their knowledge, understanding and skills. Teachers should consider the effect that assessment and feedback have on student motivation and self-esteem, and the importance of the active involvement of students in their own learning. Marking guidelines and/or criteria for judging performance reflect the nature and intention of the activity and will be expressed in terms of the knowledge and skills demanded by the activity relative to the outcomes, to be gathered and reported of a poster evaluation sheet. During the teaching-learning experiences leading to the presentation of their poster, students will receive oral and/or teacher feedback in relation to: The aim of feedback is to communicate to students how well their knowledge, understanding and skills are developing in relation to the outcomes. Feedback enables students to recognize their strengths and areas for  development and to plan with their teacher the next steps in their learning. They are then given opportunities to improve and further develop their knowledge, understanding and skills.

UPS Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

UPS Case Study - Essay Example There are very few companies operating in the Packaged Express industry and one of them is UPS. In 2008, the packaged express industry was dominated by FedEx which accounted for 58.2% of the market share from delivering overnight letters. UPS earned a revenue of 15.6% and United States Postal service accounted for 12.2%. The Packaged Express industry comprises three segments: Overnight letters, Courier service and Small parcels. UPS had a firm and strong background. UPS was one of the dominant firms in the â€Å"Small parcel† segment. UPS and FedEx ranked internationally as one of the worlds best packaged delivery sytem. Apart from its long standing history and firm background, the company UPS has always maintained an efficient distribution network (White and Belman, 2005). In the late 1980s the company faced certain challenges that any shipping corporation would have faced. These included shipping errors like delivering the package at the wrong address or loading the delivery package in the wrong bus. These kinds of errors occurred frequently. At that time UPS relied on manual data but gradually it started investing in technology because it realized that internet and technology acted like a catalyst which improved the distribution network of the company (Motiwalla and Thompson, 2008). The company conducted a SWOT analysis immediately to identify its threats and weakness. Cost cutting was their major initiative. They laid off 2000 employees working in the Washington headquarter in the year 1971. This policy was continued by the other branches of UPS. The company realized that reduced staff and increased machinery would double their productivity levels. However, there was a negative impact on the employees and the company profits. The faulty machineries and the reduced number of staff could not cope up with the sudden pressures. Moreover, the existing staff could not recreate the charm of the old staff. Many employees were forced to take a voluntary

The Step in the Design of Effective Teaching and Learning Programs Essay

The Step in the Design of Effective Teaching and Learning Programs - Essay Example Assessment that enhances learning recognizes that learners use their current understanding to discover, develop and incorporate new knowledge, understanding and skills. Assessment for learning helps teachers and students to know if that current understanding is a suitable basis for future learning. assessment influence student learning and learning processes. This involves using assessment activities to clarify student understanding of concepts and planning ways to remedy misconceptions and promote deeper understanding. Assessment for learning encourages self-assessment and peer assessment. Students can develop and use a range of strategies to actively monitor and evaluate their own learning and the learning strategies they use. The feedback that students receive from completing assessment activities will help teachers and students decide whether they are ready for the next phase of learning or whether they need further learning experiences to consolidate their knowledge, understanding and skills. Teachers should consider the effect that assessment and feedback have on student motivation and self-esteem, and the importance of the active involvement of students in their own learning. Marking guidelines and/or criteria for judging performance reflect the nature and intention of the activity and will be expressed in terms of the knowledge and skills demanded by the activity relative to the outcomes, to be gathered and reported of a poster evaluation sheet. During the teaching-learning experiences leading to the presentation of their poster, students will receive oral and/or teacher feedback in relation to: The aim of feedback is to communicate to students how well their knowledge, understanding and skills are developing in relation to the outcomes. Feedback enables students to recognize their strengths and areas for  development and to plan with their teacher the next steps in their learning. They are then given opportunities to improve and further develop their knowledge, understanding and skills.

Read an article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Read an article - Essay Example Rothbard presumes that these critiques will be adequate in countering Nozick’s effort to rationalize the state (Rothbard 45). This paper will analyze both Rothbard’s criticisms and Nozick’s ideas against which it is imposed. The evealuation will be based on comparing both Rothbard’s and Nozick’s arguments. Rothbard asserts that Nozick is attempting to conceal his views by not providing evidence of a state that was established or advanced using Nozick views. Rothbard argues that Nozick has not provided any evidence regarding the history of definite States. In contrast, the historical proof points to different arguments. In all the States with adequate facts, they developed by a course of exploitation, violence, and conquest. In arguing that States could have been formed without violating the rights of people, Nozick ignores the probability of exploitation, violence, and conquest, as argued by Rothbard. Therefore, there can be no justification for Noz ick’s existing States because they are presumed to arise from flawless origins and there is none which is in existence. This means that Rothbard is correct in asserting that States develop through a course of exploitation, violence, and conquest and not flawless, as asserted by Nozick’s views (Rothbard 45). ... This may be perceived to be wrong because all individuals have a sense of self-ownership and, therefore, cannot give up their rights so as to be involved in a compulsory agreement. If all people are naturally independent, free, and hold intrinsic rights, they cannot enter into a contract with the State for the sole purpose of developing the State (Rothbard 46). Rothbard goes on to assess the Nozickian stages, specifically the supposed obligation and the morality of the manners in which the different stages progress from the initial ones. Nozick starts by presuming that every anarchist protective organization functions in a moral and non-aggressive way. In Rothbard views, Nozick presumes that all protective organizations would necessitate that all of its customers relinquish the right of reprisal against aggression, by declining to safeguard them against counter-reprisal. In arguing in this manner, Nozick is incorrect because he assumes the responsibilities of different protection org anizations, participating in the market, and is undoubtedly not obvious (Rothbard 46). He neglects the probability of the protective agencies being out-done by different organizations that do not constrain their clients in a similar manner. In addition, Nozick talks about disagreements among customers of dissimilar protection agencies. He provides three situations of how they might advance. Nonetheless, two of these situations entail physical encounters among the agencies. Rothbard claims that these conditions oppose Nozick’s personal presumptions of nonaggressive behavior and good faith by his organizations. Nonetheless, Rothbard’s claim that it would be illogical to suppose the protective agencies would tackle each other in a physical way

The Personal Narratives Written By Beller And Thurber Essay Example for Free

The Personal Narratives Written By Beller And Thurber Essay Though the personal narratives written by Beller and Thurber were fairly short, they still revealed a lot about themselves, which essentially affected the experience of the reader. Through Thurber’s words, the reader gets a sense of who he was during his â€Å"University Days† by his many stories of the classes he claims he didn’t like. Beller on the other hand, reveals himself by his sense of style and description of the different unimportant articles of clothing. Both Beller and Thurber however use anecdotes to draw the reader in so there is a possibility of a connection,  thus altering the reader’s experience from what it would be like for them to just explain their point very dully. Right from the beginning of University Days, Thurber shares an amusing experience that grabs the readers attention immediately. Rather than just telling the reader his dislike for each class, he begins by saying â€Å"I passed all the other courses that I took at my university, but I could never pass botany. This was because all botany students had to spend several hours a week in a laboratory looking through a microscope at plant cells, and I could  never see through a microscope†(Thurber 26). From this, Thurber reveals his point of having some troubles with certain classes, but in a way where the reader finds it humorous and in a way where some readers might be able to relate. If Thurber were to just say he didn’t pass botany and economics and just left it at that, the reader wouldn’t be as engaged, nor would the reader actually understand what he had to go through.

History of statistics and its significance

History of statistics and its significance History of Statistics and its Significance Statistics is a relatively new subject, which branched from Probability Theory and is widely used in areas such as Economics and Astrology. It is a logic and methodology to measure uncertainty and it is used to do inferences on these uncertainties (Stigler, 1986). The history of Statistics can be firstly traced back to the 1600s. John Graunt (1620-1674) could be considered as the pioneer of statistics and as the author of the first book regarding statistics. He published Natural and Political observations on the Bills of Mortality in 1662 whereby he was studying the plague outbreak in London at the time requested by the King. Graunt was asked to come up with a system that would allow them to detect threats of further outbreaks, by keeping records of mortality and causes of death and making an estimation of the population. By forming the life table, Graunt discovered that statistically, the ratio of male to females are almost equal. Then in 1666, he collected data and started to exami ne life expectancies. All of this was fundamental as he was arguably the first to create a condensed life table from large data and was able to do some analysis on it. In addition, this is widely used in life insurance today, showing the importance and significance of Graunts work (Verduin, 2009). Another reason why this is significant is because of his ability in demonstrating the value of data collection (Stigler, 1986). Then in 1693, Edmond Halley extended Graunts ideas and formed the first mortality table that statistically made the relationship between age and death rates. Again, this is used in life insurance (Verduin, 2009). Another contributor to the formation of statistics is Abraham De Moivre (1667-1823). He was the first person to identify the properties of the normal curve and in 1711, introduced the notion of statistical independence (Verduin, 2009). In 1724, De Moivre studied mortality statistics and laid down foundations of the theory of annuities, inspired by the work of Halley. This is significant as annuities are widely used in the Finance industry today, in particular, when forming actuarial tables in life insurance. De Moivre then went on to talk about the idea of the normal distribution which can be used to approximate the binomial distribution (OConnor and Robertson, 2004). William Playfair (1759-1823) was the person who invented statistical graphics, which included the line graph and the bar graph chart in 1786 and the pie chart in 1801. He believed that charts were a better way to represent data and he was driven to this invention by a lack of data. This was a milestone as these graphical representations are used everywhere today, the most notable being the time-series graph, which is a graph containing many data points measured at successive uniform intervals over a period of time. These graphs can be used to examine data such as shares, and could be used to predict future data (Robyn 1978). Adolphe Quetlet (1796-1874) was the first person to apply probability and statistics to Social Sciences in 1835. He was interested in studying about human characteristics and suggested that the law of errors, which are commonly used in Astronomy, could be applied when studying people and through this, assumptions or predictions could be in regards to physical features and intellectual features of a person. Through Quetlets studies, he discovered that the distribution of certain characteristics when he made a diagram of it was in a shape of a bell curve. This was a significant discovery as Quetlet later went on to form properties of the normal distribution curve, which is a vital concept in Statistics today. Using this concept of average man, Quetlet used this to examine other social issues such as crime rates and marriage rates. He is also well known for the coming up with a formula called the Quetlet Index, or more commonly known as Body Mass Index, which is an indication or measure for obesity. This is still used today and you could find out your BMI by calculating. If you get an index of more than 30, it means the person is officially obese (OConnor and Robertson, 2006). Other members who made little but significance contributions to Statistics are Carl Gauss and Florence Nightingale. Gauss was the first person who played around with the least squares estimation method when he was interested in astronomy and attempted to predict the position of a planet. He later proved this method by assuming the errors are normally distributed. The method of least squares is widely used today, in Astronomy for example, in order to minimise the error and improve the accuracy of results or calculations (OConnor and Robertson, 1996). It was also the most commonly used method before 1827 when trying to combine inconsistent equations (Stigler, 1986). Nightingale was inspired by Quetlets work on statistical graphics and produced a chart detailing the deaths of soldiers where she worked. She later went on to analyse that state and care of medical facilities in India. This was significant as Nightingale applied statistics to health problems and this led to the improvement of medical healthcare. Her important works were recognised as became the first female to be a member of the Royal Statistical Society (Cohen, 1984). One of the greatest contributors was Francis Galton (1822-1911) who helped create a statistical revolution which laid foundations for future statisticians like Karl Pearson and Charles Spearman (Stigler, 1986). He was related to Charles Darwin and had many interests, such as Eugenics and Anthropology. He came up with a number of vital concepts, including the regression, standard deviation and correlation, which came about when Galton was studying sweet peas. He discovered that the successive sweet peas were of different sizes but regressed towards the mean size and the distribution of their parents (Gavan Tredoux, 2007). He later went on to work with the idea of correlation when he was studying the heights of parents and the parents children when they reach adulthood, where he made a diagram of his findings and found an obvious correlation between the two. He then performed a few other experiments and came to the conclusion that the index of the correlation was an indication to the d egree in which the two variables were related to one another. His studies were significant as they are all fundamental in Statistics today and these methods are used in many areas for data analysis, especially with extracting meaningful information between different factors (OConnor and Robertson, 2003). The History of Statistics: The Measurement of Uncertainty before 1900 Stephen M Stigelr Publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, March 1, 1990 p1, 4, 40, 266 http://www.leidenuniv.nl/fsw/verduin/stathist/stathist.htm A short History of Probability and Statistics Kees Verduin Last Updated: March 2009 Last Accessed: 02/04/2010 http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/De_Moivre.html The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive Article by: J J OConnor and E F Robertson Copyright June 2004 Last Accessed: 05/04/2010 The American Statistician Volume: 32, No: 1 Quantitative graphics in statistics: A brief history James R. Beniger and Dorothy L. Robyn p1-11 http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Quetelet.html The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive Article by: J J OConnor and E F Robertson Copyright August 2006 Last Accessed: 06/04/2010 http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Gauss.html The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive Article by: J J OConnor and E F Robertson Copyright December 1996 Last Accessed: 06/04/2010 Scientific American 250 Florence Nightingale I. Bernard Cohen March 1984, p128-37/p98-107depending on country of sale http://galton.org/ Francis Galton Edited and Maintained by: Gavan Tredoux Last Updated: 12/11/07 (according to the update in News section) Last Accessed: 07/04/2010 http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Galton.html The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive Article by: J J OConnor and E F Robertson Copyright October 2003 Last Accessed: 07/04/2010

Brave New World :: Essays Papers

Brave New World Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, while fictitiously showing the future possible advances of science and technology, is actually warning people of what science could become. In the Foreword of Brave New World, Huxley states: â€Å"The theme of Brave New World is not the advancement of science as such; it is the advancement of science as it affects human individuals† (xi). He is not suggesting that this is how science should advance, but that science will advance the way that people allow it to. The novel is not supposed to depict a â€Å"utopian† society by any means, but it is supposed to disturb the reader and warn him not to fall into this social decay. Huxley uses satire to exploit both communism and American capitalism created by Ford. Huxley’s first example of satire is that he shows elements of communism in the World State. Dictatorship is an element of communism and is shown in Brave New World by means of the World Controller, Mustapha Mond. In the World State, people â€Å"belong† to everyone else. Mustapha Mond, when lecturing students, says, â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢every one belongs to every one else’† (40). This thought in the novel is similar to that of communism where everyone shares everything. In Brave New World, however, Huxley takes this thought to another level. Sex, in the World State, is encouraged to occur with everybody. Even kids are encouraged to participate. People are scolded for having only one partner. Fanny, Lenina’s friends said, â€Å"’I really do think you ought to be careful. It’s such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬  (41). Lenina could possibly be punished for â€Å"having† only one man. This is how Huxley uses satire to exploit communism. Huxley also uses satire to show that consumption is becoming a religion in America. Henry Ford is a god in this novel because he invented the assembly line. The assembly line creates a means for mass production of items. In the novel, mass production is how people are born. Because of this, Ford is an ideal god for the World State. He symbolizes a religion that lets a ruler rob people of their individuality for progress and stability. People in the novel use the name of Ford like people today use God’s name. Bernard, when talking to Lenina, said, â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢for Ford’s sake, be quiet!’† (90).

Financial Crisis Recovery Essay

1997-1998 Financial Crisis The weaknesses in Asian financial systems were at the root of the crisis that caused largely by the lack of incentives for effective risk management created by implicit or explicit government guarantees against failure. The weaknesses of the financial sector also were masked by rapid growth and accentuated by large capital inflows, which were partly encouraged by pegged exchange rates. In the mid-1990s, a series of external shocks began to change the economic environment – the devaluation of the Chinese Renminbi and the Japanese Yen, rising of U.S. interest rates which led to a strong U.S. dollar, the sharp decline in semiconductor prices; adversely affected their growth. The crisis began in Thailand when the Thai baht collapse of in July 1997 with a series of speculative attacks on the baht extended after quite a few decades of outstanding economic performance in Asia. As the U.S. economy recovered from a recession in the early 1990s, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank under Alan Greenspan began to raise U.S. interest rates to head off inflation. This made the U.S. a more attractive investment destination relative to Southeast Asia, which had been attracting hot money flows through high short-term interest rates, and raised the value of the U.S. dollar. For the Southeast Asian nations which had currencies pegged to the U.S. dollar, the higher U.S. dollar caused their own exports to become more expensive and less competitive in the global markets. At the same time, Southeast Asia’s export growth slowed dramatically in the spring of 1996, deteriorating their current account position. Many economists believe that the Asian crisis was created not by market psychology or technology, but by policies that distorted incentives within the lender–borrower relationship. Impacts of the crisis to the South East Asia Most of Southeast Asia and Japan having currency depreciation, devalued stock markets and other asset prices, and a precipitous rise in private debt. It were resulting large quantities of credit became available generated a highly leveraged economic climate, and pushed up asset prices to an unsustainable level. These asset prices eventually began to collapse, causing individuals, financial institutions and corporations in the affected countries were bankrupt. A change in market sentiment could and did lead into a violent of currency depreciation, insolvency, and capital outflows, which was difficult to stop. In the year after collapse of the baht peg, the value of the most affected East Asian currencies fell 35-83% against the U.S. dollar (measured in dollars per unit of the Asian currency), and the most serious stock declines were as great as 40-60%. Lenders led to a large withdrawal of credit from the crisis countries, causing a credit crunch and further bankruptcies. Foreign investors attempted to withdraw their money; the exchange market was flooded with the currencies of the crisis countries, putting depreciative pressure on their exchange rates. As a result, short-term economic activity has slowed or contracted severely in the most affected economies like inflation and rising in unemployment. It impossible that the government doing nothing when the crisis happened to their country. To prevent currency values collapsing, countries governments raised fiscal spending in domestic interest rates to exceedingly high levels (to help diminish flight of capital by making lending more attractive to investors) and to intervene in the exchange market, buying up any excess domestic currency at the fixed exchange rate with foreign reserves. But when interest rates were very high, it can be extremely damaging to an economy that is healthy, wreaked further havoc on economies in an already fragile state, while the central banks were hemorrhaging foreign reserves, of which they had finite amounts. As a strategy to maintain competitiveness, policies to strengthen the country’s balance-of-payments account were pursued. For example, exports were encouraged and imports were discouraged, the latter through an increase in import taxes on certain goods and services. Measures to increase exports for providing handouts directly to people affected included reducing the cost of doing business through such means as tax incentives to boost the manufacturing, agriculture, and services sectors. In the case Malaysia for example, there are policies regarding 1997 crisis: Denial and hesitation, the Malaysian government denied that there was a crisis in the first place; Tight fiscal and monetary policies, and restructuring the banking system; Government proposed to use regional currencies instead of the US dollars in inter-ASEAN bilateral trade; and Financing the recovery programs with the total cost of all measures was RM62 billion. While in the case of Indonesia, the government providing assistance to the poor like efforts to shield poor and vulnerable sections of society from the worst of the crisis, by deepening and widening social safety nets and devoting substantial budgetary resources to increasing subsidies on basic commodities such as rice; measures to increase transparency in the financial, corporate, and government sectors; and steps to improve the efficiency of markets and increase competition. Another example of helping the poor and needy, government must be fair and redistribute the wealth equally to them according their basic necessities of life. In Malaysia, the practicing of zakat system and waqaf contribution to help the poor and needy indirectly will benefit the society. Moreover, Bank Rakyat and ar-rahnu market on Islamic pawn-broking will help the small and medium enterprise to expend their business. Government also must allocate the budget expenditure for subsidizing mainly on education, healthcare and housing for the people. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that provides financial assistance and advice to member countries. It was created out of a need to prevent economic crises like the Great Depression. With its sister organization, the World Bank, the IMF is the largest public lender of funds in the world. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations and is run by its 186 member countries. Membership is open to any country that conducts foreign policy and accepts the organization’s statutes. The IMF is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the international monetary system, the system by which international payments among countries take place. A core responsibility of the IMF is to provide loans to member countries experiencing actual or potential balance of payments problems. This financial assistance enables countries to rebuild their international reserves, stabilize their currencies, continue paying for imports, and restore conditions for strong economic growth, while undertaking policies to correct underlying problems. Unlike development banks, the IMF does not lend for specific projects. It thus strives to provide a systematic mechanism for foreign exchange transactions in order to foster investment and promote balanced global economic trade. To achieve these goals, the IMF focuses and advises on the macroeconomic policies of a country, which aff ect its exchange rate and its government’s budget, money and credit management. The IMF will also appraise a country’s financial sector and its regulatory policies, as well as structural policies within the macroeconomic that relate to the labor market and employment. In addition, as a fund, it may offer financial assistance to nations in need of correcting balance of payments discrepancies. The IMF is thus entrusted with nurturing economic growth and maintaining high levels of employment within countries. The large financial packages which the IMF has arranged for countries affected by the Asian crisis and its result have stimulated a debate both among policy-makers and academics as to their costs and benefits. The IMF’s role in providing financial assistance to its members in overcoming short-term balance-of-payment difficulties generally has been evident. Advantages and disadvantages of IMF The IMF offers its assistance which it conducts on a yearly basis for individual countries, regions and the global economy as a whole. However, a country may ask for financial assistance if it finds itself in an economic crisis, whether caused by a sudden shock to its economy or poor macroeconomic planning. A financial crisis will result in severe devaluation of the country’s currency or a major depletion of the nation’s foreign reserves. In return for the IMF’s help, a country is usually required to embark on an IMF-monitored economic reform program, otherwise known as Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs). An IMF loan provides a cushion that eases the adjustment policies and reforms that a country must make to correct its balance of payments problem and restore conditions for strong economic growth. Supporters argue that the IMF can also impose necessary reforms on an economy. Reforms such as privatization, fiscal responsibility, control of Money supply, and attacking corruption. These policies may cause short term pain, but, are essential for preventing future crisis and long term development. Substantial financial advantages are attached to IMF credits because debtor countries benefit from lower debt service costs. Moreover, commercial banks often demand agreement with the IMF before lending is resumed and generally will charge lower interest rates to countries with an IMF program. The benefits attached to the IMF loan can be regarded as a compensation for the policy adjustments which the debtor countries carry through. At the same time, thanks to the unique role the IMF can play, the costs involved for the creditor countries seem to be rather limited, as the opportunity costs of forgoing the proceeds of alternative investments are relatively small. By temporarily providing finance and at the same time fostering adjustment, member countries could overcome external problems without overly detrimental measures either for their own population or for other countries. The interest rates charged by the IMF in normal circumstances can be relatively low, because the special role of the IMF in the international financial system reduces the risks for the IMF itself as well as for the creditor countries which have provided the resources. Because of its special position the IMF can mitigate the risks attached to its loans. Helped by its low funding costs, the IMF can charge debtor countries lower interest rates than private sector participants which have to charge high spreads because of the sovereign risks involved. Over time, the IMF has been subject to a range of criticisms, generally focused on the conditions of its loans. The IMF has also been criticized for its lack of accountability and willingness to lend to countries with bad human rights record. On giving loans to countries, the IMF makes the loan conditional on the implementation of certain economic policies. These policies tend to involve: * Reducing government borrowing – Higher taxes and lower spending * Higher interest rates to stabilize the currency. * Allow failing firms to go bankrupt. * Structural adjustment. Privatizations deregulation, reducing corruption and bureaucracy. The problem is that these policies of structural adjustment and macroeconomic intervention make the situation worse. For example, in the Asian crisis of 1997, many countries such as Indonesia, Korea and Thailand were required by IMF to pursue tight monetary policy (higher interest rates) and tight fiscal policy to reduce the budget deficit and strengthen exchange rates. However, these policies caused a minor slowdown to turn into a serious recession with mass unemployment. The IMF have been criticized for imposing policy with little or no consultation with affected countries. Jeffrey Sachs, the head of the Harvard Institute for International Development said: â€Å"In Korea the IMF insisted that all presidential candidates immediately â€Å"endorse† an agreement which they had no part in drafting or negotiating, and no time to understand. The situation is out of hand. It defies logic to believe the small group of 1,000 economists on 19th Street in Washington should dictate the economic conditions of life to 75 developing countries with around 1.4 billion people.† Because the IMF lends its money with â€Å"strings attached† in the form of its SAPs, many people and organizations are vehemently opposed to its activities. Opposition groups claim that structural adjustment is an undemocratic and inhumane means of loaning funds to countries facing economic failure. Debtor countries to the IMF are often faced with having to put financial concerns ahead of social ones. Thus, by being required to open up their economies to foreign investment, to privatize public enterprises, and to cut government spending, these countries suffer an inability to properly fund their education and health programs. Moreover, foreign corporations often exploit the situation by taking advantage of local cheap labor while showing no regard for the environment. The oppositional groups say that locally cultivated programs, with a more grassroots approach towards development, would provide greater relief to these economies. Critics of the IMF say that, as it stands now, the IMF is only deepening the rift between the wealthy and the poor nations of the world. Indeed, it seems that many countries cannot end the spiral of debt and devaluation. The relatively low interest rates charged by the IMF can lead to moral hazard behavior on the part of the debtor countries. This is largely reduced through the tough policy measures which the IMF imposes as a condition for its programmers. In practice, most countries do not turn to the IMF if not forced by adverse circumstances. Decisions about which countries may borrow money are made by rich countries. Poor countries have little say about loans and the conditions attached to them. The IMF will only lend money to countries if they agree to certain conditions. These conditions increase poverty. The livelihoods of people in poorer countries are destroyed by unfair competition from foreign goods and services. The IMF does not give good financial advice. Countries have suffered by following it. IMF East Asia Case The IMF was involved in one of the worst East-Asian economic crises thus far. Everything started when Thailand was experiencing difficulties in meeting foreign liability obligations so the IMF intervened by suggested to devalue the Baht. The same suggestion was made to Indonesia, Korea and the Philippine. Soon, South Korea and Taiwan jumped in the trend and Hong Kong and Singapore dollars faced speculative attack. The crisis spread all the way to South America where Brazil and Argentina currency came under attack, but they both stood their grounds and refused to devalue which might have prevented a global financial crisis. Other aspects of the handling of the case that were looked down upon were the issue of the bail-out and the political situation of the borrowing country had once again been ignored. Thailand had already borrowed from the IMF and they were bailed-out very publicly which gave an incentive for surrounding countries to follow very risky projects or decisions, believing that the IMF would be a safety net as opposed to a lender of last resort. This is what happened in South Korea when large, unprofitable investment projects were undertaken, largely due in part to the conglomerates of businesses that are close to the bureaucracy but more importantly, sponsored by the IMF. Likewise, Fund officials protested that many East-Asian countries needed a reform in the banking system and governance, where bad banking, nepotism and corruption do not help create stable and efficient economies. During August – December 1997, the International Monetary Fund signed three emergency lending agreements with Thailand (August), Indonesia (November), and Korea (December). These programs established packages of international financial support at an unprecedented cumulative sum of approximately $110 billion, based on the financing commitments. During the period August to December, the IMF programs failed dramatically to meet the objective of restoring market confidence. In all three countries, the exchange rate was expected to stabilize, but in fact quickly depreciated far below the targets set in the program, and this despite a very sharp increase in interest rates. Foreign investors remained unconvinced about the debt servicing capacity of the private debtors despite the announced availability of IMF loans, and continued to demand the repayment of short-term loans as they fell due. The IMF programs failed to achieve their goal of maintaining moderate economic growth in the Asian countries. The programs also failed on several intermediate goals, including the preservation of creditworthiness, the continuation of debt payments, and the stabilization of the exchange rate at levels that prevailed upon the signing of the original lending agreements Indonesia was deeply affected by the 1997–1998 crises, more so than its East Asian neighbors. Its economic contraction was deeper and more prolonged. It was the only one to experience a (temporary) loss of macroeconomic control. Eight years have passed since the collapse of Suharto’s New Order regime on the heels of the economic crisis of 1997–1998. During that time, Indonesia’s economy contracted by over 13% in 1998 alone. This followed three decades of virtually uninterrupted rapid economic growth and led to deep social and political crises. Although countries such as South Korea and Thailand were able to overcome their economic crises in a few years, Indonesia’s crisis resolution has been complicated by political instability, at least until 2004, and by a slower recovery. Indonesia was formally under International Monetary Fund management from 1997 to the end of 2003. But the presence of the IMF actually increased the severity of the Indonesian economy, not more than one year after that; there were capital flight out of the country that led to massive unemployment, compounded by the drastic decline in the exchange rate. At the end of 1998 more than 50% of Indonesia’s population lives below the poverty line. One of the IMF’s policy prescriptions is to close 16 banks and it caused the anger of people and withdraws their money in national banks and some foreign banks. In May 1998, due to an agreement between the IMF and Suharto, the government revoked subsidies for food, and raises the price of oil and electricity. This policy had a strong opposition from the people and not long after that, Suharto regime fell. During Megawati regime, in August 2003 the government finally decided not to continue the IMF program and choose to enter the post-program monitoring. The government option raises the consequences that are not much different. IMF can still continue to dictate economic policy in Indonesia because the government still had to consult every economic policy that will be taken with IMF. The Indonesian government announced that they would pay the remaining debt to the IMF, totaling U.S. $ 7.8 billion, within 2 years. It seems to be the correct political decision to break away from the economic policy interventions that has continued since the crisis in 1997. 2008 Financial Crisis Triggered by events in The US and EU The cause or trigger of the 2008 global financial crisis was the boom of the United States housing bubble which peaked in approximately 2005–2006. Since banks began to give out more loans to potential home owners, housing prices began to increase. The increase in house price and improvement of construction activity started around 1992. At that time the Federal Reserve was holding its policy interest rate at an unusually low level by the standards of the past few decades. The good times lasted until 2005, when monetary policy was tightening after another spell of low interest rates. Over that period, construction activity contributed 1/5 percentage points annually to the growth rate of real GDP, and the share of employment in construction and finance, out of the total workforce, rose from 10 ¼ percent to 11 ¾ percent. That is, over this period, of the 27.4 million people added to work rolls (which ended 2006 with a total of 136 million), 4.8 million were directly related to construction and fifi nance. Finally, the nation was left with an excess stock of housing. A contraction in construction transpired to wind down the inventory overhang, which is often a feature of economic slowdowns and recessions. In addition to that, easy lending standards also contributed to the Real estate bubble. Loans of various types (e.g., mortgage, credit card, and auto) were easy to obtain. As part of the housing and credit booms, the number of financial agreements called mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO), which derived their value from mortgage payments and housing prices, greatly increased. That kind of financial innovation attracted institutions and investors around the world to invest in the U.S. housing market. As housing prices declined, major global financial institutions that had borrowed and invested heavily in subprime MBS reported significant losses. While the housing and credit bubbles were expanding, US Government was going a process called financialization. US Government policy from the 1970s onward has emphasized deregulation to encourage business, which resulted in less oversight of activities and less disclosure of information about new activities undertaken by banks and other evolving financial institutions. Thus, policymakers did not immediately recognize the increasingly important role played by financial institutions such as investment banks and hedge funds, also known as the shadow banking system. These institutions, as well as certain regulated banks, had also assumed significant debt burdens while providing the loans described above and did not have a financial cushion sufficient to absorb large loan defaults or MBS losses. These losses impacted the ability of financial institutions to lend, slowing economic activity. The U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission reported its findings in January 2011. It concluded that â€Å"the crisis was avoidable and was caused by: 1. Widespread failures in financial regulation, including the Federal Reserve’s failure to stem the tide of toxic mortgages; 2. Dramatic breakdowns in corporate governance including too many financial firms acting recklessly and taking on too much risk; 3. An explosive mix of excessive borrowing and risk by households and Wall Street that put the financial system on a collision course with crisis; 4. Key policy makers ill prepared for the crisis, 5. Lacking a full understanding of the financial system they oversaw; and systemic breaches in accountability and ethics at all levels.†[35][36] Table 1 The Causes and Impacts of Global Financial Crisis Taken from Takatoshi Ito â€Å"Comparison of the Financial Crises: Japan and Asia in 1997-1998 vs. U.S. 2008-09† The Collapse of World Trade Although the crisis is originally from financial sector, trade had great implication that hit countries around the world. Exports collapsed in nearly every major trading country, and total world trade fell faster than it did during the Great Depression. From a peak in July 2008 to the low in February 2009, the nominal value of world goods exports fell 36 percent; the nominal value of U.S. goods exports fell 28 percent (imports fell 38 percent) over the same period. Even a country such as Germany, which did not experience their own housing bubble, experienced substantial trade contractions, which helped spread the crisis. The collapse in net export in Germany contributed to the decline in their GDP which put the country into recession. In the fourth quarter of 2008, Germany’s drop in net exports contributed 8.1 percentage points to a 9.4 percent decline in GDP (at an annual rate); Japan’s net exports contributed 9.0 percentage points to a 10.2 percent GDP decline. Real exports fell even faster in the first quarter of 2009. The Decline in Output Around the Globe The financial crisis was rapidly transmitted to the real economy. The financial disruption was so strong and swift in most countries so that their confidence level in economy fell as well. Confidence levels are measured in different ways across countries, but they were generally falling throughout 2008 and reached recent lows in the fall of 2008 and winter of 2009. As noted, world GDP is estimated to have fallen roughly 1.1 percent in 2009 from the year before. In advanced economies, the crisis was even deeper; the IMF expects GDP to have contracted 3.4 percent in advanced economies for all of 2009. For OECD member countries, GDP fell at an annual rate of 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 8.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Despite the historic nature of its collapse, the U.S. economy actually fared better than about half of OECD economies during those quarters. The decline in industrial production across major economies, each of these economies in January 2009 was more than 10 percent below its January 2008 level, and Japan faring far worse relative to the other major economies. Impact on Developing Countries The impact of the crisis on developing countries will affect different types of international resource flows: private capital flows such as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), portfolio flows and international lending; official flows such as development finance institutions; and capital and current transfers such as official development assistance and remittances. The World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies foresees a 15% drop in FDI 2009. FDI to Turkey has already fallen 40% over the last year and FDI to India dropped by 40% in the first six months of 2008. FDI to China was $6.6 billion in September 2008, 20% down from the monthly average in year 2008 so far, and mining investments in South Africa and Zambia have been put on hold. The crisis has led to a drop in bond and equity issuances and the sell-off of risky assets in developing countries. The average volume of bond issuances by developing countries was only $6 billion between July 2007 and March 2008, down from $ 15 billion over the same period in 2006. Between January and March 2008, equity issuance by developing countries stood at $5 billion, its lowest level in five years. As a result, World Bank research suggests some 91 International Public Offerings have been withdrawn or postponed in 2008. However, not all developing countries were effected tremendously by 2008 financial crisis. In South East Asia we may take a look Indonesia performance towards the 2008 financial crisis. Indonesia experienced a significant macroeconomic shock at the end of 2008. But, of course, Indonesia was not on its own. Indeed, Indonesia was one of the least affected countries in South East Asia. Although GDP growth slowed markedly to 4.4% in the first quarter of 2009, it did not experience the collapse in growth experienced by countries such a Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. Indonesia’s growth in recent years has been driven predominantly by non-tradeables rather than tradeables, and, although the crisis reduced growth across the board, sectors such as transport and communications, and utilities have continued to grow in double digits. At the same time, the tradeable sector which has performed best is agriculture, which, at 4.8%, has experienced its strongest growth since the East Asian crisis, helping to compensate for the effects of the crisis. Indonesia has learnt from 1997 crisis so that they can manage 2008 financial crisis well. The Role of International Institutions of The G-20 The G-20, which includes 19 nations plus the European Union, is the the main nations of much of the coordination on trade policy, financial policy, and crisis response. Its membership is composed of most of the world’s largest economies and makes up nearly 90 percent of world gross national product. The first G-20 leaders’ summit was held at the peak of the crisis in November 2008. At that point, G-20 countries committed to keep their markets open, adopt policies to support the global economy, and stabilize the financial sector. The second G-20 leaders’ summit took place in April 2009 at the height of concern about rapid falls in GDP and trade. Leaders of the world’s largest economies pledged to â€Å"do everything necessary to ensure recovery, to repair our financial systems and to maintain the global flow of capital.† Furthermore, they committed to work together on tax and financial policies. Perhaps the most notable act of world coordination was the decision to provide substantial new funding to the IMF. U.S. leadership helped secure a commitment by the G-20 leaders to provide over $800 billion to fund multilateral banks broadly, with over $500 billion of those funds allocated to the IMF in particular. In September 2009, the G-20 leaders met in Pittsburgh. They noted that international cooperation and national action had been critical in arresting the crisis and putting the world’s economies on the path toward recovery. They also recognized that continued action was necessary, pledged to â€Å"sustain our strong policy response until a durable recovery is secured,† and committed to avoid premature withdrawal of stimulus. They launched a new Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth that committed the G-20 countries to work together to assess how their policies fit together and evaluate whether they were â€Å"collectively consistent with more sustainable and balanced growth.† Further, the leaders committed to act together to improve the global financial system through financial regulatory reforms and actions to increase capital in the system. It set up emergency lines of credit (called Flexible Credit Lines) with Colombia, Mexico, and Poland, which in total are worth over $80 billion. These lines were intended to provide immediate liquidity in the event of a run by investors, but also to signal to the markets that funds were available, making a run less likely. In each of these countries, markets responded positively to the announcement of the credit lines, with the cost of insuring the countries’ bonds narrowing (International Monetary Fund 2009b). The IMF also negotiated a set of standby agreements with 15 countries, committing a total of $75 billion to help them survive the economic crisis by smoothing current account adjustments and mitigating liquidity pressures. IMF analysis suggests that this program discouraged large exchange-rate f in fluctuate in these countries (International Monetary Fund 2009). These actions as well as the very existence of a better-funded global lender may have helped to keep the contraction short and to prevent sustained currency crises in many emerging nations. The Government Responses The U.S. executed two stimulus packages, totaling nearly $1 trillion during 2008 and 2009. The U.S. Federal Reserve’s new and expanded liquidity facilities were intended to enable the central bank to fulfill its traditional lender-of-last-resort role during the crisis while mitigating stigma, broadening the set of institutions with access to liquidity, and increasing the flexibility with which institutions could tap such liquidity. United States President Barack Obama and key advisers introduced a series of regulatory proposals in June 2009. The proposals address consumer protection, executive pay, bank financial cushions or capital requirements, expanded regulation of the shadow banking system and derivatives, and enhanced authority for the Federal Reserve to safely wind-down systemically important institutions, among others. The response of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and other central banks was taken shortly and dramatic. During the last quarter of 2008, these central banks purchased US$2.5 trillion of government debt and troubled private assets from banks. The governments of European nations and the USA also raised the capital of their national banking systems by $1.5 trillion, by purchasing newly issued preferred stock in their major banks. In October 2010, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz explained how the U.S. Federal Reserve was implementing another monetary policy —creating currency— as a method to combat the liquidity trap. By creating $600,000,000,000 and inserting this directly into banks, the Federal Reserve intended to spur banks to finance more domestic loans and refinance mortgages. However, banks instead were spending the money in more profitable areas by investing internationally in emerging markets. The bank bailout, more formally called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, failed to achieve the ultimate goal. The goal of these bailouts from the perspective of the largest financial institution is billions of dollars in taxpayer money allowed institutions that were on the brink of collapse not only to survive but even to flourish. The legislation that created TARP, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, had far broader goals, including protecting home values and preserving homeownership. Congress was told that TARP would be used to purchase up to $700 billion of mortgages and to obtain the necessary votes, Treasury promised that it would modify those mortgages to assist struggling homeowners. However, almost immediately, as permitted by the broad language of the act, Treasury’s plan for TARP shifted from the purchase of mortgages to the infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars into the nation’s largest financial institutions, a shift that came with the express promise that it would restore lending. Treasury, however, provided the money to banks with no effective policy or effort to force the extension of credit. There were no strings attached: no requirement or even incentive to increase lending to home buyers, and against our strong recommendation, not even a request that banks report how they used TARP funds. It raised the issues on accountability in providing the bailouts. Lesson Learnt from 2008 Crisis There are several lessons that can be learnt from 2008 financial crisis. Those lessons are stated below : 1. Aggregate volatility is part of market system. There is a need to have more depth study of aggregate volatility. 2. Long lived large firms (such as financial institutions) may not be fully trusted. We should rethink the role of reputation of firms in market transactions. In addition, we need to revisit the key elements of the economy of organization so that reputation should be derived from the behavior not merely from the asset. 3. Economic growth will only take place if there is real increase in the real commodities not financial commodities. 4. People mistakenly equated free markets with unregulated markets. 5. Policy makers should be flexible in their policies and guided by overall national objectives. 6. All trading countries should diversify both their exports composition as well as export destination. 7. World financial system is becoming fragile so that there is a need to reform the current financial system. Islamic based economy system has great opportunity to alter the existing financial system. Islamic perspective From Islamic perspective, the approach that most suitable which is providing handout to the poor and directly to people affected by financial contracts. There were horrible gaps between the rich and the poor all over the world, which remained existent all the time, even after the fall of the planned economy. It goes without saying that the position in developing and under developed countries is even worse. This uneven and unjust system of distribution needs to be reformed on a conceptual basis. The entire world today is crying on the present financial crisis, but few people have realized that this is basically a crisis of rich people who were playing with loads of wealth, and all of a sudden, their income faced a steep fall. So far as poor people are concerned, they have been living in perpetual crisis all the times, but no one care for them, The present crisis should not be examined within the relatively narrow confines of debt; rather, it is fundamentally a question of social justi ce, a concept that is paramount in Islam. Social justice includes three aspects, namely a fair and equitable distribution of wealth; the provision of basic necessities of life to the poor and the needy; and protection of the weak against economic exploitation by the strong. The debt burden, however, is increasing inequality between rich and poor countries and is tantamount to exploitation. It also means that poor countries are often unable to provide the most basic services for their citizens. The huge debt that currently burdens poor countries has arisen from loans that have charged interest and have not shared risk between the lender and the borrower and have, therefore, contravened the two most fundamental principles of Islamic finance. Islamic commands to refrain from charging interest and to share financial risk seek to avoid the concentration of wealth and the economic exploitation of the weak and thereby prevent situations such as the current debt crisis from arising in the first place. The core belief in Islamic finance is that money should not in itself be an earning asset; therefore, Islam prohibits any and all forms of interest. There are also other systems which prevent an economic crisis of pandemic proportions to arise; contractual relationships in business, finance or trade must be based on trust and familiarity of networks of common experiences (takaful) which implies that debts cannot be repackaged and resold as assets globally to faceless investors while profit must be redistributed directly to the poor (zakat) in the Holy month of Ramadan to build and strengthen social safety nets through institutions of charity welfare and education. Over and above zakat, all Muslims pay zakat fitrah to the poor, during the month of Ramadan, either through state collection centers or direct contributions to the poor. There is a trend within rural areas to identify destitute families and the disabled within the underserved rural areas of the State where they reside. Over the last few years, increasing realization of a topic poverty during an economic crisis creating the new poor among the Muslim working classes and a bnormally high repayment rates through unlicensed loan-sharks and licensed money-lenders have made national banking institutions which serve the poorer rural communities shift their services to the Ar-Rahnu market or Islamic pawn-broking market. Currently four Islamic financial institutions, Bank Rakyat (The People’s Bank); the Yayasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Islam Malaysia (Islamic Foundation of Economic Development, Malaysia); Permodalan Kelantan Bhd (Kelantan Investment Co.); and the Agro bank offer such services to the rural and urban working classes. It has established an Ar-Rahnu X’Change Franchise Network, where it plans to provide an Ar-Rahnu franchise throughout the country, managed by reputable cooperatives of the working classes. Given the acute dependency of the working classes on ready cash in times of emergency and the high rates of interest in regular pawn-broking market, there seems to be few alternatives except to expand the Ar-Rahnu market among Muslims and non-Muslims and charge the poor for ‘safekeeping’ services, rather than interest. Despite the fact that loan disbursements of Bank Rakyat alone is among the services which have contributed to Bank Rakyat’s amazing rise as a successful national cooperative bank, giving out higher than normal dividends to its share holders, loan sharks are virtually setting up desks outside flats and apartment buildings of the Muslim poor in towns and cities to offer cash and carry’ facilities to the desperately poor. This lucrative market speaks volumes of the rise of atopic poverty among those on or below the poverty line, the inadequacy of zakat and disbursements of zakat, the high dependency on regular income earners among the middle classes for welfare driven services and products and unclear nature of the rising wealth of the Muslim and non-Muslim upper classes in Malaysia The Islamic finance can bring on significant gains in money released into public capital and infrastructure. The redistributive mechanisms of surplus are instituted into welfare based institutions such as free or subsidized education, health and child care, education, and even publicly directed employment. Its principles may differ from modern welfare economics except the gains at the far end of the redistributive machinery are similarly directed towards the poor. The policies of the New Economic Policy in Malaysia, state welfares in Brunei, or publicly instituted employment as in MENA countries are more Islamic than regul ar, except they are part of the post-colonial ‘reformist’ policies of Muslim states which preceded the modern up-beat drive towards Syaria’ah compliant finance. Islamic finance, however, has not demonstrated a clear connectivity with redistributive justice as in the post-colonial political economy except through instituted deductions of zakat from dividends of shareholders. Profits from credit or financial corporations are not necessarily redistributed through zakat. Furthermore, for borrowers, the appreciated value of assets and services as forecasted and built into systems and rates of repayments which compensate for the lack of interest and, in reality, repayment rates may even out with the regular—rates are generally fixed in advance unlike regular interest rates which are more flexible, varying according to market conditions. However, it does allow more capital to be released into projects immediately, allowing a more extensive amount of goods and services to be produced, without the worry of serving loans. One, however, has to be assured of significant productivity even in the early stages of the loan but payments of zakat accruing from successful investment, from the financier or production from the borrower are fixed at a low rate of 2.5%. It is also consensual rather than forced (as in income taxation) and Muslim countries in general pur sue income tax collections as the more important thrust of national revenue. There are generally two disparate systems at work in Muslim countries Islamic finance and post-colonial welfare instituted economics. The welfare inputs in Islamic countries which are operational today proceed whether or not there are institutions of Islamic finance in the country. In Malaysia, Brunei, and the MENA countries discussed in this paper, components of welfare economics in heavily subsidized education, health, housing, farming, and welfare for the poor, are part of a post-colonial legacy of social reform to institute economic parity across groups and classes. In these Muslim nations, the public sector has played an important role in employment for Muslim or indigenous citizens, often acting as a social safety net in times of economic crises. However, these welfare driven policies are subject to much criticism since they favour the poor, encourage low productivity, and a non-competitive public sector. As Islamic institutions of welfare catch on with progressive social educa tion through media and networks and become an alternative system of welfare for poorer Muslims through zakat and other contributions, welfare increasingly becomes a social responsibility of the Muslim middle classes. There is hardly any data on how the profits earned by larger corporations of Islamic finance actually become instituted into a system of welfare economics based in Islam. Private investment trusts of political elites or national trusts controlled by them. In a properly instituted system of redistribution, through wages, salaries, educational, and health subsidies and so on, there should be very little wealth differential between the owners of political Capital and citizens but economic disparities are significant in these Muslim countries and it has been shown how gains among the lowest 20% may be offset by higher or equivalent gains among the top 20% income earners of these nations. The production of stable professional middle classes in these nations has led to an enrichment of social capital and welfare driven redistributive institutions through social networks but Islamic conscientisation had sometimes moved this ‘spiritual gain’ as an objective reality. The belief i n ibadah or ‘to do good’ may outweigh the call for greater transparency in the use of national collections of zakat and so on. Many Muslims in Malaysia pay both income tax and zakat, rather than ask for exemption from income tax. They also maintain Islamic voluntary organizations with personal funds, donate to mosques and charities, and make endless food contributions to orphans and the poor. There is very little data gathered on the actual amounts paid privately or anonymously and state-directed contributions, although increasing, are not reflective of actual payments contributed by the middle classes towards Islamic charitable institutions. On the other hand, Muslim based banking and financial institutions are obscure in their social responsibility towards the poor, including their own clients who may be victims of topic poverty during times of economic crises. In conclusion, Islamic institutions of trusts which are state directed or privately administered by banking and credit agencies contain more humanistic principles of investment and redistribution of profits except that there is a missing component—between the principles of redistribution of surplus or profits in Islam finance and the actual mechanisms to provide welfare to the people who are not share-holders or stake-holders. In Malaysia, Brunei, and the MENA countries of the Middle East and North Africa, state agencies assume trusteeships over compulsory collections like the zakat but do not have any institutional mechanisms to enforce private corporations local or foreign to contribute towards the welfare of the poor. Conclusion The first Financial crisis was began in July 1997 when the Thai baht collapse with a series of speculative attacks on the baht extended after quite a few decades of outstanding economic performance in Asia and most of Southeast Asia and Japan having currency depreciation. There some approach to help financial recovery, It is impossible that the government doing nothing when the crisis happened to their country. To prevent currency values collapsing, governments raised fiscal spending in domestic interest rates to exceedingly high levels. And last approach Government providing handouts directly to people affected and providing assistance to the poor like efforts to shield poor and vulnerable sections of society from the worst of the crisis The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that provides financial assistance and advice to member countries. It was created out of a need to prevent economic crises like the Great Depression. The large financial packages which the IMF has arranged for countries affected by the Asian crisis and its result have stimulated a debate both among policy-makers and academics as to their costs and benefits. However, IMF has also been criticized for its lack of accountability and willingness to lend to countries with bad human rights record Debtor countries to the IMF are often faced with having to put financial concerns ahead of social ones The cause or trigger of the 2008 global financial crisis was the boom of the United States housing bubble which peaked in approximately 2005–2006. The impact of the crisis on developing countries will affect different types of international resource flows: private capital flows such as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). However, not all developing countries were effected tremendously by 2008 financial crisis, Indonesia was one of the least affected countries in South East Asia. The G-20, is the the main nations of much of the coordination on trade policy, financial policy, and crisis responses. The first G-20 leaders’ summit was held at the peak of the crisis in November 2008. The bank bailout, more formally called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, failed to achieve the ultimate goal From Islamic perspective approach that most suitable which is providing handout to the poor and directly to people affected by financial contracts the present crisis should not be examined within the relatively narrow confines of debt, rather it is fundamentally a question of social justice, a concept that is paramount in Islam. The practicing of zakat system and waqf contribution to help the poor and needy indirectly will benefit the society. And this is the best approach that government should do by providing help directly to the poor and people affected by financial contract namely firms and banks. If government reduced the amount tax to be paid, cost of production will decrease level of employment and production will increase. Meanwhile, banks will bail out to save company and people indirectly reduced the worry of public causing the level of borrowing and consumption raises. So, as a result, it can stimulate the capital investment of the economy to increase the economic growth and level of GPD. References Fadillah Putra, â€Å"Economic Development and Crisis Policy Responses in Southeast Asia (Comparative study of Asian Crisis 1997 and Global Financial Crisis 2008 in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines)† (2008), Public Administration Department, Brawijaya University Federal Reserved Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter †What Caused East Asia’s Financial Crisis?† 98-24; August 7, (1998) Hussein Alasrag, â€Å"Global Financial crisis and Islamic finance† (2007) http://www.muftitaqiusmani.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41:present-financial-crisis-causes-and-remedies-from-islamic-perspective-&catid=12:economics&Itemid=15,retrieve on 11 November 2012 http://www.academia.edu/1133515/Global_Financial_Crisis_An_Islamic_Perspectiv e, retrieve on 4 November 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932008#cite_note IMF_Loss_Estimates-31, retrieve on 4 November 2012 Mohamed Ariff, Syarisa Yanti Abubakar,†The Malaysian Financial Crisis: Economic Impact and Recovery Prospects† (1999) The Developing Economies, XXXVII-4: 417–38 Reinhart, V. (2011). A year of living dangerously : The Management of the Financial Crisis in 2008. Journal of Economic Perspective.25 (1). Pg 71-90. Ibid Recovery from the Asian Crisis and the Role of the IMF, IMF Staff (2000) http:// www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/international- monetary-fund imf.asp#axzz2EQhoHzz9, retrieve on 4 November 2012 http://www.nrcc.org/default/Issues2012/2012_Issues_Book_Chapter_Financial_Crisis_Bailouts_and_Financial_Reforms ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Federal Reserved Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter: What Caused East Asia’s Financial Crisis? 98-24; August 7, 1998 [ 2 ]. Federal Reserved Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter: What Caused East Asia’s Financial Crisis? 98-24; August 7, 1998 [ 3 ]. www.wikipedia.com [ 4 ]. www.wikipedia.com [ 5 ]. www.wikipedia.com [ 6 ]. Federal Reserved Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter: What Caused East Asia’s Financial Crisis? 98-24; August 7, 1998 [ 7 ]. www.wikipedia.com [ 8 ]. Mohamed Ariff, Syarisa Yanti Abubakar, (1999) The Malaysian Financial Crisis: Economic Impact and Recovery Prospects: The Developing Economies, XXXVII-4: 417–38 [ 9 ]. Economic Development and Crisis Policy Responses in Southeast Asia (Comparative study of Asian Crisis 1997 and Global Financial Crisis 2008 in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines) Fadillah Putra, Public Administration Department, Brawijaya University [ 10 ]. Recovery from the Asian Crisis and the Role of the IMF, IMF Staff (2000) [ 11 ]. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/international-monetary-fund-imf.asp#axzz2EQhoHzz9 [ 12 ]. http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/sick-cn.htm [ 13 ]. Reinhart, V. (2011). A year of living dangerously : The Management of the Financial Crisis in 2008. Journal of Economic Perspective.25 (1). Pg 71-90. [ 14 ]. Ibid [ 15 ]. Ibid [ 16 ]. Ibid [ 17 ]. Wikipedia. Financial Crisis 2007. Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932008#cite_note-ssrn-8 [ 18 ]. Wikipedia. Financial Crisis 2007. Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932008#cite_note-IMF_Loss_Estimates-31 [ 19 ]. Ibid [ 20 ]. â€Å"Greenspan-We Need a Better Cushion Against Risk†. Financial Times. March 26, 2009. Taken from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9c158a92-1a3c-11de-9f91-0000779fd2ac.html. [ 21 ]. FCIC Report-Conclusions Excerpt-January 2011. Taken from http://c0182732.cdn1.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/fcic_final_report_conclusions.pdf [ 22 ]. CRISIS AND RECOVERY IN THE WORLD ECONOMY. Taken from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/economic-report-president-chapter-3r2.pdf [ 23 ]. Ibid [ 24 ]. Ibid [ 25 ]. Ibid [ 26 ]. Ibid [ 27 ]. Ibid [ 28 ]. Velde, D. W. (2008). Effects of the Global Financial Crisis on Developing Countries and Emerging Markets. Policy responses to the crisis. INWENT/DIE/BMZ conference in Berlin, 11 December 2008. [ 29 ]. Ibid [ 30 ]. Ibid [ 31 ]. Ibid [ 32 ]. Ibid