Is the cost of College tuition to high?

There has been recent chatter that the cost of college tuition is rising more and more each year. It’s a definite setback to every college students especially those of us who can barely afford to pay for community college. It almost forces us to consider taking out college loans just for first two years of college. But is that even a safe choice? Currently, as of Monday, CNN reporters have announced that college loan interest rates are doubling 6. 8% on July, 1st. Now, I know that loans aren’t the only way to help pay off college. There is always FAFSA, but even FAFSA has cut down on funding and is making it a little trickier to receive the pell grant with their new policies and guidelines. Even though College is very important and a path to a bright and successful future the cost of our tuition is very discouraging. Its honestly a scary thought and it adds another heavy brick to the stress wagon. But According to research there are fine reasons to why the situation has been lead to the where its at today. Odland, Steve. â€Å"College Costs Our of Control. † Forbes. om. Forbes, 24 Mar. 2012. Web. 23 June 2013. This article explains how education is an essential part of the American life but it also establishes the expenses and how expensive everything has gotten for a college student today. Education is the counterbalance in our country, people can grow up with very little but have a gateway to success by using education. I really like how this article explains how important education is regardless of t he price or school. It gives clear and current data of how much each degree pays off in the end. The information in this article would be useful in a sense to explain how important an education is and what it can deliver in our country. This would be great info to build a perspective for some one who is looking to enroll into college because it gives it an encouraging tone. Nielson, Amy. â€Å"Is College Getting Too Expensive for Americans ? † Deseretnews. N. p. , 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 23 June 2013. In the article Is college getting too expensive for Americans The author Amy Nielson Explains How much the depth for college expenses has grown. She elaborates on students would have to go to colleges closer to home, rather than choosing a college of their preference. For some people the cost of college even limits their choice to picking a career because the cost of your tuition also depends on your career choice. They would also have to cut down on transportation and basic essentials such as food, maintenance, technology†¦ Etc. She concludes by saying that 36% of college students don’t gain the skills they paid for in college, or they aren’t content with their college education. This article would definitely show Both students and administration how the cost of high tuition can give a negative impact on our students by limiting them to go further or choosing what they really want to do. I would probably just use this article for its static’s since a lot of it is much similar to my other sources. Hechinger, John. â€Å"U. S. Colleges Raise Tuition 4. 8%, Outpacing Inflation. † Bloomberg. com. Bloomberg, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 30 June 2013. With that being said, in my next source U. S colleges Raises tuition 4. 8%, Outpacing inflation explains how drastically tuition has risen in America. It states in the year 2012-2013 they have increased tuition by 4. 2% leaving tuition at 30k / year. This article defines how much debt there has been since 2011 and how other financial aides such as federal aide, and grants have been decreasing due to little government funding. This article also addresses an undesirable truth on how high college prices are and how much debt there has been. This would definitely be a perfect article for the college board, and administration. This would be very helpful trying to open up the eyes of my audience by showing the dramatic increase in college tuition. Morici, Peter. â€Å"College Too High, Delivers Too Little. † Ocregister. com. N. p. , 13 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 June 2013. In this editorial it discusses also the high cost of college but how colleges can rip off a student. Over the decades, Americans have been convinced that jobs are required to have certain skills and knowledge that require a college education such as managers, salesperson, electricians.. Etc. Job titles that were once learned by experience now require a degree or certification. The author Peter Morici is convinced that universities are taking advantage of this. He feels that today institutions and universities focus more on the money than the education. Although this is more of a biased article the author explains well his opinions, and uses persuasive writing and facts to convince his audience. I could use some examples and ideas to do the same with my readers. Holtom, Brooks C. â€Å"College Is worth the Cost. † Http://www. businessweek. com/debateroom/archives/2010/03/college_is_worth_the_cost. html. Bloomberg Business Week, n. d. Web. 30 June 2013. College is worth the cost give both Pros and cons to attending college regardless of the current financial state. Although it points out the flaws (which is mostly the expenses) it praises more the positive outcomes by explaining how much well off a person is with a college education is than someone with just a high school diploma. Using a piece like this would come in handy to an audience of younger people that could be discouraged to go to school. It explains very well the pros and cons, this could inform and give a college student and build their own personal opinion. This source was ok but a lot of it was a repeat the only distinction is that it shows both positive and negative points which was helpful, ut a lot of the information I already know. Gonzales, Sara. â€Å"Why It's Harder for College Students to Get Financial Aid This Summer. † Florida RSS. State Impact, 14 May 2012. Web. 01 July 2013. Amongst all of this we cant forget about FAFSA. FAFSA has also shrunk their privileges lately and instead replace them with more loans. Recently a lot of students have â€Å"maxed out their Grants during the fall and spring, having students not having enough for summer school. The reason why students have Maxed out their loans is because FAFSA doesn’t lend as much money because heir has been some recent changes to the qualifications, a significant one being that they lowered the amount of income a family can make in order to qualify. This article would be very well used in an article for students and the college board. This current information is important for a student to know and hopefully it would open of the college board to see how much our options are declining. Using this up to date information would be very effective in my re search since it effects a lot of students such as myself.

New students

Hey guys my names Is kenned melee, people usually call me Kenny . Im from Jackson n] and I attended Jackson memorial high school . 1 remember back In hollyhock my failover thing was gym and all the activates we got to play . But anyway I'm now currently attending Coco , I choose ocean county college because of the opportunities it presents. Such as the low tuition fee for one . My plan at coco is to major in broadcasting journalism Finnish my flirts year with the best grades possible and then transfer to temple university.Ocean county has taught me a few new things about my self such as how to mange my time studying , and how to mange my money well. Even though Eve learned a lot of things while at ocean the transition wasn't that smooth , I think the most difficult thing for me was having to remember my classes on my own . Its nothing Like highlights where you had the bell to remind you when class was. Or the stress of not knowing anyone In class, or not wanting to raise your hand In class because you think people might make fun of you. But Eve had a great support team.In my Cad class Eve learned so much and my teacher Mrs†¦ O explained everything charley and always offered a helping hand whenever we her students needed it. Ocean County has a lot of support services available to your disposable , Such as the student center. The student center has so many programs, clubs, and trips that inform you about what is going on in your own campus or around you. Then the one on one sessions with the guidance consoler who assist you with every question you have. Or the tutoring groups that assist with you with math , writing, science you nameIt, Coco was was built on the simple Idea to help you succeed. Another thing ocean has helped me succeed In was my learning methods. I leaned that IM an auditory and tactile learner. Which simply means I learn by hearing and doing things hands on. I also learned that I study better with the light on and with music silly but very helpful. And lastly how to mange my time wisely , buy studying in between classes. All these new things Eve learned over these past seeks have helped me with my attitude towards school. It made me realize that school isn't so bad if you Just have the tools to succeed .I now how to mange my time better, and my money, and I have the skills to study correctly for an exam. I feel like I have become an independent learner because where I started from and where I am now. Looking back at my first semester of college I think I did everything perfectly In men's of my education, I made sure I was on top of all my school work and that and every assignment. And I Intend to do everything the same next semester. I'm so lucky to have had the easy transition into college like I did with the great support system . Make it so make it count .

Ethics Case Study Henry’s Daughters Essay

First question: The movie â€Å"Henry’s daughters† reflects a big amount of ethical issues at individual and societal level. Sorted by importance and the impacting level, the following list shows the highlighted ethical issues based on my perception. 1. The selfish perception of benefits that Henry had. Such selfish that even his family would be affected. If his daughters cannot trust him, how his employees will? 2. The Invasion of privacy. There are issues existing with gathering private data about individuals using the technology. For instance: cameras in the offices. 3. The fact that some work done by Julie for OUTOCAR was used without giving her credit. 4. The negative daring from Julie’s co-worker. This intentional and disrespectful interaction with sexual intentions or the sexist jokes throughout the movie should not be tolerated. 5. The influence of political and social factors when taking a decision that should be based on technical and engineering aspects. 6. Commented issues between family and friends that might be confidential. For example: Laura and Julie are housemates, where they do not avoid talking about the project. The problem appears when both discussed proprietary information of the company. 7. The unhealthy competition of three family members at their professional areas. Bad business, at the end the movie shows that there is more to lose when we involved family in such unethical way. Second question: Engineers are responsible for creating the everyday tools that everyone uses. Because engineers create the tools that people use, of course there needs to be an ethical code which every engineer must respect and follow. The film (Henry’s Daughters) takes a peek into many of the ethical issues raised by engineers. However, all of them might be solved by the proper moral propositions. Some ideas are in establishing: the proper environment, ethics as a priority when adding new employees, and fair incentives. The culture of  the company should adopt an open work environment, happy and fair to all employees. Therefore, the actions of the company must be oriented towards the welfare and morale. The culture should take into account the goals and objectives of the company, but the monetary targets should be the only ones highlighted. Nevertheless, the key is always keeping happiness and productivity together. New people, ideas, and strategies can lead to behavioral and performance c hanges in order to mold new ways of thinking and culture changes. To be more specific, the company’s culture can improve by rotating managers with different views of competitive conditions or operations. It is a way to supply different, needed skills or capabilities from the outside. It is also important to add, for old and new employees, evocative company’s purpose. This is to provide an address to stimulate employees’ learning, and so, they have something they believe in beyond just a â€Å"job.† Also it is vital to provide encouragement and praise to those employees that show progress in any project. Incentives affect behavior and performance and attract new resources and capabilities, which can lead to culture change. On the other hand, the movie shows how disproportional incentives can blind people. Henry’s actions were illegal. Taking the prize for a competition that was not fairly won is highly unethical. Obviously, he got blind because of his selfish point of view of incentives. All these propositions should be analyzed and applied by both, employees and managers. They should actively interact to discuss suggestions and ideas to improve company’s culture. Finally, once the ideas were picked, communication is the key. Company policy should be seen through all marketing material, including TV, magazine, newspapers, and websites. Career fair visibility is important as well to get news about the company out to the public and potential employees. Once those portals (to communicate ethical factors and others) are established, the focus can be the employees’ productivity. Monthly newsletters from company executives highlighting company policy should be sent to employees, so they are aware of changes or improvements being made. All these ideas are based on my perception about the topic. It is a way to show how my perception disagrees with Henry’s. Instead of following a code of ethics, Henry has an â€Å"ends justify the means† philosophy and does not consider ethical and moral implications in his work. He bribes DOT executives and tangles himself in conflicts of interest. In the end, Henry  pays the consequences for his actions when the senate ethics committee finds him guilty of unethical practices. His reputation is ruined and his relationship with his daughters is damaged. All of this could have been avoided. He sadly lost much more than he was able to win.

English - Hazard Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

English - Hazard Communication - Essay Example The general public is relatively ignorant when it comes to information on hazardous chemicals. II. Description of the problem Manufacturers Chemical manufacturers and suppliers are at fault for failing to give adequate information to the public concerning the hazardous character of chemicals. This is despite the fact that, each and every chemical manufacturer is required by law to give sufficient information on the hazardous nature of chemicals. As a result, many people have suffered chemical accidents that have scarred their lives. The standard for hazard communication requires that information be made available, through material safety data sheets, training of employees and labeling of chemicals. Therefore, chemical manufacturers are required to document comprehensive literature on the hazardous nature of the chemicals they produce. Each chemical should have its name, synonyms, acronyms, Chemical Abstracts Services, as well as its chemical designation and substance composition. Inf ormation on substance composition should include active ingredients, inactive components, and impurities. In order to ensure that information on the hazardous nature of chemicals is easily comprehensible, manufacturers and exporters should also use texts and symbols. Employers and employees Most affected are employees working in chemical producing companies, who are oblivious of the hazards they are subjected to at the work place. This is the primary group that needs to have access to hazardous communication. This is because they come into contact with these chemicals on a daily basis, thus rendering them vulnerable to danger. Employers need to protect their employees from danger by conducting training programs on how to handle, transport, store, and dispose of hazardous substances. Once employees have access to such kind of information, they become increasingly aware of their rights, as well as how to best protect themselves. General public However, the general public should not be isolated, as they often come into contact with chemicals, and they deserve to know how to handle such chemicals. There have been numerous reports of people going health facilities to seek medical help after mishandling chemicals. Some chemicals have permanent effects on victims, for example carcinogenic chemicals. Public awareness needs to be conducted to prevent people from being harmed by these chemicals. III. Significance of inquiry It is the prerogative of manufacturers and suppliers to give adequate information concerning the hazardous nature of chemicals to target audiences. It is not humanly possible for employers to evaluate and document all the safety hazards a chemical can cause to its employees. Nevertheless, employees have the right to be informed of the dangers they are most likely to face, when they come into contact with these chemicals, as well as how they can protect themselves. However, this information is not always readily available, thus the essence of this pro posal, to champion for the rights of the public to be well-versed of the threats and risks of dealing with these chemicals. More needs to be done to ensure safety management is upheld in all areas concerning chemical handling. This will in turn, lead to a significant reduction in the number of people suffering from chemical related problems. IV. Relevance statement The

Human Recourses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Recourses - Essay Example Ideally, the Social and Emotional Intelligence consists of four quadrants namely self-awareness, self-management, empathy, and interpersonal skills. Self-awareness means the ability to understand one’s strengths and limits to know when to rely on others and when to perform personal best. Zins state that it involves understanding individual feelings and emotions in such a way as to draw a clear distinction between, acting, thinking, and feelings (46). Through self-awareness, one can understand the consequences of their actions. Self-management on the other hand entails the individual commitment and self-discipline of the members within a given team or group. This may include managing individual moods like controlling impulses handling difficult feelings appropriately (Lantieri 28). The third quadrant of Social and Emotional Intelligence, which is empathy comprises of blending with the feelings and perceptions of others through cognitive and affectionate instincts. When it comes to interpersonal skills, persuasion, negotiation, collaboration, and communication skills come in handy. These interpersonal skills are instrumental when managing relationships be it a t home, in school, or in the corporate world and may involve the resolution of conflicts and connecting with friends and associates (Zins 52). Of all these quadrants of Social and Emotional Intelligence, interpersonal skills and self-management are influential to the extent that if not well managed, can derail an individual’s career. According to Lantieri, if one is lacking such interpersonal skills as good communication and negotiation skills, they may not fit well in a customer-oriented organization despite their poor relationship with other staff. Additionally, when persons cannot effectively manage their emotions, they may conflict with management staff over a preventable conduct hence such persons may face harsh disciplinary measures (Phifer 61). I strongly believe that Social and emotion al Intelligence is a pivotal intelligence required of leaders at all levels whether in the corporate level, political scene, or at the domestic level. I base my reasons on the facts that at one point or the other, human beings have to interact and share their feelings in addition to maintaining their self-image and positions across various ranks within the society. This means any person who is in the possession of this form of intelligence becomes a great asset within that given institution in addition to the benefits that the individuals in question derive from it. The expansion of this whole idea brings us to the conclusion that Social and Emotional Intelligence is not a reserve of the HR Managers and leaders only but instead it is relevant to all managers at various levels (Zins 51). Fundamentally, Social and Emotional Intelligence comprises of many competencies that derive from the four quadrants. Of all these competencies, I confidently believe I have greatest strength in self- discipline, commitment, and communication skills. I have demonstrated self-discipline before as the student coordinator of academic matters in my previous class where I had to work

Spanking chldren Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Spanking chldren - Annotated Bibliography Example It also says that parental character development, support, and psychological wellbeing influences childrearing. The authors have also specified certain reasons for the aggressive nature of mothers and children in this article. This article also observed the strength of the relations between spanking and youngster outcomes. It also expresses the Moderated Associations between Verbal Punishment, Child Outcomes and Spanking. In this article, a study by Gershoff [2002] shows Corporal punishment and childhood antisocial behavior and states effects of spanking across 11 different outcomes. It has been examined in 50 studies, including parent–child relationships, aggression, crime and mental health. According to Lansford et al. [2011], there may live a transactional association between spanking and unsociable actions. This article also says that depending on the presence of extra factors in the child, spanking gets more or less distinct. Corporal punishment and gene-environment interaction is also discussed in this article. It’s said that, children with genetic vulnerability for the growth of unsociable attitude may be unreasonably susceptible to unpleasant environmental experiences. Childhood antisocial behavior, Genetic risk scale, Corporal punishment, Child’s sex, When I speak about myself, I am totally against this act of spanking and other form of verbal and nonverbal abuse, as it decreases child’s self-confidence, and make him depressed and anxious. Medical sciences have also proved that, lack of self-confidence due to spanking, can result in adverse effect for the child, which is not at all healthy. If parents are emotionally attached to their kids and talk to them by words rather than actions, so their children can have a good personality and can become a good citizen. Spanking just destroys the child and makes him weak and shatters his

Positive Effects of Martial Arts on Bullying Among the Youth Annotated Bibliography

Positive Effects of Martial Arts on Bullying Among the Youth - Annotated Bibliography Example The source is bias free since it discusses the pros and cons of martial art on bullying. The information from this source will provide information that will support my arguments during the research. Maekoya, Dussich J. P. and. "Physical Child Harm And Bullying Related Behaviors: A Comparative Study In Japan, South Africa, And The United States." International Journal Of Offender Therapy And Comparative Criminology 51 (2007): 495-509. The journal is written based on research done in South Africa USA and Japan. The aim of the writers is to evaluate the behavior of different students on bullying. The source is reliable since the conclusions are many researches and hence the probability of accuracy is high. The research focuses on how martial art skills can help prevent children from being bullied and also prevent them from bullying others. The research concludes that martial art education is only positive when training is done based on the traditional theories and concepts. The research argues that martial art can be as a way of controlling the rates of bullying among the youths. The source has reliable information since the accuracy level of its assumptions is high. The journal is available in the university library and online. The author is a psychology specialist, and he discusses the psychological effect that martial art has on children. He says the effect of martial art on a child depends on the perception they are made to have. He compares the martial experts of the past and those of the current day and makes a conclusion that perception of martial art is important in dictating the kind of effects it has on children. From his research, he finds out that different children view martial art differently, some use it for self-defense while others view it as a tool to exploit others. He accentuates on the need to have the correct perception for martial art. The information provided will be

How effectively did the three armed services combine in the Falklands Essay

How effectively did the three armed services combine in the Falklands campaign - Essay Example Despite being over 8,000 miles away and at a tremendous logistical disadvantage, Prime Minister Thatcher sent an invasion force consisting of ships of all varieties, airplanes, helicopters, soldiers and one British Prince. Mrs. Thatcher wanted to prove to the USSR and communist governments throughout the world that western powers were not going to back down from a conflict, especially a colony or territory that contained a large number of western inhabitants. Thatcher was informed that Soviet intelligence reports stated that even if Thatcher were to go ahead with a military invasion, the English would lose if they went at it alone. Again, The Iron Lady took offence and set out to prove them wrong. The British Prime Minister realized the implications of this crisis. She knew that what ever she chose to do would be setting one precedent or another. It was in Thatcher's hands to decide which precedent she would set. For her, there was no question, she could not let it seem that the Sovi ets could freely choose a Western territory or colony and simply invade it without fearing the consequence of military action. In most of the renowned strategists’ opinion, the Falklands War has been referred to as like two bald men fighting over a comb. Neither country particularly needed the Falklands, and the Falklands had very little that either country coveted, but it was the symbol that was important. (Gordon 2006) Argentina lost the war in part because the comb wanted to go to England but more importantly because they simply were not prepared to fight a war against the whole world. How did British Royal Forces Show Leadership Styles The British royal armed forces used dramatically different leadership styles portrayed by British Officers at the battle of Goose Green. As regards to these two characters are the most prominent: the Battlegroup Commander Colonel H Jones who was famous for assaulting a trench single handedly and was subsequently killed. The second character is that of the B Company commander Major John Crosland who successfully lead an assault on Burntside Hill and demonstrated a markedly different style of leadership than that of Colonel Jones. These two characters have been chosen because of their almost polar opposite approaches to initially the orders process and then their own leadership style. They demonstrate just how subjective the orders process can be and the affect that a differing approach can have on the battle itself. Jones demonstrated how an autocratic style of leadership coupled with a positionalist approach to war fighting lead to near disaster, whereas Crosland showed how a slightly more Laisser Faire attitude and an understanding of mission command could prove successful. How could two such different approaches be present in what was to all intents and purposes was the same organization? The first - the orders delivered by Jones for the Assault on Goose Green and secondly his individual leadership style. These will then be contrasted with that of Major Crosland and his assault onto Burntside Hill. Colonel H Jones was a renowned figurehead of the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment. He was known for his fiery temper, his embrace of the Parachute Regiment ethos and his dogged tenacity (Middlebrook, 1985). His actions

How to Resolve an Ethnic Conflict- Case Study of Bosnia Research Paper

How to Resolve an Ethnic Conflict- Case Study of Bosnia - Research Paper Example The Serbs were seeking political dominance in Bosnia by eliminating the weak Bosnian Muslims. According to Horowitz (2000), a weak state cannot manage the differing ethnic interests peacefully in order to provide protection to all ethnic groups. The Bosnian conflict was also politically fueled by government and military leaders. Political leaders can have discriminatory inter-ethnic politics and ideologies that favor some ethnic groups (Jesse & Williams, 2011). Serbian leaders such as General Mladic and Radovan Karadzic were the masterminds of the Srebrenica massacre. Serbian political leaders had empowered Serb militias to fight the defenseless Bosnian Muslims. Cultural factors such as propaganda, stereotyping and religious differences also lead to ethnic conflict (Jesse & Williams, 2011). Stereotyping creates tension between ethnic groups and hinders social cohesion (Horowitz, 2000). Bosnia was composed of Muslims and non-Muslims. In 1992, fierce propaganda was spread by Serbs depi cting Muslims as extremist fundamentalists. This made Bosnia Serbs support Serbian militia fighting against Bosnia Muslims. Other factors such as economic factors and weak national institutions had little impact among the causes of the Bosnia war. However, these factors still remain valid causes of ethnic conflict among different ethnic groups. Several countries in Africa and Asia experience conflict due to imbalance in economic development and institutions that disregard the law. The Bosnia conflict was ended by the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995. The peace deal had been brokered by the U.S government. The Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic, and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman signed the peace agreement. The United States, Russia, France, Germany, and Britain initiated the peace deal that ended the war in 1995. Sarajevo was made the capital city of Bosnia, and the country was divided into two regions along ethnic lines. The Serbs were given 49 per cent of the country, and the remaining 51 per cent was allocated to the Bosnia Muslims. The deal led to the establishment of a Peace Implementation Council to coordinate reconstruction and development projects. The deal included the deployment of NATO troops in the country for peace keeping. A UN High Representative was appointed to make and enforce the law at the state and entity level. The country conducted national elections that established a government of three presidents. Through the peace agreement, political differences that led to the conflict had been addressed. According to Horowitz (2000), differences in political ideologies and the desire for political dominance lead to ethnic conflict. The peace agreement led to the establishment of a central government that would rule over Bosnia. Each entity also has a state government, police, and the military. The issue of weak institutions that disregard the law and a weak nation or ethnic group was addressed. T he weak Bosnia Muslims were given the biggest portion of the country and established a state government and a military force. This gave them an institution that guarantees their security and makes laws that govern the state. The PIC makes decisions that have been implemented by international organizations such as IMF, the World Bank,

Two research methods Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Two research methods - Assignment Example The greatest advantage of qualitative approach is that it is relatively simple to carry out, as there is no strict research design. Secondly, this approach engages the nature more naturally. This approach is also advantageous in that it allows for collection of more detailed data making it more comprehensive. The main disadvantage of qualitative approach lies on the fact that the researcher is heavily involved in the research and therefore, outcome basically depends on researchers ability to carry out the research. Quantitative approach, on the other hand, uses concrete data as well as rigorous statistical and data analysis techniques. Data analysis softwares such as SPSS are often used. A researcher begins with a hypothesis they seek to prove and then goes on to collect and analyze data in the process. Considering that findings come from the data, deductive reasoning is commonly associated with quantitative approach. However, objectivity is overwhelmingly important in this form of approach and variables well known. Greatest advantage of quantitative approach is that researcher gets the opportunity to analyze data in more detailed fashion making the approach more objective. However, quantitative approach is disadvantageous in that things are not done in their natural setting. Additionally, approach is more complicated and time consuming. More notably, large populations must be studied for the research to gain

Ethic case 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethic case 2 - Essay Example Socrates’ statement that â€Å"The unexamined life is not worth living,† summarizes his idea of good life. The examined life reveals that human lives and ways of living are unequal. Life appears on a hierarchical order. However, Socrates fail to clarify the precise ranking of life and does not provide where any given kind of life belong in the hierarchy. From his interaction with different people, Socrates gets first-hand information, which makes him to conclude that â€Å"unexamined life is not worth living.† He believes that Athens does not persevere to obtain what is good. About good life, Socrates exemplifies the enlightenment stance. His notion is that ethical virtue defines a good life, which entails the practice of specific proficiency or wisdom concerning ethical issues. According to Socrates, pragmatic wisdom about ethical issues entails knowing the meaning of virtues, which involves the riddance of irregularity in belief concerning the meaning of virtues. In his pursuit of true knowledge, he comments, "Certainly I would pride and preen myself if I had this knowledge, but I do not have it, gentlemen." As it appears, Socrates believes in true wisdom founded on

Canadian Museum of Nature Web Analysis Essay Example for Free

Canadian Museum of Nature Web Analysis Essay The Canadian Museum of Nature’s website is an average piece of work that gathers audience from both English and French speaking individuals. The museum’s Web presence is elegant and simple to use, clearly separating the English segment from the French segment to allow easier navigation throughout the site, which, considering the size and diversity of the system it represents, makes you wonder how the designers and creators managed to pull it off in such a simple way. Rhetorical Design The Canadian Museum of Nature’s website is intended to promote the museum’s products and services on offer at the museum among English speaking and French speaking tourists. Almost anyone visiting this website is most likely looking for information about a certain service or item relating to natural history and tourism, so it is safe to state that the primary audience for this website are nature lovers and tourists wishing to visit Canada or local Canadians looking for a place just to have a good time enjoying the marvels of nature. However, there is something for everyone in this website. Even for those who don’t intend to visit the museum but want to win something, there’s a photo contest section on the home page that might serve to draw more traffic to the site. This enhances the possibility of attracting more members to join in the course of the museum. The website also has links that connect to 5 of their other websites, basically to diversify and exert their web and market presence in the field of nature. The context of the website explores the versatility of the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Internal organization and products and services offered by the museum. Information on the home page is divided into eleven primary categories: Calendar of activities, visitor information, teacher zone, about the museum, renewal, exhibitions, polar year, collections, research, library and products services. The site also has quick links on shopping, becoming a member, donating to the cause, staff, press room and there is also a link for visitors to post comments and questions to the staff. All these information is carefully and strategically placed on the page to allow for easy navigation and still leaves a lot of space on the site. Congested sites tend to be an eye sore to the readers, but as for this one, no one has to worry about having to go through dozens of information to get to what you’re looking for. Interface Design The entire website is filled with photos of animals and artifacts of natural history which blends in very well with the overall theme of the website. Each page contains at least three amazing photos that keep the visitor glued to the website, even if just for the photos. Actually, come to think of it, the website contains very little text, it is only the overall design and beautiful photos that keep visitors busy on the site since there’s nothing much to read from the website. The home page contains very clear navigational links on the left hand side of the page to other sections of the website with its interface being simple, consistent and functional. However, due to the limited amount of information on the website, the interface does not provide sufficient feedback and does not have a real time visitor – support staff dialog system. Visitors have to leave a message on the contact us section and wait for an unknown amount of time for a feedback. All pages contain site navigation links. Site Design Text on the website is aligned to the left side of the screen, which is very effective for both the new and ordinary users of the site. The design of the site reflects the basic hierarchical organization of the Canadian Museum of Nature. From the home page, links to other major divisions can be easily accessed from the left hand corner; with each major hyperlink having a page that directs the user to other major sub-divisions; which leads the user to the exact information that can best satisfy the user’s specific need. The information on the pages, although minimal, gives a clear understanding of the basic intention of the site owners. The home page contains links to virtually everything someone would be looking for within the website. On the top right hand corner of the site, there’s an appropriately placed site index which is very helpful in the navigation of the website. The site relies heavily on indexes as it is virtually impossible to find what you looking for without linking to a page that contains the sort of information that will be of help to the visitor. Page Design The web pages in this site are designed for users with 15 inch monitors. Since navigation throughout the site relies heavily on the site index and table of contents, the pages reveal a consistent visual hierarchy. The designers of this site rely on museum’s logo on each page as a header to constantly remind the user that they are still on the site, although the site could use the inclusion of a table on the calendar of activities segment to help the reader cut to the chase and find the exact thing he’s looking for instead of browsing through the links. Typography Only three font types have been used throughout the website, in order to make it neat at professional-like, with Verdana being the outstanding one. Coupled with a white background and text that are aligned to the left side of the page, the pages are full of life and bring out the message in a rather natural and easy way. Editorial Style The text in this site is brief and exact to the point even though it doesn’t cover entirely everything a visitor would most likely want to know about. The site does not use titles or subtitles as it contains functional links that act as titles. Graphics Multimedia The website is fairly simple and does not contain a lot of graphics – only nature photos, which are significant in building the theme of the site and absolutely no audio, video, animation or multimedia of any sort and therefore it makes it easy for the pages to load faster, even with slower internet connectivity. Overall Impression To sum it up, the website has a fairly simple design. The fact that only three font types have been used in the entire site makes it easy to read through without straining . It is most likely to attract twice as much attention and traffic since it is written in two languages with clear and large enough text. Also, it appeals to its audience due to the fact that it has incorporated exquisite photos of what’s on offer at the museum and there’s also the constant use of the color green, which is a symbol of nature. The green color is likely to blend in with the visitor’s impression of the museum. What I liked most about this website is its simple yet comprehensive design and the fact that it is written for a much more broader audience i. e. the English and French. However, the website is too shallow and doesn’t have enough information for visitors. This makes new visitors to the site dig deeper than the site in order to find information that’s featured in the website. On a general point of view, the website can be rated â€Å"Average†.

Factors Determining Work-Life Balance

Factors Determining Work-Life Balance The main objective of study was to know that what Factors determine the work life balance and what causes may be hurdle in work life balance practices in pharmaceutical sector in Pakistani culture. The questionnaire technique was used in conducting for this study. The results show that high rate of absenteeism cause work life unbalance and time management practice leads to work life balance activities. Furthermore, the study shows that demographic variables for employees play an important role for work life balance. Key Words: Work-life balance, Absenteeism, Time Management, Human Resource. Introduction Decenzo, Robbins Verhulst have written (2008) that Human Resource is the most important resource for organizations irrespective of; they are commercial or non-commercial organizations. This is because the organizations having a lot of buildings and latest equipment, cannot achieve their goals without well talented human resources. Nowadays in global perspective, organizations compete with each other. They try to get such advantages which cannot be attained and achieved easily by other organizations. In order to get some competitive advantages, they use different techniques and try to satisfy their employees. Eikhof, Warhurst Haunschild have studied (2007) that organizations need to maintain competent and satisfied workers to achieve their goals. Work Life Balance (WLB) plays important role in employees performance. In these days, it is considered as an important and hot Issue which is explained in meetings and conferences whether these are conducted by governments, practitioners and academic forums is work life balance. In order to get competitive advantages, the talented, well happy and satisfied employees are needed to the organizations. They satisfy their employees to provide different facilities. But nowadays work-life balance system is being practiced to satisfy their employees. Gregory Milner (2009) say that the Work life Balance is an important for employees. That is why the representative (Unions) of employees demands for such policies which maintain the work life balance for employees. It has been discussed that work-life balance influences employees performance and their satisfaction level. During of making policies for employees in developed countries, the work life balance is being paid specific attention (Gregory Milner, 2009). Scholarios Marks (2004) have studied that work life unbalance is considered as most important issue which has impact on the employees performance. Managing and maintaining work life balance increases employees performance and satisfaction. There has been choosing only two factors time management and absenteeism to examine the factors that influences work life balance. There may be other factors. For example, Worker easiness, satisfaction etc. This is because that I have observed my roommates doing in pharmaceutical company. They were in trouble due to work life unbalance. They told these factors. That is why I chose only these two factors. The objective of study is to explore that the work efficiency, absenteeism and time management can be made determinant factors for work life balance or not? This study will provide solutions to these problems which are created by not to be work life balance. There are three dependent and independent variables. Dependent variable is Work- Life Balance. Independent variables are Absenteeism and Time Management. Literature Review Work Life Balance According to Redmond, Valiulis Eileen Drew (2006) the work-life balance it may be different for different persons. The term used in the literature to refer to policies that attempts to achieve a greater complementarily and balance between work and home responsibilities. Beauregard Henry (2009) stated that numerous organizations are paying significant attention to provide work-life balance practices to facilitate their employees. Having work-life balance practices, they are attracting worker to themselves and are enhancing their employees performance. Promotion and improvement of work-life balance is the most hot issue which is presently being debated among governmental departments and all other persons and departments which have concerns to the employees (Fleetwood, 2007). White, Hill, McGovern, Mills, Smeaton, D (2003) have studied that Politicians and policymakers are exploring solutions. There are some new concepts which are related to employees, are emerging all over the world. One most new of them is Work-Life Balance. Greenblatt (2002) has studied that Achieving and maintaining employees work life balance has become a strategic part of many organizations. In perspective of global competition for personnel, some industries have attracted talented human resources to provide them the facility of work life balance. Attracting them, the industries are getting competitive advantages to compete their competitors (Greenblatt, 2002). There is a thing in which employer support influence on which it is out of work activities and responsibilities. The employer support influences the extent to which graduates cant balance between home and work. Due to unbalance between them, the graduates face conflict between home and work. It shows two things: positive and negative. (Struges Guest, 2004). Employees as well as the managers demand solutions to solve problems that create due to work-life unbalance practice. As a result, the work- life- balance has considered as a worldly serious topic in government and corporate meetings as well conferences. In next decades, work-life-balance would become the most debatable topic which will be managing by executives and human resources professionals (Bird, 2006). There are much discussion about work-life balance and family-friendly employment used to conduct among politicians and businessmen. Some workers do their work at home. Doing working at home, usually is not considered as an included within such these practices (Felstead, Jewson, Phizacklea Walters, 2002).It has been studied that work-life balance practices have significant impact to improve their job satisfaction level both for male and female. Due to having doubt in high level job satisfaction for gender gap, they dont want to explain it. These practices cause the getting benef its which increase the workers satisfaction level regarding to basic and salary perspective. There are several policies and rules and regulations by which the use of work-life balance practices are encouraged (Asadullah Fernandez, 2008). The most important issue is Work life balance. The organizations recognize this issue as a most important part of their strategy. The employees also consider it as a most important thing for themselves (Guest, 2002). The employer has an own view is that work-life balance makes people happy with their job. The employees are satisfied with it. Due to having work-life balance practice in organizations, they do their work and responsibilities very well. Using work-life balance, the employer can have support in recruiting and retaining of its staff. Work-life balance practices have m any benefits both for employers and employees (Manfredi Holliday 2004). It has been discussed, the organizations are urged to follow completely rules and regulations that are lay down from code of Corporate Social Responsibility. This concept of CSR considers it as a most important factor. Now organizations understand that WLB can have a most important role in enhancing employees performance and satisfaction. They can observe and then compare to previous figures the benefits of this practice, if the employers have practices of work-life balance (Welford, 2008). Absenteeism Traditionally definition of absence is non-appearance for scheduled work. It means not to be physically an employee in the workplace. Due to do working in virtual offices, the appropriate meaning of absence has become changed and has become difficult to understand absence (Kristensen et al., 2006). There are many factors which increase the expenses of establishment. One of them is absence with team production. The absence rate can be reduces through additional monitoring. But it is too much expensive. And it results in lower absence rate (Heywood Jirjahn, 2004). In spite of notifications from organizations to the employees due to be absence, the workers are not paying attention to minimize their absenteeism (Vardi Wiener, 1996). It has been discussed that increasing rate of absenteeism is a big problem not only in United State but also throughout the world. Making absence from class, the students miss a lot of instructions and learning materials which are delivered from their respected teachers. Figures show that absenteeism can cause the students truancy which leads later students to the young crime and law-breaking (Yepern Hagedoorn, 1996). Until few years, a lot number of economists not used to consider absenteeism as an important issue. But nowadays it has become as an important issue and it almost is discussed in every conference conducting on labors related problems (Frick Malo, 2008). Due to increasing rate of work absence in work place in many European states, the owners attention are attracting to this issue. In developed countri es, the maximum employees are protected by insurance companies and laws (Brostrà ¶m, Johansson Palme, 2004). The greatest factor among blue-collar employee which creates a trouble in the assembly lines is absenteeism. It has a negative impact on value and operations expenses (Mateo, 2008). It may be nature that worker demand some days of vacations. But the entrepreneur influences the vacations of worker. He can make more costly to take leaves for workers or he can make workers schedule very tight (Jaarsveld Yanadori, 2011). Lishchinsky Rosenblatt (2009) have taken results that there are four moral ideas. These are helpful climate, proper environment, inclination to behave badly and technical fairness. Helpful environment is related to absence period and others are related to absence frequency. Due to demand of absence policy from employees, the employees absence policies and procedures are being developed. They may make getting absenteeism easier for employees and may make most benefits for them (Dalton Perry, 1981). If absenteeism increase in high level in short term, it will lead to decreasing of employees performance in long term (Harrison, 1998). absenteeism leads to decreased performance in the Time Management Time management involves the process of determining needs, setting goals to achieve these needs, prioritizing and planning tasks required to achieve these goals (Lakein 1973). Claessens, Eerde, Rutte Roe (2005) stated that the importance of practice of time management is growing. Time management training is being conducted in competing organizations. Vasiliadou, Derri, Galanis Emmanouilidou (2009) have written that the usage of schedules and guidelines and the application of time and instruments play a most important role to increase the usage of session time. Organizations must have more interest in time because of it is a scarce resource and it involves the various resources of the Organization, if time wasnt managed, nothing else will be managed. And a good management of time is useful in providing the resources and the costs of the Organization (Alsarayreh , 2012). Time management is a good technique to check up more patients in less available time. This technique can be used by using centralized Data Stream Management System DSMS(Srivastava Widom ,2004). It has been studied that teachers abilities can be improved if different kind of time management trainings are provided to teachers. Studying in parallel manner affects the students ability and achieves. It would lead in more complete conclusions. He effect of the program on student achievement or on teacher (Vasiliadou, Derri, Galanis Emmanouilidiou , 2009). Clinical physicians are facing some major issues in todays wellbeing care atmosphere. One of them is lack of time management practice. Due to lack of time management practice, cost of some activities is increasing gradually (Kleshinski, Dunn Kleshinski, 2010). Time management, and its impact on performance and achievement, has been researched extensively over the last few decades. Many people believe that time management is the key to success in academics, business and many other aspects of life. However, previous research on time management has not produced consistent findings as to whether or not time management is imperative to academic success (Time Management). The use and understanding of time-based structures is an important component for good individual time management. Four properties of individual time management include planning, meeting deadlines, sensing a lack of time control and engaging in procrastination. Scott (2011). Anand (2007) 26 urged that if employees are skillful at a beginning stage then time management designs are implanted in them and they remain during their workplace lives. Methodology This study was conducted in pharmaceutical sector. That is why the population of this study is the worker of vision pharmaceutical company. The questions used in this study were an adaptation from different articles. Questions of work life balance used in desertion of Chaney (2007) which is written to fulfill the requirement for the degree of doctor of Education Alpha thornback reliability is 0.78. Questions of time management were used in thesis of Vander hall (1995) which was submitted in partial fulfillment of the re quitrent for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Alpha thornback reliability was 0.7. Absenteeism questions were used by Lishchinsky and Risenblatt (2008). Cronbachs Alpha Reliability is 0.75. In order to make this study, 150 questionnaires were floated in vision pharmaceutical company. 113 filled questionnaires are understood reasonable to make this study. A questionnaire which is used in this study consists of purpose of this study. There are two part in questioners. First consists of demographics: gender, age, education, marital status, family size and income level. In this part likert scale was used. Second part consists of 24 objects to measure Work-life balance, Absenteeism and Time Management. 5 items were used to measure Work-Life Balance, 11 were used to measure Absenteeism and 8 for Time Management. All the items were supported with 5 point Liker scale ranging from 1. Strongly Disagree to 5. Strongly Agree. Cranachs Alpha values of each variable are mentioned in table. Theoretical framework Absenteeism Work-Life Balance Independent Variable Time management Dependent Variable In order to check the relationship between the independent and dependent variables, two hypotheses were developed. H1: Workers high rate of absence causes work-life unbalance. H2: Time management practice will lead to work-life balance. Data Analysis Demographical analysis shows that out of sample of 113, 85 are men and 18 are women. Due to womens lack interest to do job in Pakistani culture; womens length is less than men. Most of them are between 36-45 years old. Most of them are those who got Intermediate education. There are two specific questions that were used in questionnaire. These questions have most impact on work life balance. These are about marital status and monthly income. Descriptive statistics is used to determine the main features of the collected data in quantitative terms. It is used to examine the central tendency of the data in terms of mean, median, mode and standard deviation. All the items used in the instrument (questionnaire), were based on 5-point Liker scale therefore, the mean values greater than 3.00 for all the three variables. (Work life balance, Absenteeism and Time Management are showing the significant positive trend. The correlation analysis is used to find out the strength of the relationship between several variables. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). The regression analysis is used to determine the dependence of Work life balance upon the Independent variables i.e. Absenteeism and Time Management. The results showed that up to 0.49 of the variation in criterion variable (Work life balance) is explained by two of the predicting variables i.e. Absenteeism and Time Management. The values of coefficients of coefficients were found as 0.352 for absenteeism and 0.398 for time management. Hence, the results found that adjusted R Square of absenteeism is 0.116 and of time management is 0.151. Discussions and Findings Work life balance is a most important among employees. This is because that lack of work life balance practice causes the employees satisfaction. The main motive of this study was to check that what factors can determine the work life balance. Results show that all the selected elements affect the work life balance. The results of this study of employees of pharmaceutical company shows that if the employees absenteeism rate is less in company, work life balance can be achieved here. Time management practices determine the work life balance. Descriptive results shed light on the positive trend of each of the variables selected for the study. Time management also plays a major role. If a time management is being practiced in company, work life balance can be achieved here. Pharmaceutical sector is the most important sector in which time management practice can provide work life balance for employees. The research study has shown that most of the time management practitioners are influenced. Time management and Absenteeism are found having positive relationship. This study also validates this notion as if there is less absenteeism rate in company; work life balance can be attained in this company. Conclusion The research study has shown that independent variables that are Absenteeism and Time Management play a very important role in getting work life balance practices. Each independent variable influences dependent variable in this study. The human resources are the most important and most valuable assets in each and every organization. That is why the organizations want, try and struggle very well to make their workers satisfied. Satisfied employees would be able to make long term profitable relationship with company. This study was conducted to determine the factors that influence and have impact on work life balance. There are many factors available in this field that can be chose for this study. But only two factors were taken for this study. Due to having observation regarding to these two factors. The results show significant relation among independent and dependent variables. Time management has a positive and significant relation to work life balance. It means that if time management practices were being practiced in organization, then their employees can have work life balance practices. This practice will lead to enhance organizations performance. Similarly second independent variable is time management. It has positive impact on work life balance. It means that if absenteeism rate is high, it will lead to work life unbalance. It will create troubleness among employees work life balance. There is significant effect of absenteeism on work life balance. If there is high absenteeism rate in organizations, it will cause work life unbalance. The employees cannot manage their work life balance activities.

The Language of Eudora Weltys Losing Battles :: Eudora Welty Losing Battles

The Language of Eudora Welty's Losing Battles In his essay, "The Languages of Losing Battles", Mr. Bass contends that the form of language used by two major characters in Eudora Welty's Losing Battles, Julia Mortimer and Granny Vaughn, serves as a challenge to the "male-authored decrees" (Bass) found throughout the book. Julia's idioms are "teaching, writing, and books," (Bass)while Granny Vaughn, on the other hand, uses oral language to transmit family history. While Julia's province is one of ideas and abstraction in the written word, Granny Vaughn's stories are concrete, empirical, and rooted in actual events and real people. How these two methods of questioning male authority are used by the two characters is discussed at length by Mr. Bass, and this discussion comprises much of the bulk of this article. The "male-authored decrees" challenged by the two women throughout the book are numerous, and Mr. Bass makes use of only a few of these to make his point. In truth, although his thesis is strong and well composed, most this article consists of a rather opaque discussion of biblical symbolism, and how its various applications in the novel relate to Granny Vaughn's "spoken folk myth." In Losing Battles,Julia has "written her own apocrypha" (Bass) on leaves torn from her bible. This is used by Bass as a prototype of written challenge to male authority. In some way, Bass contends, the written word of Julia is a counterweight to Granny's dominance of the family, although Julia's words must be taken for what they are, since she is not alive to interpret them. While the written word "moves outward toward the abstract or conceptual and away from the concrete center," the spoken language of Granny Vaughn and others "draws in close to make the emblematic concrete, familial." (Bass) What exactly this balance does for the furthering of the women's influence in the book is a question that seems to have been left for the reader to answer. Included in the piece is an interesting discussion of "banners and battles," and the way that these images "mark the main conflict of the novel between local and absolute."Bass uses the emblem of "Jack's 'torn sleeve that flowed free from his shoulder like some old flag carried home from far-off battle.' " to represent a convergence of a "banner" with a "battle". Mr. Bass has taken a risk with his attempt to convince his readers that

Essay --

â€Å"Please don’t kill me!† No, No don’t hurt me! Ahhhhhhhh ! â€Å"Someone help me!† I quickly jumped up out of my bed as my alarm almost gave me a mild heart- attack. I was drenched in sweat. It looked as if I had been running a marathon. â€Å"Good Morning sunshine, wake up sleepy head,† my Aunt Erica announced, waking me up. My Aunt Erica and Uncle Freddie took me in because my parents,younger brother and sister were killed in an accident. The autopsy showed that the Porsche they were riding in burst into flames. I find the accident quite odd, because my Dad always took care and monitored his car. The detectives said it was an accident but I believe someone had something to do with it. My Dad owned one of the largest companies in Los Angeles. We were well known in California. The night my parents died, I was at home studying for my mid-term, with my boyfriend. They left to go attend a press conference and my brother Dylan and sister Marissa went with them. A few hours later, the police showed up at my house three hours later and broke the news to me. I was devastated for weeks. I would cry every second of the day. It was really hard, I still don’t think I will ever get over it. The adoption case was very short. Because my father was such a wealthy man, his half his fortune would pass down to me when I turn 16†¦ The adoption process went by rapidly. In the spam of two weeks, I lived with my aunt and uncle. I was a nervous wreck to go back to school. I haven’t been since my parents died. Everyone in the world heard about my dad’s death, so I know that the kids in my new school have. I rolled out of bed to endure my delicious breakfast that mu uncle made. I glanced at my face as I passed by the mirror. My eyes were swollen... ...o a man and Jason was coming to his office. I sent the notes to my email address and hurried out his office. I ran to Nicole’s car and she sped off. â€Å"What happened?† It was him he did it. I can’t go to the police. I want to have my party before my life gets worse. I will do it tomorrow, I promise. I went home and went straight to sleep. My aunt and uncle woke me up with a huge cake that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY in white sweet frosting. I woke got out of bed around 10:00 am. My party started around 8:30 so I needed to go, because I had a lot of stuff to do. My old and new friends came over my house and we all got our hair, nails, eyebrows, and hair done. We got to my party and there he was trying to kill me. That was the tragedy of my sweet 16. The man that my family trusted was the same one that killed my parents, brother and sister just for my dad’s inheritance.

What Dreams May Come Essay -- Film Movies Review Life After Death Essa

What Dreams May Come The movie What Dreams May Come gives a rather positive view on the afterlife. I think most of the ideas and views shown in the film are related to many of society's main beliefs pertaining to death and the afterlife, but the views are left broad enough so they can relate to any specific religion. Personally, I have no concrete belief concerning the afterlife, or whether or not if there even is life after death, but I can see why many people would agree with many of the films perspectives. The movie is shown through Robin Williams's character, Chris Nielson who's first personal encounter with death is when his two children, Marie and Ian both die in a car accident. Four years later he dies himself after being hit by a car. After the accident, he sees himself on the ground from an outside perspective. The next thing he knows, he is able to see himself lying in a hospital bed, and at the same time there is a very gentle voice talking to him asking him if he understands the things happen ing to him, but at this point Chris is still very confused. In an instant, Chris is at his own funeral where he begins to see his physical body appearing around him. According to the voice means he is finally understanding that he has passed on. He then wanders his house, and is reluctant to leave his distraught wife Annie. Next, a blurry figure appears, speaking with the same gentle voice. The figure comforts him and tells him it is time to leave and basically helps him grasp his death and travel to the next world. Afterwards, Chris is willing to leave, and he suddenly finds himself running down a dark tunnel towards a light, and then he appears in a colorful world resembling one of his wife's paintings of where their dream house is supposed to be. Here, he is reunited with his dog who had died earlier in the movie. Also, the blurry figure becomes clear and turns out to be his old doctor friend Albert, who later turns out to be Chris?s son Ian just masking himself in the physical body of Albert. This form is chosen by his son because the doctor was one of the only people Chris had ever listened to while he was alive. Albert(Ian) basically helps him understand that he is dead and that people have a soul or an identity that lives on after the physical body has passed. He learns that there is a God, and he learns of this new realm, and how everyth... ...y of your significant life experiences is constantly detectable throughout the entire film. Mainly after Chris goes to his version of heaven, and also when he sees his daughter and she has her heaven based on a toy model she had in her physical life. Another example is when she tells him her new physical appearance is based on what he had said when they were both alive. Overall, I thought this movie was pretty entertaining, especially with all the special effects. I even think the ideas about the afterlife are pretty idealistic, but I see no solid reason to believe any of it. Any part of this movie could be possible, because I(like everyone else) do not know for sure what happens after we die. However, if there is one part I can find believable, it is the first half. The part when Robin Williams first dies up to when he travels through the tunnel, because it relates to so many peoples? near death experiences. I still think this movie left too many questions, but I would like the afterlife to be like what the movie portrayed, because I don?t plan on killing myself anytime soon, and it would be nice to know that I am going to still exist after I die and be reunited with my family.

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