Monday, September 30, 2019

Ivan the Terrible

Candice Ivan IV, Tsar of Russia is better known as Ivan the terrible. In the following paragraphs I will depict major events in his life and the role he played in Russia. I will also exhibit the many positive things that he did. As well as the negative things that he did to Russian society during his reign of thirty-seven years. I will debate the fact that Ivan IV was nick named Ivan the terrible. Ivan IV, Tsar of Russia is better known as Ivan the terrible. In the following paragraphs I will depict major events in his life and the role he played in Russia. I will also exhibit the many positive things that he did. As well as the negative things that he did to Russian society during his reign of thirty-seven years. I will debate the fact that Ivan IV was nick named Ivan the terrible. Ivan IV was born on August 25, 1530, in Moscow. He was the son of Vasily III, the grand duke of Moscow, who died when Ivan was just three years old. His mother Yelena Glinskaya who was from a leading noble family established a regency, which soon became nothing but corruption and wild violence as rival families feuded the dominance of the Ginskaya family. After Yelena Glinkaya died in 1538 the misrule continued after that. Ivan was crowned in 1547, but not as grand duke but as a tsar. In the same year he married Anastasia Romonov. Anastasia died on 1560, and Ivan remarried many times. Ivan died March 18,1584. Ivan IV made many positive attributes. From the year 1547-1560 are considered to be the really productive period of Ivan’s reign. During this period Ivan appointed an advisory council. Ivan also founded a national assembly in 1549, and enacted reforms in the local government . He also drew up a new law code in 1550. He also regulated the responsibilities and jobs of the aristocracy. Expansion of Russia eastward also started during this period. And finally trading began with the English, Dutch, and the French. Ivan IV made many negative attributes as well. In 1560 when Anastasia died marked the end of Ivan’s productive period. Ivan IV was increasingly powerful and he turned against his advisors, because he was convinced that they had caused her death, backed by rival Nobel families. Ivan threatened to abdicate unless the nobles were punished. Ivan left Moscow in 1564, and settled in a village called Aleksandrovsk. The confused people of Moscow begged Ivan to return . Ivan eventually returned to Moscow under two conditions. First, he had to have the right to punish traitors, executing them necessary and keeping their stuff. Secondly, he had a political and territorial subdivision called â€Å"the oprichnia† was to be established, and managed completely under the tsar. Ivan IV also known as Ivan the terrible. Ivan the terrible led a very eventful life. Ivan had many negative attributes. As well as positive attributes. If you put things in perspective all of these things balance off. So was Ivan IV really terrible? , you be the judge.

Comic Outline

Shays Rebellion brought debates over the constitution. People were fighting about Shays Rebellion because they were unhappy. They were unhappy because they believed they were not getting the freedoms they deserved. Shays Rebellion got Its name after a guy named Daniel Shay. He was a farmer who refused to pay taxes on his land because he believed he should not have to. So, when they came to take it away he put up a fight.Daniel Shay rebelling gave others the guts to stick up for what they wanted as well. This was being discussed In the court because people started to voice their disagreements with The Articles of Confederation since Daniel Shay did. Block 2-After Shays Rebellion This block shows where the next convention took place. There was obviously a problem with the articles. Originally the meeting was to fix the articles, but instead they created something completely different. Block 3-Articles of Confederation The third block represents the constitutional convention and people arguing about whether or not the U.S government should be ran on The Articles of Confederation. It was written so that the united States had rules to abide by and to finally have some of their own law In order. The Articles had many problems with It though, With It congress has no right to tax, they also had no power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce, there was no national court system, and several others. Block 4- Virginia Plan The fourth block Is showing representatives of Virginia coming up and having a plan that they believe will solve a ma]orally of the Issues.The purpose of the Virginia Plan was to protect the large states' interests in the new government. Many smaller states disagreed with this. Block 5-Virginia Plan Problems This block represents the problems with the Virginia Plan. Obviously the main Issue which all the delegates could tell right away was the unfair advantage the larger states got. They had this idea that every state would only have two representa tives which was not in the smaller states favor again. Block 6- New Jersey Plan The sixth block has delegates coming up to the stand to speak on behalf of the reports of the New Jersey Plan.In this block It also shows how Connecticut also had a plan yet it was ignored and was not even acknowledged. That is showed by the delegate representing the Connecticut Plan with his hand up yet not being acknowledged. The NJ Plan was brought up after the Virginia Plan, it was a way for the smaller states represent themselves and to also make sure that they got the liberties that they needed. Under the NJ Plan Congress had the power of setting and collecting taxes which some looked as good and others viewed as a negative.Block 7- Problems with the NJ Plan This block continues with the NJ Plan being discussed but people now are beginning to bring up the good and bad points on it, bad Including each state having the same number of representatives. Meaning a small group would have the same number a s 1 OFF possible to pass laws some laws that not all the people would agree with. Block 8- The Great Compromise The eighth block shows The Great Compromise finally being adopted after a week and a half and tons of discussion on July 16th.The Great compromise was a ambition of the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan featuring the fact that none of them had enough good things about them for it to be adopted by itself. It can also be known as The Connecticut Plan because while coming up with it Connecticut finally got a voice. Block 9- How Great compromise led to the constitution Well first off it had a big impact on all states. They all agreed that they should have two senators and that they should have an equal amount of representatives. Which was a plus that they finally agreed on that because in both plans they had different opinions on that topic.When it was passed it brought hope and spirit to the people of the U. S. That hope helped to lead the idea of the Constitution. Block 10-The â€Å"Real Revolution† After The Great Compromise being accepted finally it solved several issues and allowed the states to finally have a government that seemed reliable. The Real Revolution was more than the War of Independence. It began before the war with Britain and it lasted until after due to the fact that it was a revolution worth fighting for. So, this block shows people getting along and agreeing happily for the first time in a long time.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Philosophy Term Paper: Abortion

Philosophy Term Paper Sometimes problems of mental disability and illness arise within a fetus during human development. Questions arise whether or not those fetuses should live or not (abortion). I believe that they do have a right to live. No one can play God and decided whether or not a being should live. We cannot judge whether or not a person is going to be mentally ill or not. We do not know the full potential of that person and we cannot predict whether or not he will always stay mentally challenged. How do we know that person will not get better? How do we know that he really is mentally disabled? We have no right to take a life because we THINK that we may be are helping that individual by not bringing him into a life of hardship and complication. This can be compared to â€Å"ending the misery† of an old person because we think he is pain. This is absurd and wrong. I believe that the double effect principle is not in accordance to the catholic natural law. The catholic natural law states that evil may not be done that good come of it. This means that you can never have something good come out from something evil. Hence, if the double effect states that it is ok to take the life of the baby to save the life of the mother, we are saying it is ok to kill the baby to save the mother; even though killing a person is unjustifiable. This goes against the natural law because the natural law says there is no good from something evil. So, if killing a person is evil there is nothing good that could come out of it. This is why the two ideas are not accordance. In fact, they are completely contradictory- one justifies the abortion and the other doesn’t. 3) I do agree with the both of his principles because he assumes the zygote and whatever comes after it a form of human life and will potentially becomes a person. Devine describes humanity as stages. The way kids turn into adolescent, adolescent into adult, adult into elder. This can also imply that there is development before infancy from zygote to fetus. This is a link in the stages of humanity that philosophers mention of. Also, people do not realize how the infant is the same person in and out the mother’s tomb. The mother gives a name to the fetus and talks about him/her. She treats the fetus as if it was outside the womb, becoming attached to the baby. Looking at these to principles we can see why Devine talks about abortion as murder. We see the zygote being a link in the chain of humanity and the way it is perceived as an infant before delivery. Unless there is a reason for the abortion (mother’s health), abortion should be considered murder. ) 5) Warren states that the first two are enough to prove that a fetus is not a person, justifying the abortion. She expands her claim not only to infants but also to, â€Å"a man or woman whose consciousness has been permanently obliterated but who remains alive is a human being which is no longer a person; defective human beings with no appreciable mental capacity, are not and presumably never will be people; and a fetus is a human being whic h is not yet a person, and which therefore cannot coherently be said to have moral rights. So, not only does she deduce the fact that fetuses are not a person, but also the mentally challenged and ill. Warren also keeps in mind that the attributes that are relevant in determining whether or not moral rights are no different from those which are relevant. Hence, if there is signs of brain activity and resemblance this is not enough to prove the fetus as a person, justifying abortion. 6) To prove his point, he talks about how human cells are present but they lack the structure of a human organism. True human life is only recognizable to about three weeks and primitive brain function does not begin until about the eighth week. He also mentions how twins are not formed until the fourteenth day after conception. Since it takes two weeks to form twins, how can there be a soul in the beginning of conception and then divide into twins; you cannot divide the soul in half for each twin. For this reason I do not believe that the soul is put into the human zygote after conception. When after conception I do not know.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Regulatory and Economic environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Regulatory and Economic environment - Essay Example Sweden and the United Kingdom are both members of the European Union (EU). Twelve of these nations are tied together with the common currency, the Euro, and the EU's remaining members are obligated to join by treaty once they meet specific criteria. Sweden and the UK have made no plans as of yet to change to the Euro. The EU is the world's largest economy, which is projected to grow at a rate of 2.1% per year. The Growth and Stability Pact insures that each state's deficit doesn't exceed 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and its public debt must remain below 60% of their GDP. The United Kingdom is one of the best places in the world to do stem cell research. This is because of the strong history in stem cell biology in the UK, the tight regulatory system administered by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and the strong commitment we have, both financially and politically, from the government." (Rehwagen). Simon Best, chairman elect of the United Kingdom Bio Industry Association, also said that, "Australia, the U.K., some U.S. states, and Sweden are world class in this field. The U.K. is in a good position to build on the talents." (Rehwagen). Currently, Sweden is in a phase of economic growth. ... Sweden has a population estimated in 2006 at 9,103,551, with a highly skilled workforce. The World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Sweden as third in their survey of 104 economies and their capacity for future growth. ("Economy of the European Union"). Business growth in Sweden is deemed successful due to many factors such as: a very healthy macro-economic environment, easy access to advanced technologies, qualified workforce, good infrastructure, and competitive costs for staff, rent, and business expenses. The unemployment rate of Sweden is highly contested among political officials but the official figure is currently at 5.4% (2006.) ("Sweden."). Many Swedes also choose to work abroad in neighboring countries such as Denmark, Norway, and the United Kingdom. In relation to this, Sweden has had one of the highest tax quotas in the world since the 1960's. Countries such as France, Belgium, and Denmark have very similar taxation rates. Sweden's taxation plan is known as a two-step progressive plan. The average municipal income tax is around 31% to 56% and a capital tax rate of a flat 30%. Single persons with a net wealth more than 1,500,000 Swedish Kroner (SEK) (equivalent to 111,280) are taxed a flat rate of 1.5%. ("Economy of the European Union."). Employers are obligated to pay a 32% tax which is called an "employers fee." Other taxes in Sweden include the national Value Added Tax (VAT) of 18% or 25%, food carries a 12% VAT, and transportation and books are taxed at 6%. Miscellaneous items such as petroleum and alcohol are taxed at higher rates. Due to the high tax rates, Swedes are eligible for many government funded benefits such as:

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Globalization commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Globalization commerce - Essay Example Communication across the globe is the main reason behind the expansion of market and commerce. Moreover, the advancements in the field of transportation have also modified the standards of globalized trade and commerce. The idea behind globalization of commerce is to maximize the opportunities for production and sales. Over the last few decades a lot of companies based in the developed countries have transferred their production units to under developed or less developed countries (Dunning 67-68). The reason behind expanding businesses across borders is to undermine the opportunities like new consumer base, access to raw materials, and cheaper labor. When foreign investors bring their capital to the under developed countries, it automatically improves the revenue generation of a country. Moreover it offers jobs that help in improving employment statistics of a country. Overall, the idea of globalization is a progressive one; however, there are some flaws that include exploitation of cheap labor, export of quality produce to foreign countries, inequality, and injustice. Over the years several laws have been made for improving the living standards of the labor, the fight for labor rights has yielded in strict government policies and wage threshold. However, these laws are only applicable in the developed countries, while people living in the under developed regions do not have these securities. Therefore foreign investors look for countries that do not follow these laws, and hence they extract maximum by spending minimum. Further, globalized commerce offers tough competition for the organizations as well as the country, though competition leads to improvement in quality and quantity, but it also eliminate the weaker competitors, which is obviously not good, if one considers the current unemployment statistics. To conclude one can say that globalization maximizes the scale of opportunities, but if it is not implemented properly there are several

Contract Renewal and Non-Renewal Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Contract Renewal and Non-Renewal - Case Study Example In this case, the principal is equally responsible for doing his job that includes making a review on the success of the three contacts in place and come up with necessary recommendations. In reviewing domain 1, there is active and successful student participation and thus no reason for nonrenewal. However, the lack of evidence of improvement challenges the expectation for better performance. Since ethical violations and incompetence comes before the poor performance in deciding whether to renew a contract under TEA, I will recommend the board to vote on this contract to decide whether to renew it or not for the next school year. In reviewing domain 2, there is the adequate delivery of instruction as recommended by the TEA and subsequent level of improvement is present. I will, therefore, recommend for the renewal of this contract for the next school year with a hope that more improvement will follow. In reviewing domain 3, I find that adequate competence is in place as shown in prof essional development that results in moderate improvement. As a result, I would recommend for the renewal of the contract for the next school year as their no reason for nonrenewal. Indeed, domain 3 satisfies the terms and expectations of the TEA.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Aviation Safety System Management Program Research Paper

Aviation Safety System Management Program - Research Paper Example In the modern dispensation of the aviation industry, SMS has become a legal requirement for any airline operator before they can fully be registered to fly passengers. These systems are used to proactively prevent occurrences of incidents and accidents, managing chances of the occurrences and to provide a baseline for investigation purposes in case of any occurrences. This paper partly engages renowned safety analysis cases in the aviation industry while consolidating information on the need for SMS, its basics and hoe to typically design such a system for an aviation operator within all the relevant considerations as mandated by the law. However, the information contained in this paper is just for purposes of creating a foundation for further research and investigation and the systems will be dependent on the organizational needs and structures. This research paper shall engage an in-depth analysis of the concept of Safety Management System (SMS) especially within the considerations of the aviation industry with a close reference to previous renowned safety analysis case works in an attempt to try and consolidate information on the actual need for and how to create an effective SMS for purposes of safety sensitization and education in the daily operations of most organizations, the airline industry specifically (Shappel & Wiegmann, 2000). In the same regard, the best approach to take in this case is to first establish the basics of SMS with a close niche of the real life experiences using the numerous information available on this topic and typically, before setting out to elucidate the approach on how to create them, there is need to inform the whole process based on previous evidence and analysis. For a start, a Safety Management Systems (SMS) is a framework, which is principally formal and systematically indicates how to proactively identify risks and

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The UK Government is Right to Listen to Claims that Large Banks should Essay

The UK Government is Right to Listen to Claims that Large Banks should be Broken up - Essay Example From this study it is clear that  the impediment is that every niche of this argument is based on a myth. The first misleading notion is that the materialization of huge, universal banks- uniting investment banking with commercial banking- was an unnatural or artificial development. This disjointed market means that banks could not accomplish the economies of scale or simply supply clients on a global or national level. The market needs stimulated the consolidation and gave birth to an evolution towards greater competency in the banking sector.This paper stresses that  a second erroneous belief is that these universal, large institutions were primarily to give guilt for financial crisis. As most grave observers recognize, an amalgamation of risk management and bad lending by poor regulation, bank management and poor-advised consumer performance all played a role. A third misleading notion is that huge financial institutions have become too intricate to supervise. A firm of any si ze needs strong management and control to supervise complication. In reality, big global institutions have frequently proved more elastic than others because their expansion in business model makes sure that loss in one department of enterprise can be stifled by revenues in other departments of the organization. In some instances, intricacy can be a remedy to risk, instead of a reason of it.  The opponents of huge banks that are seldom aired similar to they don’t qualify for examination.... Critics point to the excessive influence huge banks mostly has on the political procedures. They panic that those regulators are intimidated by a big bank’s power and position. These opponents appear to consider that regulators are not capable of coming up with independent verdicts. In the practical world, this instance is not true. That supposed, it is genuinely right and mandatory for politicians and regulators to employ with industry and experts practitioners to be trained about these issues. These regulators are not browbeaten, but they usually do require more capability and improved cooperation with each other to take on the tasks lucratively (Duffie 2011). Another condemnation is that huge banks receive large, implied subsidies from government and can borrow money more reasonably because they are considered to ‘too big to fail’. But the facts don’t stay out. Big banks invest billions of dollars to bring services and products want, investments that a f irm has accomplished scale can make. The scale permits them to carry, like huge-box stores, more invention, more consistent and convenience, dependent service (Wilson 2012). Breaching the huge banks would damage their clients, customers, and the economy as a well. In actuality, it would insert novel risks into the financial arena. If the globalized, multifunctional, universal banks are obligated back into dedicated lending firs, they will require figuring out novel ways to give the returns to shareholders. This could easily lead the way to an augmentation in risk lending. Most of the banks in United Kingdom function all over the globe and have to function with international banks. If they are not able to work with banks in UK, they will then work with banks based

Monday, September 23, 2019

The food industry in the United State Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The food industry in the United State - Essay Example Moreover, the rest of the world has already recognized the need to put labels on all products that contain genetically modified organisms and implemented the corresponding legislations. Subsequently, there is a sufficient ground to consider the lack of GMO labels as a serious problem of the modern food industry that demands immediate and effective solutions to preserve safety and rights of the general population. To start with, the issue of GMO labelling should be viewed as a national concern since it touches upon all Americans rather than some particular group. For instance, since the massive production of GMO foods was launched in 90s, they gradually took the great share of the market and, today, constitute the prevailing majority of all the available products. Namely, near 70 percent of all processed food that are sold on the territory of the United States contain genetically engineered ingredients as well as the majority of the crops sold throughout the country are genetically modified. (Dahl 359-361) According to Louise Chu, more than â€Å"88 percent of all corn and 94 percent of soybeans† are genetically modified. (Chu) It follows that people are left without any option apart from consuming products remaining unaware of what they are actually paying for. Subsequently, it seems irrelevant that people are not given the opportunity to learn about the genetically engineered ingredi ents that were added to the product together with all the rest information put on a label. As a result, it is possible to regard the absence of GMO labelling laws as a direct violation of people’s rights to know what they are buying and consuming. Moreover, the seriousness of the discussed problem is reinforced by the fact that GMO products are potentially harmful for the health of people. Firstly, the overall range of possible effects

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Establishing a Planned Giving Program Essay Example for Free

Establishing a Planned Giving Program Essay Charitable institutions play an important role in society, now more than ever, as socio-economic issues mount. The essence of charitable institutions is to facilitate the sharing or transfer of resources from those with excess to those who are wanting. The culture of giving emerged as a means of ensuring overall social welfare by pulling excess resources to segments of the population having more than they need to people without resources. Charitable institutions develop fund raising activities and schemes to encourage philanthropy as well as manage funds to translate this into programs for the targeted beneficiaries to fulfill this role effectively and continuously. The philosophy of fund raising for charitable work is that philanthropy plays an important role in democratic societies and fund raising is inevitable to philanthropy so that fund raising becomes an absolute necessity to democratic societies. (Kelly, 1998) Over the years, charitable institutions developed many fund raising processes or systems to ensure the short and long-term flow of funds necessary to support their important function. Planned giving is one long-term fund raising program that emerged. This works by providing donors with the option, other than outright giving, to defer giving to charitable institutions years after expressing the giving behavior, usually upon the death of the donor. This then focuses on assets instead of income as the measure of the capacity of donors to give. (Kelly, 1998) The rationale for this option is to facilitate the passing of assets from one generation to another through a system that allocates assets from their estates to charitable institutions upon their death according to their preference (Harrington, 2004). If people elect to pass their assets to charitable institutions then they can do so through planned giving. This also finds support in the governance system by providing incentives to philanthropy in the form of tax exemptions. II. Review of Literature A. Important Concepts and Definitions in Planned Giving Kelly (1998) conceptualized planned giving as the managed effort by charitable institutions to raise funds from gifts of assets of donors utilizing estate and financial planning processes and tools. The purpose of planned giving is to generate major gifts by offering donors with another option aside from outright giving. This fund raising scheme expands the prospect pool of donors by centering on assets, instead of income, as the determinant of the capacity to give. The sole concern of planned giving is facilitating the philanthropy of individual donors as compared to the other fund-raising efforts directed at the public. Previously, this fund raising method was known as deferred giving because financial benefits for the recipient charitable institution usually are postponed until years after the donor has set-up the gift, usually upon death resulting to the appropriation or management of the estate. The description explained planned giving in terms of the implications to charitable institutions and donors of the benefits from financial planning and incentives for planning giving. Weinstein (2002) defined planned giving, also known as charitable gift planning, as the giving of charitable contributions with some level of professional guidance. Most planned gifts have the effect of reducing the estate taxes, income taxes, and/or capital gains taxes of the donor. Charitable gift planning supports the charitable intentions of the donor while at the same time helps donors better manage their assets for their families and loved ones. Usually, planned gifts are bequests, which mean deferred actual receipt by charitable institutions. Non-profit organizations receive the bequest after the death of the donor. There are also other planned gifts, such as donations of appreciated stock, which accrue current contributions for the charitable institution. This definition focuses on planned giving as a process or system and the manner this works in supporting the fund raising activities of charitable institutions and asset management of donors. Hopkins (2005) explained that planned giving ideally concerns â€Å"long-term capital gain property† (p. 245) that is likely to increase in value. The greater the increase in value, the greater would be the charitable deduction as well as the income from tax savings. Value appreciation comprises a core concept in planned giving so that a planned gift is essentially interest in money or an item of property of the donor. Planning giving involves the transference of partial interest in property based on the concept of property as having two interests, which are income and remainder interest. The income interest from an item of property depends on the income generated by the property at the current time while the remainder interest from an item of property pertains to the projected value of the property, or the property produced by reinvestments, at some future date. As such, the remainder interest is the amount equal to the present value of the property when received at a subsequent point in time, which is higher than the income interest assuming that the property is appreciating. Measuring these two types of interest in property is through the consideration of property value, donor’s age, and the period when the income interest will exist. An income interest or a remainder interest in property could be subject to charitable donation. However, a deduction is almost never available for a charitable gift of an income interest in property. By contrast, the charitable contribution of a remainder interest in an item of property will likely give rise to a charitable deduction with compliance of all technical requirements. This provides an explanation of the manner that the system works and serves as an elaboration of the previous definitions. The explanation also provided a rationale for planned giving since remainder interest, which accrues in the future is usually always subject to charitable deductions when compared to income interest accruing at present. Hopkins (2005) further explained the two basic types of planned gifts. One is legacy or charitable giving contained under a will. This is a gift coming out of the estate of a deceased as a bequest or devise. Planned giving in the form of a legacy works through the inclusion of a charitable institution as a beneficiary of the estate of the donor with entitlement following the death of the donor. As such, this perpetuates the philanthropy of individual even in death. The amount assigned to the charitable institution comprises a tax exemption that decreases the estate tax. The other is a gift made during a donor’s lifetime, using a trust or other agreement. An example is charitable gift annuity that commences when a donor gives a charitable institution a certain amount of money that the institution can use, similar to a premium paid for insurance, but with the condition that a beneficiary receive payment of a certain amount every year. The amount given by the donor is subject to tax exemption. After the payment of annuity ceases such as with the death of the beneficiary, the charitable institutions gains the amount paid and all other interest accruing from its appropriation. This explains the options available to donors, with options supporting the charitable intentions of donors and providing them with convenient options for financial planning. B. Basic Steps in Establishing Planned Giving Program for a Non-Profit Organization Establishing planned giving program for a non-profit organization should involve some basic preparatory steps similar to a business plan in profit organizations. The first step is preparation. This involves an assessment of the capability of the organization to manage a planned giving program to determine areas requiring improvements to accommodate the program. Another must do is obtaining the feedback from the board over the development of the planned giving program since the board’s support determines a successful program. This step also involves a feasibility study to determine whether the intended program meets two criteria. One is whether the leaders and members of the organization together with donors believe in continuing its existence in the long-term and the other is whether donors express their belief in the longevity of the organization through significant gifts. (Barett Ware, 2002) In satisfying these criteria there is a higher probability of success. Second step is planning. This step covers the identification of goals and specific objectives of the program, the changes in organizational structure including the creation of committees and sub-committees and assignment of leadership positions and tasks, the plan for staffing such as part time or full time, the budget to cover all aspects of the program, and the timetable for the phases of the planned giving program. (Dove, Spears Herbert, 2002) These areas should receive focus to cover all planned program to support viability. The third step involves the identification of the program’s core and specific features. The idea of planned giving is to provide givers with various options on the ways through which they prefer to actualize their charitable intentions and manage their assets in the process. This means the need to identify the particular planned giving options that the non-profit organization would make available to its donors together with the details of how these works. (Ashton, 2004) This is for the benefit of the staff who would be directly dealing with donors and for the benefit of donors wanting to learn more about giving options offered by its preferred charitable institution. The fourth step is policymaking. Guidelines and protocols are inevitable in actualizing the planned giving program. Policies should cover issues such as legal advice, confidentiality of information, conflict in interest and authority in negotiations. Guidelines should also thoroughly explain procedures in executing and accepting planned gifts, valuation of donations, according of credit for planned gifts, investing managing and administering of planned gifts, and limitations and terms of planned gifts. Lastly, the policies should also establish the functions and roles of the committees and administrators. (Barett Ware, 2002) The fifth step is promoting the planned giving program to individual potential donors as well as the community in general. There are a number of ways for non-profit organizations to promote their planned giving programs including the handouts or leaflets, newsletters and other widely distributed publications, hosted events, seminars, and personal testimonials or referrals. The important thing is to introduce the program to people as a means of developing interest in planned giving and reaching out to existing donors who could be interested in different options. (Reiss, 2000) The sixth step is prospecting. This involves a two-fold consideration. On one hand, this involves the determination of the likely uptake of the program by considering potential donors including the involvement in planned giving by members of the board themselves. This results to identification of anticipated long-term fund raising position of the organization. On the other hand, this also involves the determination of the impact of the program including the possible issues and problems to support contingency planning. (Rosso, 2003) C. Establishing Goals and Objectives for Planned Giving Program Goals comprise statements of the position or outcome that the organization wants to gain while objectives set out the manner of achieving this position or outcome (Lewis, 2006). Establishing the goals and objectives of the planned giving program also goes through a series of interconnected cyclical processes. The first process is communication and clarification of issues, problems, challenges or opportunities that provide a context for establishing the program. These support the determination of goals. If a challenge is giving options then the goal would be diversified giving options for donors and the objective is the development of a planned giving program. (Lauer, 1997) The second process is evaluation of alternative solutions to express needs and requirements into goals and objectives through measures of success that would also constitute the criteria for evaluating the extent of fulfillment of the goals and objectives. (Lauer, 1997) The third process is articulation by drawing the participation of all stakeholders in providing perspectives over the areas for improvement and drawing consensus on actions (Lauer, 1997).

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Nutrition Is Especially Crucial During

Nutrition Is Especially Crucial During In terms of nutrition, most infants are developmentally ready for an introduction to pureed foods between 4 and 6 months of age to meet the growth and energy needs of the child (Johnson, 2009). It is important NOT to introduce solid foods prior to 4 months for several health reasons:  Ã‚   In the first weeks of life, immaturity of the kidney excludes large osmolar loads of protein and electrolytes and digestion of some fats, proteins, and carbohydrates is compromised. At age 3-5 months, infants are able to digest and absorb cereal, but at age 1-2 months carbohydrate and protein digestion and absorption are compromised by cereal ingestion (Shulman, 1995). In the first months of life poorly developed swallowing skills may lead to aspiration. Increased respiratory illness and persistent cough have been reported in infants given solids early (Forsyth, 1993), and coughing may increase following ingestion of formula thickened with infant cereal (Orenstein, 1992). Early introduction of a variety of solid foods may increase risk of atopic and immunological disease in susceptible children (Herbes, 2004). Semisolid foods progressing to table foods in the latter part of the first year provides energy and nutrients as well as support for oral and fine motor development (Johnson, 2009). Nutrition is important during toddlerhood. Depending on their body weight, small children need more nutrients than adults as their organs and blood starts developing. As the child grows and the activity increases, the nutrient intake needs to be adequate to support this process. Growth spurts alternate with periods of no growth or slowed growth during this period are challenges during this age (Johnson, 2009). For adequate nutrition requirements during toddlerhood, the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), which include the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) and Adequate Intakes (AIs), should serve as a guide to prevent deficiencies in this age group. However, most of the levels set for preschoolers and toddlers are based on values established for infants and adults. For parents, a more practical approach to ensuring proper nutrient intake is to use the Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children, devised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (Johnson, 2009). Unfortunately, people most of the time do not follow the specific requirements in these guides. Potential problems could arise when proper nutrition is NOT met during this period. Although severe nutrient deficiencies are rare in the United States, calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin B6, folic acid, and vitamin A are the nutrients most likely to be low in children as a result of poor dietary habits needed for growth and building of strong bones and teeth, as well as other physical growth. Ensuring that children eat the recommended number of servings from each of the food groups in the pyramid is the best way to be certain that all nutritional requirements are met. A good rule of thumb for serving sizes is one tablespoon per year of age (Johnson, 2009). Iron is a vital component of hemoglobin, the carrier of oxygen in the blood. As a young child grows, blood volume increases, and so does the need for iron. Preschoolers and toddlers typically eat less iron-rich foods than they did in infancy. In addition, the iron that children get is usually non-heme iron (from plant sources), which has a lower availability than heme iron (from animal sources). As a result, children up to three years of age are at high risk for iron-deficiency anemia. The RDA for iron for both toddlers and preschoolers is ten milligrams (mg) per day. Calcium is needed for bone and teeth mineralization and maintenance. The amount of calcium a child needs is determined in part by the consumption of other nutrients, such as protein, phosphorus and vitamin D, as well as the childs rate of growth. During this period of development, children need two to four times as much calcium per kilogram of body weight as adults do. The AI for toddlers is 500 mg/day, while for preschoolers it is 800 mg/day. Since dairy foods are the primary source of calcium, children who do not consume enough dairy or have an aversion to dairy products may be at risk for calcium deficiency. The body can produce vitamin D in the skin in response to sun exposure. The amount of vitamin D needed daily thus depends mainly on how much time a child spends outside and on geographical location. The RDA for children living in tropical areas is between zero and 2.5 micrograms (g) per day, depending on the amount of sun exposure. For those living in temperate zones, the RDA increases to 10 mc/day. Vitamin D; fortified milk is the best source. Zinc is essential for proper development. It is needed for wound healing, proper sense of taste, proper growth, and normal appetite. Preschoolers and toddlers are sometimes at risk for marginal zinc deficiencies because the best sources are meats and seafoods, foods they may not eat regularly. The recommended intake of zinc is 10 mg/day. Vitamin and mineral supplements are popular with more than 50 percent of parents of preschoolers and toddlers. Most use a multivitamin/mineral supplement with iron. Parents should be aware, however, that such supplements do not necessarily fulfill the needs for marginal or deficient nutrients. For example, although calcium is often a nutrient that is low in children, most multivitamin/mineral supplements do not include it, or include it in very low doses. The American Academy of Pediatrics does not support routine supplementation for normal, healthy kids. Although there is no harm in giving children a standard childrens supplement, mega doses should always be avoided, and caution should be used when supplementing the fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) (excerpted from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5200/is_2004/ai_n19120955).

Friday, September 20, 2019

Disposal Issues And Solutions Of Electronic Waste Environmental Sciences Essay

Disposal Issues And Solutions Of Electronic Waste Environmental Sciences Essay Electronic waste E-waste is the result of obsolete electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones. E-waste isneeds to be distinct from other forms of industrial waste chemically and physically; it contains both valuable and hazardous materials and causes harm to environment and human health whenwithout the use of special handling and recycling method are not used (Robinson 2009, p.184). Rapid changes in technology, poor coordination between new software and existing hardware, and the expenseiveness offor reusinge or recycling result in a large amount of e-waste annually. These electrical obsoletes are either landfilled, or exported from rich countries to poor countries (Robinson 2009, p.184). Since at least 2002, cases of unmanaged disassembly and recycling e-waste in developing countries have been reported (Gibson 2006, p.323).This will lead to not only detrimental effect on workers in e-waste receiver countries but environmental contamination, and may adversely impact human health risk. Thus, issues stemming from e-waste are considered as a global transactional issue amongst producers, consumers in rich countries and e-waste receiver countries in poor countries., These which may require international policies or supports by governments and organisations. Design for the environment in products (Amos, Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.322), e-waste take-back (Xu 2008, pp.1-3) or other municipal and organisational policies have addressed the issues as environmentally friendly approaches. This will enable consumers to reduce, reuse and recycle more greater and perhaps will perhaps lead to more environmentally friendly operating procedures. The purpose of this report is to describe issues of e-waste, analysis of the problems, some approaches for producers and e-waste receivers in order to deal with the issues along with organisations and government policies. 2. Growth of e-waste asand a global transactional issue 2.1. The growth of e-waste Technological advents in the electronics industry and the short life-cycle ofin products have been generating enormous amount of electronic wastes (e-waste). Consumers accept the benefit of technological innovations and a. A gGrowing volume of waste electronic equipments are generated as consumers continue to upgrade and replace obsolete, broken devices everyin a few years. The total global e-waste production iswas estimated to be 20-25 million tonnes per year, with most e-waste being produced in Europe, the United States and Australia (Robinson 2009, p.183). According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, over 100 million computers, monitors, and televisions are becoming obsolete each year. Most estimate say that 20 million computers and televisions become obsolete annually, and less than 6 % are being recycled (Gibson 2006, p.322). As a result, the total global production of e-waste has continued to increase considerably, and most e-waste is currently landfilled or exported to dev eloping countries for recycling. Rapid technological evolution in electronic products and competitive electronic marketplaces means more consumers in rich countries are generating large amount of waste equipments, much of which is still operational. Robinson (2009, p.185) states that the total number of computers and other potential possible e-waste devices is potently correlated with the country ¿Ã‚ ½fs GDP, and consequently, he predicts Eastern Europe, Latin America and China will become major e-waste producers in the next 10 years. The concern over e-waste is not only the amount produced but also the toxic footprint involved in the course of the disposal disassembly and destruction of the equipments. Unlike other waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) such as washing machines and refrigerators, e-waste contains potential environmental contaminants (Robinson 2009, p.185). Clearly, it is necessary to take effective actions to address the exponential e-waste production and the concentration of environmental contaminants associated with e-waste, taking into account recycle and reuse. 2.2. E-waste producers and consumers ¿Ã‚ ½f dilemma The shorter lifespan ofin electronic products means that consumers continue to purchase or replace a product within a few years, and the design of a product is often incompatible between new software and existing hardware. A replacement frequency of computers or cell phones is 2-3 year in 2005, which was dropped from 4-6 years in 1997 (Cairns 2005, p.238; Robinson 2009, p.185). Cairns (2005, p.237) argues that current product design features and changes in technology and wireless services often cause users to necessitate frequent replacements of operational electronics equipment. Many software or hardware companies usually set an end-of-support policy in their products so that it will encourage their potential customers to migrate old version of their products to new ones, which makes it difficult for customer to keep old ones. Therefore, consumers are pressured into replacing their products regardless of their inclinations. According to Huang (2009, pp.115-116), the development process of information systems which have been used for decades, is divided into five stages; planning or investigation, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance. Many of the current electronics have a lack of the concept of sustainability in each stage. For example, the battery of some MP3 players or mobile phones requires intricate disassembly. It is often cheaper to consider the purchase of a new one instead of sending it to a customer support for the replacement. This will in turn lead to create the customers ¿Ã‚ ½f dilemma to use out-dated electronic items. It is essential for producers to listen to customers ¿Ã‚ ½f voices and design their products to meetting the demands including a sustainable life-cycle. This will enable customers with enough information, less costly for reuse and recycle, and technical support to encourage and facilitate product upgrades and repairs. ? 3. Impacts of e-waste 3.1. E-waste receiver countries Most electronic equipment that fulfils its lifespan by product strategies or faults is discarded without being recycled or reused. However, substantial quantity of the obsolete electronics is exported to developing countries, especially to China, after India, Pakistan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Nigeria and Ghana for recycling or disposal (Puckett el al. 2005, cited in Robinson 2009, p.187; Cairns 2005, p.241). It is reported that some 70% of all exported e-waste is delivered to China (Liu et al. 2006, cited in Robinson 2009, p187). Although some exported electronic devices might be used for some time, most of them will be disassembled and landfilled due to inability to cope with the increasing e-waste globally. In e-waste receiver countries, operations for the disassembly may be primitive and landfills may be poorly managed. The process of mechanical separation of component contains smelter, reclamation and burn, and can be automated or carried out by hand burn (Cairns 2005, p.241; Robinson 2009, p.187). Since an electronic device consists of many components and most products are hardly considered the disassembly process in their designs, the workers in the receiver countries may work in their own way without enough information for the dismantlement processes. These processes may contain an environmental hazardous. 3.2. Environmental issue Many e-waste contaminants may be involved in the process of the dismantlement without the use of special handling or tools. Most developing nations have more relaxed environmental regulations, especially in China, India, and Pakistan (Ruth 2009, p.75). The loose regulations for the e-waste dismantlement can lead to insurmountable environmental problems within the e-waste receiver countries. For example, villagers and workers who engage in the de-assembling process use environmentally unfriendly techniques including the open-air burning and wastewater discharge at the factories (Robinson 2009, p.188). A result of the dumping, burning hazardous chemicals and the wastewater disposal of e-waste will cause a variety of environmental problems such as water, air and soil contaminations. E-waste that contains some base materials or valuable components may be environmentally important, while these devices may contain high concentrations of flame retardants and heavy metals (Cairns 2005, p.241). The e-waste contaminants bring an adverse effect on an aquatic ecosystem. Many studies discover the fact that higher rate of hazardous elements in the livers or creatures such as waterfowl is found in the downstream areas from e-waste recycling factories and towns (Robinson 2009, p.188). Combustion of e-waste by melting plastic or burning invaluable metals has resulted in concentrations of toxic percentage in aerial samples from areas near the e-waste recycling workshops (Robinson 2009, p.188). Soils are also contaminated in e-waste sites where acid leaching was used to recover valuable metals (Gibson 2006, p.323; Robinson 2009, p.188). Uncontrolled burning, disassembly and disposal processes of e-waste in the receiver countries can have a horrific deterioration on ecosystem such as groundwater contamination, air pollution, or even water pollution not only within the e-waste disassembly areas but other areas and neighbouring countries. 3.3. Human health A lack of adequate facilities for recycling with primitive techniques may involve significant risk to the workers as well. The workers in most villages currently use unsafe primitive techniques without goggles, masks or gloves, which have adverse effects on the workers (Robinson 2009, p.188). The primary route of exposure to a toxic chemical is spread into the air via dust, and contaminated dust is found in human breast milk (Dealthe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.321). Consequently, it is difficult to minimise the expanding damage caused by e-waste. The flux of electronic products that generates in rich countries and exported to poor countries may contain many serious transactional issues in some cases. Foods or products imported from the e-waste receiver countries, where are environmentally deteriorated may also threaten human health. For instance, children ¿Ã‚ ½fs toys, imported from China, are reported to have elevated rates of toxic elements (Chen et al. 2009, cited in Robinson 2009, p.189). The content of detrimental substance is collected in the ground and surface-waters, agricultural soils, rice, egg, fish and eventually humans (Robinson 2009, p.189). Hence, the contaminant implicated in e-waste is not only the issue within the e-waste receiver countries but ultimately to humans in other countries. 4. E-waste solutions 4.1. Organisation and government policies Problem of most electronic products currently is a lack of the concept for reuse and recycle in their products. Producers should focus on creating reusable products and provide a rule of e-waste take-back at the obsoleteness. There are several ongoing projects to create environmentally-friendly electronic products and recycle policies in several States in the US, Canada and EU countries. These challenges encourage product makers to design for remanufacturing in order to minimise disposal of harmful components of electrical equipment, share design information, and protect against negative health and environmental impacts along with organisations and governments policies. 4.2. Deposit fees for recycling and guidelines It is important to raise capital in order to introduce and continue with the recycling approaches. However, the cost of electronic products generally does not include extra fees for e-waste collectors and recyclers (Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.327). In California, consumers pay fees when they purchase a certain type of electronic devices so that the budgets will be used for managing these devices (Gibson 2006, p.324). Similarly, a Statewide Computer Recycling Pilot Program in Maryland requires computer manufactures to submit fee for the state recycling (Gibson 2006, p.328). In addition to the recycling fee, it is necessary to be implemented guidelines and legislation in order to manage or define hazardous substances in electronics. Several states in the U.S. , Canada and EU countries set disposal guidelines or regulations, and have banned the sale of certain electronic devices that contain specific hazardous materials (Gibson 2006, p.324; Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.329). 4.3. Design for Environment For producers, it is also crucial to review the design of their products more environmentally-friendly to create recyclable and reusable products. To do so, it will be necessary to determine guidelines or policies in order to standardise the implementations. The International Standards Organisation has standardised the implementation of design for environment and instruct producers to create a roadmap of product design in order to minimise environmental issues (Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.322). Huang (2009, p.116-119) proposes Sustainable Systems Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) that on each stage of product developments; Planning, Analysis, Design, Implementation, Maintenance and Disposal, producers should consider sustainability for the products. With regard to new products, these policies and regulations will protect against negative health and environmental impacts. For existing waste, for instance, the EU WEEE Directive requires for producers to be assigned financial responsibi lity based on their current market share (Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.326). These will reduce a product ¿Ã‚ ½fs hazardous footprint. 4.4. Producer Take-Back Programmes Another approach for producers is e-waste take-back programmes. Products are taken back to the producers or take-back disassembly centres to disassemble safely (Xu 2008, p.1). Since electronic devices are made intricately, it must be difficult and unhealthy for the workers to break down the parts in e-waste receiver countries where there is little knowledge of disassembly. Instead of e-waste being exported to developing countries, it would be environmentally effective to take-back the e-waste within the producer countries. The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for each electronic will be easier to track the process of e-waste take-back when they are obsolete (Xu 2008, p.1). If the products still can be used then they can be transported to second-hand makers for sale while there is no value (Xu 2008, p.2). Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple have already introduced their own take-back programmes in Canada (Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.322). RFID also provides excessive range of information on their products. 5. Conclusions ?

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Contrast In Language :: essays research papers

Contrast Between Language of Love in the Balcony Scene and the Language of Death in the Final Scene of Romeo and JulietIn William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare introduces many themes that he continues throughout all of his tragedies, including the language of love vs. the language of death. The balcony scene is the most valuable scene illustrating the language of love, whereas in the final scene of the play the language of death is used to set the stage for their suicides, pulling together the tragic ending of the play.Throughout the second scene of Act II, Romeo uses beautiful metaphors and similes to express his affection for Juliet:O, speak again bright angel, for thou artAs glorious to this night, being o'er my headAs is a winged messenger of heaven.(Rom. II. II, 28-30.)This passage is used to compare Juliet to an angel, somethign that is universally held as sacred and lovely. Elsewhere in the scene there are lines that describe their love for one another, and add to the romantic theme of the scene:And but thou love me, let them find me here.My life better ended by their hateThe death prorogued, wantingof thy love.(Rom. II. II, 76-78.)In the final scene of the play, there is much talk of death by Romeo, Friar Laurence, and Juliet. Romeo announces his own demise in his soliloquy:Depart again. Here, here I will remainWith worms and chambermaids. O, hereWill I set my everlasting restAnd shake the yoke of inauspicious starsFrom this world-weariedflesh. Eyes, look your last!Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips,O youThe doors of breath to engrossing death!(Rom. V. III, 108-114.)The Friar's Frantic wrods and actions in conflict to his previous calm stature illustrate the grim mood of the scene: Stay not to question, for the watch is coming.Come, go good Juliet.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Colors of Slavery Essay -- History Slavery

When Americans think about slavery, they tend to think about "Africans" being brought to the New World against their will. Which upon their arrival were sold, the same as livestock, as permanent property to the white landowners. They may visualize in their minds a person of color shackled, chained, beaten, and forced to labor under the control of their white master. Their picture is that of chattel slavery; black and white. Americans have come to the assumption that slavery was imposed on people of one color or race. However, the Africans were not the only people force to endure the harsh and unjust enslavement by the white society. The Native Americans, as well as indentured servants were used as slaves in the New World. When slavery began in the New World, the color of a person's skin was of little significance. Slaves were white, red, and black. What mattered most was a labor force. Columbus discovered the New World (America) in 1492, soon after, many other European colonies followed and expanded. One Spanish conquistador stated, "that he and his kind went to the new World to serve God and his Majesty, to give light to those who were in the darkness, and to grow rich, as all men desire to do" (Parry, p.33). The majority of Europeans that would follow, desired the same. In order to achieve this goal the Europeans murdered, starved, enslaved, stole land, and brutalized people for centuries to follow. During Columbus second voyage to the New World, he had captured 1600 Native Americans, and enslaved 550. At this point, the Native Americans lives were changed forever. The Spaniards continue to explore the new world, leaving a wake of death and destruction in their path. Along with the Europeans came diseases that th... ...s not merely identified by color. By 1800 it is only an issue or race and only an issue of color" (Thomas Davis). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1i3048.html) . Works Cited (Thomas Davis). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1i3048.html) Quoted in J.H.Parry, The age of Reconnaisance: Discovery, Exploration, and Settlement, 1450 to 1640 (New York, 1963), p.33. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr5.html (equiano) Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic, edition of 1838, i, p. 390; ii, p. 40. Witnessin America pg. 30 Gottleib Mittelberger Blight, D.W. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States. Houghton Mifflin Company; 6th edition (2000) Walsh, Robert, Notices of Brazil in 1828 and 1829 (1831). "Aboard a Slave Ship, 1829," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2000).

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Disparities in Health Care

Problems of Disparities in Health Care Insurance The United States leads the world in spending on health care. Yet , other countries spending substantially less than the United States have healthier populations. America’s performance is marred by deep inequalities linked to income, health insurance coverage, race, ethnicity, geography, and – critically – access to care. Employer-based Insurance plans Income The United States is the only wealthy country with no universal health insurance system. Its mix of employer-based private insurance and public coverage has never reached all Americans.All working Americans are categorized based on annual income – top-income (earning on average $210,100 annually), higher-middle-income (earning an average of $84,800 annually), lower-middle-income earning on average $41,500), and bottom-income (earning an average of $14,800 annually) (Auguste, Laboissiere, & Mendonca, 2009). As the general population knows that those are in the both top-income category and higher-middle-income category can afford any expenses that are incurred in facilities, doctor visits, ER visits, etc. ithout any hindrance (Auguste et al. , 2009). The lower-middle-income and bottom-income population have much harder time in paying for services because it puts them in a tight budget. Paying for out-of-pocket costs can be detrimental to one's credit and often those patients are sent to collections if they can't pay. As reported in the 2011 study done in Arizona by Herman, Rissi, and Walsh, it also confirmed that individuals who have higher incomes were able to pay for medical expenses without going through financial hardships. CostIts been reported that immigrants have less access to care due to having no insurance plans and the cost of services when they are sick than the general population born in the United States (Pandey, 2010). In Herman et al. ‘s study (2011), out-of-pocket medical expenses caused financial hardships an d that top-income individuals were able to cover cost of medical services without hardships. It has been made known by many employers are making employees be responsible for a portion of health care costs by raising premiums or deductibles (Auguste et al. , 2009).Because of rising costs of deductibles (out-of-pocket costs) and the rising cost of premiums, employees are opting-out of enrolling into employer-based health insurance plan saying that to get the coinsurance amount, the deductible amount that they have to meet is out of their financial budget (Quinn, 2011). Race/Ethnicity and Environment Evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in health-care is, with few exceptions, remarkably consistent across a range of illnesses and health-care services. These disparities are associated with socioeconomic differences.Its been reported that immigrants are less likely to use the health care system yet alone have no health insurance coverage (Pandey, 2010). Its not only immigrants who ha ve trouble getting care, but different nationalities in the United States population have trouble as well – just to name a few – American Indians, Asian Americans, Hispanics, populations that live in rural and urban areas, and the general population ranging from infants to senior citizens (Copeland, 2005). Especially the Hispanic or Latino population were less likely to seek care (Herman, et al. , 2011).African American populations are the most researched when it comes to health care issues. For example, a study was done on racial disparities in exposure, susceptibility, and access to health care in the United States H1N1 Influenza pandemic which reported that Hispanics were at greater risk of exposure, however Blacks were a lot more susceptible in contracting H1N1 (Quinn, 2011). Access to Care Unequal access to health care has clear links to health outcomes. The uninsured are less likely to have regular outpatient care, so they are more likely to be hospitalized for a voidable health problems.The lack of transportation, health insurance, providers, appointment access, and inconvenient location of doctors offices caused many people to have poor health (Copeland, 2005). In 2011, a study in Arizona was performed to see is access to care was an issue among the residents. The study found that people who were uninsured had problems paying bills which prevented the ability to seek care and receive treatment (Herman, et al. , 2011). Individuals with higher incomes were able to seek care as well as ace/ethnicity background were indicators that individuals were less likely to seek care (Herman, et al. , 2011). Conclusion Income level and race/ethnicity in relation to environment, cost of medical services, access to care, play big roles as to why there are disparities in health care insurance. References Auguste, B. G. , Laboissiere, M. , & Mendonca, L. T. (2009). How health care costs contribute to income disparity in the United States. Mckinsey Quarterly, (2), 50-51. Copeland, V. (2005). African Americans: Disparities in Health Care Access and Utilization. Health &Social Work, 30(3), 265. Herman, P. E. (2011). Health Insurance Status, Medical Debt, and Their Impact on Access to Care in Arizona. American Journal Of Public Health, 101(8), 1437. doi:10. 2105/AJPH. 2010. 300080 Quinn, S. (2011). Racial Disparities in Exposure, Susceptibility, and Access to Health Care in the US H1N1 Influenza Pandemic. American Journal Of Public Health, 101(2), 285. doi:10. 2105/AJPH. 2009. 188029 Pandey, S. (2010). Health Insurance Disparities among Immigrants: Are Some Legal Immigrants More Vulnerable Than Others?. Health & Social Work, 35(4), 267.

Monday, September 16, 2019

American Civil Liberties Union vs. National Security Agency

Plaintiffs American Civil Liberties Union, et al. have alleged that the TSP violates their free speech and associational rights, as guaranteed by the First Amendment; their privacy rights, as guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment; that the principle of the Separation of Powers because the TSP has been authorized by the President in excess of his Executive Power under Article II of the Constitution; and that it is conducted without observation of any of the procedures required either by law or by the Constitution.Amici, members of Congress, elected by the citizens of the United States to enact legislations binding on all, including the President, support plaintiffs’ stance that the actions of the NSA are violative of duly enacted legislation as well as the Constitution of the United States, for the reasons below stated. First and Fourth Amendment Rights First and Fourth Amendment rights are of paramount consideration under the United States Constitution. These rights are intertwin ed, as the court wrote in Marcus v. Search Warrants, 367 U. S.717 (1961): â€Å"Historically the struggle for freedom of speech and press in England was bound up with the issue of the scope of the search and seizure. . . . This history was, of course, part of the intellectual matrix within which our own constitutional fabric was shaped. The Bill of Rights was fashioned against the background of knowledge that unrestricted power of search and seizure could also be an instrument for stifling liberty of expression. † A violation of Fourth Amendment rights results, therefore, as a necessary consequence, to a violation of First Amendment rights.It has been held that the warrant requirement under the Fourth Amendment is also applicable to electronic surveillances. In the case of Katz vs. United States, 389 U. S. 347 (1967), the Court declared that surveillances conducted for domestic security must undergo the process of procuring judicial warrant. In the absence of a judicial stamp of approval upon the intended act of domestic surveillance, such is per se unreasonable, subject only to a few well-defined exceptions.In the case of United States vs. United States District Court, 407 US 297 (1972), the court held that freedoms guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment would be wantonly and capriciously violated if the Executive branch is given unbridled access and discretion to conduct such warrantless domestic surveillances. The Fourth Amendment requires a finding of probable cause by a judicial magistrate and, absent such requisite, the search and seizure conducted becomes unconstitutional.This directive is imposed upon the executive branch whose duty is to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed. The court found therefore the need to strike a balance between the â€Å"the duty of Government to protect the domestic security, and the potential danger posed by unreasonable surveillance to individual privacy and free expression,† Justice Powell wrote that the inconvenience to the government is â€Å"justified in a free society to protect constitutional values. â€Å"That the warrant requirement is also applicable to electronic surveillances is only reasonable as First and Fourth Amendment rights were included in the United States Constitution to guard against executive abuses of power. Separation of Powers It was also argued that the chief executive has broad enough powers to conduct warrantless surveillances by virtue of the Commander-in-Chief powers granted to him by the Constitution. The argument is based upon court decisions such as United States vs.Truong Dinh Hung, 629 F. 2d 908 (4th Cir. 1980), United States vs. Butenko, 494 F. 2d 593 (3rd Cir. 1974) and United States vs. Brown, 484 F. 2d 418 (Fifth Cir. 1973), which recognize such authority as inherent and cannot be encroached by legislation. However, to sustain such argument would violate the principle of separation of powers. The concurring opinion of Justice Jackson in t he case Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer, 343 U. S. 579 (1952) has become authoritative.It was stated that, â€Å"when the President takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb, for he can rely only upon his own Constitutional powers minus any Constitutional powers of Congress over the matter. † . Justice Taylor expounded on such pronouncement of Justice Jackson, stating that, â€Å"although the Constitution had diffused powers the better to secure liberty, the powers of the President are not fixed, but fluctuate, depending upon their junctures with the actions of Congress.Thus, if the President acted pursuant to an express or implied authorization by Congress, his power was at it maximum, or zenith. If he acted in absence of Congressional action, he was in a zone of twilight reliant upon only his own independent powers. † Moreover, assuming arguendo that the chief executive indeed has the inherent authori ty to conduct warrantless surveillances by virtue of his Commander-in-Chief powers, such power can be regulated by Congress through legislation.Such regulation consists in laying down of reasonable procedures which must be complied with before the exercise of the power becomes authorized. The inherent authority therefore is subject to acts of Congress since legislative power is plenary and cannot be subject â€Å"to presidential and military supervision and control. † This legislation is the FISA. Congress even provided that this statutory procedure laid down â€Å"shall be the exclusive means for conducting electronic surveillances,† which precludes the chief executive from exercising the power in a discretionary manner. The FISAThe FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) was enacted by Congress in 1978 â€Å"to restore and preserve Americans’ confidence in their ability to engage in the ‘public activity’ and ‘dissent from official poli cy’ at the heart of civil rights advocacy and meaningful public debate† after the publication of reports by the Church Committee exposing United States intelligence agencies, their operations, and abuses of the law they had committed. Since the purpose of the legislation was precisely to regulate the collection of â€Å"foreign intelligence† information in furtherance of U. S.counterintelligence in order to curb violations and abuses of power, it established certain essential requirements that the executive has to comply with first before electronic surveillances maybe undertaken by its agencies. Judicial approval is a prerequisite, a finding of probable cause that the target of surveillance is a foreign power or an agent of such, without which the executive cannot extend its strong arm, supposedly in the interest of national security. Its justification that national security requires such operations must be subjected to judicial scrutiny first, and not merely as an afterthought or a backdoor.It is specifically stated in the FISA that electronic surveillance is prohibited, unless authorized by statute. The Administration uses this provision to justify the legality of its acts and declares that under the AUMF (Authorization for the Use of Military Force), it is authorized to conduct such surveillances in light of the September 11 attacks which necessitates it to â€Å"exercise its right to self-defense and to protect US citizens both home and abroad. † Such argument is directly antithetical to what Congress has designed as a necessary limitation to the national security power.It was never the intent of Congress to give the executive a wide, almost unbridled, latitude in conducting electronic surveillances because it recognized the inherent danger and propensity of such power to be abused. U. S. Senate Majority Floor Leader Tom Daschle affirms this for a fact. When the AUMF was enacted, the Administration requested a last-minute change to the legislation and to authorize it to exercise powers appropriate and necessary against those who committed or aided the September 11 attacks.However, such request was rejected because Congress recognized that such power can be directed even against citizens of the United States. Moreover, the AUMF can hardly be regarded as a statute, within the context of the FISA. Conclusion We fully support the efforts of the government to gather information regarding terrorist groups and to seek legitimate means to prevent their efforts to attack Americans. However, legislation was laid down in order that this information-gathering be conducted within the reasonable bounds of the law. We therefore submit that this Court grant plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Lehman Brothers

Research a failure that occurred at a large organization such as Tyco, Chrysler/Daimler-Benz, Daewoo, WorldCom, or Enron. In an APA formatted paper that is no longer than 1,050 words, describe how specific organizational behavior theories could have predicted or can explain the failure of the company. Compare and contrast the contributions of leadership, management, and organizational structures to the organizational failure. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the fourth largest US investment bank, succumbed to the sub prime mortgage crisis in the biggest bankruptcy filing in history. The 158 year old firm, which survived railroad bankruptcies of the 1800s, the great depression in the 1930s, & the collapse of long term capital management a decade ago, filed a chapter 11 petition with US bankruptcy caught in Manhattan on September, 15. The following day, its investment banking & trading divisions were acquired by Barclays plc along with its New York headquarters building. In the biggest reshaping of the financial industry since the Great Depression, Wall Street’s most storied firm, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. , headed towards extinction. The 158 year old firm, which survived railroad bankruptcies of the 1800s, the great depression in the 1930s, & the collapse of long term capital management a decade ago, filed a chapter 11 petition with US bankruptcy caught in Manhattan on September, 15. The following day, its investment banking & trading divisions were acquired by Barclays plc along with its New York headquarters building. The collapse of Lehman, which listed more than $613 billion of debt, dwarfs World Com Inc’s insolvency in 2002 & Drexel Burnham Lambert’s failure in 1990. What happened that weekend was that the Fed got a bunch of bank presidents together and asked them to invest in Lehman (basically loan Lehman money). The bank CEOs, knowing the risk of such a loan (they could see Lehman's finances), refused to do so without some kind of assistance from the government (whether it be loss-protection, the government paying half of the loan, etc etc). Hank Paulson, the Secretary of Treasury, refused to do this, saying that he didn't want to saddle the taxpayers with paying to save a private company that screwed up. Breakup process IMIDIATE AFTER EFFECTS- US stocks tumbled, more than $300 billion in market value, pummeled by the developments. Lehman plunged 95%; AIG retreated 42% on funding concerns while Bank of America Corp slumped 14% after agreeing to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. for $50 billion. The bankruptcy filing represents the end of a 158-year-old company that survived world wars, the Asian financial crisis and the collapse of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, but not the global credit crunch. Financial institutions globally have recorded more than $500 billion of write-downs and credit losses as the U. S. subprime mortgage crisis has spread to other markets. {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} Bankruptcy also represents a bad end to Chief Executive Dick Fuld's four-decade career at Lehman. Fuld, who piloted the investment bank through prior crises with aplomb, was widely seen as too slow to recognize Lehman's need to raise capital and shed bad assets. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy because they failed to raise enough capital to secure their debts. The next logical question is why did they have so much debt? This is a two-fold answer: second, Lehman had a ton of what is called â€Å"leveraged assets†. Basically what happened (the non-basic is for another question) is Lehman took their assets and took out loans secured by those assets (for instance, using their on-hand cash as down payments on loans) and then invested those loans in the aforementioned property derivatives. So, not only did those investments lose value, but Lehman had to pay the interest on the money they borrowed (and subsequently lost). In short, Lehman was a casualty of the credit crunch due to exposure to bad debt. In August 2007, the firm closed its subprime lender, BNC Mortgage, eliminating 1,200 positions in 23 locations, and took an after-tax charge of $25 million and a $27 million reduction in goodwill). Lehman said that poor market conditions in the mortgage space â€Å"necessitated a substantial reduction in its resources and capacity in the subprime space†. At the end of August ‘07, Lehman had $600 billion of assets financed with just $30 billion of equity. Having so little capital meant that a 5 percent decline in assets would wipe out the value of the company, which investors saw as a real risk due to the company's billions of dollars of mortgage securities. In 2008, Lehman faced an unprecedented loss to the continuing subprime mortgage crisis. Lehman's loss was apparently a result of having held on to large positions in subprime and other lower-rated mortgage tranches when securitizing the underlying mortgages; whether Lehman did this because it was simply unable to sell the lower-rated bonds, or made a conscious decision to hold them, is unclear. In any event, huge losses accrued in lower-rated mortgage-backed securities throughout 2008. In the second fiscal quarter, Lehman reported losses of $2. 8 billion and was forced to sell off $6 billion in assets. In the first half of 2008 alone, Lehman stock lost 73% of its value as the credit market continued to tighten. In August 2008, Lehman reported that it intended to release 6% of its work force, 1,500 people, just ahead of its third-quarter-reporting deadline in September. On August 22, 2008, shares in Lehman closed up 5% (16% for the week) on reports that the state-controlled Korea Development Bank was considering buying the bank. Most of those gains were quickly eroded as news came in that Korea Development Bank was â€Å"facing difficulties pleasing regulators and attracting partners for the deal. † It culminated on September 9, when Lehman's shares plunged 45% to $7. 79, after it was reported that the state-run South Korean firm had put talks on hold. On September 17, 2008 Swiss Re estimates its overall net exposure approximately CHF 50 million to Lehman Brothers. Investor confidence continued to erode as Lehman's stock lost roughly half its value and pushed the S&P 500 down 3. 4% on September 9. The Dow Jones lost 300 points the same day on investors' concerns about the security of the bank. The U. S. government did not announce any plans to assist with any possible financial crisis that emerged at Lehman. The next day, Lehman announced a loss of $3. 9 billion and their intent to sell off a majority stake in their investment-management business, which includes Neuberger Berman. The stock slid 7 percent that day. Lehman, after earlier rejecting questions on the sale of the company, was reportedly searching for a buyer as its stock price dropped another 40 percent on September 11, 2008. Just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, executives at Neuberger Berman sent e-mail memos suggesting, among other things, that the Lehman Brothers' top people forgo multi-million dollar bonuses to â€Å"send a strong message to both employees and investors that management is not shirking accountability for recent performance. † Lehman Brothers Investment Management Director George Herbert Walker IV, second cousin to U. S. President George Walker Bush, dismissed the proposal, going so far as to actually apologize to other members of the Lehman Brothers executive committee for the idea of bonus reduction having been suggested. He wrote, â€Å"Sorry team. I am not sure what's in the water at Neuberger Berman. I'm embarrassed and I apologize. † In its Chapter 11 filing, Lehman named Citibank and Bank of New York Mellon as trustees for about $138 billion of senior Lehman bonds. It said Citi's Hong Kong affiliate had made a $275 million bank loan to Lehman. Among Lehman's other unsecured creditors are Japanese banks Aozora Bank, Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Shinsei Bank and UFJ Bank. France's BNP Paribas is also on Lehman's list of its 30 largest unsecured creditors. The firm said that as of May 31, it owed about $110. 5 billion on account of senior unsecured notes, $12. 6 billion on account of subordinated unsecured notes, and $5 billion on account of junior subordinated notes. Lehman also disclosed that it owned stakes of 10 percent or more in a number of companies, including Imperial Sugar Co , Lpath Inc, Derma Services, Flagstone Reinsurance, GLG Partners, Ronco Corp , Pacific Energy Partners, Blount International , Pemstar Inc and Transmontaigne Inc. The investment bank, once the fourth-largest in the United States, had hoped to raise capital by selling off a stake in its investment unit, and use that capital as well as other funds to spin off some of its toxic assets to shareholders. But that plan did not satisfy investors, who punished Lehman's share price, or rating agencies, who pressed the company to find a stronger partner. Lehman said the uncertainty, particularly among banks through which it clears securities trades, ultimately made it impossible for it to continue to operate its business. The bankruptcy filing comes after a weekend of heated negotiations among regulators and Wall Street firms about Lehman's fate. The U. S. government refused to backstop Lehman's worst assets the way it backstopped Bear Stearns Cos Inc's sale to JPMorgan Chase. Government officials told banks to support Lehman or else be prepared for more investment banks to lose investor confidence and fail. But prospective bidders refused to buy Lehman without government support, people briefed on the matter said. In the end, Lehman was allowed to fail, and Bank of America Corp agreed to buy what was seen as the next weakest U. S. investment bank, Merrill Lynch & Co Inc. For many of Lehman's 26,000 employees the outlook is likely to be gloomy, with job losses expected to be substantial even if significant parts of the business can be sold. At Lehman's headquarters in midtown Manhattan on Sunday afternoon, men dressed in suits came and went, while some employees entered the building with what appeared to be empty duffel bags, then left with them full. Others emerged with accordion files, binders stuffed with papers and full valises. On Sunday night, hundreds of Lehman employees were still in the office to clear their desks and pack personal belongings, according to an employee. Several money-market funds and institutional cash funds had significant exposure to Lehman with the institutional cash fund run by The Bank of New York Mellon and the Primary Reserve Fund, a money-market fund, both falling below $1 per share, called â€Å"breaking the buck†, following losses on their holdings of Lehman assets. In a statement The Bank of New York Mellon said its fund had isolated the Lehman assets in a separate structure. It said the assets accounted for 1. 3% of its fund. The drop in the Primary Reserve Fund was the first time since 1994 that a money-market fund had dropped below the $1-per-share level. About 100 hedge funds used Lehman as their prime broker and relied largely on the firm for financing. As administrators) took charge of the London business and the U. S. holding company filed for bankruptcy, positio ns held by those hedge funds at Lehman were frozen. As a result the hedge funds are being forced to de-lever and sit on large cash balances inhibiting chances at further growth. In Japan, banks and insurers announced a combined 249 billion yen ($2. billion) in potential losses tied to the collapse of Lehman. Mizuho Trust & Banking Co. cut its profit forecast by more than half, citing 11. 8 billion yen in losses on bonds and loans linked to Lehman. The Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said â€Å"Most lending to Lehman Brothers was made by major Japanese banks, and their possible losses seem to be within the levels that can be covered by their profits,† adding â€Å"There is no concern that the latest events will threaten the stability of Japan's financial system. † During bankruptcy proceedings a lawyer from The Royal Bank of Scotland Group said the company is facing between $1. billion and $1. 8 billion in claims against Lehman partially based on an unsecured g uarantee from Lehman and connected to trading losses with Lehman subsidiaries, Martin Bienenstock. After Constellation Energy was reported to have exposure to Lehman, its stock went down 56% in the first day of trading having started at $67. 87. The massive drop in stocks led to the New York Stock Exchange halting trade of Constellation. The next day, as the stock plummeted as low as $13 per share, Constellation announced it was hiring Morgan Stanley and UBS to advise it on â€Å"strategic alternatives† suggesting a buyout. While rumors suggested French power company Electricite de France would buy the company or increase its stake, Constellation ultimately agreed to a buyout by MidAmerican Energy, part of Berkshire Hathaway (headed by billionaire Warren Buffett). The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation or Farmer Mac said it would have to write off $48 million in Lehman debt it owned as a result of the bankruptcy. Farmer Mac said it may not be in compliance with its minimum capital requirements at the end of September. 2008). economies. Furthermore, such wealth effects tend to play out gradually. The 158 year old Lehman Brothers’ move to file for bankruptcy wiped off more than Rs2000 crore from the market valuation of those Indian companies in which the US financial major made equity investments. Major stocks held through participatory notes issued by Lehman Brothers Investment Management, a SEBI- registered foreign institutional investor, saw their prices nosedive. Participatory notes are derivative instruments through which foreign investors that are not registered in India can trade on the Indian markets. In addition to its equity holdings in listed companies, Lehman had also invested in various projects of Indian companies, especially in real estate. In India, Lehman also acquired BRICS Institutional Equities business of research analysts and sales and trading professionals and bought a 26% stake in Edelweiss Capital Finance , a non banking financial company, recently. The investment banking major has also been involved in several Indian initial public offers. IT SECTOR- The meltdown in US had a huge impact on indian IT & IT companies as a large chunk of their revenues is from US. Thus, the crisis had definitely delayed various new projects. Market sources revealed that the companies affected by the crisis such as Lehman Brothers, Merill Lynch and AIG have been outsourcing work to wipro, Tata Consultancy Services & Infosys. There was a direct impact on the revenues of this companies. As more & more consolidation, acquisition & mergers took place in the US, the number of companies in this space came down & shrunk the addressable market for the Indian IT services companies. Consolidation also led to consolidated IT resources & reduction in IT spending, which had negative effect on the IT companies. The slowdown also had an jmpact on the hiring practices of Indian IT services companies, who had to now focus on just-in-time hiring, rather than advanced hiring practices like campus recruitment. Thus, w. r. t. Lehman, as much as 60% of the revenue of India’s software firms comes from the global financial sector, so the fallout of Lehman’s bankruptcy on India’s IT sector cn be well imagined. REAL ESTATE- The collapse of Lehman Brothers and the bailout of Merrill Lynch, the global financial behemoths, affected Indian realty companies that were in the process of raising fresh funds. Many leading realtors, already facing a paucity of funds due to a slowdown or a correction in prices, found it more difficult to raise resources even at the project level. Merrill Lynch & Lehman Brothers had exposure to more than a dozen realty companies, including, Ansal Housing, Anant Raj Industries, Unity Infrastructure, the Puravankara group and J Kumar Infrastructure, among others. The Indian companies are not only unable to raise fresh capital but they are also finding it difficult to sell the inventory of housing stock as demand & prices both have fallen. BANKING- ICICI Bank said that it might need to make an additional provision of $28 million (Rs. 188 crore) on its exposure to bonds issued by Lehman. It had already made provisions of $12 million on these bonds. Indian IT major Wipro Technologies has expressed interest in bidding for the Indian back office business of Lehman. The bankrupt investment banking firm is expected to close its captive unit in Mumbai by the end of this month. The unit’s 1200 employees, who work on equity research and analytics support for the mergers and acquisitions business, have been asked to quit by September end. Unlike employees in Lehman’s investment banking business who have been receiving feelers from domestic banks, employees in the captive BPO are unlikely to find alternate jobs quickly because the IT and IT- enabled services industries have already begun downsizing, owing to the global financial crisis. The RBI had moved quickly to improve liquidity. Still there could be some impact on credit availability. That implies more expensive credit (even public sector banks are said to be raising money at 11. 5%, so that lending rates will inch up to 16 % and higher). For companies looking to raise capital, the alternative of funding through fresh equity is not cheap, either, since stock valuations have suffered in the wake of the FII pull out. Capital has suddenly become more expensive. There is a risk that projects underway will suffer from delays and cost overruns as cost of credit shoots up. Real estate could be most affected sector. Builders may have to resort to dropping prices to find customers for housing projects nearing completion. Another worry is impact on job creation in the country. There could be downsizing in companies in sectors impacted by high cost of credit and fall in demand. The layoffs in IT sector may be a fair portent of things to come. The crisis does have a silver lining. The falling rupee(against the dollar) will mean that exporters affected by the earlier rise of the currency can breathe easy. However importers would be at the receiving end. Importers of oil and other commodities’ prices will neutralize the impact of the dollar’s decline against the rupee. Prices of stocks and real estate, which had appreciated by too much, will come down to realistic levels. The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing indicate that as of their May 31, 2008 financial statement that the firm has $639 billion of assets and $613 billion of debt. At that time the firm had about $110 billion in ordinary bonds, and about $17. 6 billion in subordinated bonds. The composition of the other debts is hard to determine, in part, because of a bad cross reference in that part of the filing. As of the last financial statement, accounts payable were about $71 billion, short term debt was $163 billion, other current liabilities were about $29 billion, and long term debt was about $350 billion. As of the filing date, the listing of the top 30 outsider creditors of the firm mentioned $138 billion of ordinary bonds (managed by two bond trustees), $17 billion of subordinated bonds (managed by one of the two ordinary bond trustees), and about 3 billion in bank loans and letters of credit ranging in size from $463 million to $10 million from 23 different institutions (a few of whom appear to be related entities of each other). This leaves about $485 million of debts owed to creditors in amounts less than $10 million and insider debtors. This would suggest that $71 billion+ is made up of trade credit in small amounts per creditor, while $414 billion is made up of financial creditors in amounts less than $10 million and insider debt, with insider debt probably making up the bulk of the debts, as investment banks don't generally take deposits from millions of households the way that commercial banks do. There don't appear to be any significant (i. e. more than $10 million) secured creditors or trade creditors, although this might not include financial rights of setoff. There are more details in an Affidavit of the CFO, which is honestly rather dubious and unsatisfying. I find it very hard to believe that Lehman Brothers is incapable of providing much, much more information than it has to date with only modest effort. While it might not be able to provide ever single creditor in a matter of weeks, it ought to be able to publicly account for more than a third of its outstanding debt. These folks are in the financial analysis business and live and die on their own ability to be highly leveraged without becoming insolvent. Equity The most recent financial statement listed the aggregate value of preferred stock at $7 billion (and did not include it as a debtor in the petition). The aggregate redemption value of the preferred stock based upon the rights of each class of preferred stock, the number of preferred shares identified in the petition (presumably the number of authorized preferred shares in each class), and assuming that preferred stock dividends aren't grossly in arrears, is about $237 billion. This is calculated as follows: 5 million shares, $500 each, $2. 5 billion 4 million shares, $5000 each, $2. billion 12 million shares, $2500 each, $30 billion 5. 2 million shares, $2500 each, $12. 5 billion 66 million shares, $2500 each, $165 billlion 12 million shares, $25 each, $0. 3 billion 12 million shares, $25 each, $0. 3 billion 16 million shares, $25 each, $0. 4 billion 8 million shares, $25 each, $0. 2 billion 4 million shares, $1000 each, $4 billion 2 million shares, $1000 each, $2 billion But, this appears to grossly overstate the amount of preferred stock shares outstanding. There are 694,401,926 common shares outstanding according to the petition. Assets The source balance statement listed the company's assets as $314 billion in cash, $42 billion in net receivables, $4. 3 billion in fixed assets, and $279 billion in non-current assets. Presumably, this number is lower now, due to market losses, particularly in mortgage based securities. Some breakdown on the nature of those assets is available: Sanford Bernstein analyst Brad Hintz estimates that 55% of Lehman's balance sheet can be quickly liquidated, particularly such assets as receivables and short-term loans known as repurchase agreements. There are about $269 billion in securities that are â€Å"another story,† Hintz wrote in a report released Monday. He estimates 27% of the $269 billion is in mortgages, 17% in derivatives, and 8% in real estate. Analysis The two primary bond trustees seem likely to be the dominant voice on behalf of creditors in this bankruptcy on the creditor's committee. This could be a 100% payout liquidity failure bankruptcy, and failing that, could be one in which common stock shareholders, preferred stock shareholders, and perhaps subordinated debtors bear the brunt of the impact, while general creditors are held harmless or nearly so. Indeed, if the company adopts a plan that holds harmless all preferred and general unsecured creditors, and all secured creditors, then only the holders of subordinated debt would have any right to object. Since all of the subordinated debt appears to be represented by a single bond trustee, this might mean that the plan could be confirmed in a one on one negotiation with the representative of that bank. Equity and subordinated debt together are capable of absorbing a $43 billion loss between May 31, 2008 and the bankruptcy filing, and pre-bankruptcy loss estimates had been in the vicinity of $7 billion. Barclays Bank is discussing buying the brokerage and investment banking operations including the headquarters out of bankruptcy for about $8 billion (presumably the usually highly profitable brick and mortar part of the operation which probably also counts for most accounts payable and accounts receivable), and assuming that this is a market value for that operation by some reasonable measure, the market losses that other creditors would have to bear would remain unchanges, but greater liquidity could speed up the payout. The bankruptcy filing covers only Lehman’s holding company. Its brokerage and money-management units are not in Chapter 11 † employees still have their jobs, customers still execute transactions on accounts, and portfolio managers still manage mutual funds. The relative independence of these subsidiaries from the bankruptcy process is what enables Barclays, the U. K. -bank that walked away from a Lehman rescue over the weekend, to consider purchasing part of Lehman. Another interesting possibility would be a plan that allocated good, short term assets to outsider creditors as payment in full, while allocating securities of uncertain value, like the mortgage backed securities, to the insiders. Outsiders can't object if they get quick cash in exchange of the debts owed to them, so this plan could be imposed on them, leaving insiders with any windfalls resulting from market undervaluation of Lehman Brothers' complex financial assets. The biggest overall risk is that the derivatives market, and in particular, the credit default market, will be screwed up by the freezing of the positions of a major market player, although recent bankruptcy law reforms are designed to minimize this impact. Financial crises are terrifying when underlying economic fundamentals are out of line with established theory, leading to bursts of unjustified optimism and/or pessimism. It is the responsibility of the powers that be to bring sense to the market. Every financial crisis is different, but they do all end. The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch’s acquisition by Bank of America is yet another stage in the progression of the financial crisis that had its roots in the US sub-prime mortgage market. The initial stage of the crisis took a toll on direct mortgage lenders like Countrywide Financial. In a subsequent stage, guarantors of mortgage-backed securities like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae came under attack. This culminated in their going into US government ‘receivership’ (effectively nationalization) a few weeks ago before the bankruptcy was actually filed. Lehman’s demise marks the stage where banks with indirect but large exposures to the US mortgage market, principally through derivative instruments, bear the brunt. This is not necessarily the final stage and the worst is perhaps not over. A key feature of this crisis that started in the middle of 2007 has been the lack of clarity on both the nature and number of financial institutions that have indirect exposure to subprime assets, as well as, cross-product problems involving movement from subprime to prime mortgages with final spillover into derivatives, structured products and counterparty risks. We could see another set of intermediaries coming under severe pressure. The decision by the US Treasury and the Fed not to guarantee Lehman’s financial liabilities is a clear signal to the market that they believe that no institution is ‘too big to fail’. Going forward, a government-funded bailout is likely to be the exception, not the norm. Besides, with Lehman’s bankruptcy, the fate of its counterparties hangs in balance. It is not clear whether a fire-sale of Lehman’s assets will be adequate to pay off its creditors. Besides, apprehensions of other banks meeting Lehman’s fate will keep inter-bank lenders on edge. This could lead to a huge squeeze on inter-bank liquidity and trigger another bout of turbulence in credit markets. Finally, the Lehman episode has ramped up the level of risk-aversion in the global financial system. These are days of extreme and often irrational pessimism. The way to survive this crisis is to stay focused on the fundamentals. From a fundamental perspective, India’s financial system has a lot going for it. Indian banks have no direct exposure to G-7 mortgage markets and their ndirect exposure is minuscule relative to the size of their balance sheet. This has protected us in the past and will continue to insulate us to a significant degree from the turmoil in global markets. As this phase of extreme pessimism abates a bit, global investors are likely to reward India for the robustness of its system. Thus, at last, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings I nc, was mainly caused by the fall in house prices & the easy finance provided for housing at vary low interest rates which made the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fall 500 points. The treasury secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had been sending warning signals to Lehman Brothers ever since the firm announced its second quarter losses of $2. 8 billion. Experts were also quoted as saying that the 158-year-old bank was just living off the brand name that it had nurtured over the years. The Lehman bankruptcy had a great impact on INDIA. The undercapitalization of financial houses that was at the core of the financial meltdown in the US & developed markets became a problem in Indian Financial System, too.