Contemporary artists - Ackermann, Andre, Applebroog, Arevalo, Acconci Essay

Contemporary artists - Ackermann, Andre, Applebroog, Arevalo, Acconci - Essay Example The essay "Contemporary artists - Ackermann, Andre, Applebroog, Arevalo, Acconci" will specifically discuss the achievements of some contemporary artists like Rita Ackermann, Carl Andre, Ida Applebroog, Javier Arevalo, and Vito Acconci who contributed much to the world of contemporary art. Rita Ackermann, the Hungarian- American painter was born in 1968 at Budapest in Hungry. She completed her basic training from University of Fine Arts Budapest and flew to New York in order to achieve higher degrees in painting from the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. Even though Ackermann mainly concented in paintings and drawings, she was also interested in T-shirts and skateboard designing. She is a well known contemporary artist who challenged all traditional concepts of painting and depicted contradictions of human nature on her canvas. In her early stages of painting, she focused on the seductive notions of pubescent girls and their conceptual transitions of nymphoma nia in various phases of their lives. She also tries to enlighten a plethora of social factors which influences or inspires these mental abnormalities. Similarly she bases pornographic ideas in her paintings with the intention of reflecting mental variances in human values and relations. In her opinion, attraction of music and other art performances influence her a lot in the works. Ackermann’s â€Å"work is often most striking where it most closely resembles something we have been seen before† (Schjeldahl).

Kabbalah Essay Example for Free

Kabbalah Essay Inner Light Kabbalah Research Paper Judaism is the foundation for many other religions, particularly the study of Kabbalah. There are many references to mysticism and mystical experiences in Judaic teachings, including prophetic dreams and visions and interactions with G-d and angels. Ancient Jews were not allowed to even study these teachings until they completed their study of the Torah after the age of forty. And, then, Kabbalah was studied by only a select few who could truly understand its meanings and power. Kabbalah tries to answer the theological questions of heaven and hell, life after death, our reason for existence, G-d and the universe. What sets Judaism and Kabbalah apart is the way the Holy Scriptures are interpreted. Kabbalah followers believe that there are hidden meanings in the Holy Scriptures and once they understand those they will be granted divine status. Known as a form of Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah is unique in its beliefs and practices and is like no other organized mainstream religion. Followers of Kabbalah, known as Kabbalists, believe that G-d taught the secrets of the Holy Scriptures to a group of angels. Those angels came down to earth in human form and taught the religion to the Israelites. Writings of the Kabbalah date back to the first centuries B. C. E. While Judaism is based on the Torah, Kabbalah has a completely different interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. The Torah is the laws and teachings of Judaism. It is also known as the Books of Moses or the first five books of the Old Testament, which include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Kabbalah scriptures include the Book of Zohar or Book of Splendor. The Zohar is a five-volume mystical commentary on the Torah. The Book of Zohar was presented in the thirteenth century by Moses De Leon who claimed the book contained the mystical writings of the second century sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai. Almost all modern academic scholars believe that De Leon wrote the text himself, but Orthodox Kabbalists accept his claim that Bar Yohai wrote them. Kabbalah also studies the teachings in the scripture Sefer Yetzirah, or the Book of Formation, which talks about Creation. Some believe that Abraham, who is known as the father of the Jewish people, wrote Sefer Yetzirah. Kabbalistic study includes a Sephiroth Tree, which organizes the ten basic principals of life. Kabbalah teaches that immortality can be obtained through the understanding of the letters and numbers included in the Holy Scriptures. The hidden meanings in the numbers and letters can only be understood with magical powers. Kabbalists believe that the truth of G-d and the universe can be found in the Sephirot Tree of Life. It organizes and pictures the ten numbers that are the working principals of life. Each of the branches is interconnected and is how G-d interacts with the universe. The ten branches correspond to the qualities of G-d. Kabbalists believe that when the tenth branch is reached, the soul can enter immortality and know G-d. Kabbalists believe that G-d is transcendent and fills every void in both the spiritual universe and the physical universe. The structure of the Sephiroth Tree of Life is important. There are three columns and the roots of the tree are above the branches. The ten Sefirot includes both masculine and feminine qualities. Kabbalah emphasizes the feminine aspects of G-d. The ten branches are: 1 Kether Being/Existence (Will/Selflessness) 2 Chochmah Wisdom (Pure Thought/Connectedness) Binah Intelligence/Understanding (Differentiation/Repentance) 4 Chesed Mercy/Love (Compassion/Healing) 5 Geburah Strength/Severity (Discipline/Boundaries) 6 Tiphareth Beauty (Balance/Harmony) 7 Netzach Firmness (Leadership/Conference) 8 Hod Glory (Dependence/Vulnerability) 9 Yesod Foundation (Union of Male and Female) 10 Malkuth Kingdom Divine (Exile/Physical) There are three different divi sions of Kabbalah Prophetic, Theosophical, and Practical. Prophetic Kabbalah contains detailed instructions for meditative practices, as well as philosophical explanations of what is going on when those practices work. Prophetic Kabbalists believe that language is the core structure of creation and that the meaning of life can be discovered through language. Theosophical Kabbalah explains the nature of G-d, his relationships to man, and how the world was created. In essence, Theosophical Kabbalah aims to explain the structure of this universe that we live in. â€Å"The critical error all of us make, because of how beautifully human nature is designed, is that we suppose that form is separate and real. † Lastly, Practical Kabbalah examines the different experiences that humans go through in their lives. Practical Kabbalists believe in angels and demons, ways to influence the appearance of G-d, fortune telling and understanding ones past lives. The three sections of Kabbalah all have their own specific philosophies yet they are all still linked with the core beliefs of general Kabbalah. Many philosophers and Rabbis have contributed to the growth of Kabbalah throughout time. Abraham Abulafia was one of the first visionary Kabbalah teachers. He was most well known for being a wandering mystic and teacher throughout Spain during the thirteenth century. Moshe Cordovero created the first real school of Kabbalah in Israel in the sixteenth century and laid the groundwork for Kabbalistic thought. During the eighteenth century in Poland, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov founded Hasidism, which is the ultra-orthodox movement based on many of the Kabbalah teachings. Many passages from Kabbalistic sources are still included in traditional Hasidic prayer books. Beginning in the twentieth century, Jews of other denominations besides Hasidism and many non-Jewish followers began to study and practice Kabbalah. However many traditional Jews do not take Kabbalah and its study of mysticism very seriously. One prominent Orthodox scholar said, its nonsense, but its Jewish nonsense, and the study of anything Jewish, even nonsense, is worthwhile. Prayer is an important part of Kabbalah. Kabbalists pray in Hebrew since it is the original language of God. Shabbat is celebrated as the day of rest in the Jewish religion and is a day of quiet, solitude, and reflection. Regardless of one’s belief in the mysticism of the ancient texts, Kabbalah allows a person to feel connected to G-d and the universe in a contemplative and personal way. Kabbalah is truly unique in its beliefs and practices. Works Cited Melton, J. Gordon. The Encyclopedia of American Religions. Wilmington, NC: McGrath Pub. , 1978. Gale Cenage. Web. 12 May 2013. The Kabbalah Centre.   The Kabbalah Centre. N. p. , n. d. Web. 11 May 2013. ;lt;http://www. kabbalah. com/;gt;. Kabbalah.   Kabbalah. N. p. , n. d. Web. 11 May 2013. ;lt;http://www. jewishvirtuallibrary. org/jsource/Judaism/kabbalah. html;gt;. Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism. Judaism 101. N. p. , n. d. Web. 13 May 2013. ;lt;www. jewfaq. org/kabbalah. htm? ;gt;. Kabbalah ;amp; Mysticism in Jewish Thought. N. p. , n. d. Web. 13 May 2013. ;lt;http://www. myjewishlearning. com/beliefs/Theology/Kabbalah_and_Mysticism. shtml;gt;. |

Soldiers Personal Narratives of the Vietnam War and The Vietnam War and the Tragedy of Containment :: Vietnam War Essays

Soldier's Personal Narratives of the Vietnam War and The Vietnam War and the Tragedy of Containment After reading the Soldier's Personal Narratives of the Vietnam War and The Vietnam War and the Tragedy of Containment, both information did not contradict each other. What both information actually do is that they compliment each other. When reading The Vietnam War and the Tragedy of Containment, we are reading a historical analysis from a historian's point of view. But not all of the analysis can really give the readers a sense of what the war is really like. So by reading the Soldier's Personal Narratives of the Vietnam War, we are reading what the soldiers of the Vietnam War actually goes through and what the soldiers are thinking. For instance, from The Vietnam War and the Tragedy of Containment, it describes: "The Army wanted proof of enemy casualties--high "kill ratios"--to present to Washington. Philip Caputo recalled: "If it's dead and its Vietnamese, it's Viet Cong, was the rule of thumb" in compiling casualty statistics." Similarly from The Vietnam War and the Tragedy o f Containment, it writes: "In March of 1968 an American unit was patrolling the village of My Lai in Central Vietnam. They had suffered recent losses, were frustrated by their inability to find the enemy and anxious for revenge. They rounded up unarmed women, children, and elderly civilians, raped the women, then opened fire. The killed over 300 Vietnamese civilians, mostly women and children." By reading these passages, it makes readers feel disgusted about the war and how the leaders approached their frustrations of who their enemies were. But reading these passages does not give a personal detail of how the soldiers felt or were thinking as these tragedies were occuring. For instance, from the Soldier's Personal Narratives of the Vietnam War's "The Commo Man," it describes a very powerful narrative of how a Vietnamese civilian was shot by a U.S. soldier: "I knew what the Sarge was going to do, but I didn't say anything. I just watched, as if in a dream, unconnected from the world around me, paralyzed, impotent. I could have stopped it. The Bummer and I were close. All I had to do was say "Bummer, don't do it." Just four little words, and the spell would have been broken. Instead, I said nothing, and watched as Sarge put his rifle to his shoulder, took aim and fired.

The History of Art Essay example -- essays research papers

The History of Art   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When we think of history we don’t often think of art. We don’t realize how the history of art can help us learn more about the people, the cultures, and the belief systems of those who lived hundreds and thousands of years before us. Art has developed, influenced, and contributed starting from the great Stone Age to the present day. Art gives an insight into the changes and evolution that man and culture have gone through to become what is today. Art is culture, art is the essence of the people who make it and the best way to appreciate art is to look at the history of it and it’s evolvement through time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Great Ages consists of four distinct ages: The Old Stone Age, The New Stone Age, The Bronze Age, and The Iron Age. These four Great Ages is the complete history of art from the beginning to the present day. Each age is named characteristically for the type of material used for that time. Stone was used in the Old and New Stone age, bronze in the Bronze Age, and iron in the Iron Age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Great Ages began with The Old Stone Age starting at 100,000 BCE. The people lived in tribes and clans and often moved from place to place, hunting and gathering to live. They believed all life was sacred and all beings were divine, including animals. The tribal teachings taught that man and nature are one. Hunting and gathering was a sacred ritual because they would often believe they were at one with the animal being hunted. Shamens and shamenesses, spiritual healers and seers between the people and spirits of animals, would often lead hunts and call forth the spirit of the animal to which they would ask the animal to offer their life willingly for a successful hunt. An illustration in Art Through The Ages, 1-4, (Hall of the Bulls found in Lasacux, c 15,000-13,000 b.c. Largest bull approx. 11’6† long) a beautiful cave painting of Bulls. It shows how sacred these animals were to the people. The painter took the time not only to paint such a true to nature image but also purposely put it in a remote location hundreds of feet above the entrance. The location of the painting suggest that it was used as a spiritual image that perhaps shamans would use to communicate with the spirit of the animal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Shamans were necessary to the t... ...ng alongside the edifice and stained glass windows that were mystically illuminated with the sun’s rays. 13-29 (Interior of Ste.-Chapelle), 13-33 (St. Martin, St. Jerome, and St Gregory, c. 1220-1230, from the Porch of the Confessors, Chartres Cathedral France.). The beginning of the Renaissance around 1500 CE is considered the start of the Late Iron Age, which is still on going. The Renaissance was the age of enlightenment the rebirth of learning and culture where men were going beyond their ability, where artists were considered geniuses, and private pleasure became the subject of art. Great artists like Leonardo de Vinci, Raphael, and Titian emerged from the great period of the Renaissance; they were not only geniuses, but also great individual intellects, who defined the greatness of art. Individualism still prevails today and is the very core of modern society. Male-dominated societies still exist, but slowly the demand for equality is changing that. During the Four Great Ages, many things have changed, many things have been lost, but time has not taken a sudden halt, nor the art; people, cultures, and mentalities continue to grow and change, and from growth comes greatness.

Buisness and the Recession

How AIG was affected by U. S. recession: AIG is an insurance corporation that is multinational. They have headquarters in New York City, London, Paris, and Hong Kong. In the year 2000, the company held the title for the 29th largest company in the world. Things took a turn for the worse in this company when, in 2008, they suffered from a liquidity crisis and its credit ratings were downgraded below â€Å"AA† level. AIG had to take out a number of down loans and had to sell a number of its subsidiaries to pay them all off. Source: Johnson, Rodney. â€Å"Is AIG a Tipping Point in This Recession? Chief Marketer Home Page. 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 14 May 2012. . How Sallie Mae was affected by U. S. recession: This Company was one of the few companies in business at this time of recession that was affected in a positive way. With more and more companies failing and people losing their jobs, this gives all Americans many more reasons to want to have higher education and provide their chi ldren with higher education. With the need for more education, comes all the extra costs, and with more and more people without jobs, there is a great increase in needing loans.That is exactly what this company’s strategy was and they took full advantage of the opportunity to give student loans to students across the country hoping for a successful future. Source: â€Å"Sallie Mae. † Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Apr. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012. . How Lehman brothers was affected by U. S. recession: the Lehman brothers crisis first began when Britain’s biggest mortgage lender crashed 34 percent in early trading. Next, billions of dollars were wiped out when the FTSE fell below 4000 and it seemed to be all downhill from there.Within the next month following the Lehman Brothers crash, Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch and Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac practically fell apart. Source: Gamm, Scott. â€Å"Three Years Ago: Lehman Brothers Collapse d. † How to Save Money, Reduce Debt and Manage Credit Cards. 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 May 2012. . Government action: In response to the economies recession the government took a number of actions. Programs were put in place called automatic stabilizers that would increase spending or cut taxes to whoever was impacted by the ecession, without new legislation. Actions were taken by the Federal Government in support of the housing and financial markets, increases in discretionary spending, and the passing of stimulus bills. Source: Romer, Christina D. â€Å"From Recession to Recovery: The Economic Crisis, the Policy Response, and the Challenges We Face Going Forward. † The White House. White House, 22 Oct. 2009. Web. 14 May 2012. . Do you feel any of the companies played a role in creating the current recession or their own financial hardships?Do you feel they should have been more prepared to overcome financial hardships? Why or why not? I think for the most part, companies did the best they could to avoid recession, but when it comes to creating their own financial hardships, taking out multiple loans did not help any of the companies at all. I do agree that yes, they should have been more prepared to overcome the financial hardships and have more options instead of putting themselves further into debt. Should the government get involved in â€Å"bailing out† major U.S. corporations? Why or why not? If the government can be of any help that doesn’t push themselves or the company into further damage then I don’t believe there is any reason not to. Should companies be required to pay the government back? Yes absolutely. The governments money comes from us, the citizens and it is not fair that we would have to be paying off someone’s financial burdens without the government being paid back, because then we would be having to give more money when we may have financial burdens of our own.

Spectroscopy Definition and Difference vs Spectrometry

Spectroscopy Definition and Difference vs Spectrometry Spectroscopy is the analysis of the interaction between matter and any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Traditionally, spectroscopy involved the visible spectrum of light, but X-ray, gamma, and UV spectroscopy also are valuable analytical techniques. Spectroscopy can involve any interaction between light and matter, including absorption, emission, scattering, etc. Data obtained from spectroscopy is usually presented as a spectrum (plural: spectra) that is a plot of the factor being measured as a function of either frequency or wavelength. Emission spectra and absorption spectra are common examples. How Spectroscopy Works When a beam of electromagnetic radiation passes through a sample, the photons interact with the sample. They may be absorbed, reflected, refracted, etc. Absorbed radiation affects the electrons and chemical bonds in a sample. In some cases, the absorbed radiation leads to the emission of lower-energy photons. Spectroscopy looks at how the incident radiation affects the sample. Emitted and absorbed spectra can be used to gain information about the material. Because the interaction depends on the wavelength of radiation, there are many different types of spectroscopy. Spectroscopy Versus Spectrometry In practice, the terms spectroscopy and spectrometry are used interchangeably (except for mass spectrometry), but the two words dont mean exactly the same thing. Spectroscopy comes from the Latin word specere, meaning to look at, and the Greek word skopia, meaning to see. The ending of spectrometry comes from the Greek word metria, meaning to measure. Spectroscopy studies the electromagnetic radiation produced by a system or the interaction between the system and light, usually in a nondestructive manner. Spectrometry is the measurement of electromagnetic radiation to obtain information about a system. In other words, spectrometry can be considered a method of studying spectra. Examples of spectrometry include mass spectrometry, Rutherford scattering spectrometry, ion mobility spectrometry, and neutron triple-axis spectrometry. The spectra produced by spectrometry arent necessarily intensity versus frequency or wavelength. For example, a mass spectrometry spectrum plots intensity versus particle mass. Another common term is spectrography, which refers to methods of experimental spectroscopy. Both spectroscopy and spectrography refer to radiation intensity versus wavelength or frequency. Devices used to take spectral measurements include spectrometers, spectrophotometers, spectral analyzers, and spectrographs. Uses Spectroscopy can be used to identify the nature of compounds in a sample. It is used to monitor the progress of chemical processes and to assess the purity of products. It can also be used to measure the effect of electromagnetic radiation on a sample. In some cases, this can be used to determine the intensity or duration of exposure to the radiation source. Classifications There are multiple ways to classify types of spectroscopy. The techniques may be grouped according to the type of radiative energy (e.g., electromagnetic radiation, acoustic pressure waves, particles such as electrons), the type of material being studied (e.g., atoms, crystals, molecules, atomic nuclei), the interaction between the material and the energy (e.g., emission, absorption, elastic scattering), or specific applications (e.g., Fourier transform spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy).

buy custom Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd essay

buy custom Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd essay Introduction Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd is primarily an ice-cream manufacturer and supplier but it also operates its own outlets and directly sells to consumers. The company sells a non-premium ice cream brand that does not compete with well established nationally and internationally distributed ice-cream brands. Its market segments include local consumers, independent retailers and institutions (schools, hospitals and community centres). Over the last ten years, the company has faced several different forms of challenges that ultimately question its sustainability. The challenges have stemmed not only from the external environment but also from the internal environment. The company at present has failed to respond effectively to external challenges and has done little to resolve the problems that have risen from the internal environment. For developing an effective management advice for the company, it is fundamental to analyse the external challenges and problems that are currently faced by the compa ny and highlight key marketing, operational, human resource and financial issues that need to be extensively checked upon to identify loopholes and potential sources of competitive advantage for the company. Analyse two significant developments in the macro external business environment that influence demand for ice cream The external business environment that Cumnor Ice cream Ltd operates in has changed tremendously over the last ten years. The industry that Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd operates in is a small one. There are fewer competitors to worry about in the local market. Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd for a long time has the prime distributor and supplier of ice cream to local retailers and institutions. The grave concern for the business is that the demand of its ice cream has fallen. There are two main sources of this problem. The institutional market segment that comprises of schools, hospitals and community centres are now planning to reduce the amount of ice-cream they purchase from Cumnor Ice Cream. Their plans are related with their rising concerns towards more healthy food for the members of the institutions. Its other customers that fall into the segment of independent retailers are not contributing in terms of high demand either. They constitute a smaller market segment whose significance in terms of sales volume is not high in comparison. On the other hand, Cumnor suffers from seasonal trends in sales. Since the brand is most consumable during summers, one bad summer can produce an adverse impact upon sales. The seasonal trends produce a negative effect on the cash flows of the business and its operational efficiency. The ice cream is only sold in high volume during the summers, whereas, during the winters minimum profitability is attained. The company has forecasted that owing to the change in climate, more bad summers are expected in the near future. This would translate into a drastic fall in sales in future for the company. Analyse the key marketing issues at Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd and recommend the marketing actions you think the business should take It is important to note that the company is focused towards operational efficiency and the management philosophy therein is to make ends meet. The company has been over the years more inclined towards survival than growth. This has been due to the lack of marketing focus within the company. The evidence of the lack of marketing management comes from several issues that pertinent to the existing performance of the company (Hitt et al., 2010). The market positioning that the company has established for itself in the area it distributes to shows how less importace the company gives to its own brand. It is positioned in a low-end market where it sells a non-premium ice cream brand that is perceived to be local and not put in comparison against well established ice cream brands available in the area. The fact the companys management has restrained the ice cream under limits of being a non-premium brand undermines its capability to compete in the high-end ice cream market. This pertains to a narrow approach taken by the management for the brand that could otherwise do better considering the fact the consumers actually have shown interest in the ice cream over the years. The company caters to fewer market segments. This is another marketing issue that has paved way for the current position of the company. Because of this, the ice cream is distributed to limited locations. The distribution is mainly limited to the local region. Over the years the company has made no attempt to enter into new regional markets, attract more retailers and more institutions (Doyle, 2002). Brand focus is nowhere in sight for the ice cream. This is evident from the lack of attention given to the product over the years. There are only flavours that are offered to consumers. Since the launch, the company has failed to add to the flavours and has introduced no innovations that could attract more customers and give the brand an edge in the market. The focus has been instead towards how the product is produced rather than what and for whom it is being produced. The company has never conducted proper and formal market researches to identity industry trends and consumer behaviour that could allow it to identify opportunities and challenges. The company has never invested in advertising and promotional activities. Its strategy has been to curtail supplier and customer relations to benefit its long term association with its customers. This has been rendered as an ineffective strategy as the customers are still choosing to cut down on the supply of ice cream. Because of the lack of interest shown to consumer demands and product innovation, the company is now seen to decline as its existing product, positioning and distribution. The company needs to expand into new markets, strengthen its brand positioning, segmentation and image via introducing new product innovations, packaging and flavours and invest in advertising and promotional activities so that it can equip itself to compete against big rival firms in the middle and high-end market and acquire higher revenues with value additions to its product lines (Johnson and Scholes, 2003). Analyse the key operations issues at Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd and recommend the operations actions you think the business should take Cumnor Ice cream Ltd uses a company-owned manufacturing plant for the production of the ice cream that allows it to benefit from the lower cost of production that otherwise would have been higher as the rates of rent of such a location and size of plant are quite high. However, the cost it saves from the rent payout is offset by the excess capacity in the plant that is spared from being used owing to the seasonality of demand of the ice cream. The focus of the operational management is towards cost and production efficiency. The targeted efficiency levels are far from being acquired as the seasonal variations affect the capacity utilization and several resources remain ineffectively managed. The plant hires fewer full time and more temporary staff for the production of the ice cream. The workers are made redundant and the ones employed are made to over work with limited pay raises to allow further costs to be saved. This hard woven operational strategy has allowed the company to bene fit from short term operational efficiency. In the long term, the company has witnessed a fall in the quality of the product that is distributed to custtomers. Where customers have complaints about the quality, employees have complaints about the improper work schedules as well as lack of proper pay scales. The operational strategy has resulted in lowering the morale of the employees that has ultimately affected their performance outcomes and the quality of the product has been seriously hurt. The attempts to improve quality that Julie, Marks daughter has tried to introduce have failed drastically as she has failed to win the cooperation of the employees in the production unit. This has been the direct outcome of the management approach taken by the company that ignores the importance of motivated employees. Analyse the key human resource issues at Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd (including the structure and culture) and recommend the actions the business should take. Having motivated employees whose rewards are linked with performance outcomes is a strategy that is nowhere to be seen (Dess et al., 2004). The management has ignored this element as a large majority of its staff has been hired on temporary basis. Management tends to ignore that the individual goals and values need to be aligned with the companys values and vision in order to expect effective performance from them. The long term employees share either a family bond or a long term in-formal association with the owners of the company. Because of the nature of the recruitment, fewer effective human resource management techniques and practices are made use of in the company. Employees are selected for hiring based on their willingness to be hired for less pay rather than their commitment with the company to produce quality work for reasonable pay. There is no formal structure. A simple functional structure is followed where operational, marketing, finance and administration share limited coordination and communication amongst themselves. Despite of the fact that the company has limited operations and is small in size, its functional departments operate in isolation (Hill, 2009). The management needs to first define values upon which the organisational culture needs to be based. These can be then translated into the structure, strategy, action plans, management approach, management style, departmental goals and individual goals (Gasper, 2006). Analyse the key financial issues at Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd and recommend the financial actions the business should take With rent, salaries and operational expenses under control, the company has less to worry about short term expenditure. However, its continued negative cash flows owing to the seasonal impact on sales have reduced its financial strength. Financial strength can only be revived via bringing in personal capital into the company to invest in marketing activities to boost sales and attain high revenues that could improve the cash flows and allow more retained earnings to be generated (Arnold, 2002). Provide a conclusion highlighting the overall priorities of the business and recommend the key actions that need to be taken in the immediate future The focus of the company has been towards operational efficiency as well as making ends meet. The company is leading towards an unsustainable future because of this very approach. The lack of advertising and promotional activities has forced the end-consumers to perceive it as a non-premium brand and because of which they are not willing to pay more for it. Seasonality is another major concern that produces negative impacts upon operational and financial performance of the company. Marketing initiatives such as product innovations, positioning, segmentation and promotions are required to control the impact on the seasonality in sales. Buy custom Cumnor Ice Cream Ltd essay

Wernickes Area in the Brain

Wernicke's Area in the Brain The function of a part of the human brain known as Wernickes area is to enable us to comprehend written and spoken language. It is located posterior to the primary auditory complex in the left temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain where information processing of all kinds takes place. Wernickes area  is connected to another brain region involved in language processing known as Brocas area. Located in the lower portion of the left frontal lobe, Brocas area controls motor functions involved with speech production. Together, these two brain areas help us to speak as well as to interpret, process, and understand spoken and written language. Discovery German neurologist Carl Wernicke is credited with discovering the function of this brain region in 1873. He did so while observing individuals with damage to the posterior temporal lobe of the brain. He noticed that one of his stroke patients, while able speak and hear, was not able to comprehend what was being said to him. Nor could he understand written words. After the man died, Wernicke studied his brain and discovered a lesion in the rear parietal/temporal region of the left hemisphere of the patients brain, located close to the auditory region. He concluded that this section had to be responsible for language comprehension. Function Wernickes Area of the brain is responsible for multiple functions. According to various studies, including the 2016 publication The Role of Wernicke’s Area in Language Comprehension by Alfredo Ardila, Byron Bernal, and Monica Rosselli, these functions seem to contribute to language understanding by allowing us to interpret the meaning of individual words and using them in their proper context. Wernicke's Aphasia A condition called Wernickes aphasia, or fluent aphasia, in which patients with damage to their temporal lobe region have difficulty comprehending language and communicating ideas, bolsters the thesis that Wernickes area primarily governs word comprehension. While they are able to speak words and form sentences that are grammatically correct, these patients cannot form sentences that make sense. They may include unrelated words or words that have no meaning in their sentences. These individuals lose the ability to connect words with their appropriate meanings. They are often unaware that what they are saying does not make sense. Processing the symbols that we call words, encoding their meanings into our brains, and then using them in context is what forms the very basis of language comprehension. A Three-Part Process Speech and language processing are complex functions that involve several parts of the cerebral cortex. Wernickes area, Brocas area, and the angular gyrus are three regions vital to language processing and speech. Wernickes area is connected to Brocas area by a group of nerve fiber bundles called the arcuate fascilicus. While Wernickes area helps us to understand language, Brocas area helps us to accurately communicate our ideas to others through speech. The angular gyrus, located in the parietal lobe, is a region of the brain that helps us to utilize different types of sensory information to comprehend language. Sources: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Aphasia. NIH Pub. No. 97-4257. Updated June 1, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/aphasia.National Aphasia Foundation. (n.d.). Wernickes aphasia. Retrieved from aphasia.org/aphasia-resources/wernickes-aphasia/

Opera house public environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Opera house public environment - Assignment Example We will invest 1000 million for each production. We will co-produce Andrea Chenier with Royal Opera House. We will share 30% production fee with Royal Opera House. The first performance will in Royal Opera House and will last one month. Then the scenery, lighting and crew will directly travel to our opera house. We will share 30% our ticket sales with Royal Opera House for every performance until meet their total 30% production costs. The last one is Carmen, it will provide a chance to students around Princeton area whose major is related opera to produce this production by themselves. We will offer our opera hall, all facilities and promotion to them but we don’t pay for director, cast. Also we will take 75% ticket sales. The reason why we opt these five productions is our opera festival aim to bring operas to younger age audience which means we will chose the most representative for every period and will include as much as features as that period meanwhile We’re not o nly to provide these shows but also have arrange of classes and activities to make opera get close to people. Our mission is to enable people to get enriched by operas which means we will do many things to let people who never watch operas feel associated with operas.According to the mission, the present goal is to attract more people.We have an agreement over that young people are more malleable so our specific goal is to attract young audience as much as possible.During the following part I will detailed analysis our target audience, here I want to emphasis that we have a clear goal of what kind of audience we’re going to focus.We do everything to make sure achieve the goal and also this goal will help us to check if we’re on the right path. Basically, when opera house plans to do the opera season, they will book conductor and principle cast first because for opera that high artistic value

Business environment of UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business environment of UK - Essay Example Price is the key mechanism in this system. Changes in prices change the production and consumption patters and this system is dominated by private individuals and firms. On the other extreme, we have command economy system (John Sloman, 2002). This system is dominated by government's rules and regulations and government decide where to allocate resources, what to produce, how to produce and ration the produced resources accordingly. If we look at the economic system that is being followed in our Country (i-e England), we can clearly see that we follow a system that is a mixture of both private ownership and government control. This system is known as mixed economy and it combines the positives of both free-market and command economy. Like us, all the major countries like USA, Canada and France use this system. This system is considered as an ideal system for the businesses to thrive and government control establishes stability in the system. Macro-Economics concerns the working of an economy as whole. It provides various aims to the economy to work towards. Generally, these macro-economic aims include: Low inflation, Low unemployment, price stability and keeping balancing of payment. However, more often than not, economy moves away from these aims. To bridge this gap the government takes certain measures and actions. These actions are also known as instruments of macro-economics aims. England uses the following instruments to fulfill the macroeconomic aims. (McConnell and Brue, 2000) Monetary policy is deliberate manipulation of interest rates and money supply in the economy to fulfill the desired macroeconomic targets. Whenever there is inflation, it means that demand for good is higher than supply. In this case government usually raises the interest rate and reduces the money supply in the economy. This is known as deflationary monetary policy. When government uses this policy, less money is pumped into the economy and people now have less money in their hands to spend. Similarly, higher interest rates discourage them from borrowing from banks and this curtails their spending. When demand goes down, prices come down and inflation is taken care of. This policy also affects the business in adverse way. When government follows this policy, the businesses experience fall in their sales and some businesses might close down due to plummeting demand that this policy may lead to. On the other hand, when England is going through a period of recession, government helps b y starting an inflation fiscal policy to increase the aggregate demand in the economy. They lower interest rates and increase money supply in the economy. As a result of this policy people have more money to spend and businesses flourish as a result of high demand which is brought about by more supply of money in the hands of people and their ability to borrow money increases due to lower interest rates. This is how England's government uses the monetary policy to stimulate the aggregate demand. (Lipsey, 2003) Another instrument used by the government of England is fiscal policy. This includes varying tax rates and changing government expenditures in the economy to achieve desired targets. The Government of England usually increases taxes rates and lowers expenditure when faced with inflation. It again reduces the money that people have. As a

Change management final assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Change management final assignment - Essay Example Change has become imperative to manage the dilapidated financial system. It has become more urgent to necessitate change because of organizational changes happening at the facility. The administration model had changed from direct provider of services to managed care organization (MCO), requiring funding for patients. Under the new model, budget is decided by the state on the strength of patients attended by PBH. Technology can prove instrumental in bringing efficiency, as manually processed transactions are time and resource consuming. Currently, PBH is being managed on IBM AS/400 server. It lacks integration with the software that is being used. There is nothing like automation. The start up accounting functions need full IT back up. Data synchronization is not possible. All data has to be entered manually on billing and payment, created in the care management software and entered into HTE, the financial managing software on the AS/400 system. It takes a lot of more time of the employees, resulting in productivity loss and recurring chances of feeding wrong data. Accessing information from the HTE system is time-consuming, taking extra time in report generation. Lengthy reports are hard to customize and channelling the right information to the related staff is arduous. It is draining the limited IT resources at the command of PBH. Taking note of the problems being faced at work, the PBH team has finally selected Microsoft ® Gold Certified Partner InterDyn – Artis to implement Microsoft Business Solutions –Great Plains ® software, which is a part of Microsoft Dynamicsâ„ ¢ as its business management solution. Microsoft Dynamics is a provider of integrated, flexible business management solutions that an organization can rely on to make responsible business decisions with greater surety and guarantee of success. Microsoft Dynamics functions like known and trustworthy Microsoft software like Microsoft Office, which means less need to learn on the

American History 1865 to Present. Native Americans Essay

American History 1865 to Present. Native Americans - Essay Example However in the later years, i.e. during the end of the nineteenth century several attempts were made by the U.S. government to compensate the natives for their loss by way of reformative laws which included abolishment of the restrictive policies and introduction of measures to assimilate them within the mainstream American society. Thus, while a significant duration of the nineteenth century was plagued with wars and hostility among the two groups, the early and mid twentieth century in contrast paved way towards a more inclusive form of governance which aimed at rehabilitation and reformation of the Native Americans. 1866: The Powder River Indian Expedition The Powder River Indian Expedition refers to a full scale offensive launched by the American Army against a group of Native Americans namely the Sioux, Cheynne, and the Arapaho Indians, during the gold rush (Clodfelter, 1998). The Native Indians were pushed back from their newly assigned territories by a group of explorers and g old hunters and were left with no other alternative but to fight back in a bid to defend their territories. Comprised of a group of volunteers the Native Indians waged sporadic war against the raiding army of white Americans by mostly attacking isolated farms and eventually, transportation routes. As a result the white population living in and around Denver, fearing attacks from the Native Indians, pleaded protection from the governor which led to dispatch of the First and Third Colorado Cavalry to the Indian reservation in Sand Creek (Hampton, 1964). The massacre at Sand Creek by the Army and brutalities unleashed by the Cavalry regiments who raided and... American History 1865 to Present. Native Americans It depicts the series of events which led them to flee their land restricting them to reservations with limited access to or authority for self-governance. The history of Native Americans during the course of the nineteenth century highlights the manner in which the tribe was forced to move westwards through military might; a succession of failed treaties and laws and regulations governing crucial elements of their lives including the right to education, practicing religion, and other cultural observances. As the U.S. geared for its aggressive expansion policy, the native tribes were pushed further away losing not only their land status and identity as a whole. This study traces the history of the Native Americans through six key events between the period 1865 to present beginning from the Powder River Expedition in the year 1865 to the Termination of the Reservations and its consequences and implications on the Native Americans in present day America. It also includes a comprehensiv e discussion on the various laws, treaties, and policies implemented from time to time including the Dawes Act and the Indian New Deal during the mid nineteenth century to the various federal congressional laws introduced over the years with a view to assimilate the tribe into the mainstream society. The history of Native Americans is indicative of the various struggles, fears, endurance, and hopes experienced by various tribes during their encounter with the white Americans.

Understanding the Behaviour of Organisations in their Market Essay

Understanding the Behaviour of Organisations in their Market Environment - Essay Example In general, there are four basic types of market structure, namely perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly. Perfect Competition: Perfect competition is a situation when numerous firms are competing in the market (Machovec, 2002). For example, FMCG and FMCD sectors are perfectly competitive ones. The biggest advantage of a perfectly competitive market is that firms produce optimal output levels at a low cost. However, the biggest disadvantage is that companies earn minimal profit and there are no economies of scale. Monopoly: A monopoly is a market situation where only firm is operating and there are no competitors (Lele, 2006). For example, the local water electricity service providers are often considered to be operating in a monopoly market. The advantages of monopoly are no risk of overproduction, efficient use of resources, price leader, focuses on the production of a particular product or service. The labour cost is also low. On the other hand, the disadvantages of a monopoly market are that the company can exploit customers by charging more or offering low quality products. There is huge restriction in choice of customers resulting in a low buyer power. Furthermore, the absence of competition often leads to inefficiency and lower productivity. Monopolistic Competition: A monopolistic competition in an industry is characterised by the presence of several competitors, but their offerings differ (Solow, 1998). The restaurant industry is the best example of monopolistic competition. One of th e biggest advantages of monopolistic competition is that it promotes competition which, in turn, greatly helps in enhancing the efficiency and productivity of the industry. From the point of view of consumers, it offers them greater choice and variety. Moreover, customers get quality products and services and turn out to be more knowledgeable about the product features. Technological innovation and research and development are highly visible. The disadvantages of monopolistic competition are that it leads to higher price. Oligopoly: An oligopoly market is characterised by the presence of only a few firms (Tucker, 2008). For example, gas service providers are considered to be operating in the oligopoly market. The biggest advantage is that prices remain fixed and competition is high resulting in a higher efficiency. On the other hand, the disadvantage is that there are less research and development works and less innovation. Figure 1 – Market Structure PESTLE and Cultural Envi ronment The external business environment in which an organisation operates plays a significant role. Before formulating a business plan or formulating a strategy for business, organisations carry out in-depth analysis of the business environment. The external business environment includes the political, legal, social, technological, environmental, demographic, economical and cultural factors. Nowadays, business houses operate in a changing business environment and as a result, they are required to offer products and services that match with the needs of customers. According to Taloo (2007), there are no businesses in the world that can survive without having any interaction with the external business environment. The factors of the external business environment have a strong influence on the business operations and therefore, businesses need to be aware of the external environment. For example, a change in the economic environment of a country can strongly impact the sales of a com pany. Therefore, organisations are

American History 1865 to Present. Native Americans Essay

American History 1865 to Present. Native Americans - Essay Example However in the later years, i.e. during the end of the nineteenth century several attempts were made by the U.S. government to compensate the natives for their loss by way of reformative laws which included abolishment of the restrictive policies and introduction of measures to assimilate them within the mainstream American society. Thus, while a significant duration of the nineteenth century was plagued with wars and hostility among the two groups, the early and mid twentieth century in contrast paved way towards a more inclusive form of governance which aimed at rehabilitation and reformation of the Native Americans. 1866: The Powder River Indian Expedition The Powder River Indian Expedition refers to a full scale offensive launched by the American Army against a group of Native Americans namely the Sioux, Cheynne, and the Arapaho Indians, during the gold rush (Clodfelter, 1998). The Native Indians were pushed back from their newly assigned territories by a group of explorers and g old hunters and were left with no other alternative but to fight back in a bid to defend their territories. Comprised of a group of volunteers the Native Indians waged sporadic war against the raiding army of white Americans by mostly attacking isolated farms and eventually, transportation routes. As a result the white population living in and around Denver, fearing attacks from the Native Indians, pleaded protection from the governor which led to dispatch of the First and Third Colorado Cavalry to the Indian reservation in Sand Creek (Hampton, 1964). The massacre at Sand Creek by the Army and brutalities unleashed by the Cavalry regiments who raided and... American History 1865 to Present. Native Americans It depicts the series of events which led them to flee their land restricting them to reservations with limited access to or authority for self-governance. The history of Native Americans during the course of the nineteenth century highlights the manner in which the tribe was forced to move westwards through military might; a succession of failed treaties and laws and regulations governing crucial elements of their lives including the right to education, practicing religion, and other cultural observances. As the U.S. geared for its aggressive expansion policy, the native tribes were pushed further away losing not only their land status and identity as a whole. This study traces the history of the Native Americans through six key events between the period 1865 to present beginning from the Powder River Expedition in the year 1865 to the Termination of the Reservations and its consequences and implications on the Native Americans in present day America. It also includes a comprehensiv e discussion on the various laws, treaties, and policies implemented from time to time including the Dawes Act and the Indian New Deal during the mid nineteenth century to the various federal congressional laws introduced over the years with a view to assimilate the tribe into the mainstream society. The history of Native Americans is indicative of the various struggles, fears, endurance, and hopes experienced by various tribes during their encounter with the white Americans.

An exploratory paper arguing both sides using past and present major Research

An exploratory arguing both sides using past and present major issues of gay marriage. Explain them through summaries and - Research Paper Example This essay examines the issue of gay marriage through positions on the right not to marry, the right to marry, and civil unions. One of the prominent positions on gay marriage is what has come to be referred to as the right not to marry. In regards to this position one considers that the institution of marriage affords a number of benefits, predominantly in government tax incentives. In this way individuals that marry have specific rights that place them at an advantage over non-married individuals. The right not to marry then has constituted a perspective that provides a counter-point to the benefits gained through marriage. Polikoff notes that if the right to marry is considered a right then, â€Å"– the right not to marry – should likewise be fundamental. Revived proposals to condition poverty assistance on marital status, as well as tax benefits and burdens based on marital status, would require strict judicial scrutiny† (Polikoff). In this way Polikoff has c onsidered both the benefits gained through marriage and the perspectives on marriage as a fundamental right. She is arguing then that if the courts establish the right to marry a fundamental right for all people, including gays and lesbians, there should be a concomitant right not to marry. Ultimately, this right would benefit not only gays and lesbians, but individuals that choose to forego marriage. Another prominent position in the debate on gay marriage is the notion of the right to marry. The right to marry has long been a prominent issue, not only in gay and lesbian marriage concerns, but also in broader civil rights perspectives. In this way some of the most prominent right to marry controversies emerged during the civil rights era of the 1960s when there was significant debate over interracial marriages. Still, in the 21st century the most prominent right to marry issues have surrounded concerns over gay marriage. In this way there has been significant disparity of opinion o ver the extent that the constitution guarantees the right to marriage and to which groups of people. In large part this issues has been addressed at the state level. Currently, the majority of states restrict gay marriage based on the belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. Undoubtedly the belief against a blanket right to marriage for same sex couples has been influenced by prominent religious perspectives in the country. One considers that Christianity, the dominant Western religion, has opposed gay marriage; there is additionally scripture that indicates marriage should be between a man and a woman. In this way a great amount of American citizens continue to object to gay marriage based on moral reasons. Recent polling data have attested to this, noting that the highest percentage of people that oppose gay marriage have strong religious affiliations; over 77% of Protestants oppose gay marriage, and 71% of people who attend church services more than once a week oppose g ay marriage (PewResearch). While religious groups are not the only sect of people that oppose the right to marry, they constitute a major oppositional position within the country on the issue. The restriction of the right to marriage, however, has been challenged in a number of notable situations. One of the most prom

Comparing Gotma to Siddhartha Essay Example for Free

Comparing Gotma to Siddhartha Essay Siddhartha and Govinda both begin their journeys searching after the same goal, to find themselves and attain nirvana. They travel many of the same paths but each thinks differently in their situations. But while Siddhartha eventually reaches Nirvana, Govinda does not because he never learns to absorb what is around him and learn from life like Siddhartha does but mistakenly tries to find peace through other peoples lives. Even from the beginning you can see distinct differences in the mind set between Siddhartha and Gotma, one as a thinker and one as a follower. Siddhartha had grown uneasy in his state as a Brahmans son. The riches of his lifestyle babied him too much and blocked him from the real world. He wanted to go off on his own and experience and find himself. Siddhartha is a Scientific thinker, his brain is always wanting and explanation and continues to ask questions and at this point his maturing mind is starting to doubt the Brahman and Hindu ways. The repetitious ways of the daily prayers and rituals seemed an unreal way to finding nirvana. Something that never changes cannot lead higher, it always stays at the same level. So when a group of samanas passes through town he joined their lead, wanting to experience their lives and to learn from them. Everyone was shocked at his decision; Govinda knew not what to say, and Siddharthas father became enraged at first thought, but later admits something very important to Siddhartha. You will go to the forest and be a samana. If you find salvation in the forest, come and teach me salvation. If you find disappointment, then come back and let us once more sacrifice to the gods together. His father has never reached the goal he has sought after his whole life, even now as an old man, and he understands that Siddhartha must leave for himself. The next morning Siddhartha leaves early and finds his friend, Govinda, waiting to go with him. This is the first true sign of Govindas misconception of how to find himself. Govinda only goes because his friend thinks it will be good. He did not think over in his mind and decide if it was truly right for him. So they wandered and learned from the samanas. Siddhartha had learned self-denial and meditation but started to doubt if they were progressing anywhere in their search for salvation. The Samana teachings were nothing more than trickery, magic and self- control all of which can be taught. None of these qualities would lead even a step towards salvation because you are never learning something new; it is purely a way to keep your mind occupied and content. He even compares drunkenness to the samana teachings. It is just another escape, a way to leave yourself and forget all lifes pains. Even their samsara leader had never attained nirvana so how would they ever get there either following him. Word comes of a great man, Gotma, who had reached nirvana. Surprising to Siddhartha, Govinda decides to seek out the illustrious one. Although Siddhartha has his doubts he is curious and travels with Govinda to listen to the Buddha. After hearing the teachings of the Buddha the simple and accepting Gotma immediately joins as his disciple. But Siddhartha comes to a realization here. He knows that the Buddha has reached nirvana but sees the difference between teaching and experience. The teachings of the Buddha were not for him, they were for the suffering, the weak, a comfort zone which numbs people from the harsh realities and allows them to live in a false contentment. Even the Buddha himself knows this; he is just trying to help the masses that are not as clever as Siddhartha. Siddhartha now sees that experience is the only way to gain knowledge and goes out into the world to try it all. For many years of his life after he tries many new lives. From Kamala, a young courtesan, he learns about Physical love. He learns to become a merchant and indulge in the pleasures of a wealthy life. He lived on many years like this and grows old and worn but finds it is all a false happiness. After everything he obtained he is still discontent. The women, clothes, wine; all do nothing for the mind. He abandons it all and runs away into the forest and falls asleep beside the river, wishing to die. Here he meets Govinda again for the first time since he had joined the Buddha. And Siddhartha saw that Govinda had not changed. Govinda was still blindly following in Buddhas steps, doing the rituals and living under his ways. Vasuedeva the ferryman is very important to developing Siddhartha. He never tries to teach Siddhartha but hints at where to look. Vasudeva says that it seems as though the river has spoken to him and suggests that he stay with him beside the water. It is through Vasudeva that he realizes the symbolism of the river to life. Life is always flowing, changing but always there and continuing on. Even later on when Siddhartha gains and loses his son he again sees the cycle of life in the river. In grief for his loss he cries into the river and catches a glimpse of his reflection. In it he sees himself, his father, and his young son. Siddhartha sees the pain that his father must have felt when he left as a boy is the same as when his own son ran away. Although he tried otherwise, the same trials and pains he left behind are recurring again and again. He finally sees the true cycle of life. Siddhartha comes to realize that the whole world, everything, is one. We are born of our mothers, live our lives and eventually die, then decompose in the dirt. Trees grow up from the dirt and produce fruit, which is eaten by man and animals alike. The air we breathe is recycled and breathed back in by plants. Everything is made of the same particles that have been around since the beginning of time. The world is constantly changing: destroying, creating, and reforming every molecule into something new. So we are a part of that, apart of everything. Rebirth is made within yourself and what you choose to change. Siddhartha experienced many lifestyles all of which he learned from and his decisions to move forward and change was his renewal. And in the end he comes to see that you must let go of your self and your needs completely and love and appreciate everything because it is all one. Govinda appears once more when he asks the ferryman, now Siddhartha, to take him across the river. Once Govinda realizes it is Siddhartha he presses him to know too how to Nirvana. Siddhartha tries to explain that you cannot search for nirvana it must come to you. Nirvana is not one thing but everything you experience in life and if you are trying only to find nirvana everything around you will be missed and wisdom and understanding cannot be found. But even after Siddharthas speech Govinda did not understand, he still could not comprehend what Siddhartha was trying to convey. Nirvana cannot be reached only through writings and other teachings. These things can lead you down the path but it can bring you only so far because it is all feelings and discoveries that others have achieved through their own life. Writings can only convey part of the message because you cannot produce in words your experience and have another understand every aspect of the way you felt. That is how your mind dealt and reacted to that situation. Can you tell someone exactly how good jamoca almond fudge ice cream is? They can tell you how it tasted to them, but can they interpret the exact sense it will have on your tongue? Can you truly understand how much you would like it unless you have tasted some yourself? Some may think its too strong, some may not like almonds, some might like vanilla better, and everyone will have their own opinion and slight difference. Life is the same way. Govinda never reached his goal because his whole life he was searching in others lives. First he followed Siddhartha with the Samanas then leaves the samanas by his own choice, only to follow another. And in the end he comes back to Siddhartha with one last desperate plea to try and understand. He never learned anything about himself because he was blinded by the belief that someone else could show him how. Everyone must decide for himself or herself what they do with their life, for following only leads you down another minds path away from your own awakening.

Problems of the Credit Rating Agencies

Problems of the Credit Rating Agencies Introduction On July 18th, 2007, while referring to adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) (also known as subprime mortgages) bonds, an executive of the Fitchs residential mortgage group said We continue to be confident that AAA ratings reflect the high credit quality of those bonds. Since then, between 2008 and 2009, 140 US banks declared bankruptcy while the International Monetary Fund now estimates world banks global losses due to loans and credit derivatives to approximate $4.1 trillion. If the subprime crisis has been the crisis of credit, it has also been the crisis of credit rating. Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) (namely the tree major ones: Fitch Ratings, Moodys Investors Service and Standard Poors) have been under a lot of criticism in the recent credit crisis. Indeed, not only have CRAs been accused of making errors of judgment in rating structured debt securities, but also of operating a biased business model in an oligopolistic market. As a matter of fact, bond issuers, government regulators and investors have now lost their blind faith in credit ratings and therefore feel the compelling need to change, reorganize and restructure the CRA current business model and industry. Even though CRAs cannot be considered the sole responsible agent for the credit crisis, they have encountered great irregularities and problems: How can they be fixed? What solutions should be implemented to prevent the next credit crisis from happening? How has the credit and CRA crisis affected the leveraged finance industry? To tackle this question, we will first analyze what criticisms credit rating agencies have been subject to and what problems have been identified in the recent years. By evaluating different solutions and suggesting necessary changes, we will then examine how the credit rating business model and market structure could be improved. Finally, as it directly relates to the credit market and CRAs, we will study the impact of the crisis on the leveraged finance industry, with a special focus on leverage buyouts, buyout debt financing and structured finance. Section 1: Current problems of the Credit Rating Agencies business model Though many other players, such as lenders, borrowers, regulators, issuers, and macro factors, can be associated with and blamed for the current credit crunch, Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) have been accused of being the main actors behind the malfunctioning and mispricing of the credit markets. Not only have CRAs been blamed for misrating complex structured debt products[1] and other subprime mortgage related products, but also of operating a biased business model in an oligopolistic market. In this first section, we will summarize these three main accusations and analyze in detail the validity of each argument. Solid and pertinent recommendations can only be made if the true problems have been identified. By analysing Moodys financial statements, we can observe that between 2002 and 2006, Moodys profits nearly tripled because of the growth of structured products, accounting for more than 40% of its total revenues in 2006, and the higher margins charged for these products.   Given the revenues generated, one would expect that CRAs did control the rating of these products. Now, after the default rate on adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) reached its peak during the crisis and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) became worthless, CRAs defended themselves by explaining how sophisticated these products were and how hard it was to rate them. This leads us to question, did CRAs rate products they did not understand? Before the mortgage market collapse, analysts like John Paulson expressed incredulity at what appeared to be a complete mispricing of the structured debt products and began predicting that the market would crash: For me it was so obvious that these securities were completely mispriced and we were living in a casino. I think the other players that were involved in the business got caught up in the exuberance, [] in the competition to increase their underwriting volumes, [] to increase their fees. They were very focused on annual earnings, quarterly earnings and annual bonus pools and with the amount of the liquidity, everyone got caught up in what became a massive credit bubble. (Distressed Volatility 2009) Mark Zandi, an economist at Moodys, noted in a report on U.S. Macro Outlook published in May 2006, that household debt was at a record and a fifth of such debt was classified as subprime. Unfortunately, the economic forecasting division is separate from the ratings division of the corporation. But how could CRAs not foresee the crisis and the flaws of their valuation models? The model used to rate structured products has been criticized for two reasons. First, Moodys rating model for assessing CDOs is a statistical model reliant on historical patterns of default. The main assumption behind this model is that past data would remain relevant, even during a period in which the mortgage industry (and its related products) was undergoing drastic change. Second, the use of this model revealed a large failure of common sense (Lowenstein, Triple-A failure 2008)by rating agencies as very complex securities shouldnt have been rated as plain vanilla bonds, for which the model was designed. CRAs were checking their statistical model, but not the underlying assets. As a consequence, Moodys noted in April 2007 that the model was first introduced in 2002. Since then, the mortgage market has evolved considerably with the introduction of many new products and an expansion of risks associated with them (Mason 2007) and thus revised the model it used to evaluate subprime mortgages. Similarly, in a response letter to Roger Lowensteins Triple-A failure article, Vickie Tillman, Executive Vice President of SPs Rating Services claims that her companys rating model includes both historical data and informed assumptions to assess credit quality. This adjusted model doesnt seem to solve the accuracy problem. Deven Sharma, president of SP, admits [] historical data we used and the assumptions we made significantly underestimated the severity of what has actually occurred (Sharma 2008) Even though one can acknowledge the greater complexity of CDOs and the difficulty of accurately assessing the risk profile of these products, the CRAs defence doesnt seem justifiable given the source of wealth these structure products represents to them. One would expect that CRAs would only provide a service they understood. There is still plenty of room for improvement in their models. Research led by Skreta and Veldkamp (Skreta and Veldkamp 2009) suggests that the complexity of any given asset hasnt increased but rather that the more complex types of assets became more prevalent. Indeed, when combined with the phenomenon of rating shopping, where issuers shop from one CRA to another to pick the best rating possible, asset complexity can lead to rating inflation and biased judgment. As a consequence, failure to address potential sources of bias inherent in the business model of the ratings industry could generate future problems. This discussion leads us to the conflict of interest inherent in the issuer-pay model, the second main accusation in our analysis. The conflict of interest between CRAs and bond issuers has been identified as the main problem because it drives the entire CRA business model. This conflict of interest between rating agencies and the bond issuers from whom they receive fees undermines the CRAs ability to give an unbiased assessment of credit risk. There are two types of potential conflicts of interest inherent in the issuer-pay model that may arise from the activities of the CRAs. The first is that rating agencies may be enticed to give better ratings in order to continue receiving service fees. Since CRAs revenues come from issuers, this conflict can lead to an agency problem. The second potential conflict relates to the consulting services CRAs provide to help the issuer to better design products to meet their models different thresholds. In both cases, CRAs run the risk of the issuer going to a different rating agency, which leads to the phenomenon of ratings shopping. Up until the 1970s, the investor-pay business model of credit rating agencies was straightforward: investors bought a subscription to receive ratings. It was during the 1970s that the business model evolved into an issuer-initiated ratings system where the issuers of securities began paying to be rated. Free riding by investors, leading to a reduction in profits for credit rating firms, was the main reason for this transition. As White (White 2002)observes, this shift also coincided with the rise in popularity of the photocopying machine. Although the issuer-pay business model has been around for more than forty years now, concern over ratings bias only recently emerged. Indeed, the conflict of interest, amplified by the rise of complex structured financial products, calls into question the objectivity of ratings that are critical to the efficiency of the market. (Levitt, Conflicts and the Credit Crunch 2007) In response to these accusations, CRA executives have maintained that the issuer pay model is not contradictory to the efficiency of their business model. It seems that a firm cannot support both issuers and investors simultaneously. In fact, the Report of the Staff to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs during the Enron case[2] cited empirical evidence: The conflict appears to be particularly acute for large important issues such as [] Enron []. In these cases investors desperately need guidance from credit rating firms, but often do not get it because of pressure from issuers, [] and in some cases, SEC officials. (Egan and Jones 2010) However, CRA executives have also asserted that CRAs have nothing to benefit from adjusting their ratings to their clients needs because they have a reputation to uphold. In June 2007, SP claimed that reputation is more important than revenues (Becker and Milbourn 2009) thus asserting that maintaining a good reputation had been a sufficiently strong motivating factor for CRAs to keep their high levels of efficiency and objectivity. In reference to this assertion we can ask ourselves: is reputation a sufficient motivating factor to maintain discipline among rating agencies? As a matter of fact, research led by Mathis, McAndrews and Rochet (Mathis, McAndrews and Rochet, Rating the Raters: Are Reputation Concerns Powerful Enough to Discipline Rating Agencies? 2009)has suggested that this argument is only valid when a large fraction of the CRA revenues comes from other sources than the rating of complex products. When the reputation of a CRA is good enough, and rating complex products become a large source of revenues (more than 40% of Moodys revenues), the CRA will become too lax and inflate its ratings. This mechanism builds on a three-step reputation cycle, ultimately resulting in crises of confidence where a single default provokes a complete loss of reputation by the CRA. First, the CRA tries to build and improve its reputation and gain investors trust by being very strict. Then, once a positive reputation has been gained, the CRA issues more ratings and takes advantage of its reputation. This is when CRAs become more lax and the risk of default incre ases.   Ultimately, when default occurs, there is a crisis of confidence: the opportunistic CRA is detected and its reputation is very negatively affected. This reputation cycle, which is also a confidence cycle, explains why opportunistic CRA are hard to spot and why ratings biases only recently emerged as a concern in response to inquiries from Vailiki Sketra (Sketra and Veldkamp 2009).[3] To exemplify this concept of reputation cycle, scholars find that CRAs are more likely to understate credit risk in booms than in recessions (Bolton, Freixa and Shapiro, The Credit Ratings Game 2009). Moreover, reputation seems greatly affected by competition, as it will reduce the effectiveness of the reputational mechanism for two main reasons.   First, reputation is only valuable if there are future producer rents. As a result, the incentive for maintaining a good reputation is reduced by competition. Second, from a microeconomical approach, if the demand elasticity facing individual sellers is higher in a competitive market, the temptation to either reduce prices or otherwise attract business may be stronger which undermines the quality of output. Therefore, the conflict of interest is not solved by reputation concerns. The second aspect of the conflict of interest relates to the collaboration between CRAs and issuers when designing a debt security. Lewis Ranieri, a pioneer in the mortgage bonds market, once said The whole creation of mortgage securities was involved with a rating (Norberg 2009). As a consequence, starting in the 1990s, CRAs started to offer consulting and advisory services to issuers to improve their ratings; a process that involves extended consultations between the agency and its client. The collaborative process that ensues is as follows: issuers propose a rating structure on a pool of debt. Then, the CRA will usually request a cushion of extra capital, known as an enhancement, to meet the necessary conditions for a specific rating. This practice can be dangerous because it is the CRAs responsibility to ensure that the cushion is big enough to safeguard the product, but issuers will try to minimize this extra capitalization in order to maximize their profit margin. Inside the CR As, consultants and raters were meant to be strictly separated by a Chinese wall'[4]. Regardless, CRAs (namely Moodys) began providing unsolicited ratings and offering consultancy services to improve them. Mr. Arthur Levitt, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, pointed out in a recent article in the Wall Street journal that the conflicts of interest arising from such activities are the central problems with CRAs: [Credit rating agencies] are playing both coach and referee in the debt game. They rate companies and issuers that pay them for that service. And, in the case of structured financial instruments, which make it possible to securitize all those subprime mortgages, they help issuers construct these products to obtain the highest possible rating. These conflicts are hard to spot because transparency among these agencies is murky at best, and currently it is difficult to hold these agencies accountable for any wrongdoing (Levitt, Conflicts and the Credit Crunch 2007) The agencies are aware of the conflicts that are inherent to their business model but they claim that they are doing their best as to avoid them. In a letter to Roger Lowensteins Triple-A failure article, Vickie Tillman, Executive Vice President of SPs Rating Services defends her companys business models and practices: At Standard Poors, we recognize the business model we use may raise potential conflicts of interest. Thats why we have always had rigorous policies in place to manage conflicts, and why we currently are implementing additional measures to further strengthen the independence and quality of our ratings opinions. [] the role ratings firms play in the market [] is to provide independent assessments of the creditworthiness of bonds.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to make up for these practices, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a release in February 2007 proposing rules which would identify the issue of unsolicited credit ratings (those not issuer-initiated), as unfair, coercive, or abusive, and thus would prohibit Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs) from releasing unsolicited credit ratings.   Even though the SEC intervention seemed necessary, it didnt change the industrys business model: by 2007, the mortgage boom had already reached its peak. Regardless of the criticism surrounding the relationship between issuers and rating agencies, the fact of the matter is that they were simply bringing bonds to market based on market demand, which clearly indicates a crisis of the issuer-based model. CRAs misbehaviour has played a central role in the current subprime mortgage crisis. As such, the governments and regulatory bodies should take steps forward to correct the current business model. We shall therefore investigate alternatives to this model in Section 2 of this paper. This conflict of interest leads us to ask, who finally owns the ratings? The evidence regarding whether rating agencies bend to the issuers will is mixed. A paper written by contract-theory scholars, Faure-Grimaud, Peyrache and Quesada (Faure-Grimaud, Peyrache and Quesada 2007) investigates this issue by looking at corporate governance ratings in a market with truthful CRAs and rational investors. They show that at equilibrium, in a monopoly, a CRA will fully disclose information but that issuers may prefer to suppress their ratings if they are too noisy because full disclosure is impossible even when firms have the possibility for ownership (i.e., the right to disclose the rating). Additionally, they find that competition between rating agencies can result in less information disclosure since CRAs make zero profit and fully disclose information on firms that have values higher than the CRAs marginal observation cost. In fact, the current business model seems to favour the banks in their quest to receive better ratings. Dr. Joseph Mason compared default rates for corporate bonds to equally BAA-rated CDOs before the bubble burst and found that the CDOs defaulted more than ten times as often (Mason 2007). While, as we discussed earlier, it may be true that CDOs are much more complex securities than plain-vanilla bonds, another interpretation of the data is that CRAs were much more lax when dealing with a Wall Street securitizer as client. But who can blame them? While it is true that on the traditional side of the business (unsophisticated bond rating) CRAs have a large variety of clients (virtually every corporation and municipality that issues public debt), this is not the case in structured finance. On the contrary, the panel of clients is much smaller and the fees are much bigger. The only issue is that the client pays only if the CRA delivers the desired rating. If they do not, the client can e ither adjust the numbers or take another chance with a competitor, a process known as ratings shopping. Brian Clarkson, former president and CEO of Moodys Investors Service acknowledged, There is a lot of rating shopping that goes on. What the market doesnt know is whos seen certain transactions but wasnt hired to rate those deals (Bolton, Freixa and Shapiro, The Credit Ratings Game 2009). In fact, an important feature of the credit ratings market microstructure is the capacity for a security issuer to choose which ratings to purchase. During this process, a structured debt product is issued and the issuer typically proposes a structure to a CRA. The issuer then asks for a shadow rating, which remains private between the CRA and the issuer, unless the issuer pays to make the rating official. Such choices can reflect both explicit and implicit shopping for desired credit reviews and induce a selection effect in the rating process. Selection highlights the relation between the decision about whether to rely on unsolicited ratings and the potential for ratings shopping, illustrating how different types of potential conflicts of interest in the credit rating process could interact. Indeed, shopping for ratings is a practice at the heart of the different conflicts of interest we mentioned above, as it partly invalidates the reputation argument because there seems to be a trade-off between reputation concerns and the risk for ratings shopping. It also encourages CRAs to strengthen their ties and relationship with issuers, most notably by offering a wider range of services. In an interesting paper, Skreta and Veldkamp (Sketra and Veldkamp 2009) examine cherry-picking in ratings, especially for securitization, by issuers who shop for the highest ratings in order to obtain the hi ghest price when selling to naive or little-informed investors. They highlight the influence of risk aversion in motivating the purchase of multiple ratings. Indeed, because investors are risk-averse, they will try to invest in the best-rated securities for an expected yield without having to asses the risk of every security they may be interested in, and thus rely heavily on ratings. The more ratings they have for a security, the more likely they will be to invest in it. Skreta and Veldkamp (Sketra and Veldkamp 2009) conclude that when combined with asset complexity, rating shopping can lead to rating inflation and thus biased judgment. To support that evidence, Kurt Schacht, managing director of the CFA Institute Centre explained that CRA executives [] were concerned about the hype and insinuation that CRAs easily inflate their ratings in response to pressure from issuers and issuers, implicating the integrity of their process and ratings. In exploring that topic, we were very surprised by the results of our member poll where some 211 of the 1,956 respondents said they have indeed witnessed a CRA change ratings in response to external pressures (CFA Institute 2008). As a consequence, not only does ratings shopping enhance ratings distortion, but it also corrupts the entire rating process by giving issuers an incentive to trick their clients into buying overrated securities. A third and final issue to investigate is the lack of competition in the credit-rating industry.   According to The Economist (The Economist 2007), Moodys and Standard Poors dominated the industry by controlling about 80% of the total market in 2007. The third-place competitor, Fitch, had only about 15% of the total share that same year. The current form of these institutions received legal status when the SEC introduced the notion-barrier of the NRSROs in 1975. The rest of the market is divided among only a few other institutions that have received legal status.   While alluding to the dominance of Moodys and Standard Poors in the credit market, the U.S. Department of Justice has referred to the credit-rating industry as a partner duopoly (Laing 2007). As noted by Jonathan R. Laing, a partner duopoly differs from an oligopoly because the partners in the duopoly do no face fierce competition against each other because ones good fortune in winning a piece of business is typicall y followed by the others receiving the same deal at the same lush fee level (Laing 2007).This duopoly has proven quite profitable, as Moodys operating margin is typically around 50% (if not more) better than Microsoft, Accenture, Intel, Nike or Coca-Cola. In fact, according to Congressman Henry Waxmans statement during the Congressional hearings in October 2008, Moodys had the highest profit margin of any company of the SP 500 index for five years in a row. An important complaint arising from this situation is that the lack of competition permits the main players to shirk, engaging in less effort and research that if they were true active competition (Coffee 2006). It may therefore seem that a free market would ensure competition among its CRAs guaranteeing a higher quality and lower price of the ratings. For that reason, competition from new agencies might create a healthy diversity of opinion, leading to more accurate assessments of debt issuers default probabilities Many scholars have analyzed whether this industry structure contributes to the efficiency of the global credit market. We shall investigate in further detail what seems to be the optimal market structure in the next section by examining the solutions and changes necessary to combating the various issues we have so far considered. Other scholars recognize that the existing duopoly may present risks to the market, especially since the two-rating norm is still in full force. Furthermore, since the CRA business model is reputational-driven business, new competitors may face very high barriers to entry. The CRA industry could therefore not allow for more participants. On the other hand, some scholars suggest that the SECs role in both creating and perpetuating this duopoly by which establishing the status and necessary requirements to become a NRSROs, and an official registry. Since competition can both be seen as a problem and as a solution to the CRA industry and business model, we shall now examine the different initiatives that can be undertaken to improve the overall model and functioning of the credit rating market. Section 2: Solutions to fix the identified problems The subprime crisis has brought to light the poor performance of CRAs in rating structured financial products and reminded investors of CRAs past poor performance in predicting the East Asian crisis and the collapse of Enron[5]. Either directly by regulations, or by market force, there are strong signals that the credit rating business is about to change. The main accusations we previously addressed and the perception that CRAs contributed to the financial crisis led to various investigations and calls for reform. In this section, after briefly presenting CRAs reaction to criticism, we will first analyze the different alternatives suggested by scholars and experts to the current business model and the overall industry structure. We will then study the different reforms and regulatory recommendation that have been suggested to the current business model that would improve CRAs effectiveness and enhance the overall market efficiency. Finally, once these changes examined, from a regulat ory standpoint, we will observe the measures recently adopted by both the European Union and the US government (and regulating agencies), determine how the approaches differ and how necessary regulation is. CRAs reaction to accusations CRAs have responded to the allegations with cries of innocence.   If some rating firms claimed that they did nothing wrong and have indicated that they will cooperate openly in any investigation that comes their way, others   did acknowledge some mistakes and have announced the intention to reform their practices.   For example, spokespersons for Moodys, Standard Poors and Fitch have claimed that their organizations will demand more data and more verification and will subject their analysts to more outside checks (Lowenstein, Triple-A failure 2008) However, some may say that CRAs might have implemented these changes simply to avoid further criticism and regulatory intervention.   Indeed, as Lowenstein claims, none of this [] will remove the conflict of interest in the issuer-pays model .   We shall further analyze the case for self regulation in our analysis. In their effort to defend themselves, the CRAs have sought to minimize their role and influence within the financial industry.   According to a spokesperson for Moodys: We perform a very significant but extremely limited role in the credit markets. We issue reasoned, forward-looking opinions about credit risk. [] Our opinions are objective and not tied to any recommendations to buy and sell (Benner and Lashinsky 2007) The consensus of these critics is that the agencies dropped the ball by issuing investment-grade ratings on securities backed by subprime mortgages they should have known were shaky (Benner and Lashinsky 2007) Rather than accept responsibility for their own lack of diligence, the major CRAs have sought to lay the blame on the mortgage holders who turned out to be deadbeats, many of whom lied to obtain their loans (Lowenstein 2008).   Of course, it must be noted that other groups and individuals share the responsibility for the global financial downturn.   As Laing says in regard to CRAs, they were just one link in a subprime production line that stretched from sleazy storefront mortgage brokers, corrupt appraisers and avaricious originators to fee-crazed securitizers and, yes, mendacious borrowers (Laing 2007).   Nonetheless, as Laing further notes, CRAs must be seen as key enablers in the problems development.   i) New agency industry structure and business model Proposals have been made to improve the credit-rating system and thereby reduce the problems we identified. First, it seems that CRA need more independence. As Laing suggests it, many of the changes implemented in the auditing industry with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could be similarly carried out. (Even though one may discuss whether this Act has improved capital markets transparency or not, one must note it has enforced the implementation of internal control, due diligence and transparency procedures in firms)For instance ratings agency employees should be prohibited from accepting any favors (whether it is money of gifts) from their clients and the leading analyst should rotate from a client to another with a certain frequency and should wait at least one year before joining their clients firm (an issuer or investment bank in this case) Laing also suggests that the 2003 SEC proposal, which prohibits the linkage of analyst compensation with new business development, could be reenacted. First, CRAs should be more transparent in two distinctive ways. The global credit market needs greater transparency about CRAs overall rating model: rating assumptions, methodologies, but also the fee structures, and past performance. To be more transparent CRAs should follow stricter disclosure requirements (as mentioned in the Rating Agency Act in 2006). Professor Charles W. Calomiris (Calomiris 2009) suggests that, more disclosure could also be required for publicly traded companies with rated debt when filling in debt-offering documents Particularly, in order to prompt CRAs to reduce or eliminate their conflicts of interest, they should disclose any structuring service or consulting-related activity (and the fees related to such practices) provided to a company in connection with the rating of fixed-income securities Second, there is a strong need, expressed by both scholars and analysts, for a clear distinction between the rating of structured products and traditional debt products and thus different rating symbols could be used so as to avoid confusion. The issue is, not all AAA-rated securities are created equally. As demonstrated in the current credit crisis and as proven by Drexel University finance professor Joseph Mason, CDOs receiving a Baa rating from Moodys were more than ten times as likely to default as similarly rated corporate bonds (Mason 2007). As a matter of fact, despite the identical symbols, structured products typically do not have the same risk profile as traditional corporate bonds. By nature, whereas corporate default can be estimated by very few factors (namely the level of leverage of the firm and its capacity to generate stable cash flows from operations), default on structured debt is dependent on hundreds or thousands of individual defaults [e.g., an underlying mortga ge pool] that are estimated given some distribution. They are not the same analysis so they should not be the same ratings. (CFA Institute 2008) A different rating scale according to the risk profile of the products could be used as to not mislead investors into buying misrated securities. As an alternative, Professor Coffee at Columbia University suggests the SEC could define a maximum default rate for different class of ratings, so that if a CRAs ratings were to exceed SEC parameters, it would loose their NRSRO status. (Coffee 2006) Building on this, the entire rating nomenclature could be changed and ratings could be expressed quantitatively as to avoid grade inflation in CRAs opinions. Indeed, in contrast to numerical estimates (of the probability of default (PD) and loss given default (LGD)),which do have objective and quantifiable meanings, letter grades leave more room for sub

Life In The Hood :: essays research papers

He lay in his bed motionless, reflecting upon his life and how it had changed so quickly. He had lost his mother to an evil cocaine addiction a year earlier and was left to take care of his younger brother. The rent was 3 months over due, the phone was cut off, and the electricity was most likely next. He had reached the point were he was fed up with life. Why had he been put in this position? He put most of the blame on his mother for she had been the one who had spent all of their money on drugs. But still he didn’t understand why he had to be responsible for his mother’s actions. What really enraged Maurice, was how selfish his mother was. She would rather get a quick high than ensure that her family was taken care of. But these thoughts occurred in his mind night after night. And each night he would come to the realization that he cannot escape from the grips of poverty. The only possible option for him was to work hard for the pennies that he was being paid. The alarm clock was blasting. Maurice woke up and looked at the time. It was 9:32am and he was a half hour late for work. In a panic he put on his shoes and ran out the door. He knew once he got to work Tony, the restaurant manager, was going to chew him out. He had been late earlier that week and Tony told him that if he was late one more time he was going to give Maurice the axe. So he began thinking of a good excuse to tell the boss why he was late. But his attention soon shifted when a 1999 Mercedes Benz SLK 400 sitting on twenty-inch chrome rims pulled over about 50 yards in front of him. His sprint slowed to a walk the instant he laid eyes upon the jet-black beauty. He kept walking towards the car trying to see who the owner was. To his amazement a young man, around his age, stepped out of the car. He knew at that point this guy didn’t earn his money the true American way; hard work and discipline. He had to have been a â€Å"Mob Pawn†. They were called this because the mob used them to do most of the work and were sacrificed in many situations just so they could win the â€Å"chess match†.