How the Bursting of the U.S. Housing Bubble Triggered

The banking and financial market meltdown of 2007-2009 resulted in the downfall of large financial institutions, bailouts for banks by national governments, and global declines in stock markets. A suffering housing market also contributed to the economic recession. While there were many factors that triggered the global market meltdown, this paper will focus on the factors that created the U. S. housing bubble and how the bursting of the U. S. housing bubble sparked the recession. Home ownership is part of the â€Å"American Dream,† but because homes can be expensive, most people need to borrow money to buy them.In the early 2000s, mortgage rates were low, which allowed people to borrow more money with lower monthly payments. According to Katalina M. Bianco, author of â€Å"The Subprime Lending Crisis: Causes and Effects of the Mortgage Meltdown† the U. S. ownership rate increased from 64% in 1994 to 69. 2% in 2004; this demand helped fuel the rise of housing prices (Bi anco, 2008). Because home prices were increasing, many homeowners decided to refinance and take second mortgages to cash out of their homes’ equity.According to Merrill Goozner of The Fiscal Times, a simple explanation for what caused the Great Recession is people had too much debt; during the housing bubble, too many homeowners used their inflated home equity like â€Å"piggybanks† to support their spending (Goozner, 2012). Banks also contributed to the creation of the U. S housing bubble by offering easy access to money. Many borrowers got into high risk mortgages and numerous people with bad credit could qualify as subprime borrowers.According to Bianco, subprime borrowing was a key factor in the increase in home ownership rates during the housing bubble (Bianco, 2008). Some experts suggest mortgage standards relaxed during this period because each link in the â€Å"mortgage chain† believed it was passing on the risk to someone else (Bianco, 2008). Most banks do not keep mortgages on their books; instead, they sell these loans to investors. Before the crisis, many people, businesses, and governments chose to invest in mortgage linked investments because of the low interest rates.After the dot-com bubble crash in 2000, the Federal Reserve Board cut short-term interest rates from about 6. 5% to 1% (Bianco, 2008). Since banks and mortgage brokers could sell loans before they went bad, loan quality deteriorated. Mortgage denial rates reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act dropped from 29% in 1998 to 14% in 2002 and 2003 (Bianco, 2008). When home prices stopped increasing and interest rates rose, monthly payments increased due to adjustable rate mortgages. This marked the end of the housing bubble.Many borrowers could no longer afford their mortgages, and defaulted on their loans. The U. S. foreclosure epidemic eroded the financial strength of banking institutions. Losses on other types of loans started to increase as the crisis ext ended beyond the housing market. Banks and investors began losing money, and to decrease their exposure risk, reduced lending to each other. As a result of the slowing lending, hundreds of banks and high-profile institutions failed. Just as a number of factors caused the mortgage crisis, a number of different factors caused the global recession.The bursting of the U. S. housing bubble was not the only cause of the banking and financial meltdown of 2007-2009, but it was the immediate trigger of the economic crisis. Word Count 550 ? Works Cited Bianco, K. M. (2008, April 8). business. cch. com. Retrieved from http://business. cch. com/bankingfinance/focus/news/Subprime_WP_rev. pdf Goozner, M. (2012, March 16). Real recovery: America’s debt is on the decline. The Fiscal Times. Retrieved from http://www. thefiscaltimes. com/Articles/2012/03/16/Real-Recovery-Americas-Debt-is-on-the-Decline. aspx

Dante’s Inferno: Contrapasso

Expect No Mercy What goes around comes around. When sinners reach hell they are forced to experience the counter-suffering of contrapasso. For each sin, Dante gives a specific punishment relating to that sin. Some of these sins include violence towards self, violence towards God, sorcery, and hypocrisy. For the despicable lives they lived on earth, they are doomed to suffer relating consequences for all of eternity. â€Å"No green leaves, but rather black in color, no smooth branches, but twisted and entangled, no fruit, but thorns of poison bloomed instead. (XIII, 4) No longer humans, but trees, they stand in a fruitless wood, being eaten by half-woman, half-bird creatures called Harpies. These sinners have committed Violence against themselves. They destroyed their bodies on earth so they have been denied any resemblance to a body in hell. Harpies are perched on them, eating their leaves as they scream in pain. When leaves or branches are ripped from them, they bleed and feel as t hough limbs are being torn from their bodies.Their wounds heal so as to reoccur, making it so the harpies may eat them eternally. This is not a reasonable form of justice, as once thought in Dante’s time. The Christian church has changed its opinions on suicide since the publishing of Dante’s work. Once not even awarded a Christian burial, people who commit suicide are now considered not in the right state of mind. Since they have suffered in life, they should not be forced to suffer for eternity in death. Despite the undeserving sufferers previously noted, many of the people found in hell deserve to be there.The blasphemers have committed the sin of violence against God. They have either cursed God or offended God directly during their lifetimes. These sinners lay on their backs in burning sand staring up at the skies as fiery flakes rain down on them. They committed sins against God, therefore they shall spend eternity staring up at him and accepting his wrath. Viole nce is horrid and the punishments in hell show how it can come back to you in death. But even deeper into hell the sins get worse, as do the punishments. There are things that people are not supposed to see during their lives on earth.The future is one of these things. The first sinners found in the eighth circle of hell attempted to see the future using forbidden means such as black magic. The punishment that these fortune tellers are forced to endure is they walk around forever with their heads twisted facing backwards, only able to look behind them. Their eyes are filled with tears so anything that they could see is completely blurred. â€Å"You see how he has made his back his chest: because he wished to see too far ahead, he sees behind and walks a backward track. (XX, 37) These punishments are perfectly fitting to the sins they have committed. These so-called sorcerers spent their lives in the twisted world of magic, so it is only fitting that they are twisted themselves in h ell. This is the torture that awaits them in hell, and they’ve earned every bit of it. Deeper into hell there are sinners who twisted the truth, this is where the hypocrites are found. They deceived people during their lives by pretending to have beliefs or virtues that appealed to others.Now they slowly trod around wearing cloaks that look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside they are lined with heavy lead, that weighs the sinners down. â€Å"’The orange-gilded cloaks are thick with lead so heavy that it makes us, who are the scales it hangs on, creak as we walk. ’† (XXIII, 100) Since they hid their true selves in life they must walk forever, hiding the weight of their deceit which they must carry for all of eternity. If they stop walking, the lead gets hotter and hotter until they start moving again.Being eaten for all of eternity, staring into the skies as fiery flakes rain down, heads twisted on backwards and hidden weight that must be carried forever are some of the punishments in hell that await sinners. These specific punishments relate or contrast to the sins of those who suffer them. Contrapasso is the passing of just punishment for sins, and punishments that relate to the sins are the most fitting. For the damage they have done on earth, these offenders are fated to suffer the abuse they have earned themselves in hell.

History of Terrorism in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

History of Terrorism in America - Essay Example History of terrorism in the United States United States has a long history of terrorist attacks and this demonstrates that the act is not a new form of violence. Historical records attest that the practice originated about 2000 years ago when brutal Jewish factions such as Sicariii emerged (Bruce, 1999). Although the world had witnessed numerous brutal attacks on innocent civilians, the term â€Å"terrorism† was not used until 1794 during the French revolution. However, the initial meaning of terrorism was complementary, applied by the state to execute its mandate (Bruce, 1999). According to Burgess, (2003), the earliest recorded terrorist activity in the United States was in 1622. A native Indian group invaded Jamestown colony killing about a third of the total population during the attack. The colonial United States encountered numerous violent internal attacks and rebellions with characteristics of terrorism. The earliest recognized terror organization in the United States was Ku Klux Klan that was formed in independent United States in 1867 (Bryant, 2002). Initially, the group was pacifist but it comprised of racist white people. Nathan Bedford Forrest, formerly a confederate soldier was the first leader of Ku Klux Klan. In 1868 American elections, the group embarked on violence, threats and killing of black people and Republic Party supporters. The organization’s attacks on the innocent population during elections were highly influential in determining early voting pattern across the United States because the group was supporting the Democrats (Burgess, 2003). According to Bryant (2002), the Ku Klux Klan killed over 3000 people, mainly freed black slaves and moderate Republican Party supporters by the time the group reduced its activities and went underground in 1872. The early twentieth century experienced an increased number of terror attacks in the United States. According to Burgess (2003), President McKinley was murdered in 1901 by extre mists and in 1920 terrorists bombed the Wall Street, killing thirty and injuring over 300 people. Moreover, terrorists bombed Los Angeles times building in 1910, killing 21 people in the premises. The period between 1920 and 1960 recorded reduced terror attacks in the United States territory. However, the following decade experienced an increased terror attacks on America interests. This period was characterized by increasing application of the air transport to carry passengers along air routes connecting United States and other countries. The airplanes became new target for terrorists and in 1962, a continental airline plane crashed and then exploded in Missouri, US killing all 45 passengers on board. The American air safety authorities identified terrorism as the cause of the accident (Bruce 1999, p58) The 1960s experienced an upsurge of domestic violence in the United States. According to Casey (2004, p 47), the country witnessed increased violence from the youths who formed a ma jor component of the increasing civil rights movements that lobbied for the rights of minority and disenfranchised groups in the United States. From 1960s to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, several anti-communist, leftists and ethno nationalist organizations emerged in the United Sta

Creative Teams and Creative Conflicts Assignment

Creative Teams and Creative Conflicts - Assignment Example In such a situation, Puccio, Mance and Murdock (2011) note that organizational conflicts may be very common. Despite the differences in creative thinking styles, the group could improve their process by following these three principles. In the first place, the group should have talked about their unique differences to create a sense of identity among each other. This is because where there is an understanding of identities it is easier to accommodate other people (Grivas and Puccio, 2012). Secondly, based on the differences in identities, the group should have broken their job down into tasks and assigned compatible thinkers to different jobs. Finally, the group should have had a standby conflict resolution team that would have been responsible for managing all conflicts from the very unset that they showed up. Into the future, it is expected that the process would be approached differently so as to lead to group success. For instance if I was in charge of leadership, I would have used the strategic accommodation skill to ensure that each person appreciated the place of the other person in the collective realization of the organizational goal (Prichard, n.d.). Puccio, G. J. (2006). Tapping into our creative thinking skills to manage complex problems [Powerpoint]. Faculty Institute on Teaching and Learning-RIT, International Center for Studies in Creativity,State University of New York, Buffalo State. Retrieved from https://www2.rit.edu/fitl/presentations_2006/TappingIntoCreativeThinkingSkills.pdf Puccio, G. J., Mance, M., & Murdock, M. C. (2011). Psychological diversity: Leading people with different styles. In Puccio, Mance, & Murdock, Creative leadership: Skills that drive change (pp. 241–264). Los Angeles, CA:

You will confront yourself and describe who you are by creating a Essay

You will confront yourself and describe who you are by creating a personal simile, in this case it needs to water - Essay Example Just as fresh water is limited in the surface of earth, I also have my own limitations because no one is perfect and the first way to change this is by acceptance. I am therefore like water as I am needed by everyone and adored by all. Water is used for cooking, drinking, irrigating land, growing crops, making other substances and drinks, cleaning, showering and washing among other uses. I can provide an endless list of the unending uses of water. It is as a result of these unending reasons that water is said to be life and people even dying for lack of it in some part of the world. These multiple uses ensure that people cannot leave without it and would do anything possible to have it. Just like the water has unlimited uses and importance for everyone, I also have unlimited importance wherever I am and hence turn out to be a great asset wherever I am. It is for this reason that I always want to volunteer my services and usefulness to all in every way I can without discrimination or prejudice. With this non-discriminatory attitude, I can work in any environment and with everybody without complaining but with patience, hard work, diligence and tolerance and in the ends success is always by my side. Water is amazing as it can transform its physical nature to other forms depending on the subjection to different elements. In its natural form, water is liquid. However, when subjected to extremely low temperatures, it condenses and then becomes ice which is hard and very solid. Extreme subjection to high temperatures turn it from liquid to vapor and escapes in the air unless trapped which then makes it to condense and turn back to liquid but which is more pure. I also change my attitude and energies depending on the environment I am in or that I am subjected to just like water. If my environment requires me to put in additional working hours or more classes in order to succeed, then I immediately change my

Construction Law (Agency) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Construction Law (Agency) - Assignment Example If certain guidelines of the law were over-stepped, Dick can/could be assessed as having committed a Fraud or Theft by Deception with his dealings. In fact, if Costcutters knew that Dick would be representing ‘Dick’s Dealings’ in a manner that might imply Dick was still in-charge, Costcutters may be investigated for perhaps a criminal theft conspiracy. (Barrett v. Dere) In any event, Barrett v. Dere would be a good starting point if more information about Costcutters knowledge and the liability, although the contract between Dick and Costcutters was breached by Dick’s failure to stay under spending limits and pocketing the difference (hiding the profit), seems to point towards ‘Implied Authority’ for Dick making Costcutters liable. Question #2 Dick does have the right to engage the Architect since the ‘representation element by the Principal’ is written very clear for all to see; Dick’s Dealings. ... Question #3 The courts must find there is an agency agreement between Dick and Costcutters. The agency was sold (suggesting an exchange of money) which explicitly implies a contract. Costcutters gave Dick a job title (General Manager) and his agreement with Costcutters, though maybe even oral, is a contract nevertheless. If Dick’s contract suggest immediate termination in case of breach, the ‘reasonable amount of time for communicating this to Dick has not been met. Egregious behavior has not been addressed so it is a non sequitur. The Tripartite agreement maintains that Costcutters can be sued leaving room for an open suit directed at Dick which cannot stand on merit. The Principal-Costcutters-own the responsibility though the name, ‘Dick’s Dealings’ tends toward the opposite. It is in this purchase and facilitation where Costcutters is at fault. Costcutters enabled these transactions by default once they bought the name ‘Dick’s Dealings ’ and worked to make a profit from it using Dick as a named associate (General Manager). Dick may be sued but the direction of liability, according to the rules given, lay at the feet of

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 31

Reading response - Essay Example The criticism and the deep analysis of the subversive black comedy that follows increases my knowledge and confirms my desire to follow up the art further. It further reminded me of an instance some years back when a colleague was greatly against my choice of favorite African art and drama. I was however on the verge of losing the argument. This was simply because even though I felt that the art was my favorite, I did not have any facts or historical information about it. Her opinion challenged me to research and discover my field to some length. This meant that the next time a similar argument arose, I was ready to challenge her back and convince her of my stand and opinion as not far-fetched. The mention of a number of artists who were the origin and the founders of the subversive black comedy creates in me a perception that the author is indeed an authority in the field. It amazes me how the author clinically articulates and relates the reasons for the origin of the art and its progress to the perception that it creates among people and how most misinformed people today perceive it negative. It is particularly satisfying to me when the author analytically brings out the relationship between the controversial novel, â€Å"Black no More† by George Schuyler with the African American comedy development. The flashback to the times and actions of artists and comedians such as Gregory, who in my own opinion was properly using humor to communicate the evils of racial segregation in America, is very satisfying. Humor, as noted from the reading is an easier way of communicating issues that seem rather painful without having to create the pain. Looking more closely at the reading, therefore, I believe that there are a number of observation that make the reading worth the space and time. First, the author’s command of art and historical perspective of Subversive Black Comedy is amazing. It is