Holidays and Ideal Vacation

My ideal vacation would have to star with the weather being nice and warm. The place I would like my ideal vacation to be on a sandy beach with no parents to be annoying and boss me around. I would take a couple of my really good friends that I hang out with all the time. It wouldn’t have to plan anything on this trip or have to book anything it would all be ready to go. The food and everything we need would not cost a penny. The hotel we would be staying at would be a five star resort and the best around. We would have the best room in the whole hotel and it was be amazing.In our room would be an indoor pool to begin with. The hotel room would be the size of a house and it would have flat screen televisions, cable, laptops, and high-speed internet and a hot tub in every bathroom. There would be a huge kitchen so we could cook and it would be stocked with all the great food we like. Next, to our huge room would be a spa that is open to us all day and night. That day we could g o to it whenever we wanted. The spa people would treat us like royalty and they would wait on my friends and I hand and foot. We would go to the beach and tan and relax because it only allows my friends and I.The beach also would have a huge snack bar and board walk. The second floor of our hotel would have a huge mall with lots of cool stores that we like. We would be able to get any shoes, clothes, and anything else we wanted for free. We would stay as long as we want and do whatever we want and have no rule. That is what my ideal vacation would be and yes it will never happen. My ideal vacation was to explore, and see Alaska’s greatness, for the first time. The glaciers are real floating pieces of ice, the mountains are majestic, and the ocean is ice deep dark blue.There are waterfalls, and don’t miss the much talked about Northern Lights. There is also a lot of preserved undomesticated land with wild horses and habitat. Nothing could be further from the truth when you think of all the things people say about it coming true. Everything is wondrous; the air is very fresh. You can’t help but absorb the mountain fresh air through your body. Stepping into Alaska is like stepping into an internal spa unit. All great vibes surround you. Now that’s a worthy vacation to me, one where you feel the difference inside and out.What makes these things so great is that they are a permanent fixture of this earth. There is beauty enough to last through one’s life. The glaciers and mountains will last longer than any brick building or house. When I was in the eighth grade, I remember walking to school during the winter, and it was so cold I developed icicles on my eyelashes. It was not cold enough for the schools to close. And snowshoes were not needed because I walked on a path, but having actual icicles on my eyelashes was more fun than having a snowball fight, and cool.The impact of that great vast land of preservation on my life is perm anent. Once you see it, you will always remember how big that bear or moose was you saw, or how blue that ice was the glacier was made out of. Sometimes when I’m in the city I still confuse the tall buildings with what I thought was a mountain. And when you compare city life to terrain life, it’s very similar. The obstacles are the survivals of mother earth, instead of products of mankind. One of my favorite family traditions is summer vacation. Every summer without fail we go on vacation.For the past ten years we have been going to Disney World with our family friends the Battaglia's, so it has turned into a tradition up until last summer when we broke our florida adventure to go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We have been going on vacation with the Battaglia's for so long for a very good reason. It is because everyone gets along. My mom, Mr. Battaglia and Mrs. Battaglia are very good friends. Ronnie Battaglia, who is 19, is my best friend and we get along great. My sister Katie, 16, and Beth Battaglia, 18, also get along very well.This works out great because we are all old enough to go out and do our own thing without getting the parents too much involved. Since most of the fun things to do are located right near the hotels we stay at we rarely need to ask them for a ride anywhere, so everyone gets there way and it turns into a great vacation for all of us. We have been going to Disney World together for as long as I can remember. We know the place inside and out. Where all the best rides are, which park is the best, it even got so bad that we knew what time the lines for each ride was shortest.Disney World always comes out with some kind of new ride or show each year so that is what mostly kept us continuing to come back year after year. On day though while we were planning our next trip we decided it was time for a change of pace. We thought that Myrtle Beach, South Carolina would be a nice place to visit. My mom had already ventured down there with a friend and new that everyone would enjoy it. So we went down there last summer and it was a big transition for all of us. it was more of an adult vacation which was good because we were getting a little too old for Disney World.At first no one was too fond of it, but then after visiting many places such as the boardwalk, golf, and clubs we all began to enjoy it a little more. In conclusion, I found that traditions don't always have to stay the same. We changed things up a bit and it might be for the better. Who knows, Myrtle Beach could be a new vacation spot for us and a new tradition in the making. How I Spent My Summer Vacation My boyfriend, Greg and I felt it would be a great opportunity to spend some quality time with our friends. We were going on a three day camping trip with long time friends, another couple, Chris and Heather.Chris is the go-with-the-flow type of guy but only if Heather allows him to do so. Heather  is a very kind person who looks out for othe rs. She just crosses that line of being concerned to being motherlike. See we spend a lot of time with them, but it's like other people's children, you can  go home  and leave them, this time we couldn't. You maybe asking yourself why would we decide to go camping with such people . . . I just don't know. This question would overwhelm Greg and me for the next two weeks while planning this getaway.Greg looked more pessimistically at the trip then I did. I thought if you go looking for a bad time, the only outcome will be a bad time. Realizing that we could be each other's only sanity from Heather's overpowering behavior and Chris's childlike mind, we made up little cues to give each other if we needed to getaway. We stocked up on interesting reading material to get lost in and relaxing  alcoholic beverages  to take off the edge. We packed up the trucks and we were off. Chris's friend from work recommended the campsite so we decided to follow him since he had the directions.We traveled up interstate 84 east bound over the Newburgh Beacon Bridge and made our way to the State Taconic Parkway. Now, this is where Greg and I looked at each other in agreement that the trip was going to go only down hill from there, the parkway that we had gotten ourselves onto by following Chris was for passenger cars only. We both had commercial trucks. About fifteen minutes on the highway we passed a State Trooper, thank God he didn't budge from where he was sitting. Through that hour on the parkway we must have passed four Troopers, none of whom pulled us over.Finally, and I mean finally, we arrived two and a half hours later at our campsite. All four of us got out of the trucks to observe where we were going to spend the next three days with each other, Greg and I actually found some humor with our surroundings. We were roughly twenty steps from the bathrooms and ten steps from our neighbors. We knew it couldn't possibly get any worse until we heard the BANG of the bathroo m door. I guess the camp people wanted to make sure the door would close properly to it's full closer, a spring used to shut the volt door at a bank was used to shut this simple hollow wooden door.With the startling noise of the door our neighbor let out several YEE-HAWS to his full capacity. With our minds made up that we were doomed, we applied our bug spray and set up camp. Chris was predetermined to create the largest campfire at the grounds. Greg said it is because he's a pyro. So with the evening closing in, Chris sparks up a fire with a flare no less. Maybe he was just biding his time but I've gotten a larger fire on my grill at home. Either way he was happy, Heather allowed him to play before he had to go to bed. Shortly after Chris got his pyro like tendencies out our neighbor decides to do the same.Tex, as we all agreed on calling him because of his big white cowboy hat, threw a fourteen-foot log and a couple bushes in a pile and to create his masterpiece. Watching him lig ht it with gasoline Chris's manlyhood was on the line, Tex's fire was blazing. I'm sure you figured it right, Chris added more wood doing nothing but smothering it. On that note we decided to head to our tents and go to sleep. Did I say sleep? We wanted to sleep but Tex seemed to have a snoring problem. Chris and Heather slept right through it, Greg and I on the other hand didn't. We actually found it funny.We couldn't believe how Mrs. Tex slept with that but I guess she was used to it. We finally made it to sleep around three or so to be woken up by the crashing of the door and Yee-haws by our loud friend Tex. We got up and had our necessary dosage of coffee. It surprisingly was a relaxing day of no required energy. I found the greatest chuckle in Greg's experience of taking a shower. He told me in the most serious voice how he has never felt so violated. The showers were small, very dirty and overly populated. That second and last night I think is the most vivid to me of the entir e time.Earlier a middle-aged woman, by herself, set up camp, well her chair at the site next to us behind Tex. We didn't pay much attention to her all day. Night drew in and cries played with his fir, Greg sat back and laughed and Heather and I cleaned up from our chicken dinner. From our lights at the campsite we could see the lonely lady sitting by herself in the dark. Chris, being told by Heather, went over to offer the woman a lantern and interrupted her. She was crying hysterically. Little did we know from that moment on she would not leave us alone until midmorning.We all found out a lot more about this stranger then I think we knew about each other. Her name was Kim. She was crying because she just experienced a serious heartbreak after five years. We became very aware of her stalking potential by the way she explained how her heart got broken. A cup, which she brought to our site, was soon to be believed as full of alcohol. She was sloshed, repeating everything. I lost count of the times she told us of her breakup, her children, her job, her breakup and her job. She also seemed to take to Greg very well; you could tell she liked him.I thought it was quite humorous since she could have been his mother. So since you have a basic understanding of what I did this summer I'll close on this, gather more information on where you will be staying if you choose to go away with friends, find the humor in the people like Tex he could be better company then middle-aged drunken women named Kim. MY BEST VACATION. Today, I would like to tell you about my best vacation. A few summers ago, my sister, her  colleagues and me took a vacation to Nha Trang for  5 days. As you know, vacation was special days!We visitted many well-known places such as: Vinpeal Land, Hon Tam Island, Diamond Bay, Thap Ba Pagoda,†¦ and so on. On the way riding in the cable car  to go to Vinpeal Land,  we saw  several jelly fish in the very blue water. It  is the first time I have ever seen an  extremely  beautiful view like that,  so I  felt very  interested and relaxed. We stayed there all day to play games,  visit the aquarium, take photographs;  we spent another day  diving into the sea to view the colorful coral. At the moment I  felt  anxious  because I couldn't swim, but when I saw the coral, its beauty made me forgot all things.In the next day, I  took a boat for somewhere that I don't know to eat seafood such as: fish, cattle fish,  shrimp†¦ The food  was so fresh and delicious. At night, we rent bicycle to ride along the seacoast. It was so romantic journey. After we utterly exhausted, we dropped in shift  shop where we ate lobster, grilled meat roll and drank sugar-cane juice†¦ The last day before came back home, we went to the market to buy  specialties and souvenirs for our family and friends. Although  I got sick after the vacation but I felt so happy from my heart. I love my vacation so much.

Value of Pets

Values of Pets to people Materialism is a way that people use to measure their social status and success. Some people think having pets is one of the values that can show the high value of their material possession; with a high value of pet, these people feel satisfied and successful in their life. However, most people do not think that having pets is a value of materialism. Most of the people think the values of pets are love of human being, benefit and helpfulness. One of the values that pets serve for people is companionship. Pets give people a feeling of love, pleasant and not being alone.People spend a lot of times with their pets than anyone else; therefore, they treat their pets as members of their families. By having pets, people feel responsibilities for their little ones. They take care of their pets’ health and diet like taking care of their children. Moreover, raising pets give people a great feeling of they are needed, so that they feel not alone. Pets have abilit ies to make people in a good mood. Most people have felt a warm feeling inside just by stroking or getting their face licked by their pets. By having physical contact with pets, people feel relaxed and comfortable.For example, after a hard day at work, touching or having fun with pets really help people to calm down and relax. Also, simply talking to pets can be very therapeutic because pets are good listeners. People often talk to their pets to share their thoughts, feeling, troubles and worries. Although their pets will not give them any solutions for their problems, the act of talking about their concerns with a good listener may help people find their own solutions. Consequently, talking to pets help people to relax and feel better. Other values that pets serve for people are beneficial. pets

Should Pornography Be Restricted by Law Term Paper

Should Pornography Be Restricted by Law - Term Paper Example The web has a reputation for being an uncontrolled and chaotic mass of information that scares some people as much as it intrigues others. Pornography has also carved out a substantial niche in this new media environment, proving that, perhaps, whether one likes it or not, pornography is not stopping, and is everywhere, especially in terms of dominating new media applications such as the web and the home video business (and now DVDs). This is a very profitable industry worldwide in a free market. a coded and polarized argument. On a societal level, pornography has positive and negative effects, but within the polarized and polemical arguments of advocates and censors, there tends to be more of a one-sided perspective. The objectification of women is one issue that centers a societal treatment of pornography, but again, in speaking (and asking questions) in a societal form, once misses out on the crux of the issue: is the individual to be free to pursue pornography, or is the society to be protected from it? Most women are objectified in pornography, but does this necessarily mean that they have to be objectified by it as consumers of it? Again, the issue is more one of the society and the individual being seen to be at odds in terms of representative and respective freedom (individual) and protection (society). Studies have contested that in none of the behavioral studies on pornography and violence â€Å"‘has a measure of motivation such as likelihood to rape ever ch anged as a result of exposure to pornography.’ Men who are already predisposed to violent attitudes toward women may be more sexually aroused by violent materials.  

Democracy and development-xz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Democracy and development-xz - Essay Example The analysis of law by the Supreme Court can be understood as destructive or proactive depending on an individual’s beliefs and opinion. However, individual beliefs and opinion are not the primary focus of the judicial system. In this perspective, political struggles emerge with opposing and proposing sentiments (Stone  78). Some citizens and scholars understand the importance of judicial activism while others argue against it. Judicial activism inclines to contradict the essence of democracy. Many judges oppose various clauses in the constitution and consider it wise to alter those clauses to make them conform to their personal or group beliefs. However, constitution demonstrates democracy, which all individuals should apprehend for the best interest of the public (Jordan  56). The constitution is a living representative of the opinion and beliefs of the majority in the United State. People elect senators and representatives who alter and add to the constitution to make it speak for people. To this end, if the constitution is not apprehend as a structure of justice, then the structure of justice will be left in the hands of individuals, therefore contradicting the fundamental nature of democracy-rule of citizens (Reitz  67). Individuals that advocate for judicial restraint argue that judicial activism may increase the likelihood of the United State been coerced into a state of anarchy. The concept invalidates the purpose of the rule of law, which is to eradicate the sense of injustice and reality of injustice. Judicial activism slows the process of trials and increases the uncertainty and victims may not understand it as objectively just. It reduces the chances of a peaceful process of settlement of disputes and temptation to violent on individuals in attempting to obtain justice emerges. Violent self-help brings about vigilantism and finally anarchy. Supreme Court judges not only interpret the constitution to suit their personal interest but also make

Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalisation on Business Essay - 1

Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalisation on Business - Essay Example The paper tells that globalization can be defined as a process where regional economies, culture, and societies have been integrated by trade and a worldwide-spanning network of communication. Globalisation exists in different dimensions. These dimensions include rapid technological advancement, foreign investment, capital flow, migration as well as international trade. Globalisation in simple context is considered as efforts to making the global society as a single village. This process is characterized by the production of goods in one region of the world and later distributed to the rest of the world. For instance, vehicles are manufactured in countries like Germany, United States, and Japan among others but are used in the rest of the world including Africa. Globalisation has integrated world economies for instance internet connections, and mobile phone has made people closer. This makes the world be a smaller village. Work can be distributed to any part of the world as far as th e internet connection is existing. In the business, context globalization serves to remove variation that exists and is geared to achieve universal platform. Globalisation influence issues and concerns in a business environment. Issues and concerns are the ones that are considered to affect business either positively or adversely. Economic globalization further integrates national economies to form an international economy through aforementioned dimensions of globalization. Jens-Uwe and Meera point outs that technological advancement and policy have played a crucial role in enabling global investment, immigration, and international trade. For instance, the current globalization in the United Kingdom is traced to be cooperative policies such as trading blocs. Globalisation is a tool that helps in eradication of state-enforced legislation on services and goods across the borders.

Muslms and health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Muslms and health Care - Essay Example Muslims have clear ideas about their medical care due to religious beliefs. This has to be taken into consideration by non-Muslim doctors. Since there are millions of Muslims in the United States, with a growing population, their needs are significant. Many Muslims have no choice but to be treated by a non-Muslim doctor. If their needs are not met, many Muslims would rather practice their religion than get medical care. This would be a travesty. American citizens would be suffering from third world illnesses just because doctors do not meet their needs. Muslims believe in transplantation and organ donations, HIV/AIDS treatment, non-abortive contraception methods (IMANA Ethics Committee, 2005). However Muslims do not believe in assisted reproductive methods, surrogacy, abortion, morning after pill, cloning, or medicines with alcohol (IMANA Ethics Committee, 2005). Another issue is modesty and opposite gender examination. Hajabs, head coverings, must be worn in public (Abdullah, 2008). Public includes hospitals. Opposite gender examinations can be preformed if a third party witness, the same sex as the patient, is present. These rules are important to a Muslim. If a doctor understands these rules, then they can form a treatment plan the patient is more likely to follow. Muslim doctors and health personnel know what treatment plans that Muslims would be more likely to follow. However not all Muslims are treated by doctors from the Muslim faith. Not all non-Muslim doctors are familiar with Muslim religious needs. Many Americans are informed about Muslims through stereotypes on television. This needs to change. The only way to improve this issue is effective communication with the patient. Effective communication will enhance a doctor’s cultural competence in addressing Muslim needs. There two different ways to have effective communication with a patient. The first is asking a patient that walks in with a Hajab what

Business Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Project Management - Essay Example Project management process involves four major functions. These are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Planning is the first stage of project management process and evaluation of a project is done in wide areas of the project i.e. cost required, future cash flow, possible risks etc. Project life cycle estimation is also important activity in this stage. Second stage of project management process is organizing. In this stage, the required resources are organized like capital, labour, material, equipment and facilities etc. Capital refers to both the initial investment and fund required for management working capital. Leading is the third stage project management process and it is very much crucial for completion of a project with quality work and ensuring deadline. The main objective of leading is to ensure right job to right people and motivating them to get best output. Controlling is the final stage of project management process where the project is continuously monitor ed. Progress of the project is evaluated and compared with the proposed project progress plan. Developing effective strategies and change of ineffective strategies of project development is main part of controlling a project (Smith, L. 2003, p.4). Therefore, overall objective of project management should be performing these four project management functions very efficiently and effectively in an organized framework. This is the job of a project manager. To complete or continue a successful project, the project manager needs to be planned and executed for each small stage of the overall project. This will help to develop and implement contingence in critical situation during project development process. Discussion Answer 1 Resources Resource is one of the most important primary objectives of a project. It includes mainly people, material and equipment i.e. the major non financial resources. Availability of skilled employees is one of the main focused areas of businesses because skill , knowledge and experience of employees have substantial impact on quality output and progress of a project. Again, sufficient supply of people leads to low wage rate and total wage of a project and vice-versa. Therefore, this important resource needs to evaluate at the planning stage of project management process so that project deadline, cost and quality work can be ensured. Next important resource is equipment which is very necessary to do the project task or activities. Technology plays a great role in this resource as use of hi-technology equipment reduces completion time or faster production and more output. Again, the employees also need to very much familiar with the advanced technology equipments as they need to operate the equipments efficiently to ensure better output. Material is another important resource of project as it is needed to produce the products. Therefore, sufficient and continuous supply of raw material is necessary for project. Material is necessary for bot h construction and production unit projects. Time Time is one important factor of project management. Project deadline and progress of a project can be ensured by efficient time management. It includes working hour of the employees and daily, weekly or monthly work progress. Again, time management can be aided by using tools, techniques and skills to accomplishing specific work activity or goal within due date. Therefore, to develop specific goal or work target, minimum time need to be considered to reduce total

Compare and contrast art works Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Compare and contrast art works - Essay Example art derives, there has been a negative perception on this genre subject to the controversy it draws, inner meaning, and the complicated designs it manifests. Some the most famous international artists include Pablo Picasso, Vasarel, Duchamp, and Michelangelo. In addition, there are various types of artwork that include sculptures, digital graphics, drawing, graphic design, painting, ceramics, visual design, print media, collage, and other postmodern works of art (Researching art Web). Indeed, the different forms of art develop with time and as such, we have modern and postmodern prototypical artworks. The different prototypical artworks have similar and distinguishing characteristics. Prototypes have an impact on the physical model and conceptual strategy of the 20th century artwork. Sculptures are part of the modern prototypes and define artwork that has three dimensions, depth, width, and height. Such works of art decorate walls and backgrounds. In creating sculptures, sculptors can carve wood, stone, or model clay. However, modern sculptors use new technologies like welding, wiring, and gluing to design sculpture artworks. Indeed, the modern prototypical artworks are more applicable in sculpturing where there is more of welding than modeling in clay. A popular sculptor, Picasso introduced collage in creating the Guernica sculpture as a form of modern prototype artwork. Indeed, the Guernica is the most powerful political image in modern art. Most significantly is the fact that modern prototypes seeks to realize universal progress and harmony (Wyeth Web). On the other hand, we have the postmodern prototype works of art that manifest different characteristics. A good example of a postmodern prototype is the books. Uniquely, books combine two forms of dimensional images and a three dimensional structure with height, depth and width like the sculpture in modern prototype artwork. As such, books are examples of sequential art and unlike modern prototypes that are

Pepsi-Cola Public Relations Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pepsi-Cola Public Relations - Case Study Example PR for these largely undifferentiated brands accounts for their market share dominance. PR often has an important role in sustaining brand equity. Long-lived campaigns that presented PepsiCo as the soft drink for the young and those who aspired to be young have helped sustain these brands' position and market share. Moreover, consistently advertising a brand's position serves as a barrier to competitive entry. Relates to what consumers believe about a brand and the category in which it holds membership (Chitty et al 2005). The other type of insight pertains to how consumers use advertising information to make brand decisions. This insight is the basis for planning the advertising function: identifying a target and developing a brand position. In turn, targeting and positioning guide the design of creative and media strategies (Brassington and Pettitt 2003). Three different publics involved in the case are the government, the consumers and competitors. FDA examined all reported cases but "could see any rational reason for the allergen incidents being reported" (There is a Syringer in my Pepsi Can p. 326). The most problem was general public and potential consumers. Negative publicity influenced its brand image and sales volumes. PR may be able to change these beliefs, but it is generally a slow process. PR An of brand linkage is even more likely when a brand does not have a strong point of differentiation from its competition. In this situation, the point of difference becomes an understanding of target consumers and their goals rather than some brand benefit. When several competitors use this same approach the linkage between brand and message is weakened. One motivation factor is the discrepancy between the position advocated in a message and people's current beliefs. Precision is needed in using this motivational device (Chitty et al 2005).If a communication argues for a position that people currently hold, persuasion will be minimal. At most, this approach will reinforce individuals' current beliefs. If a communication is highly discrepant, it is likely to evoke counterarguments and thus have limited influence. The implication is that messages of moderate discrepancy are maximally persuasive. From everyday experience, it might be expected that threat would be an effective means of motivating message elaboration (Brassington and Pettitt 2003). One of the tools used by PepsiCo is "All of evidence" campaign. Thus, it "was lost on the news media" (There is a Syringer in my Pepsi Can p. 326). The main problem is that consumers make purchase decisions based on what they know about a brand, rather than on what they remember from an ad. Whereas explicit ad recall reflects what people can remember about information stated in an ad, advertisers are interested in what people know about their brand. Implicit measures of memory are useful in this regard. Implicit measures solicit what people know without making reference to the origins of their knowledge. For example, brand recall is an implicit measure because people are asked to tell what they know about a brand. The impact of exposure on brand recall is a more appropriate measure of the learning prompted by PR than is ad recall because brand recall is a reflection of what people know rather than what they can remember (Chitty et al 20

Therapies Approaches Essay Example for Free

Therapies Approaches Essay What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the following approaches to therapy? (A) Psychoanalysis: The main goal of psychoanalysis is to resolve internal conflicts that lead to emotional suffering. Traditional psychoanalysis called for three to five therapy sessions a week, however, treatment may still go on for years for the sake of increasing the application and the accuracy of the analysis of the behavioral development of the clients attended with through the said therapy. Today through the application of the new approaches of psychology, the said therapy has already been briefed to be able to give ample and accurate solutions to issues that clients are supposed to take into consideration. This therapy is then noted for its capability to analyze the different factors that contribute to the situations that clients are primarily involved with. However, with the lengthened way of applying the process, finding solutions becomes less applicative in this manner of psychological approach. (B) Person-centered therapy: Individual-focused, this is the characteristic of this particular approach. Since it is individual, the subject becomes more concise and much easier to identify. Having to deal with the issue through the singularity of the subject actually notes the possibility of being more specific with the solutions that are formulated along the application of the therapy. However, being individually centered makes the approach less broad. (C) Behavior therapy: Behavior centered therapy incites the importance of approaching the problem through knowing who and how the person or the client is dealing with the situations that he is facing in life. Through this therapy, the examination of the situation shall be based on the ideal character of the person being dealt with. This makes the process of understanding the problem more accurate and more efficient. (D) Cognitive therapy: This therapy actually notes the process of using the attitudes and reactions of the clients to be able to create the most possible solution available for the problem to be answered. Considerably, cognitive therapy is actually an approach that estimates the specific manner by which people react to the different issues that they deal with everyday. Although effective in many ways, it is indeed noticeable how this particular therapy is subjected to some issues since people change every now and then. (E) Drug therapy: Medication may not be as effective as expected all the time. At some point, this process may even result to a more complicated problem that could be due to overdose. Although helpful, too many limitations should be considered in pursuing this particular approach in psychological therapy. References: Samuel E. Wood, Ellen Green Wood, and Denise Boyd. (2007). Mastering the World of Psychology (3rd Edition) (MyPsychLab Series). Allyn Bacon; 3 edition.

Strategy And Operation Management In Business Commerce Essay

Strategy And Operation Management In Business Commerce Essay Companies and organisations are making and delivering products, whether it is for profit or not for profit it relies on the processes to get their products manufactured properly and another thing that is kept in mind is that the products should be delivered on time, and every process acts as an operation for the company. To the company this is essential, that is why managers find operation management very attractive. Operations Management objectives Operation management objectives is a very broad term for any business, which has a great impact on categories like Shareholders, customers and employees. Following are the main categories Suppliers operations of a company has a great effect on its suppliers, as to have a supplier network which is more effective which can help in improve busienss. Customers Customers is the most important part for business as they are ones through which company makes profit, management of operation should always be done keeping in mind the target market. Shareholders shareholders can only get the benefit if the business is making good money which can only be achieved by proper management of processes at each level. Employees employees are the one who makes a company and runs it so in order to make their job easy and keep them motivated towards work a company should have a proper management of operations in every department and at every level. Society Scoiety effects any business externally though it might not have any direct relation with the company economically. But over the recent years social responsibility has become a part of business world and now being socilally responsible is important for almost every company which is why most of the companies now manage their operations keeping in mind their social rexponsibility. (Slack,N., et al. (2004) 4th Ed) Operation Management in Exxon Mobil History Exxon mobil operates its petrochemical facilities or marketing product worldwide and its industry leader almost every aspest. Exxon mobil was created by the marger of Exxon (Esso parent company) and its idea is nothing new. The corporate entities that one day Exxon and Mobil become a common share ancestry. The Standard Oil Trust founded by John D Rockefeller in 1882.   Under this umbrella, two organisations , the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and the Standard Oil Company of New York ware formed. Jersey Standard and Socony, as they were commonly known, were the predecessors of Exxon and Mobil. In early years both companies expanding their oil and petrochemical business around the world. Finaly they realised that they can operate more competitively and effectively as an organisation. Its merger completed on 30 Nev, 1999. (http://www.exxonmobil.com) Operational Management in Exxon Mobil Exxon Mobil conducts business in such a way that is compatible with the environmental and economic needs of all communities in which they operates safety, health and security of their employees, those involved in their operation, customer and public. These policies put into practice through a disciplined management framework called operation management. Its reflect their health, safety,environment and product saftey policies to commitment of highest operational standerds and performence. They use a systemetic approach called Operational Integrity Management System (OIMS). They developed this system to provide strong and healthy framework for managing healthy environment, safety and security risks. They used thier facilities worldwide to measure progress and ensure management accountability for best result in oil and petrochemical. Operation Competitivness Exxon Mobil has a long history of leadership in the petroleum and petrochemical industries. They follow discipline and commitment in performing their business strategies have led to sustainable competitive aspects. Technology; They maintain a unique commitment for advancment in technology in all their business functions consistently investing more than the competition. Integrity; Their approach is very clear to ethics and business integrity is reflected in all their activities. Their goals to report that are clear to understand by investors. Capital Discipline; They take a disciplined, long-term approach to making investment decision. Operational Excellence; They maintain a clear focus on the performance of their business. Employees; Their exceptional quality of their workforce is a long-standing competitive advantage. Worldwide Experience; Their globaly presence allow them to build a existing business experience to capture opportunities in higher-growth region to attrect mor business. Diversity of Operations; Their geographic diversity and complementary nature of Upstream, Downstream and Chemical business mitigate sensitivity to fluctuation in individual business line and market. Financial strength; Their cash flow and financial position, combined with a good credit rating allow them to pursue all profitable opportunities. ExxonMobil increases global capacity Its started its newest high efficiency co-generation plant at its Antwerp refinery in Belgium. Co-generation is process of producing both electricity and steam or heat at the same time which is then used for production or running factories. In addition to that the new plant will also help in reduction of carbon dioxice which is being omitted by approxmately 200000 tonnes per year. The top management at ExxonMobil is well aware of the of energy and cost which go hand in hand, the management has been able to produce energy at low cost and they have also kept in mind the importance of being environment friendly. As the improtance of business ethics is increasing the management at ExxonMobil is also trying to preform their part in being social responsible. The new plant has also allowed to produce enough energy which can then be used to rum compressors, pumps and any other equipment. The plant also produces heat and steam which is used to convert crude oil into different refinded petrolium products. (http://www.businesswire.com) ESSO Esso Service Station throught out UK are owned by Exxon Mobil, which is one of the biggest chain of service station in the UK. There are about 196 Tesco Shops at Esso Service Stations throughout Uk Which provide service and make their life more convenient. Location For any business location is very important for success that is why many businesses put so many emphases on location. In retail business there are three main factors for success and they are location, location and location, Management in Esso also understand importance of location in business that is way location for each Esso`s outlet has been very well planned. Esso has outlet in all major cities and try cover maximum amount of customer in particular region. For any outlet the management of Esso conceder following factors. Accessibility Feasibility Convenience Competitor Target market Process Business process is the way in which a company do its business and there is different levels which need to have a different process i.e. each level requires a different approach and every level has different tasks. Business process can be a key to success for any business as it helps in achieving the objectives of the company, for many companies business process the key competitive edge over their competitors. For good business process it is necessary that there is a consistency through the levels of business process and different business processes should be well integrated with each other and should be in line with the main objectives of the company. At Esso each and every process is developed in such a way that it facilitates to achieve the overall business strategy. Business processes are defined in as such that process at every level is well integrated. While developing the business process for every level the management at Esso have maintained the overall vision and goal of the company. TQM Total Quality Management (TQM) is a new tool used by management in order to improve the quality of products services and processes with in the company in order to be more effecient and productive. It is being used by many companeis as tool to provide competitive advantage amongst competitors. TQM has four main stages which are Plan, Do, Check and Act which is also reffered to PDCA cycle. It starts with planning which is the first and one of the most important part of TQM where the problem area is being identified and relavent information is being gathered. The next stage is do where a solution is being implemented in order to solve the problem, the next stage is Check where special tools and strategies are developed in order to tack the performance of solution that was being implemented in the early stage. The last stage is act where changes are being made if probelm still continues. (http://searchcio.techtarget.com) Total Quality Management at Esso The management at Esso knows the importance of TQM very well in such a competitive world. To achieve this, the management at Esso has taken few steps at each level of the organisation like, Defining the vision of the company Setting targets Developing business processes Compatible staff Training Performance reviews At operation level i.e. at store level in order to give customers a quality service and to provide customer satisfaction the staff is given proper training for how to operate and run a store they are provided with all product knowledge so as to help customers with their queries. The products and services offered to the customers are well checked for quality purposes before displaying it at any store. (http://www.exxonmobil.co.uk) Flexibility Flexibility is one of the most important factor for any business but one thing should be kept in mind that in order to make the processes of a compnay flexible changes should be made in such a way that it becomes a part of the overall strategy. The business should be flexible enough to so that the changes could be made when the need arises and order to do so there should be a margin for flexibility at every level of the company. As flexibility mainly depends in the processes and systems of the business operation. For any business it is important to have systems and operations which are technologically fast and easy to make changes in order to respond to the changing environment and changing needs of customers. The basic concept of flexibility in business means that how fast can a business respond to the changing enviroment and needs of customers. As environment keeps on changes over time it is important to have business process which is flexible enough to make changes when required, as time as always uncertain which shows the importance of a business being flexible. (http://marketingdeviant.com) Flexible Workplace at Esso They committed a best choice of employer of thier highly qualified employees and during recurits they achieving and maintaining the highest levels of workplace produstivity. Flexibility program at esso are essential part of commitment as they help employees. ExxonMobil knows the importance of the workforce in achieving the overall goal of the company that is why the management of the company keeps in mind the need and values of the diversied workforce, which is highly qulified and skilled. In order to keep the employees motivated and to make them more effective and efficient the management always has always tried to keep the wokplace as flexible as possible. Attract and keep the most qualified and talented people. Address the several individual needs and expectations of employees and recruits. Maximize produce the goods. Its operations all over the world, each country has a unique flexibility programe due to culture, legal reqrirements and infrastructure. Example of flexibility at workplace and employee program are listed below: Flexible work arrangements There are several customised programs developed at ExxonMobil keeping in mind the needs, desires and expectations of the work force. Some of the key point to make the enviroment flexible is as follows Work place which is adabtable Work targets on weekly basis Worker categories as part-time, full-time and Regular Working hours which can by adjusted accroding to workers needs and suitability Personal Time Time off and paid holidays are given to all employees. Time off can taken because of the following main reasons Immediate death in close family Emergencies Child birth or adoption of child Realocation which is company initiated Cummunit service activities which are being sponsored by the company Skill leaves Other personanal needs Leaves of absence which includes leaves for personnal health or care issues related to any dependant, which also includes military services and other personal needs Other programs Other programs inculde Discounts on products Health program Fitness program Advance holidays and Vacations Financial Counseling Membership for technical scientific and professional societies Assistance with adoption Refund program related to education Reallocation program related to spous Program related to matching gifts Service awards Business Process Outsourcing BPO is a form of outsourcing which is related to information technology. In this process a third party is hired to provide services related to information technology such as software application development management and software application maintenance, operations related to data centre, testing and quality assurance related to IT. ExxonMobil ExxonMobil started to outsource is paytroll function which then included to Employee benefits management. ExxonMobil now have outsourced its whole IT functions. (www.sourcingmag.com/content/what_is_bpo.asp) Outsourcing at esso CMG plc, the European information technology services company recently floated on the London and Amsterdam stock exchanges, signed an outsourcing agreement with Esso UK, worth almost  £15 million over its five-year term. Under the agreement, CMG has started to carry out the overall project management of Essos IT programme in the UK over the five years. CMG will be responsible for selecting other suppliers to provide complimentary or additional skills as necessary, and for ensuring that projects will be delivered on time and on budget.( www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=15005)

Election Problems Essay -- Essays Papers

Election Problems Even though my experience may be limited in politics, I still understand how grave of a situation it is having everything controlled by the republicans, because with total domination of one party the democratic system is weighed heavily to one side. Even some republicans agree that dominance over every branch is a problem. It is false hope for the President and his colleagues to think that just because they won the election that every person who voted for them is supporting their conservative ways and plans. This distorted image could possibly have been humbled if the electoral system was different. In many states Bush only won by 2% but all of the electoral votes went to him, despite the fact that 50% of voters chose a different candidate. I understand that this is the way it has been and it has worked in the past. But more than ever there is an uprising against the Electoral College. For instance Colorado attempted to pass an amendment that would change the way the electoral votes are counted within the state. Within this outdated system a candidate could win the majority of the popular votes but still not win the election. This is taking away from the voice of the American people. There are many flaws because of the way elections are conducted. There are two arguments in favor of the Electoral College, although both of them agree that nothing should be done. There have been over 700 proposed amendments to revamp the Electoral College that have gone before Congress, most of them failed. The attitude of the supporters is to leave well enough alone. While many of us see that may be true in some aspects others aspects are in sever need of change. Our world and lives are changing dramatically ... ...rrified to learn what the voting future has in store for me. The American public is being tricked into thinking that the Electoral College is a just system to elect our most important office. Because there are many flaws within the Electoral College a change needs to be made. And that change rests on the shoulders of all of the American people. Works Cited Should the Current Electoral College System be Preserved? PRO. Congressional Digest; Jan2001, Vol. 80 Issue 1, p16, 8p, 3bw, Berns The Neglected Majority Campaigns & Elections; Aug2004, Vol. 25 Issue 7, p44, 1p DOES YOUR VOTE MATTER? Business Week; 6/14/2004 Issue 3887, p60, 2p Who Should Elect the President? The Case Against the Electoral College. National Civic Review; Summer2001, Vol. 90 Issue 2, p173, 9p Bush’s Trouble Ahead New York Times, November 7, 2004, By Lyn Nofzinger

Homeschooling Essay -- Homeschool Education Teaching Essays

Homeschooling The definition of homeschooling is to instruct a pupil in an educational program outside of established schools (www.Dictionary.com). Homeschooling is a good alternative to public schools because of certain religious issues, standardized test success, and variety of options for homeschool students, but in some states homeschoolers are having trouble with the school system. Homeschooling has been on the rise in the United States and its popularity continues to grow among American families. According to the U.S Department of Education, in 2003 there were 1.1 million children in grades K thru 12 being homeschooled . The 3 most popular reasons for homeschooling are concerns about the environment of other schools, desire for religious or moral instruction, and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (2003 National Household Education Survey). Many parents have resorted to homeschooling their children because of certain religious issues and beliefs that these families see as not being taught in the public school systems. Many parents choose this method because most public schools do not participate in religious activities and parents want their children to be taught religion also, aside form everyday studies. Religion is also a big factor because the beliefs of these families and things they value and some believe that their child being in a public school environment will tamper with these beliefs and values. Some public schools around the country do still teach good values to their students and do believe in praying before school. There are a lot of religious organizations around the country encouraging parents to make a sacrifice for their children and teach them at home. Some... ...are put in society. Schools were setup to educate people who are not educated and help students to their best ability in order to prepare them for the outside world (Lyman,Isabel). With most schools just passing kids through school instead of taking the time to actually teach them, they are not doing society a favor because these kids have no skills to bring to society to better it. Homeschooliing provides the personal With the ever growing population of kids being homeschooled it is no surprise that more people are starting to realize the benefits of homeschooling and seeing it as an positive alternative to public schools. Some states are having problems with regulations, but most are doing just fine with the adjustment. Homeschooling is a good idea because of religious issues, its success on standardized tests, and the options open to kids who are homeschooled.

Environment and Race Essay -- Sociology Racism Prejudice Essays

For many years now, environmental protection and regulation has been a moving force within societies, especially the United States, and has captured much support from many different people. The environmental movement has taken a stance against environmental degradation, depletion of natural resources, destruction of precious habitats, and the harming of endangered and non-endangered species. Emphasis on environmental quality has undoubtedly turned society a little greenerà ¤ and has made oneà ¢s quality of life a little better. However, not all areas of society have reaped the benefits of the environmental movement, a fact that may have to do with those populations being a little brownerà ¤. Despite efforts made to raise environmental standards, many in society, particularly minorities and low-income residents who live in urban areas, find themselves inhabiting areas where environmental quality is either neglected or abused, and problems are prevalent. This is a problem of environmental injustice. The right to equal environmental quality should be extended to all members of society. Environmental justice is important because it ensures that all citizens, no matter their ethnicity, income level, or other defining characteristics, receive fair and equal environmental quality. More importantly, it potentially combats the issue of environmental conflict that could arise between opposing sides (those affected, as well as surrounding industries and the government). For example, the construction of additional hazardous waste facilities in a poor minority community would be a potential conflict. Environmental justice is a fairly new concept within the environmental arena (its or igins can be traced back to the early twentieth century. It is c... ...e is green. References Baar, E., Greenbaum, A., & Wellington, A. (1995). Social Conflict and Environmental Law: Ethics, Economics and Equity: Volume I. Toronto: Captus Press. Glickman, T. & Hersh, R. (1995). Evaluating Environmental Equity: The Impacts of Industrial Hazards on Selected Social Groups in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Washington, D. C.: Resources for the Future. Have, S. (1976). Environment and Equity: A Survey of Metropolitan Issues. Washington, D. C.: The Potomac Institute, Inc. Hersh, R. (1995). Race and Industrial Hazards: An Historical Geography of the Pittsburgh Region, 1900-1990. Washington, D. C.: Resources for the Future. Hurley, A. (1995). Environmental Inequalities. North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press. Mandelker, D. (1981). Environment and Equity: A Regulatory Challenge. St. Louis: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Hotel Management: Quality, Speed, Dependability, Flexibility, and Cost Essay

(a) make sure that the way he manages the hotel is appropriate to the way it competes for business; 1. Training and development of staff 2. Planning & Staffing 3. Marketing & Service innovations 4. Operations and management improvement 5. Welfare and motivation to employees (b) implement any change in strategy; (10 marks) (c) develop his operation so that it drives the long-term strategy of the hotel. (10 marks) 2. What questions might Wernie ask to judge whether his operation is a Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, or Stage 4 operations on Hayes and Wheelwright’s scale of excellence? (20 marks) 3. The case describes how quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost impact on the hotel’s external customers. Explain how each of these performance objectives might have internal benefits. (50 marks) Speed Speed means do thing fast. Speed means fast response to requirements of external customers or new conditions, speedy decision making and speedy movement of materials and information inside the operation. It’s benefit are: 1. Speed reduces inventories – reducing i inventories mean increasing the utilization of rooms and restaurant, that fast cleaning and preparing the available rooms and dinner tables for external customers adds revenue for organization, and improving the efficient of working. 2. Speed adds flexibility – fast response adds the capability for operations to the flexibility dealing with urgent things. 3. Speed adds dependability – fast delivering for the latest information among other department of operations, such as the newest customer entrance information, available room information, adds the dependability for each internal operation’s coordination and communication. Dependability Dependability means do things on time. Dependability means well management and coordination with each operation ensuring other process. are reliable, such as delivering right material or information on time, correct foreseeing and planning the facilities, reorder and workforce. It leads to more effective operation. It effectively arranging the facilities, information, material, workforce, money and time to ensure all of them can be available at any time, saves the time to wait or to look for the other substitutes. Dependability arrangement reduces the chance of repeating input resources or some resources leaving unused increasing the cost of maintain or store fee, or labor cost. Flexibility Flexibility means change what you do. It means according different requirements or things to fast handle with, making change or decisions , flexibility arranging and coordinating operations’ work. 1. Flexibility saves resources – can prevent unnecessarily repeating planning, spending, and using resources such as time, money, workforce, to follow the traditional ways to do things done. 2. Flexibility increase speed of response – being able to give fast service for customers depends on the operation being flexible. Flexible operations speedily transfer extra skilled staff and equipment to the urgent conditions and emergencies will provide the service with other customer’s needs. Quality Quality means ‘doing things right’. For Mutiara, quality means consistently producing impeccable services, using top-class and durable materials to create the right impression and environment, and anticipating and preventing all potential problems in advance. It is benefit to make life easier inside the operation. 1. Good quality leads to stable and efficient processes that less mistake, easy for coordination for matching the standard of processes, dependable and advance equipments and tools to use adds dependability for internal customer. 2. It reduces cost for Mutiara due to it is fewer the chance to make mistakes. Redoing or correcting mistakes, or to reducing confusion or irritation for each people; second, it also reduces the labor cost. Dispelling some serious troubles or problem always needs more staff or more time to do it, thus, it results in the labor cost added, such as part-time salary, overtime compensation. The more minimizing mistakes, the more minimize the excess labor costs to pay for doing excess works; third, less mistake and using top-class and durable materials also result in saving expenditures such as maintaining fee, cost of materials resulted by mistakes, transporting fees, and other excess expenditures.

Best Admissions Essay

0-4 Central Square Redhawks playing the 4-0 Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) on their homecoming. As a captain, you have to always be positive with your team and keep them going. You have to be the one to pick your brothers up when they need it, no matter how tragic something is. Football is a very physical sport as everyone knows, but what most people do not know is that it is actually just as much of a mental game. If a whole team comes together and believes they can do something, the odds are in their favor of succeeding. I knew that CBA was the best team around and had the most talent in the Central New York Area. Unfortunately, not everyone believed that we could succeed. By mid second quarter, we were down a whopping 42 points. We were sitting as a team in our auxiliary gym, feeling very disappointed. 0-5 is not the record we aimed for after working so hard in the weight room and on the practice field all summer. We had to make some important changes. Coach explained how we have a second chance. If we win our last two games (league games) we would go to sectionals. Going out with my parents and seeing all of my senior brothers were pretty emotional; though those emotions went away quickly though, as we knew what we had to do that night. To make sectionals, we had to win out, meaning not lose another game. Right before taking the field, we all came together in the locker room, and from that moment on everyone knew that we were going to make it happen. We all came together and each had the game of our lives. Film the next morning was exceptional, but we still got criticized for our mistakes as usual; to improve and get ready for next week. I was never so ready for a game. There is not a better game than playing our archrival CNS, it was a must-win to get into sectionals. The feeling was unbelievable; as our whole team knew we would go out and win that game. Pumping up my team with a speech that could make a grown man cry was the best way I knew to get us ready. When we first took the field in the second half, the frost on the before damp field felt like the frozen tundra. The breeze made it feel like winter already, with that Central New York arctic air creeping in. It felt like true football weather, as the second half was approaching. The start of the season wasn’t ideal, but leading a determined team to sectionals after starting 0-5 is the greatest feeling. We have made the best of what we could the last two games, as our hard work had paid off in a great way.

Pat Barker’s Regeneration Essay

Explore the psychological and moral impact of war on soldiers and civilians in Pat Barker’s Regeneration and Wilfred Owen’s poetry. In the course of your writing show how your ideas have been illuminated by your response to Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and other readings of both core texts. Pat Barker’s Regeneration, Wilfred Owen’s poetry and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 can all be categorised as subjective war texts as the main structural principle is not dominated by character’s actions, but rather, this is subordinated by the moral and psychological processes upon those individuals. Here the authors have used war to present a larger theme or moral implication, by centring the literary texts on war’s impact, whether that be a physical or a psychological manifestation of war’s disturbing effects. Barker wanted primarily to focus her novel on the lasting effects of war, specifically WWI in which this novel is set. In order to do this she has used horror sparingly, allowing her to still show the suffering of the characters without detracting from the point of the novel. One of the few exceptions to this rule is Barkers use of vivid flashbacks to make the soldier’s torment apparent. For example, Burns a patient at Craiglockhart War Hospital is left psychologically damaged, after being thrown ‘head-first, on a corpse, whose gas-filled belly had ruptured on impact’. Barker intended that her novel be focused on the psychological and moral processes of war, in order to educate the public as to the extent of wars reach, in an attempt to prevent the continuation of war. The chronological ordering and interlinking protagonists results in a sense of fluidity, where the ease of reading and direct writing style allow Barker to more effective present her argument, altho ugh the novel allows us to draw our own conclusions. Heller’s novel set in WWII focuses on the damage inflicted by the war on the soldier’s minds, both in driving them to madness and in blurring the line of moral duty and conscience. Heller never addresses the psychological impact formally: Instead he broaches the subject using satirical dialogue, whereby he shows the men to have been driven to madness and that it is just accepted  in war time. But this callousness is mocking, as is made apparent by the underlying dark humour, which demands this novel be taken seriously. Heller intensifies the dark mood of the text with snapshots of horrific imagery and blunt observations. The circling non-linear order of the story appears haphazard; this reflects the illogical nature of war. Heller’s structuring, as commented by Russ Allbery, ‘requires that the reader pay close attention to maintain the order of events’: Thereby ensuring that the reader fully engages in the text and is able to appreciate Heller†™s moral implications. Allbery also commented on Heller’s last structural technique, as the ordering ‘does lead to an effective juxtaposition at the climax of the book’. Many people have commented that Owen uses horror in order to shock the reader into the realization of what war can do. A prime example of this is EXPOSURE, based on Owens own experiences it ‘exposes’ the reader to the realities of war. The poem centres on the physical conditions of the soldiers who are ‘exposed’ to the elements, which are so horrendous that the men long to go into battle as they see the bullets as ‘less deadly than the air ‘. The weather is personified ‘His frost’, as the elements are now the enemy that are slowly killing them. It is also a reflection of the mental conditions of war, as Owen details what the men are subjected to we see their progression into despair and probable depression. Owen shows the environment is quick to impact the soldiers as from the first line they have all ready been worn down by the unrelenting winter, ‘our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds’. The soldiers then become frustrated and anxious, ‘but nothing happens’, ‘we cringe in holes’. Stanza’s s five and six are more heavily punctuated to show the soldiers exhaustion, until ‘slowly our ghosts drag home’. These soldiers may not have been fighting on the front lines, but this is no less serious, as they died slowly and agonisingly. Wilfred was aware when writing EXPOSURE that the public would not have realised the true severity of life in the trenches. Indeed all his poems are in an attempt to educate civilians as to the true horror of war, in a bid to prevent more men being put to death or derangement. The last stanza reiterates just how dangerous and brutal their surroundings were: ‘Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,’ the weather has taken  all the warmth and life out of them, leaving bodies so disfigured they are unrecognisable. Wilfred Owen’s letter’s home to his mother from the front line during WWII show the inspiration for the traumatic images in his poetry, as he confides in her that ‘It has passed the limits of my Abhorrence.’ In order to focus Regeneration on the impact of war Pat Barker uses Rivers, a psychiatrist at Craiglockhart, as the central character. As Rivers comes into contact with other characters displaying symptoms of having been impacted by war, Barker is then able to follow individual cases fully exploring the lasting impression that war has left. This also allows her to provide a historical structure as Rivers has extensive knowledge about the war and particularly its psychological effects, which he communicates throughout the novel. Rivers then provides a historical structure in another sense. Inevitably, in war literature there is an element of realism due to historical basis, but Pat Barker emphasises this though intertextuality. She interviews historical context such as Rivers’s character, who is drawn from Dr. W.H. Rivers who conducted experiments on nerve regeneration in the early twentieth century, integrating him with her fictional characters. The inspiration for Rivers came from her husband who was a neurologist familiar with Rivers’s work. Indeed, the immediate inspiration for Regeneration came from Barker’s husband. Barker then links directly with WWI through the use of famous persons or institutes associated with WWI such as Sassoon, Owen and Craiglockhart. The first case within Regeneration to be examined was that of Sassoon. Barker shows Sassoon to have been labelled ‘shell-shocked’ in order to discredit his declaration. It is clear from the outset that not all people, specifically those in high command, take war neurosis or in this case, neurasthenia, seriously. Rivers states that ‘Langdon doesn’t believe in shell-shock’, Rivers is Barkers voice, though him she establishes the relationship between the mental institutions and the Government. Throughout the novel emphasis is put on the lack of awareness by civilians as well as officials, so that the reader may gage the importance of understanding in order to prevent these atrocities from reoccurring. Wilfred Owen’s centralisation on the psychological manifestation of wars effect’s, is so that he may proceed to look at a larger theme and moral implication. Owen intended to demonstrate to the public the extent to which these men were pushed, under which conditions they are driven to the verge of madness. Owen’s hope was to rid the public of their ignorance, providing them with the understanding of how crippling our attitudes can be. In his PREFACE he stated that he was ‘not concerned with poetry’†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Poets must be truthful’, by this he meant that he would not write to glorify war, but to warn and try to stop the war. SELF INFLICTED WOUND shows the pressure put on one particular soldier, by not only the horrific conditions of battle and war, where he was forced to undergo the ‘torture of lying machinally shelled’, but the expectations on him to be able to cope with it and ‘show the Hun a brave man’s face’. Owen creates an atmosphere of entrapment, ‘roofed in with creeping fire’, reflective of that that the soldier must have lived in. Contained by the expectation of his family that is made clear ‘Death sooner than dishonour, that’s the style!’ The dangerous conditions in the trenches are emphasised by listing, ‘trench foot, shock’ etc. But ‘death seemed still withheld’, Owen shows the soldier to have become suicidal because of the physical as well as mental pressures of war. The ‘English ball’ in the third stanza is an English bullet; they made different bullets so that they could tell if someone had committed suicide. The two suicides in the poem were not then isolated incidences, if there was a need for this ‘English ball’. In the last verse they bury the soldier with the ‘muzzle his teeth had kissed’, this is perverse because he kisses his killer. Yet there is a sense of relief in the line ‘Tim died smiling’, as he is now free of the pressure of war. The structure of S.I.W. is incongruent and arbitrary, the rhyme scheme and rhythm vary particularly after the Prologue, as he had then experienced the horror of war. Barker’s apt placement of Sassoon’s declaration ‘Finished with the War,’ at the beginning of Regeneration establishes that the continuation of war can be stopped, ‘by those that have the power to end it’. Everything that  follows in novel is consequential to the decisions made by those in authority; because of the introduction the reader is aware that all the suffering shown can be prevented. Barker accentuates the point of this omnipotent leadership condemning the men to the inevitable suffering and mental torture demonstrated by the very existence of Craiglockheart. But more importantly, to the devolvement of power whereby officers and civilians are party to the continuation of war, and so, to the continual sentencing of death and derangement for all those conscripted. This is what Sassoon feels duty bound to protest against; he refuses to ‘be a party to prolong these sufferings’. Sassoon is used both as a symbol of the soldiers condemned to follow orders until they are of no use, and of the officers condemned to sentence the soldier to their inevitable death. Sassoon, along with Rivers epitomises the conflicting moral obligations thrust upon soldiers and civilians alike. Sassoon and Rivers battle with the idea of ‘duty’, a value brought to the forefront in 1914 with the beginning of war. Barker’s protagonists discover that when fulfilling ‘their obligations to king and country’ their duties conflict with their personal duty to individual freedom and belief’s. It has been remarked that Barker cleverly plays these two characters off one another, in order for them both to examine where their duties lie and how best they will serve society. In highlighting their conflict Barker encourages the reader to contemplate what war asks of the individual. Rivers is given Sassoon’s case by the Board to assess Sassoon’s mental state in view of his declaration. But it soon becomes apparent to Rivers that he is completely sane, in their first interview Rivers admits as much to him, ‘of course you’re not mad’. This then puts Rivers in an awkward position, as he realises his paradoxical role as a rmy doctor means that because Sassoon’s ‘a mentally and physically healthy man. It’s his duty to go back, and it’s my duty to see that he does’. He confided in Bryce (a fellow psychiatrist,) that he was ‘hoping’ to find something wrong with Sassoon. Rivers feels as a doctor and fellow sufferer a need to protect Sassoon, but as an officer is forced to send him away into danger. Rivers’s role as a doctor is somewhat conflicting, within the novel he tries to justify or suppress the idea that these men are being sent to him to be cured, and as soon as he helps them  they are being sent away to either come back to him or be killed. The curing process is also at odds with his character, as he finds in his attempt to prevent further suffering he must make his patients recall horrifying memories of their pasts. Burns, one patient in particular, had such an unbearable experience that Rivers no longer had the heart to try to make him talk about it; ‘I can’t make myself think about it’. His duty as a doctor to induce pain in his patients is at variance with his duty as a human to prevent the pain of his friends. Rivers is able however, to help Sassoon in resolving the tension between his duty to his country and duty to his citizens, by encouraging him to return to war for the sake of the soldiers. Although at the end of the novel Rivers clearly sympathises with Sassoon, contemplating that ‘a society that devours its own young deserves no automatic or unquestioning allegiance.’ This mirrors as well as confirms Sassoon’s declaration, ensuring that the reader retain Barkers most important moral. Heller’s Catch-22 is drawn from his own experiences during WWII; in 1942 he joined the Army Air Forces to become an officer and bombardier, much of what he saw is reflective in the novel and much of his consequential views are also present. Heller completed his sixty missions and was awarded an Air Medal as well as a Presidential Unit Citation with his honourable discharge. ‘Honour’ and integrity feature heavily in Catch-22, as Heller reflects on the psychological and moral process upon those impacted by war. It is not as easy for those in Catch-22 to leave their service as it had been for Heller, particularly for Yossarian. Yossarian struggles throughout the novel to rid himself of his duties to his country and is finally presented an opportunity by Colonel Korn. Yossarian has refused to fly any more missions and the Officers are worried that others will follow his example, but if they send him home it will look like a reward. So Colonel Korn proposes that Yossarian be made a Major and sent home as a hero, (provided that Yossarian tells the other men how wonderful he generals are), or they will court-martial him. Yossarian initially thinks that it’s ‘a pretty scummy trick’, as it’s not really giving him any choice, to which Colonel Korn replies ‘Odious’. Here Yossarian is faced with a moral dilemma; in order to save himself he might ‘serve as an inspiration to them to fly more missions’. Yossarian caves,  deciding that the others can stand up for themselves and agrees to the deal. Upon leaving his new ‘pals’ he is promptly attacked by Natley’s whore, who some critics have suggested embodies Yossarian’s conscience and symbolises an attack of guilt. During Yossarian’s stay at the hospital (as a result of the attack), he is able to reflect on the deal and who his real ‘pals’ are. Yossarian’s moral conflict results in him realising that he can’t go through with the deal because it would be at the expense of the other men. He tells Major Danby ‘I’m breaking the agreement’, Danby is horrified but Yossarian turns the tables on him asking how he can work with people like Cathcart and Korn, to which Danby replies ‘because it’s my duty’. Here Heller uses the idea that war results in conflicting moral obligations much the same as Barker does, Danby must help those that misuse power as they rank above him and it is his ‘duty’. Yossarian then discovers the missing pilot Orr actually escaped, Yossarian feels liberated as now he knows how he can leave without causing harm to his fellow soldiers and can help the young girl. When Danby protested saying; ‘your conscience will never let you rest’. Yossarian laughed and replied ‘I wouldn’t want to live without strong misgivings’. Heller intended the reader to see that war is immoral and we should be ruled by our conscience. This is emphasised at the very end where Nately’s whore (a symbol of his conscience) tries to kill him again, but this time she misses as Yossarian has done the right thing. He finally resolves the struggle of his conscience. Within FUTILITY Owen question’s why creation is destroyed with no seeming purpose, in particular the creation of man. Owen questions the destruction of life in order to show how precious it is, yet in war we not only intend to kill our ‘enemies’ but sentence our own soldiers too. Owen hoped to show the moral implications of war and it’s psychological impact on the soldiers. He uses the sun as a symbol of creation, as it ‘wakes the seeds’ and gives life to the earth. But although so much has gone into making man, ‘so dear achieved’, in the end the ‘fatuous’ sunbeams are powerless. Here Owen sets natures power to create life against the futility of extinction. There is a sense of ambiguity in the last line as the poem comes to nothing; this is reflective of the fact that there is no reconciliation for the miracle of creation being laid to waste. Which is mirrored in the first stanza where  the ‘fields unsown’ is used both as a literal example of the life that the dead will never go back to, as well as a metaphor for the tragedy of life left unfulfilled. The last line can also be linked to Owens poem EXPOSURE, as that too comes to nothing ‘but nothing happens’, giving no relief to the soldiers. The tone of FUTILITY is made peaceful through use of natural imagery and soft words such as ‘gently’. The diction is simple and used together with one syllable words shows the deep felt mood, creating a factualness through it’s simplicity. Yet it is mournful and has a sinister undertone, the endless sleep is a referral to death and the continual questioning in stanza two creates a sense of despair. Owen is quick to avoid smoothness by shortening the first and last line of each stanza. He further disturbs the natural rhythm through pararhyme; ‘sun-sown’, ‘once-France’ etc. Pararhyme has been commented to be a favourite among Owen’s techniques; it is particularly apt to describe war due to it producing an effect of dissonance and failure. Pat Barker, Wilfred Owen and Joseph Heller each explore wars processes upon the individual, in particular the psychological and moral impact. The texts do not glorify war, but rather, show the un-sung horror and extent of its true reach. The act of war is forgotten, as the authors place the significance on society’s power a whole and the power of the individual, to prevent the reoccurrence or continuation of war.

Capstone Project Finance (Final Project)

Abstract The need to encourage house or homeownership has been in the government’s strategic plan since 1934, however, the current financial policies and practices in the housing finance and the mortgage market has characterized by minimum flow of capital in the secondary mortgage market, confusion on the main control authority and various ill practices. This fact has necessitated various changes in the house and homeownership financial.This study collected both primary and secondary data, and found out that the government must set the right policies that will empower house and home consumers to circumvent biased practices and practice informed decision making, these sentiments. There must be an improvement in the foreclosure processing and mortgage servicing, notably, from the beginning of the last financial crisis, foreclosures and NAR tried to work by administrators and regulators to formulate criteria for decreasing the risk of foreclosure. There should be increased capita l availability to creditworthy borrowers from all communities and states including Michigan.The study has also revealed that more solution based research is necessary than general solution researches. Keywords: financial policies, house and homeownership, and mortgage. Dedication This project has been dedicated to those who believe that financial policy making is a joint responsibility, for every United States citizen, and it should not be left to the government and politicians. It has also been dedicated to those who believe in acquiring their own homes as a step towards fulfilling the upper needs in the Maslow hierarchy of needs. AcknowledgementFirst, I offer gratitude to God almighty the giver of life and strength to complete this project. Second, my gratitude goes to my Tutor and all participating members in the Capstone project committee. Third, I offer my greatest gratitude to all the members Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), who conducted the 2012 Assets & Opport unity Scorecard, they highlighted the lower score leading to a grade of C for Michigan State’s Housing and Homeownership, and they brought to my attention the problem of low house and homeownership in Michigan.Last but not least, is gratitude to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce (MCC), for suggesting the need to amend financial policies that encourage house and home ownership in the State of Michigan. Table of Contents List of Abbreviations8 Chapter 1: Introduction9 1. 1 Background of the Problem9 1. 2 Statement of the Problem9 1. 3 Purpose of the Project/Study10 1. 4 Significance of the Project10 1. 5 Nature of the Project11 1. 6 Research Questions12 1. 7 Theoretical Framework12 1. 8 Assumptions12 1. 9 Scope and Limitations13 Chapter 2: Literature review14 2. Historical Overview: Development of American Housing and Home Financial System14 Federal Housing Administration (FHA)14 History of the FHA14 The current FHA15 The FHA Down Payment16 The Mortgage Insurance17 Stopping the FHA Mortgage Insurance18 The Economic Effects of the FHA19 2. 2 The Current Housing Finance System20 Tax Policy20 2. 3 Flows in the Housing Finance System22 2. 4 The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)23 History of FHFA24 Conservatorship of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae24 Chapter 3: Description of the Research Design Used26 3. 1 Research Method and Design Appropriateness26 . 1 Population26 3. 2 Informed Consent26 3. 3 Confidentiality27 3. 4 Data Collection27 3. 5 Instrumentation28 Open and Closed Ended Questionnaires28 Interviews29 Reading29 3. 6 Validity and Reliability30 Internal validity30 External validity30 Reliability30 3. 7 Data Analysis31 Chapter 4: The Results and Findings of the Project32 Chapter 5: Discussion of Results and Findings33 Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations37 Chapter 7: References38 Chapter 8: Appendices41 Appendix 1: CFED Assets & Opportunity Scorecard 2012, Michigan State: Profile41Appendix 2: Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Questionnaire4 2 Appendix 3: Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Interview Questions44 List of Abbreviations CFED – Corporation for Enterprise Development FHA – The Federal Housing Administration FHFA – Federal Housing Finance Agency FHFB – Federal Housing Finance Board GSEs -Government Sponsored Enterprises HUD – Department of Housing and Urban Development IRS – The Internal Revenue Service LTV – Loan-to-Value Ratios MBS – Mortgage-Backed Securities MCC – Michigan Chamber of Commerce MMI – Annual Mutual Mortgage Insurance MRBs – Mortgage Revenue BondsMSHDA – Michigan State Housing Development Authority NAHB – National Association of Home Builders NAR – National Association of Realtors OFHEO – Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight UFMIP – Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium Chapter 1: Introduction 1. 1 Background of the Problem The recently released Corporation for Enter prise Development (CFED) Assets & Opportunity Scorecard 2012, under Michigan State: Profile, and further under House and Homeownership section, revealed that; the main challenging issue to be tackled in Michigan is the low rate of the house and homeownership.Appendix 1 clearly shows that Housing and Homeownership Area in the Scorecard it has been ranked 32, and given a grade score of C. The House and homeownership in Michigan is seriously wanting due to the fact that, it had the least score in the scorecard, and it is closely followed by the challenge of attaining health insurance for all. Meanwhile, recent financial literature on the challenges of the current US housing finance policies; has attributed the reduced rate of the house and homeownership to poor financial policies regulating the house and homeownership industry.Swindler (2011) discussion on the house and homeownership in the US, also blamed the low house and homeownership turnout in Michigan on; unfavorable financial en vironment supporting it. This is currently a crucial issue, and it has raised a lot of concern, especially with the residents of Michigan, and it is upon financial experts and researchers, to device the means of improving the poor housing finance policies and practices. 1. 2 Statement of the ProblemThe problem the existing poor house and homeownership consumer protections permitted low-quality, risky mortgage products, and that are predacious imparting to thrive, an outdated, and inadequate regulatory system that has remained unchanged since the 1930s, and which has failed to control the house and homeownership financial industry. There is a complicated securitization procedure that lacks accountability, standardization, and transparency. There is inadequate capital in the house and homeownership system: this has left various financial institutions unrehearsed to engross subsequent losses.Lastly, the 2008 US recession, proved that the house and homeownership servicing industry still remained ill-equipped to assist the requirements of investors, lenders and borrowers, especially when the housing and homes prices fell down (The Department of the Treasury and U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2011). 1. 3 Purpose of the Project/Study This project aims to: †¢Find out the weakness of existing financial policies meant to encourage home and homeownership in Michigan. †¢Find out various relevant financial policy changes that can encourage house and homeownership in Michigan. Find out proof of the applicability of the discovered financial policy changes that encourage house and homeownership in Michigan. 1. 4 Significance of the Project This project aims at benefiting the people of Michigan State, and the general republic of the United States. The outcome of this project will assist the federal government, Michigan State Authorities, and all other stakeholders in homeownership to; understand how best they can improve their operations and finan cial policies to encourage homeownership in this state.The main influence and justification of this project is: the reality of the low and decreasing rate of homeownership in Michigan State and the turbulences that are currently facing the US mortgage market. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2010), had released a report on current economic and financial issues in the US, and they revealed a low turnout in homeownership in the US and went a head to blame it on poor financial polies. Wiseman (2010) highlighted the issues around homeownership in the US, and he proposed various polies that could be used to encourage homeownership, but, he lacked a scientific research to back his ideas.This missing links or research evidence to back bright ideas on financial policy changes is a serious problem, and it is the reason why this project aims at finding out credible evidence of various proposed financial policy changes that could be used to encourage homeownership in Michigan. 1. 5 Nature of the Project This project will mainly apply mixed research method, including a survey method and integrate it with other relevant finance supporting research methods.It will collect both primary and secondary data, to illustrate the relevant financial policy changes that can be used to encourage homeownership in Michigan. An open and closed questionnaires are often used to collect data in the 100 branches of various homeownership financial institutions, and the other institutions closely associated with homeownership in Michigan. These financial and other institutions associated with homeownership in Michigan, will include: the public and private banks, Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), the US Urban and ousing department, and other mortgage and housing finance companies. This information will then have to be cross examined against various secondary literature, and the current document and applying housing finance policies that heve been intended to be encourag ing homeownership in the US. And the new ideas will have to be filtered, and finally, financial knowledge have to be will be applied to test the applicability of the selected new ideas, before discussing and interpreting them, so that they can be included in the final project document. . 6 Research Questions This project aims at answering three main questions, namely: †¢What are the current weakness of existing financial policies meant to encourage home and homeownership in Michigan? †¢What are the various relevant financial policy changes that can encourage house and homeownership in Michigan? †¢What can prove the applicability of the discovered financial policy changes that encourage house and homeownership in Michigan? 1. 7 Theoretical FrameworkThe NAR issue Analysis (2011) had supported the financial policies that: empower house and home consumers to escape from biased practices and make fully informed decisions before engaging in any transactions aimed at acquiri ng a house or home, improving foreclosure processing and mortgage servicing, and they also supported the need for guaranteeing that capital is accessible to creditworthy borrowers allover the united states. These were similar sentiments suggested by the American congress by the Department of the Treasury and U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2011) to the congress. . 8 Assumptions This project has assumed that there have been existing literature, which will have to be used as secondary sources of information, since the topic on assisting US citizen to acquire houses and homes is as old as the legal financial policies that guide it. The second assumption is that the sampled respondents, who hail from the management of various house and home ownership financial institutions sector, are a group of financial experts who poses the necessary knowledge on how to change the financial polices to encourage house and homeownership. 1. 9 Scope and LimitationsThe project will hav e to be limited to the respondents from the Michigan State only, and topic coverage wise; it will have to be limited to the housing financing institutions and policies, which revolves around features, like mortgages policies, and any other policies aimed at assisting US citizens acquire homes, but, it will not touch the wider financial policies which could also influence homeownership in one way or another. Chapter 2: Literature review 2. 1 Historical Overview: Development of American Housing and Home Financial System Federal Housing Administration (FHA)National Housing Act of 1934 led to the creation of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which one of the United States government agency concerned with housing is financing. It insured house and home loans made by private lenders and banks for a house or home buying and building. The main goals of FHA are to develop housing conditions and standards, offer a suitable home/house financing system through insuring mortgage loans, a nd to attain stability in the mortgage market. History of the FHAThe history of FHA can be traced back to the times of the Great Depression, when the failure of the banking system took place, and as results instigating an extreme decrease in houses and homeownership and loans. During this time, majority of the home mortgages were under short-term period. They were ranging between 3-5 years periods, the inflatable items were targeted at LTV (Loan-to-Value Ratios) that were below 50-60%, and there were no amortization (Goldfield, 2007). This banking crisis during the 1930s obligated all lenders to recover due mortgages.The refinancing services were never available, and most borrowers, who had been unemployed by then, were unable to repay their mortgages. Therefore, numerous homes and house had to be foreclosed, making the housing/homes market fall. The banks calmed the foreclosed homes (Loan Collateral), but, the prevailing lower property values caused a comparative lack of assets. Si nce thwre had been minimal faith in the U. S. government backing, limited loans were being dispensed and least new homes were being bought. In the year 1934 the United States federal banking System attained its reorganization.Then the National Housing Act of 1934 that brought the creation of the Federal Housing Administration was passed, to initiate its operation. Its intention was to control the mortgage terms and interest rates and insure the entire industry. These practices applied on the new lending increased the quantity of people who could raise a down payment for a house or home, and manage to support the mortgage monthly debt service payments, thus also raising the size of the single-family owned homes market (Gravin, 2002).The main criteria that the FHA had applied was through various calculations, they computed the appraisal value centered on eight criteria, and it instructed its agents to loan more for greater appraised projects, up to a full amount that can be possibly. The two significant criteria which were being used are: â€Å"The Relative Economic Stability, that instituted appraisal value of 40%, and Protection from adverse influences,† (Gravin, 2002). This made up a new 20%.By the time of World War II, FHA supported many projects of worker's housing, like the Kensington Gardens Apartment Complex in Buffalo, New York (Gravin, 2002). The current FHA The Federal Housing Administration joined the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1965. As from 1934, the HUD and FHA had managed to insure way above 34 million housing and home mortgages, and it has also insured 47,205 mortgages for multifamily projects. Presently, the FHA is insuring approximately 4. million mortgages for single family, and also insuring13,000 multifamily projects in its current portfolio (Monroe, 2002). The Federal Housing Administration is the lone US government agency that is totally self-funded. Arguably, even if it asserts to operate exclusively on it s own revenue, without any taxpayers money, there is an understood assurance that the taxpayer will aid them in hard times of financial need. In the year 2008, the US budget planning HUD had requested high budget allocation bulging at $143,000,000 budget deficit stanching from the FHA run program.It is the first time after 30 years that HUD had prepared an appeal to the Congress for a taxpayer funding. Even though the FHA has been constitutionally obligated to be budget impartial, the relevant agencies are projecting taxpayer financed subsidies of $ 500 million dollars over the coming three years, this is incase there are no changes put in place on the FHA program (Goldfield, 2007). Succeeding the subprime mortgage crunch, the FHA, along with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, converted to be the source of ost of the United States housing mortgage financing. The portion of home and houses purchases which were funded with FHA mortgages grew from 2% to over 30% of mortgages in the US as cons ervative mortgage lending could not weather the credit crunch. In the absence of the subprime market, a number of the riskiest mortgagors ended up going to the Federal Housing Administration for assistance, and this made FHA suffer from considerable losses (Woodward, 2008). The FHA Down Payment The mortgagor's down payment can arise from various sources. This 3. % amount can be fulfilled with the mortgagor using their own money or from a support of a family member, labor union, employers, or a government agency. From 1998, non-profits continues to assist with down payment gifts to mortgagors who buy homes and the house, where the vendor has approved to repay the non-profit and pay an extra processing fee. In May 2006, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had resolved that their idea was not a â€Å"charitable activity† and has managed to revoke that status of supporting non-profit for groups settling down payment support in that way.The FHA has subsequently ceased the down paym ent support program using third party non-profits. Several bills were presented to the Congress to try to bring-back the non-profit program. The Mortgage Insurance Mortgage insurance guards mortgagees from borrowers mortgage repayment default. When a property or housing/home purchaser borrows an amount of money greater than 80% of that property's value, the financier will possibly need the borrower to an acquire a private mortgage insurance to cover the financier's risk.Nonetheless, in case the lender had to be approved by FHA and the mortgage amount is within the FHA set limits, the FHA will have to offer the mortgage insurance, which is likely to be more affordable, particularly for borrowers with higher risk. Financiers can characteristically acquire FHA mortgage insurance covering the 96. 5% of the assessed value of the house, home, or any building. These FHA mortgages are being insured using a mixture of UFMIP (Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium) and MMI (Annual Mutual Mortgage Insurance) premiums.The UFMIP is a whole amount extending from 1 – 2. 25% of the loan total value (it is dependent on the duration and LTV), funded by the mortgagor in whichever way, it can be funded using the loan or cash at closing. The MMI, though is a yearly payment, is overally encompassed in mortgage payments in monthly basis and ranges from 0 – 1. 15% of the loan value (also, this is dependent on duration and LTV).In case a mortgagor has had a credit history rated as poor to moderate, the MMI perhaps is far less expensive with an insured loan from FHA, than with a conformist regular loan irrespective of LTV, this can occasionally go as low as 1/9, as more contingent on the credit score of the borrower approval status, loan size, and LTV. Conventional mortgage rates of insurance increase with the decreasing credit scores; while FHA rates of mortgage insurance does not differ per credit score. The conventional mortgage premiums fluctuate vividly, if the credit sc ore of the borrower is below 620.Owing to a suddenly increased risk, many mortgage insurers do not write their policies, when the credit score of the borrower is below 575. Nonetheless, when they write their policies for mortgagors with low credit scores, the annual premiums might be up to 5% high of the loan amount. Stopping the FHA Mortgage Insurance The FHA insurance payments comprise of two parts: UFMIP and the yearly premium paid on a monthly basis referred to as the MMI. This UFMIP is compulsory payment that can be funded into the loan or paid in cash.It increases a definite amount to the monthly payments; nonetheless it does not resemble PMI, or the MMI. An individual purchasing a home using an FHA funded loan, he or she pays monthly mortgage insurance up to a 5 year period or till he covers 78% of the assessed amount. The MMI payments are superior to all FHA Acquisition Money Mortgages, Streamline Refinances, and Full-Qualifying Refinances. The idea of canceling or stopping FHA insurance program, concerns only the MMI. It is different from other forms of conventional funded mortgage insurance.The value of UFMIP compiled on a loan by FHA is prorated through a 5 year period, denotation that if a homeowner sells or refinances during the loan’s first 5 years, they are permitted to an incomplete refund of the amount of UFMIP paid at the inception of the loan. If he has funded the UFMIP within the loan, he cannot stop this compensation part. The insurance payment on a thirty year FHA loan has to be paid for a minimum of 5 years. The MMI premium has to be terminated spontaneously when the unpaid start balance is exclusive of the pfront premium, and extents to 78% of the lowest initial property assessed value or sales price. Mortgagors who do pay additional payments to the mortgage principal of the FHA, might have to take the ingenuity by using their lender to terminate the insurance by referring to the 78% rule, however, this is possible after 5 years of consistent payments for loans lasting for 30 year. The PMI termination, nevertheless, can be lessened using extra payments or a fresh assessment to prove that the house or home as added value. The Economic Effects of the FHAThe formation of the Federal Housing Administration effectively improved the housing market size. Through, persuading the banks to lend yet again, also through standardizing and changing mortgage procedures and instruments, home and house ownership has improved from 40% during 1930s to approximately 68% in the year 2000. In 1938, which is 4 years after the formation of the Federal Housing Association, only a 10% of the value of the house was being required to purchase it, the remaining 90% was being funded through a 25 year, FHA-insured, self-amortizing mortgage loan.Afterward, the ending of World War II, and the subsequent prevailing condition, made the FHA assist the returning veterans to acquire homes. When the rising energy costs and inflation endangered t he existence of thousands living in a private apartment during the 1970s, the FHA’s emergency funding reserved cash-strapped houses afloat. During the 1980s, while the US economy did not fund a growth in the house and homeowners, FHA assisted to stabilize the dropping prices, enabling the probable homeowners to fund as the private mortgage insurers moved out of states producing oil (Mitchell, 1985).The ultimate effects of the FHA can be realized in cities and by marginal populations. Almost half of FHA’s urban area business is being situated in dominant cities, a fraction that is far higher above the conventional loans percentages. The FHA likewise lends to a greater fraction of Hispanic Americans, African-Americans and younger population, credit restricted borrowers, causing an in homeownership on the named groups, but, that is not enough.As the United States capital markets matured after many years, the FHA shockingly has witnessed a decrease in their impact. In the year 2006, the FHA had a return less than 3% of overall issued loans in the US. After the 2006 FHA failure revelation, the Congress and other interested parties have questioned the role of the US Government in the mortgage insurance business, and how financial policies can be amended to encourage house and homeownership and most respondents and analysts advocated for the abolition of the FHA.The consequent weakening in the credit markets and the recent world recession, nevertheless, has fairly explained criticism of the FHA. Currently, FHA insures about 40% overall new mortgages, but, its impact is still wanting. 2. 2 The Current Housing Finance System Tax Policy It is a common knowledge and many financial experts often site, deductibility of housing and home property taxes and mortgage interest as the main source of federal support to encourage house and homeownership.As expressed in this long quote by the 32nd President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt: â€Å"The mo vement toward progressive taxation of wealth and income has accompanied the growing diversification and interrelation of effort which marks the industrial society. Wealth in the modern world does not come merely from individual effort; it results from a combination of individual effort and of the manifold uses to which the community puts that effort.The individual does not create the product of his industry with his own hands; he utilizes the many processes and forces of mass production to meet the demands of a national and international market †¦ Social unrest and a deepening sense of unfairness are dangers to the national life which we must minimize by rigorous methods. People know that vast personal incomes come not only through the effort or ability or luck of those who receive them, but also because of opportunities for advantage which Government itself contributes.Therefore, this duty rests upon the Government to restrict such incomes by unusually high taxes. † (Duc los & Makdissi, 2002). But, we can mention categorically that; various literature indicates that encouraging homeownership had been factored in the initial formulation of deductions and taxes, thus the interest expense deduction is not limited to deductions of state and local taxes, and housing mortgage interest, and this is according to the Tariff Act of 1913 and the Revenue Acts of 1864 and 1865 (Arestis, Mooslechner & Wagner, 2010).Numerous analysts interpreted that the real tax subsidy for house and homeownership as an elimination of homeowners’ implied rental income put of the taxable income, but not as a deductible on property tax and mortgage interest (Arestis, Mooslechner & Wagner, 2010). The Act of 1997, on Taxpayer Relief, substituted the rollover of capital advantages for homeowners who purchase additional house and the elimination of up to $125,000 in advantages for owners who are 55 or above with an elimination of advances up to $500,000 for proprietors of some a ge ? ing for joint returns. It gave a higher incentive for owning a home, but, it eliminated a discouragement for walking out of owning a home or transacting to a lowly priced home. Another tax incentive that is provided by the federal tax system after instructing the local and state government agencies to support house and homeownership for those with moderate income and ? rst time buyers was the application of MCCs (Mortgage Credit Certi? cates) and MRBs (Mortgage Revenue Bonds). MRBs are securities for tax-exempt issued by local or state housing ? ance agencies, to increase mortgage capitals for ? rst time house or home buyers (Arestis, Mooslechner & Wagner, 2010). There have also been the temporary housing-related tax incentives amongst others that will have to be discussed as the literature review progresses. 2. 3 Flows in the Housing Finance System There has been a mix up in the housing markets and the policies that were meant to encourage house and home ownership, and it has turned out to be a crisis, various studies have tried to explain this crisis, but, they have not found a perfect cause that can explain it.Baily (2011), had identified that the US housing market was characterized by misjudgments, Misbehavior, and missed opportunities, mainly on Wall Street. American people must be protected and encouraged to own houses and homes, but, the discussed below points hinders this achievement: * Reduced consumer protections encouraging; low quality and risky mortgage products and greedy lending targeted mainly at multiplication of the financiers wealth.The evident presence of unregulated mortgage brokers and inventors encouraged complex mortgage products that ended up increasing sharply, the rates required and down payments. * The outdated and inadequate regulatory regime had been and currently is unsuccessful in controlling the system: as a fact especially following the history that was earlier presented, the regulatory boundaries have been largely since the 1930s, they have encouraged the inancial system that were earlier being committed to supporting house and homeownership finance to function with almost no oversight. * The complex securitization procedure lacked accountability, standardization, and transparency: The market progressively depends on complex securitization procedure containing securitizes, mortgage brokers, ratings agencies, originators, and investors and they tend to fuel the home prices to increase. * The insufficient capital in the housing finance system left financial agencies unprepared to engross losses. The systemically-significant financing agencies were never mandated to hold sufficient capital against the actual mortgage risk reflected in their balance sheets since these institutions were already permitted to have lower capital compared to securities supported by the issued mortgages than if they reserved the equivalent mortgages themselves. * The mortgage servicing industry is ill-equipped as they servic e the needs of the lenders, borrowers, and investors when the homes prices go down. 2. 4 The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is a self-governing federal agency formed as the replacement regulatory agency consequential to constitutional merger of the OFHEO (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight) and the FHFB (Federal Housing Finance Board), and the HUD (U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development government) sponsored enterprise mission team, engrossing the regulatory authority and powers of the two authorities, with stretched regulatory and legal authority, and, plus the capacity to substitute GSEs (government sponsored enterprises) into conservatorship or receivership (Wilshusen, 2010).This is one of the authoritative bodies of interest to this project. History of FHFA The permitting law founding the FHFA is: â€Å"the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008†, which is Partition an of the greater â⠂¬Å"Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008†, (Public Law 110-289), contracted on July 30, 2008 by the then US President George W. Bush. A year afterward the FHFA and OFHEO went out of existence. Every prevailing, decisions, and regulations, of the Finance Board and OFHEO had continued to be influential until superseded or modified. Conservatorship of Freddie Mac nd Fannie Mae The FHFA manager Lockhart proclaimed that he had put Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the conservatorship of the FHFA on September 7, 2008 (The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, 2011). Just to give a brief history; the Federal National Mortgage Association is the normally called Fannie Mae, it was created in 1938 when the Great Depression as an effort of dealing with the crisis that faced the mortgage sector. It is a US Government Sponsored Enterprise, nevertheless, it has remained a publicly traded company from the year 1968.Its main role was to enlarge the tributary mortgage market thr ough securitizing mortgages in using MBS (mortgage-backed securities), enabling mortgagees to reinvest their properties into additional lending and as a result growing the population of lenders in the mortgage market through decreasing the dependence on thrifts. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, referred to as Freddie Mac, is also a public government sponsored enterprise. It was founded in the year 1970, to enlarge the tributary market for mortgages.Beside other government sponsored enterprise, Freddie Mac purchases secondary market mortgages, merges them, and then selling them to investors as a mortgage-backed security on the open market. The US secondary mortgage market raises the quantity of money obtainable for mortgage lending and raises the money accessible for the new house and home purchases. The earlier mentioned action of putting Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae under conservatorship being termed as â€Å"one of the most sweeping government interventions in private fi nancial markets in decades† (The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, 2011).This would only commit the highly avoided, employing of taxpayers’ money into funding GSEs. The debate is never ending, but, it was a sign of the failing financial power to support house and homeownership in the US. The action has brought various challenges to FHFA, which are evident through the number of law suits agents it and other homeownership financial institutions. In 2001, the FHFA sued UBS plus other 17 financial institutes, FHFA accused them of parodying approximately $200 billion as mortgages vended to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and many other suits have followed.This signifies the lack of sound control in the market, because there are lots of fraudulent deals in still persisting in this market (The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, 2011). Chapter 3: Description of the Research Design Used The purpose of this qualitative and qualitative study is to discover to the weakness of existing fina ncial policies, discover relevant financial policy changes in the existing financial policies, and proof of the applicability of the discovered financial policy changes that encourage house and homeownership in Michigan. 3. 1 Research Method and Design AppropriatenessThe mixed research methodology and design, that allows the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data is the most favorable for this project. The mixed research design enables the collection of expert opinion when least knowledge is present in respect to a financial problem and the researcher pursues to raise understanding and prospects for resolutions (Creswell & Clark, 2007). This method was appropriate as the project was to improve housing finance knowledge that is present among the US citizens identified through various studies and research (Creswell, 2003). . 1 Population The data will have to be collected from the top management of the sampled financial institutions, which are in direct association with financing housing and homeownership in the State of Michigan. All the institutions and their branches will be then listed and then fed to sampling software to come up with randomly selected 100 institutions, a branch of an institution will have to be viewed as an institution. Then two people per institution are interviewed, after filling the questionnaires 3. Informed Consent The sampled institutions will first be contacted through the mail, and, if they confirm their participation in this project, they are presented with an early informed consent form, which they will have to fill. Their respective institutions will also have to issue them with a human subjects approval document, in the form written official document, with a valid letter head and signed, this to allow the sampled staff to participate in this project. 3. 3 ConfidentialityApart from the names highlighted in various official documents concerning this project, there is no other place that the names of the participants will feature; the researcher will not disclose the names of the participants and the names of their institutions, despite the fact that they are captured in the questionnaire and the interviews transcript for communication purposes. 3. 4 Data Collection First, the primary data is collected using questionnaires and interviews, the sampled institutions are listed according to the geographical location and their availability of the participating respondents.Then, the questionnaires are emailed to the respondents, and they will have one week to fill them and email them back to the researcher. Thereafter, on the day of the interview the respondents in various institutions are interviewed only if they have successfully filled and submitted the questionnaire. The respondents are then interviewed for about 10 minutes, but, there is no fixed time for the interview duration. Remember they had already been informed about the project requirements during the earlier debriefing, this was to enabl e them prepare for the actual data collection through the questionnaire and interview.Then, after the data are collected in all the institutions they will be compiled together for data processing and analysis. Secondly, after the collection of the primary data, the secondary data are collected through; actual reading of various assembled relevant published research literature, highlighted in various textbooks, journals and online sources. They will also be compiled and assembled for data processing and analysis. 3. 5 Instrumentation Open and Closed Ended Questionnaires The questionnaire will be one comprising both open and closed sections.The instructions on how to fill the questionnaire, and the relevant details on how to send the reply mail of the questionnaire, are captured on the actual questionnaire, which are represented in the Appendix 2. The questions in this section to be answered using yes or no, some sampled closed ended questions are: * Does the US house and home financi ng policies need change? * Do you support increased regulation in the mortgage sector? * Have you been affected negatively by the current the current home financing policies? * Have you been following the debate on housing financial reform?And the questions requiring ticking the preferred option still under the closed ended section are; * Which is the most influential institution in the provision of the house and home financial assistance? List MSHDA – Michigan State Housing Development Authority NAHB – National Association of Home Builders FHA – Federal Housing Administration FHFA – Federal Housing Finance Agency The open ended section will contain one question which is: asking what changes should be made on the house and home financial policies?Interviews The interviews will be used to collect, further opinions and to clarify the data collected earlier on using the questionnaires. The main opinion will be requesting for their opinion on: â€Å"Fannie M ae, Freddie Mac having drawn $170 billion in taxpayer funds, Many Republicans want to end federal backstop in housing and the Conforming loan limits on government’s mortgages expiring Oct. 1† (Virtanen, 2011). Appendix 3 named the Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Interview Questions; contain a set of questions that will guide the interview sessions, with the respondents.The main concern will involves the Type of Loan that best suits house and home buyers, the Interest Rate & Annual Percentage Rate that would not burden the house and home buyers, the Discount Points and Origination Fees that would encourage house and homeownership in Michigan, and minimizing Prepayment Penalty that discourages house and homeownership. These key questions will ensure that fruitful information is attained on financing housing and homeownership in Michigan. ReadingThis is applied in the secondary data collection, as earlier mentioned various reading skills are to being applied t o collected data from the secondary literature. 3. 6 Validity and Reliability Internal validity The internal validity can be treated by the researchers’ knowledge, data collection procedure and instruments, and biased documentation. This is mitigated now that the all the researcher have consulted various financial research experts to ensure that they have a sound knowledge on data collection, documentation, data processing and analysis.Independent people are employed for the data collection, and the random selection of the participants helps to militate against biased data collection. External validity Threats to external validity apply mainly through three main factors: time, place, and people (Creswell & Creswell, 2009). People threat could be created by selection of people from individual organization, but, this is avoided using a selection encompassing various different financial institutions and associated institutions in the home financing industry.Threat to validity by place replicates the setting in place for the data is collected process (Creswell & Creswell, 2009), this has been avoided through conducting the interviews in the best desired place with the institution, a person can also respond only once and finally no respondent is allowed to take a break during the data collection process. The time of data collection is chosen to be in the morning hours when most of the respondents are fresh in the mind, and now that we are dealing with the management level of the institutions, they can easily create time.Reliability The validity is met through the number of participants sampled to participate in this project. The large number is according to the nature of this study, which aims at collecting as many views as possible. The second reliability is, the increase through strict adherence to the set research procedure and methods, the clear step will have to be followed without skipping or by passing any, and this is to avoid any confusing in the pr oject.A short pilot study will also be carried out to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the research procedure. 3. 7 Data Analysis Data analysis starts with testing the questionnaires and data collection. The subsequent data analysis procedure will involve: sorting, and identification of various themes and ideas, and processing to identify various relationships in the responses from both the questionnaires, and interviews.Finally, the outcome is then summarized into lists of written ideas, and percentages. The data retention is done through computer programs, write-ups of field notes, transcription conventions and procedures, and any other relevant tool that will be identified later. The collected data are grouped into various relevant themes, then, the most extreme and irrelevant data are eliminated by a software program, then the remaining data will be further tested for inconsistencies.The finally selected data will be analyses and tested for applicability, using various f inancial calculations, for example, the proposed favorable mortgage repayment rate, will be tested by calculating the average cost of maintaining that mortgage, and the expected financial impacts of that rate to the US economy. After this stage only applicable data will be compiled for the final presentation. Chapter 4: The Results and Findings of the Project Out of the 200 respondents, 178 successfully submitted the questionnaires on time fully filled, and they successfully completed the interview.The responses are summarized in the table below: The No. of Respondents| The Ideas Expressed| 81% of the respondents (144 Respondents) | Expressed that the economic and housing reclamations remain very fragile| 90% of the respondents (160 Respondents)| Accused the housing and homeownership interest groups to have the objective to â€Å"cause destruction†. | 79% of the respondents (141 respondents) | Further explained that the financial experts and policy-makers must let go their po litical scorn for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. 98% of the respondents (174 respondents)| Insisted that the roles of the GSEs are important, but, they should not rely on tax payers’ money to run their operations. | 60% of the respondents (109 respondents)| Insisted that the suggested government plans appear to substitute policy that permits home and house prices to remain to decline because of condensed credit accessibility that is not economically productive. | Overall 91% of the respondents | Suggested that the current housing finance policies require change. |The secondary literature, fully suggested that: reduction in loan limits is very appropriate, raising guarantee fees (g-fees), for the GSE will increase the acquisition cost of mortgage, the FHFA and the GSEs should decrease their risk-layering to inspire more lending, and last but not least, many of the secondary literature suggested decreased portfolios of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Chapter 5: Discussion of Resu lts and Findings Both the respondents and the secondary data revealed that most people demand major changes and fast changes in the housing finance policy especially the mortgage market.The outcome of this project expressed the following; both primary and secondary expressed that the economic and housing reclamations remain very fragile. The more time need to be dedicated for the homeownership and housing sector in to recover and stabilize before extreme, but highly needed, changes are formulated as required. Many interested groups have suggested that it is their objective to â€Å"cause destruction†, as a changeover from momentous government involvement within the housing and homeownership market takes place.The respondents believed that: * financial experts and policy-makers must let go their political scorn for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, they should pay attention on the significance of the secondary mortgage market and now that this market has played a positive role in al lowing Americans to attain bearable house and homeownership and ascending motion in the larger American society. * Regardless of their noticeable mistakes and shortcomings, the GSEs played valuable and positive roles in housing mortgage finance.These positive and valuable elements of the GSEs should be retained and allowed to continue to the future of this finance system. * Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae GSEs are being faced out; but, crucial elements of their functions must be retained to allow the U. S. to attain an affordable and efficient transformed mortgage finance system. * Presented observations proved that the that the government’s involvement in the housing market pulls away capital from various groups, â€Å"higher productive†, institutions impedes the statistic that 15% of the US national GDP is accounted for by housing accounts and 2. million work opportunities are created when there are yearly home sales of $5 million, and it is about each home bought, more t han $60,000 is injected into the economy for home improvements, home appliances purchases, and other associated items. * The suggested government plans appear to substitute policy that permits home and house prices to remain to decline because of condensed credit accessibility that is not economically productive.A keen analysis of the outcome indicates that facing out of on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from mortgage market might reduce home and house affordability and admittance for people who manage to own homes and houses, this will make greater profits for influential banks in America, while forcing the majority of medium banks to fail, causing bigger risks to home and house consumers and exposing taxpayers funds to mischief, and in the longer duration hurt the job creation and the general economy.The ultimate twisting up and down of the GSEs has made many experts to see the need for reforming the GSEs and instituting ways of bringing private capital back to the mortgage secondary market. Nevertheless, some people trust that the government involvement is vital in the secondary mortgage market to guarantee the constant stream of mortgage capital to various if not all markets under any economic situations.Closing these GSEs minus mechanism for continuous government involvement in the secondary market in economic recessions and other turbulences will upsurge the probability of a forthcoming housing finance system catastrophes. Suggested rise in down payment quantity, increased down payment necessities a load on individuals and families in numerous markets, however, particularly high cost city dwellers. This saving to meet the down payment been cited by many secondary literature and financial surveys as the main expressed barriers to house and home purchases in America.A 10% down payment is challenging for numerous first time purchases and for others upgrading to bigger cost markets from lower cost markets. The change, joined with the planned fall in FHA support limits and the instillation of FHA personal income limits, implies that first time houses and home buyers in higher cost city market will have to spend significantly more money in private capital costs or postpone their purchases in spite of attaining incomes essential to cover the costs purchasing homes with conventional loan with acceptable PMI or lower down payment FHA.Furthermore, the ultimate QRM inceptions will impose another obstruction when LTV bounds for QRMs are put beyond the reasonable down payment amount and mortgagees are unable or reluctant to offer conventional products that which conforms to QRM set test. The recommended reduction in loan limits, will impact high cost zones negatively when the cost of capital to the house consumers shall rise considerably. Though, the financial experts have specified that the retreating of government ontribution in loans to an amount up to $729,500 shall spike private capital to the mortgage market place, indication to that conseque nce is actually limited. The present oversize market is nearly fading away because of the severe restrictions put on possible home and house buyers through private capital. Raised guarantee fees, the so called g-fees, for the GSE, similarly as the increased down payments shall raise the acquisition cost of mortgage capital to various credits worthy house and home buyers, raising the g-fees shall become an extra load for possible home and house buyers.To counter this effect, the NAR has advocated to FHFA and the GSEs to decrease their risk-layering to inspire more lending. There is a developed recognition that sensible guaranteeing is necessary; but, this over-correction has converted more costly and this prohibiting home and house buyers who can solicit home payments from contributing in the market. The earlier mentioned Winding down the Government Sponsored Enterprises Portfolio, has made various quarters like NAR support decreased portfolios of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; but , full abolition should not be the objective for a fresh secondary market body.The Narrow Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) safe harbor, is a great idea if the regulatory organizations create a QRM, which is meaningfully tauter than the present credit standards, it implies that many creditworthy mortgagors taken as higher risk mortgagors. Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations The government must set the right policies that will empower house and home consumers to circumvent biased practices and practice informed decision making, these sentiments had also been expressed way back in May 2005, in a document that highlighted the NAR’s Responsible Lending Policy.The suggested policies must seek to promote choice and clarity, stop abusive practices, and, as well as, robust guaranteeing standards, which requires mortgagees to authenticate the consumer’s credit worthiness. There must be improvement in the foreclosure processing and mortgage servicing, notably, from the beginning of the last financial crisis, foreclosures and NAR tried to work with administrators and regulators to formulate criteria for decreasing the risk of foreclosure. The good NAR’s determination to offer direction to restructure short duration sales and various insurance tools ave tried to encourage homeownership, through providing worried homeowners alternatives other than the humiliation of eviction from their homes because of foreclosure. There should be increased capital availability to creditworthy borrowers from all communities and states including Michigan. The ways foreword under this is through; safeguarding the vigorous secondary mortgage market through facilitation of flow of capital into the larger mortgage market, for every type of home or housing including rental in during any market situation as being the main recommendation for this project.Chapter 7: References Arestis, P. , Mooslechner, P. , & Wagner, K. (2010). Housing market challenges in Europe and the United States. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Baily, M. N. (2011). The Future of Housing Finance: Restructuring the U. S. Residential Mortgage Market. Brookings Institution Press Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (2. ed. ). Thousand Oaks, California. Sage Publication. Creswell, J. W. , & Clark, V. L. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, Calif. SAGE Publications. Creswell, J. W. , & Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed. ). Los Angeles: Sage. Duclos, J. , & Makdissi, P. (2002). Socially-efficient tax reforms. Sherbrook: University of Sherbrook, Department of Economics. Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (2010). Current Issues in Economics and Finance. Goldfield, D. R. (2007). Encyclopedia of American urban history. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Gravin, A. (2002). The American city: what works, what doesn't.. New York: McGraw-Hill. Mitchell, J.P. (1985). Federal housing policy and programs: past and present. New Brunswick, N. J. : Center for Urban Policy Research. Monroe, A. (2002). How the Federal Housing Administration affects homeownership. Cambridge, Mass.? : Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University. NAR Issue Analysis (2011). Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market. Retrieved, 1st April, 2012, from, www. realtor. org/†¦ /government_affairs_GSE_analysis_021211. pdf Swindler, S. (2011). â€Å"Homeownership: yesterday, today and tomorrow. † Journal of Financial Economic Policy. Vol. 3 Issue: 1, pp. 5 – 11.The Department of the Treasury and U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2011). Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market a Report to Congress. Retrieved 1st April, 2012, from, www. michaelcarliner. com/HPD98-OwnershipPolicy. pdf The financial crisis inquiry report: final report of the National Commission on the Causes of t he Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States (Official government ed. ). (2011). Washington, DC: Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Virtanen, B. W. (2011). Housing finance reform in America. Hauppauge, N. Y. : Nova Science Publishers.Wallison, P. J. , Pollock, A. J ; Pinto, E. J. (2011). Principles for Reforming the Housing Finance Market. National Mortgage News. Retrieved 4th April, 2012, from, http://www. aei. org/article/economics/financial-services/principles-for-reforming-the-housing-finance-market/ Wilshusen, G. C. (2010). Information security opportunities exist for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to improve controls: report to the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Washington, D. C. : U. S. Govt. Accountability Office. Woodward, S. E. (2008). A study of closing costs for FHA mortgages.Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research. Chapter 8: Appendices Appendix 1: CFED Assets ; O pportunity Scorecard 2012, Michigan State: Profile Appendix 2: Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Questionnaire _________________________________________________________________________________ PART 1 AND 2: OPEN AND GLOSED ENDEND QUESTIONNAIRE __________________________________________________________________ Thank you for participating in filling the house and homeownership financial policy changes questionnaire.Please submit the completed questionnaire by 31st March, 2012. __________________________________________________________________ PERSONAL DETAILS (These details are required for communication purposes only and will not be disclosed) NAME:| | POSITION:| | NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION:| | CONTACT DETAILS TELEPHONE:| | EMAIL:| | ————————————————- ——————————————â €”—- INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE QUESTIONNAIRE ————————————————- ————————————————-This questionnaire is in electronic format to facilitate its completion and to enable the responses to be automatically prepared for analysis. ————————————————- ————————————————- Question 1. 1 – Please type your response of YES or NO immediately just after the question and the question mark. ————————————————- ——â€⠀Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- Questions 1. 2 – Please type your responses in the appropriate columns of each table.Use your TAB key to create additional lines in the tables where necessary. ————————————————- ————————————————- Questions 1. 3 and 1. 6 – Type your responses immediately after the questions and this is limited to 500words per question. ————————————————- __________________________________________________________________________ HOUSE AND HOMEOWNERSHIP FINANCIAL POLICIES Your responses to these questions will provide data relating to the current housing financial policies.It will also provide data that will enable charging of the housing current financial policies. _____________________________________________________________________ 1. 1 Please answer with Yes or No, the following questions: †¢Does the US house and home financing policies need change? †¢Do you support increased regulation in the mortgage sector? †¢Have you been affected negatively by the current the current home financing policies? †¢Have you been following the debate on housing financial reform? 1. 2 Describe the most discouraging process or discouraging thing during each of the three steps in mortgage acquisition.TASK| INFORMATION REQUIRED| Mortgages: The Basics, Part I: Starting out| | Mortgages: The Basics, Part II: Securing your loan| | Mortgages: The Basics, Part III: Closing the deal | | 1. 3 Which is the most influential institution in the provision of house and home financial assistance and why? MSHDA – Michigan State Housing D evelopment Authority NAHB – National Association of Home Builders FHA – Federal Housing Administration FHFA – Federal Housing Finance Agency 1. List and explain the preferred policy changes in the mortgage industry? 1. 5 List and explain any housing financial policy changes that are relevant to encourage house and homeownership in Michigan? 1. 6 How does the information you get on house and homeownership compare with what you need to complete the house or homeownership process? (i. e ideally what would you like to have that is not currently available to you). Use the scale from 1-5 to indicate the importance of the required resource. 1 – not task-specific – of general benefit – to provide indirect or minor support 3 – to contribute directly to the task but not essential 4 – to provide significant benefits or added value 5 – critical Please complete this questionnaire by and SUBMIT. If you have any questions about how to complete it, please contact [person] by phone [phone number] or email [email address]. Thank you [name] [position title] Appendix 3: Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Interview Questions 1. Which Type of Loan is best for buying a house or home? †¢Fixed-rate loans. †¢Adjustable-rate loans. Interest-only loans. †¢Negative-amortization loans. 2. What is the Interest Rate ; Annual Percentage Rate that would not burden the house and home buyers? †¢Many lenders do not compute APR correctly. †¢There is no way to accurately compute an APR rate for an adjustable loan. †¢It does not account for early payoffs. If your interest rate is adjustable, ask about its: †¢Adjustment frequency †¢Maximum annual adjustment †¢Highest rate (Cap) †¢Index †¢Margin 3. What are the Discount Points and Origination Fees that would encourage house and homeownership in Michigan? Sometimes lenders charge origination fees in addition to points. †¢ Points â€Å"buy down† the interest rate, meaning the more points you pay, the lower the interest rate. †¢Points are also tax deductible, even if the seller pays some or all of the points. 4. Is There a Prepayment Penalty that discourages house and homeownership? †¢How much is the prepayment penalty? †¢What are the terms of the prepay? Some are in effect only during the first 2 to 5 years of the loan. †¢Would the prepayment penalty apply if I refinanced through you at a later date?