Othello/ Good vs Evil Essay

Life in general is often used as a system of ways to define what kind of person you are by its end. Shakespeare takes that theory into test upon his characters in his work of the famous play Othello. Through the verbal twists and turns along with the addition of color symbolisms, the personalities of Othello, Iago, Desdemona are revealed to their fullest extents, along with their own balance of good and evil within. When this is realized by this famous Shakespearian work, the judgment of good and evil is carried out, and as a result of mass purging of emotions, neither prevails in the resolution. Othello, due to his Moorish nature but at the same time morally white and untainted, can be considered grey with the opening of the play, but possesses the potential to become either the most brilliant white or the darkest black. From the way that he is described by Iago and sometimes Brabantio, he is a dark beast lurking in the shadows, but he is as white as he can be by the Duke. Grey is a color not quite white nor black, hesitation and confusion wavering behind his eyes. This confusion is caused by his naivete at trusting people too easily, and Iago eagerly takes this weakness to his advantage. So that when Iago manipulates Othello, Othello unknowingly gives in to the temptation, even going as far as telling Iago â€Å"I am bound to thee for ever† (III. iii. 242). Othello at this point is completely taken in with Iago’s mind poisoning and willingly submits to him, yielding to his trickeries. Inevitably with a little push from Iago, Othello slowly goes down the path of dark and pure blackness, with murder evident in mind. With Iago’s tampering of his inner moralities, Othello turns black like a speeding snowball, once Iago set him on the right path. Everything else Othello had done the damage himself; Iago only suggested the notion in the most subtle of ways. Thus he sometimes â€Å"breaks out to savage madness† as Iago put it, when being put under such pressure (IV. i. 65). He is so far gone that he even has epileptic fits hearing of Desdemona’s infidelity. Othello turned out to be evil when he became so mad that he extended his hands to Desdemona’s neck and smothered her to death with a pillow. Only after he kills her he realizes too late that Desdemona is innocent from the start, and has been shining ever since, and only the darkness has clouded his vision and perception of her tempting him to kill her. The fact that he has succumbed to that temptation shows how the good in him has lost its battle to the evil corruptions of Iago, even though he made some futile struggles against them. Othello has given in towards evil because of his weakness and his judgment is heightened by his murder of his wife Desdemona. Even though at the end he seems repentant towards the deeds that he has done, he still lost, and decides to end his sufferings by offering his final defeat — his life. Even so, evil has not truly prevailed by the end of the play, and is instead overcome by the good that is the Venetian society. Iago holds one true goal in his plotting — to corrupt Othello so that he will turn against the ones closest to him. But as the play progresses, there also seem to be a power struggle, whereas Iago is jealous of Othello’s position and empowering authority and wants Othello out of the way so that he can assume power. Iago is tired of acting like one â€Å"courteous and knee-crooking knave† like he always appears to be (I. i. 46). He does not the type of servant that is humble and waits for his master like an obedient mule, and only to be tossed out when he is all weathered and old. No, since Iago is unable to choose to be a master, he is the servant that feeds off the fame and â€Å"keep yet their hearts attending on themselves,† still showing his service to his master but instead is more self-preserving with no attachments at all towards the master (I. i. 52). Iago chooses to follow someone who is able to be manipulated, and declares upon the opening of the play that he is no loyal servant to Othello. He puts up a front of honesty and seeming whiteness, but inside he is just as black as he is white on the outside. In this way he goes to battle the good, the whiteness in Othello, and in turn making his defeat beneficial to his evil plans. It is very obvious that his challenge against good is a victory when Desdemona is murdered by Othello, but evil’s victory is short-lived. Almost immediately, Iago’s wife Emilia turns against him and uncovers the blackness that he truly is underneath his false honesty. Ulterior moves exposed, he is hunted down by the officials of Venice after killing Emilia and brought back to be tortured. His plans have failed, lost to the good and foiled by societies’ ironies, betrayed by his wife, after successfully making Othello kill Desdemona for doing the exact same thing. In this way, evil has not prevailed, and goal gone unaccomplished by good’s interruption. Evil may have won Othello and Desdemona’s soul, but in itself evil did not triumph over good, as Iago lost his power and discovered and punished accordingly. All in all, evil and good is expressed as a never-ending fight in Shakespeare’s tragedies. None overcomes the other, ending the play in a stalemate and effectively purges deep emotions within the audience. Also, the inevitable stalemate that leaves both sides wounded stirs some incomprehensible feelings as to why humans even bother fighting at all in the first place. It is not humans’ place to judge, but to act accordingly to the great director that is the world. World puts humans through excruciating hardships in order to define a person’s soul’s worth at the time of death. Life is the judgment for humans, as they, like Othello, contain both black and white and has the potential to turn either way down each individual life’s paths. Evil and Good is recognized as each quality manifests during a person’s lifetime, and only at the moment of death is he able to look back and see what he truly is without hindrance of the other.

Life and Works of Marie Curie

Marie Curie focused on the isolation of the elements that emitted radiation such as radium and not on the health benefits of radium. However, her discovery led to advancements in the world of medicine and further understanding on matter and energy. Years after her discovery, the atom was further structured by Ernest Rutherford due to her recognition that there are still energy created within the atom itself. Ironically, though she and her husband died out of cancer, the element radium that they discovered paved way to radiotherapy, a process of treating cancer (International Atomic Energy Agency). Cancer is a disease caused by uncontrolled growth malignant cells that mutates due to external and internal factors such as tobacco, radiation, chemicals, inherited mutations, hormones, and etc. As of the year 2003, it is estimated that 10.5 million Americans were diagnosed with cancer and one out of four patients have died of cancer (American Cancer Society). This disease has taken the nation by storm and is now competing with heart attack as the leading cause of death in Americans. If it were not for the contributions of Marie Curie, cancer would have remained an untreatable disease and millions of humans would have died because of the disease. Her discovery of radiotherapy has benefited not only the soldiers in the 1st World War wherein she used radiation in curing wounds but the countless patients suffering from cancer in today’s generation through radiotherapy. Radiotherapy is a process in which radiation is used to kill cancer cells. Though the element radium is not used today since safer and more powerful sources of radiation are available, her discovery of radioactivity played a pivotal role in curing cancer. Radiotherapy capitalizes on controlled dosage of radiation to kill cancer cells by pointing an X-ray machine to the part infected by the malignant cells (Overgaard). This process in done along with chemotherapy and taking drugs that suppress cancer cells. However, this process also comes with certain risks since radiation can also kill normal cells and may cause side effects. Though this process is generally expensive, it is a price that most are willing to pay just to have another shot at life. Radium is also used in Brachytherapy, a process that is used to treat prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, cervical cancer, coronary artery disease and other localized cancers.   This is a form of radiology wherein a small amount of radioactive substance is implanted near the malignant cells so that the radiation will eventually kill the cancer cells. This process if often used for out patients and is used for over a century in curing cancer without having to resort to surgery (American Brachytherapy Society).   Ã‚  Brachytherapy is a cheap way of curing localized cancer and has benefited millions of cancer patients. Another use of radium is for self-luminous paints for watches, compass, microscopes, dials on aircrafts and other instruments. Since radium emits light on its own, it is very useful in saving energy since there is no need for electricity to light up these buttons (Burke, A & Thurston,J.). At pres time, radium was replaced with safer elements that emit light. Marie Curie and her contributions to science and medicine where products of her never failing passion for knowledge that persisted even though she was limited to financial and health constraints. Works Cited American Cancer Society. Cancer Fact and Figures 2007. http://www.cancer.org/ Date Retrieved December 7, 2007 American Brachytherapy Society. About Brachytherapy. http://www.americanbrachytherapy.org. Date retrieved December 7, 2007 Burke, A & Thurston,J. Evaluation of an Acrylic Coating for self-luminous Paint. National Technical Information Service. 1969 Condren, L. The Facts about Radiotherapy.   http://www.irishhealth.com. Retrieved on December 7, 2007. International Atomic Energy Agency. http://www.iaea.org. retrieved on December 7, 2007 . Overgaard, J. Radiotherapy and Oncology. Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology. 2008.

HRM Assignment 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

HRM Assignment 2 - Essay Example The study has described various internal and external forces which influence organisations to change. It has further discussed about different resistances to change management and the consequences of failing to the organisational changes. Therefore, a particular change management model has been elaborated to recommend different ways of managing resistances. A typical organisation generally faces a number of forces which influences their organisational changes. These forces can generate from different external sources as well as internal sources of the organisation (Harsh, 2011). Internal forces for change generally come from the different operations of any organisation. Different kind of internal forces for change can generate from managerial behaviours and human resources problems (Harsh, 2011). a) Managerial behaviour: Excessive conflict and disagreement within a team and their manager is a sign for the requirement of change. This type of team needs to undergo interpersonal skill trainings. The team members as well as their superiors need to be relocated to different departments to reduce the conflict (Harsh, 2011). B) Human resources problems: This kind of problem generally initiates from the differences between organisational and individual desires and expectations. Differences between the expectations of management and employees can cause dissatisfaction within the employees which further results in higher turnover rate and absenteeism (Armenakis and Bedeian, 1999). Changes in career design are required in this kind of situation to minimize the role conflict and ambiguity within the employees (Harsh, 2011). There are mainly four external forces which influence the need of change in any organisation such as demographic characteristics, market changes, pressures from political and social issues and technological advancement (Harsh, 2011). a) Demographic characteristics: A huge section of

International Marketing Strategy of Freitag brand Assignment

International Marketing Strategy of Freitag brand - Assignment Example The brand ‘Freitag’ is quite well-known in the international arena. The inception of the brand happened back in the year 1993 in Zurich, Switzerland. It was started by two brothers named Markus and Daniel Freitag who were graphic designers. They were in the hunt for a messenger bag that had to be water-repellent, heavy-duty and a functional one in which they could take their designs being fearless of the fact that water can not spoil it. They got their inspiration from the lorries that had cheerful colours and created a messenger bag by cutting out an old tarpaulin of a truck. They used webbing emanating from car seat-belts were used and the edging was provided by the inner tube of a bicycle which was old (Freitag, n.d). This is how they turned their individual need into a successful business. Freitag has employee strength of over 120 people. The products of Freitag are now sold in more than 350 shops across the globe. The brothers have since then marketed and developed quite a lot of bags for men and as well as women. The brand has two lines of bag: The classic FUNDAMENTALS that have more than 40 models which are being continuously further developed and complemented. In September 2010 the brand introduced the FREITAG REFERENCE Line and since then it has only been launched under seasonal collections. In spite of having stores in New York, Berlin, Vienna, Davos, Cologne, Zurich and Hamburg, the bags are still made in Switzerland (Freitag, n.d). It has been noticed that there are many reasons for companies to internationalise. The key reason behind internationalisation is the capacity to continue to be competitive in their related environment. The concept of internationalisation is explained as establishing business relationships associations in different countries by way of integration, penetration and extension. Integration is explained as the process of co-ordinating the diverse national networks. Penetration can be stated as growth of positions and enhanced commitments in relation to resources in networks in which the company is presently involved with. And, extension means investments with regard to networks which are new. However, an additional significant motive for deciding to globalise activities results from the fact of increasing competition from foreign participants in the domestic market. With the intention of keeping pace with those competitors who are often known to adopt aggressive policies in order to expand their share in the market, it becomes important for the local organisations to shift attention to global markets. Therefore, the above factors can be stated to be the causes for internationalisation of the brand (Ebner, 2011). And the growing popularity of Freitag bags

Socrates View on Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents Term Paper

Socrates View on Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents - Term Paper Example In dealing with the reality, it may have become typical for the ego of a man to necessitate separating itself from the harsh truth of real inevitable circumstances, yet Freud must add that it is also through having a sense of genuine community, or of acknowledging the value of socialization and the distinct characteristic of companionship that would help resolve the alienating trait of the ego. To some extent, Freud may be met more than halfway in his claim that ego bears the counter potential of developing for itself an attribute which would make it become capable of securing happiness and fulfillment later on. This is the point where he provides adequate discourse of civilization and the tensions associated with the inner struggle of each individual to cope with its influence. However, Freud appears to draw inference at reducing this effort on arguing that the purpose of life executes fundamentally around the pleasure principle, designating projected human ends to a rather limited cause of shifting out of the cycle of consuming displeasure. It would have been better if, in the process of finding settlement with happiness and trying to rid oneself of suffering, highest human goal attainable which transcends discontents in the material world emerges in realization. He could have accounted for the possibility of going beyond the perception of pleasure as deeply embedded in every conscious faculty having the concern of gratifying the need to drive away incompetence. To Freud, it occurs that the ego assumes the chief role or is central in directing response as a human being attempts to explore various strategies by which to adapt to the environment in possession of elements of discontent to which an individual reacts to ascertain how particular circumstances can be worked to acquire the favor of securing contentment. In fairness though, ‘Civilization and Its Discontents’ signifies what Freud considers as a religious sentiment, brought about by an â₠¬Ëœoceanic feeling’ of wholeness, eternity, and limitlessness as if in a pure state of bliss. He elaborates nevertheless that such is of pathological origins which dissolve the boundary between ego and object of pleasure so that once this is achieved, one is led to a religious degree of relief with cares thrown away due to detachment of inclination to materialism which creates suffering from human weakness often predisposed to sexual desires and violent mode of aggression conventionally against figures of prominence. Freudian concept of ‘civilization’ refers to a man-made entity embodying materialization of human ideals that may eventually address proper gratification of instincts as well as serve to stimulate intellectual functions in order for the ego to manage its own foundation of placing balance between the ‘Id’ and the ‘Superego’. This is not significantly different from establishing a form of democracy which initially sustains mea sure of freedom and revolution desired by people yet this same democracy spontaneously guides the behavior of the latter to threats of evolving tyranny and disorder which are altogether unfavorable to the nation.

James J Hill and E H Harriman Compare and Contrast Term Paper

James J Hill and E H Harriman Compare and Contrast - Term Paper Example While J. P. Morgan stood for the banking industry, the oil industry could not be spoken about without mentioning John D. Rockefeller, iron and steel industries were synonymous with Andrew Carnegie’s name, and lastly, as we all know, Harriman was the man who stood for the railroads (Klein 1). In The Life and Legend of E. H. Harriman, the author of the biography, Maury Klein, offers us the first in-depth story about Harriman. The biography covers his influential times in the industry. It spans more than seventy-five years (Klein). E. H. Harriman’s life has been understudied, for the most part, but he was truly influential in the growth of American economy. While Harriman was successful in bringing ‘dead’ companies back to life, James J. Hill was just as successful in the rail transportation business. Their lives changed America. As the story goes, we are put in the loop on how Harriman used to be a banker in Wall Street up to his 50th birthday (Klein, 65). Af ter that, he got into the railroad business in the year 1897. That is the time he took control of the then Union Pacific Rail Road. The company was emerging from a period of bankruptcy. Harriman is credited with the success of modernizing each and every aspect of the company’s operations. Harriman provides us with new insights into the controversies and the myths that surround the career of one of American’s greatest businessmen. Moreover, the book goes on to reassert the position held by this great mind as a true business titan of the turn-of-the-century. James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest is a biography of a legendary capitalist, James Hill, to whom great changes were credited in the Northwest. The author of the book, Michael P. Malone, is a gifted historian. He is also a respected writer. This is well, evident, in the manner in which he has carefully penned the remarkable life and times of one James J. Hill. In focus, Michael Malone’s biography on James J. Hill is selective. Additionally, it is interpretive in the method it has used. Nonetheless, all these angles at this biography are just like all the other books on the same topic series. However, Michael Malone avoids the pitfalls of other biographies that came before this one. The other biographies often present hagiographic pictures or business histories that are very slim in content. This is not the case with this biography penned by Michael Malone. James Hill is put fully into the context of the times he lived and did business and put his mark on American business history. Worthy of note is the fact that the author, Michael Malone has put emphasis on the effect James Hill’s actions had on America; more specifically, the regions in which he lived and did business.  

Sales and Marketing Hotel Lodging Industry Essay

Sales and Marketing Hotel Lodging Industry - Essay Example New products contribute substantially to profitable sales (Drejer, 2002). The necessity of adding new products that will yield profits to sustain corporate growth is clear. Products also level out seasonal impacts, spread risks, use talents, capitalize on tax advantages, and replace obsolescent items. Sales and marketing work together in order to ensure effective service delivery and customer satisfaction processes. In lodging industry, business success depends on producing the right product at the right time. New-product development is risky, for market opportunity is couched in uncertainty and instability, and competitive system and the unpredictability of customer reaction increases the risk. in spite of benefits and opportunities proposed by this model, recent years there is a growing number of research studies proving its limitations and weaknesses for modern business. Applied to consumer behavior, it is possible to say that sales managers give a special attention to importance of channels of distribution and marketing mix. Distribution channels are the vehicles for matching companies with customers. They establish the arrangements and paths for the flow of product and title to ultimate users. They move products and information to markets and provide the funnel for the feedb ack of information to the producer. As networks of marketing agencies, they constitute a system-a loose but formal coalition of independent entities linked together to distribute products and services.. As the links between companies and markets, they can impede or foster the effectiveness of the rest of the marketing mix. Distribution channels cover a wide range of situations. At one end are found the complicated linkage of manufacturers and their branches, agents and brokers, other wholesalers, and retailers for the movement of certain consumer goods. At the other is the direct distribution of heavy machinery. Between lie a variety of channel assortments (Mintzberg et al 2004). Which one works best depends on the company and its products and markets at a certain time. Distribution channels are essential components of economic system. The efficient movement of goods and competition both depend on sales management. Nevertheless, as economists often assume, the channels do not perfor m cost-less activities. Using resources to sort supply and match it with demand, they try to bring both activities into balance. Through channels, companies organize supply and markets and endeavor to develop their own best opportunities (Drejer, 2002). In lodging and hotel industry, market segmentation is one of the main concepts used by marketing companies to divide the market between particular target groups and meet needs and wants of target customers. Divergent service policies adjust product lines to individual market segments -- they implement market segmentation. By assuming that demand is heterogeneous, market positioning strategy obtains a better match with distinguishable market segments. Service differentiation gives marketers a share of a broad, horizontal market, whereas market segmentation tends to result in cultivation of a market position in depth. Given

Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Operations Management - Essay Example Even Government depÐ °rtments cÐ °n drÐ °w heÐ °vily upon operÐ °tionÐ °l initiÐ °tives Ð °nd strÐ °tegies when they tÐ °lk Ð °bout supply chÐ °in mÐ °nÐ °gement, leÐ °n supply, just in time Ð °nd totÐ °l quÐ °lity mÐ °nÐ °gement. This pÐ °per Ð °ims to offer the reÐ °der Ð °n insight into the importÐ °nce of operÐ °tions mÐ °nÐ °gement Ð °nd gives Ð ° firm plÐ °tform for the study of operÐ °tions strÐ °tegy. The contribution of Ð °n operÐ °tions strÐ °tegy is Ð °lso outlined Ð °s pÐ °rt of Ð ° hierÐ °rchy of strÐ °tegies thÐ °t we might find in eÐ °ch firm. It gives Ð °n insight into whÐ °t is exÐ °ctly Ð °n operÐ °tions strÐ °tegy Ð °nd whÐ °t Ð °re its components, how eÐ °sy is it to implement such Ð ° strÐ °tegy Ð °nd whÐ °t cÐ °n Ð °n orgÐ °nisÐ °tion expect from it. BÐ °sicÐ °lly, the pÐ °per discusses the question of diversity of tÐ °sks thÐ °t operÐ °tions mÐ °nÐ °gement incorporÐ °tes Ð °nd thÐ °t these tÐ °sks should be combined to reÐ °ch the potentiÐ °l of operÐ °tions executed. OperÐ °tions mÐ °nÐ °gement hÐ °s its origins in the study of ‘production’ or ‘mÐ °nufÐ °cturing mÐ °nÐ °gement’. (Pine, Boynton, 2003) These terms still very much Ð °pply to mÐ °nufÐ °cturing orgÐ °nisÐ °tions thÐ °t will hÐ °ve distinct operÐ °tionÐ °l Ð °ctivities thÐ °t convert sÐ °y, beÐ °ns Ð °nd rich tomÐ °to sÐ °uce into cÐ °ns of bÐ °ked beÐ °ns to be sold by Ð ° retÐ °iler. Thus, we cÐ °n initiÐ °lly think of operÐ °tions mÐ °nÐ °gement Ð °s being pÐ °rt of Ð ° distinct function producing Ð ° product Ð °nd service combinÐ °tion, just Ð °s we hÐ °ve mÐ °rketing Ð °nd Ð °ccounting functions in mÐ °ny orgÐ °nisÐ °tions. The first definition of operÐ °tions mÐ °nÐ °gement is therefore: Every orgÐ °nisÐ °tion thÐ °t offers goods or services hÐ °s Ð °n operÐ °tions Ð °ctivity. Ð s fÐ °r Ð °s the orgÐ °nisÐ °tion structure is concerned, some firms will hÐ °ve Ð ° discrete operÐ °tions function. This might be cÐ °lled Ð ° mÐ °nufÐ °cturing depÐ °rtment, Ð °n operÐ °tions system, or hÐ °ve no identifiÐ °ble nÐ °me Ð °t Ð °ll. However,

Take home assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Take home - Assignment Example The population of both plants and animals evolved in accordance to the doctrines and dictations of natural selection. The first account on natural selection was steered by Charles Darwin, where he proposed that the continuation of a species is based on its flexibility in responding to the changes in stimuli. The crop plant has undergone this form of selection, since the crops selected for cultivation have been identified in accordance to the necessities of the human cultivators. Response to Question 2 Crop Top producer country (2010) Total worldwide production (2010) Wheat Russia 651 million tones Rice China 821 million tones Soyabeans Thailand 635 million tones Peanuts China 624million tones Corn USA 718 million tones Respond to Question 4 The disease burdens of humans after the Neolithic Revolution (the origins of agriculture) are considered by Spencer Wells to be trans-generational effects. The trans-generational effects including disease burdens he considered and discuss how thes e various burdens have changed over time since agriculture began. Response to Question 5 Human culture is centered on the possible models of sustenance that a population adopts to meet their daily survival. These models are frequently affected by the changes in the climate. Various adjustments are deployed upon the occurrence of adjustments in the climatic patterns reflect similar adjustment in the adopted models of sustenance. This eventuates in an adjustment in the cultural practices attributed to a given community. Response to Question 6 Spencer Wells identifies speech coherence as a chief contributory factor in the success of the Homo sapiens, as compared to the Neanderthals. His argument is based on the activities of the two stages of human development. The Neanderthals are described to have engaged on sustenance models that did not involve communal efforts. Hunting and gathering was among the central models identified. On the other hand, Response to 8 Plato’s Glaucon id entified morality as the compromise between the desire to commit injustice and the knowledge that one might be the recipient of such injustice. How well does Wells’ proposal for achieving consilience concerning the origins of agriculture, greed, materialism, the rise of family values and fundamentalism identify with hunting and gathering people’s mythos? Response to Question 8 1. Researchers have identified a compound in cilantro, a key component of Mexican and other dishes that kills harmful Salmonella bacteria. It shows promise as a safe, natural additive that could help prevent foodborne illnessA foodborne illness (also foodborne disease) is any illness resulting from the consumption of food. Although foodborne illness is commonly called food poisoning, this is often a misnomer. .....Click the link for more information.. Although previous studies by scientists showed that salsa has antibacterial antibacterial  /an ·ti ·bac ·te ·ri ·al/ (-bak-ter?e-al) de stroying or suppressing growth or reproduction of bacteria; also, an agent that does this. an ·ti ·bac ·te ·ri ·al adj.activity, this is the first time that the researchers isolated any of the antibacterial compounds from it. The compound--dodecenal--was isolated from the fresh leaves of cilantro, or coriandercoriander  (kor'ean`d?r), strong-smelling Old World annual herb (Coriandrum sativum) of the family Umbelliferae (parsley family), cultivated for its fruits. .....Click the l

Lord of the Flies Symbolism Analysis Essay Example for Free

Lord of the Flies Symbolism Analysis Essay Plato, a famous Greek philosopher born in 428 BC, once said, â€Å"The measure of a man is what he does with power.† This statement shows that man will truly be defined for what he does with the power he receives; whether he would use it for manipulation, cruelty and lofty desires, or whether he would treat everyone fairly, maintain democracy and control himself in such a high position. In William Golding’s Lord of The Flies and George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the power is shown and given to a character, which would use it for his own benefits and does not choose to do what is right for those under his power. Jack, a power-hungry dictator, uses his manipulative and deceiving tactics to reign over a group of schoolboys who get stuck on an island. Napoleon, a pig, uses power along with fear to control the other animals around him and asserts violence to get his role as a leader. The desire for power and control in both characters stimulates them to use fear and violence as a way of keeping their high position and satisfying their needs. It is clear that the two leaders Napoleon and Jack both used physical harm as a way of getting their message across to their other citizens. Jack displayed this behavior after he gets his own tribe, where he ruled merciless and punishes anyone he is not pleased with. When Roger and Robert were having a brief conversation in Chapter 10, they said, ‘He’s going to beat Wilfred’. ‘What for?’ ‘I don’t know. He didn’t say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up. He’s been†- he giggled excitedly- â€Å"he’s been tied up for hours, waiting-.†(Golding 176). This shows Jack and his cruel use of power among his own tribe. Napoleon, on the other hand, doesn’t punish his own tribe, but does go to an extent where he vows a death sentence towards anyone who is working or wants Snowball to come back to the farm. This is shown in the execution of four pigs, â€Å"Without any further prompting they confessed that they had been secretly in touch with Snowball ever since his expulsion, that they had collaborated with him in destroying the windmill, and that they had entered into an agreement with him to hand over Animal Farm to Mr. Frederick. They added that Snowball had privately admitted to them that he had been Joness secret agent for years past. When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess.† (Orwell 73). Despite being a pig, Napoleon shows the same qualities as a human dictator and even goes as far as to making innocent pigs confessing to a crime they had never done. Within both leaders, anger becomes the main reason for punishment to the citizens. Both leaders, nonetheless, use their people for their own benefit whether they were given permission or not. In Lord of the Flies, Jack went as far as to stealing Piggy’s glasses without Piggy’s consent in hopes of being able to make a fire at any time he requests. Regardless of Piggy’s anger and necessity for glasses, Jack steals them and even kills Piggy when Ralph, Piggy, Sam and Eric confronted his tribe for Piggy’s glasses. Along with this situation, in Animal Farm, Napoleon’s desire for power and money drives him towards betraying his best worker who works for him every second he is awake for whiskey money. The animals would work continuously for Napoleon, and this is clear in Orwell’s statement in chapter VI, â€Å"All that year the animals worked like slaves† (Orwell 53).

Impact of the US Credit Crunch on Australian Economy

Impact of the US Credit Crunch on Australian Economy Introduction However, due to the US housing credit crunch and turbulence in financial markets all over the world immediately took into effect and global economic growth slowed towards the end of the year (OBrien et al., 2007). Given this basic premise of the current financial crisis, this literature review will be guided by exploring studies made on how the US-induced credit crunch affected the Australian economy, particularly the housing market. The first stage of this literature review is attributed to describing the current financial crisis, specifically the events that led to its development such as the collapse of the US housing and banking sectors in 2007. Part of discussing the events that took place after the onset of the financial crisis would be to examine the various mechanisms employed by financial institutions and national governments in order to mitigate the direct and indirect consequences of the financial crisis. The second part of this literature review seeks to determine the effects of the financial crisis to the Australian economy, as well as the various policy responses made by both the Reserve Bank of Australia (herein referred to as RBA) and the Australian government. Finally, this literature review will determine whether studies on the current financial crisis were able to provide sufficient attention to the manner by which it affected the housing market, particularly in the case of Australia. The rationale behind these assertions lies on the need to broaden the scope of examining the consequences brought about by the credit crunch in 2007 and the financial crisis in 2008, from being centered in the US to involve other nations as well. It should always be understood that the effect of the subprime meltdown was not limited to US firms exposed to the subprime mortgage market for the reason that globalization made regional financial markets so interconnected that crisis spread across countries at tremendous speed (Moosa, 2008). Hence, it is just apropos to exhaust scholarly works that have managed to realize that at this point in time, economic activities of nations are intertwined and the development of policy solutions should also undergo the same process. Another reason for this literature review would be to identify research gaps that will in turn serve as a motivation for future studies on the effect of the current financial crisis towards nations economies such as the case of Australia. Since the underlying context for this review of related literature is the 2007 credit crunch and the 2008-present global financial crisis, the period covered for the literature surveyed in this paper will be from 2007 to the present. With these things taken into consideration, the focus of this literature review will be the effect of the 2008 financial crisis to the housing market in Australia. From the broad circumstance of the credit crunch and the financial crisis that happened in the US and inevitably transgressed to the rest of the world, this literature review seeks to identify the relationship from a macroeconomic environment of the global financial crisis to a specific case of the housing market in Australia. The justification for this lies on the need to determine whether policy responses used in the US are effective or otherwise in mitigating the direct consequences of the crisis, and vice versa. The credit crunch and the global financial crisis As it had been previously mentioned, this portion of the literature review is allotted to discuss the credit crunch as well as the occurrence of the global financial crisis. Both the credit crunch and the financial crisis are crucial concepts in this review for the reason that it will be impossible to present and examine the effects of the financial crisis to the Australian economy, specifically the housing sector if these concepts are not understood properly. According to the National Institute Economic Review (2008), the 2008 financial crisis is rooted in the US subprime mortgage defaults. Moosa (2009) defines subprime mortgages to encompass all activities involving the granting of loan to borrowers with inferior credit worthiness creating complex financial products. Meanwhile, Honohan (2008) in his study defines a credit crunch as credit related crises suffered by banks and other intermediaries which is often the cause of contraction in lending market especially if these are triggered by exogenous economic shocks. The positive attribute of the definitions provided by these authors lie on the fact that these are lifted from actual events and circumstances, more specifically the 2007 credit crunch and the current financial crisis. Another interesting point with regard to the financial crisis was given by Barrell and Hurst (2008) who stressed that financial crises are episodic and frequent and are difficult to address without major impacts in the prospect for financial growth. Based on this observation by Barrel and Hurst (2008), it becomes evident that it is inevitable under conditions of financial crises that economic growth will not be affected, especially with globalization as the underlying condition. With regard to the direct cause that led to the development of the financial crisis, Ben Bernanke (2008), believe that the period of financial turbulence on the part of the US began in 2006 when there were uncontrollable contractions in the US housing market that were caused by the inability of certain individuals to pay for subprime mortgages. Moreover, this was reinforced by increasing constraints on credit availability, which has dramatically slowed down the economy and has made it less responsive to market changes. Honohan (2008) supports this further in his discussion on the evolution of the 2008 financial crisis by asserting that the origin of the crisis was especially pronounced in the housing market wherein credit losses are so massive that it cannot be replenished anymore. The fall of house prices in the US and other major economies such as the UK directly affected economic growth in other countries. In his study, Honohan (2008) also believes that although the current global financial crisis was triggered by the 2007 credit crunch in the US banking sector brought about by the bursting of the housing bubble, definitions such as those presented by Moosa (2009) and Barrell and Hurst (2008) should not be confined to the US experience. The explanation behind this is that other nations might have responded differently upon the advent of financial crisis. In this case the positive aspects of the study by Honohan (2008) lies on the fact that it was able to present a coherent discussion of the origin of the 2008 financial crisis as something that did not happen overnight. Instead, Honohan (2008) attributes the occurrence of the financial crisis to ineffective risk management and lax monetary and fiscal policies in the US and eventually the rest of the world. Although Honohans (2008) article was focused on the banking aspect of the financial crisis and how mortgage problems in the US, his discussion of the detrimental effects of the crisis such as the closure and bankruptcy of banks and lending institutions were effective in stressing the importance of coherent monetary policies. On the other hand, the research gap identified in the article presented by Honohan (2008) is that it was highly concentrated on the banking sector in the US, thus, ignoring the direct consequences of the credit crunch and the financial crisis to the housing sector. It should always be taken into account that the financial crisis originated in the housing sector. Hence, potential solutions should first be geared towards addressing the negative consequences brought about by the crisis in the housing sector. Another gap in the study made by Honohan (2008) was that it was not able to present recommendations that will serve as a guide to policy makers as to how to mitigate the direct and indirect consequences of the current financial crisis. In a similar study, Barrell and Davis (2008) observed that the evolution of the 2007-2008 financial crises was brought about by low global interest rates arising in turn from high levels of global liquidity. This can be explained further by the case of the US wherein bank lending to households grew at unprecedented rates leading to the point that people can no longer pay their monthly dues. In addition to this, Barrell and Davis (2008) also indicated that banks are expected to hold increasingly low levels of balance sheet liquid assets, given low interest rates, and they undertook aggressive wholesale liability management to maintain funding levels. Without these initial actions taken to address the earliest manifestation of a credit crunch particularly the collapse of the housing market, countries would not have survived the crisis and will be forced to close down major financial institutions. Again, in order to understand the financial crisis and its effects towards nations and economies, it should be taken into consideration that the asset price bubble in the US in 2007 was perhaps the most noticeable occurrence in the housing sector and this has led to irreversible consequences in the financial sector. Given this event, Barrell and Hurst (2008) supports this by stating that it is the short-term fluctuations in house prices that affected consumption in countries like the US and the UK, therefore fostering slow growth in the rest of the developed world—and eventually, the rest of the world. In their discussion of the present financial crises, as well as the prospects for recession, Barrell and Hurst (2008) stated that the best way to address the negative consequences of the crisis would be through effective monetary policy through interest rates reduction which should be set by the central bank in order to prevent bubbles like the housing bubble in the US from bursting and damaging economies at larger scales. The low global interest rates contributed to rapid credit expansion and rise in asset prices which greatly contributed to the US financial crisis (Barrell Davis, 2008). The benefits provided by the study made by Barrell and Hurst (2008) and the article written by Barrell and Davis (2008) would be that in both instances, the authors were able to recognize the collapse of the housing sector as the root cause of the financial crisis. Hence, in both articles, the authors believe that solutions for the current financial crisis should not neglect making changes in the structure of the housing sector. As for the gaps in the studies presented by Barrell and Davies (2008) and Barrell and Hurst (2008), the authors in both articles failed to establish a strong relationship between the policy recommendations that they have made to counteract the negative effects of the financial crisis from worsening and the need to direct solutions at improving the housing sector to prevent another collapse in the future. Also, like most of the scholarly works reviewed in this paper, the articles presented by Barrell and Davies (2008) and Barrell and Hurst (2008) were both centered on the case of the US and the UK, without taking into account that these cases cannot be used to generalize the responses of other nations to the financial crisis. Perceived solutions to the credit crunch and the financial crisis After presenting the various definitions and understanding of the ongoing financial crisis, it is just apropos to also present the perceived solutions to the credit crunch as well as the financial crisis based on the literature reviewed for this study. According to Harris and Davidson (2009) governments have a huge role in addressing the credit crunches and financial crises through the enforcement of effective fiscal policy. The government holds responsibility to help manage the nations resources in order to foster growth and present more job-creating opportunities. In the same article, Harris and Davidson (2009) also raised that the initial response to the credit crunch was reliant on the role of the government to intervene and take action to prevent the consequences from worsening into a financial crisis and a global recession. The example given in the article was the case of the US, whose immediate response would be Paulsons initial $700 billion bail-out package that was envisioned to foster government spending through state and local governments spending. The research gaps identified in the studies presented above, namely the lack of coherent recommendations to address the financial crisis at the practical level were addressed by Harris and Davidson (2009). The reason for this is that Harris and Davidson (2009) stressed on the need for fiscal policies to counteract the immediate effects of the credit crunch. Although the focus on government intervention can be considered both as a positive and negative aspect of the study for the reason that in order to fully control both the financial and the social effects of a credit crunch, it is not sufficient to simply rely on fiscal policy but have a combination of both monetary and fiscal policy. With these things taken into account, the only identifiable gap in the study by Harris and Davidson (2009) is that it was not able to discuss existing and potential monetary policies that may go hand in hand with fiscal policies in managing the negative consequences of the financial crisis. The research gaps identified in the study by Harris and Davidson (2009) were effectively addressed in the study by Belke (2009) for the reason that it may have proposed the use of fiscal stimulus to counteract the direct effects of the credit crunch and that of the crisis as well but Belke (2009) also explored the option of having a combination of both monetary and fiscal policy in order prevent the credit crunch and the financial crisis from initiating a move towards a global economic meltdown. According to Belke (2009) the generic answer to prevent the generic economy from collapsing is that use of fiscal policy to sustain demand, since monetary policy with its main concentration on interest rates approaching zero is no longer effective. The strength of the study made by Belke (2009) is that it was able to cite concrete situations that will illustrate the effectiveness of using both fiscal and monetary policy. For instance, the case of the European Union (EU) specifically the UK wherein tax cuts are implemented in order to effectively increase demand and to foster higher levels and consumption were cited by Belke (2009) as an example of fiscal policy to boost the economy. With these examples and conditions taken into account, the research gap in the study presented by Belke (2009) lies on the fact that it was not able to fully exhaust the potential options that will aid nations, especially those that are not dependent on credit consumption, to handle the immediate impact of the financial crisis that has been triggered by the credit crunch in the US in 2007. Moreover, even if the most suitable cases to illustrate the proposed solutions would be that of the US and other developed EU countries, it would have been better if Belke (2009) used a comparative method between countries that relied on both fiscal and monetary policy and those that did not. It is only through comparison that Belke (2009) could further justify the assertions and recommendations that she had made in her study. As it had been previously raised in this literature review, Belke (2009) was not able to establish a relationship between fiscal policy, monetary policy and the housing sector. The reason for this would be that the housing sector was the triggered the financial crisis. Thus, it is just apt that immediate solutions be directed toward the housing sector as well. Furthermore, the fact the Belke (2009) also focused on the case of the US and the developed countries in the EU is also considered as a gap in the research for the reason that the effectiveness of both fiscal and monetary policy cannot be generalized in the case of only the US or the UK. The financial crisis and the housing sector This portion of the literature review briefly presents the effect of the financial crisis on the housing sector, where it is believed to have originated. It is already given that the credit crunch and eventually the financial crisis emanated from the housing industry in the US, but this does not mean that research should be confined in the case of the US and other economic superpowers such as the UK. The academic literature available regarding the effect of the financial crisis on the housing market and vice versa was once again confined to the case and experiences of the US. For example, in a speech delivered by Ben Bernanke (2008) he stated that housing markets remain weak, with low demand and the increased number of distressed properties on the market contributing to further declines in house prices and ongoing reductions in new construction. The observation made by Bernanke was reinforced by the arguments raised by Barrell (2008) wherein he pointed out that one of the significant factors that affected the worsening of the credit crunch into a full blown financial crisis would be the inability of the US government to respond to the need to intervene to economic activities. Based on these statements, it can be said that homeowners are affected by the decline in demand for houses because they cannot sell at a loss given that the current market prices for the house are low. In addition to this, homeowners cannot make further investments because their money has been trapped in the real estate property that they hold and their inability to shoulder the dept payments. In another scenario, homeowners who are facing debt for their mortgage are facing high risks of losing their property since they may not have the proper mechanism to generate additional income in order to finance for the payment. This was supported by Miron (2009) when he stated that if government redistributes income by intervening in the mortgage market it will however, it creates the potential for large distortions of private behavior. The financial crisis and the Australian Economy Prior to examining available literature on the effect of the present global financial crisis to the Australian housing sector, it is necessary to present the broader picture by determining the effect of the financial crisis to the overall Australian economy as well as immediate policy responses employed to control its negative consequences. The need to examine the effect of the financial crisis on the economy lies on the fact that the contagious effect of the subprime crisis has hit financial institutions in Europe and Australia, therefore, damaging health of s significant number of financial institutions and reducing the ability of others to run their business properly (Moosa, 2008). Under these conditions, Moosa (2008) presented a study that was driven by the need to clearly identify the effect of a US induced credit crunch and financial crisis towards the Australian economy, particularly in terms of the underlying policy decisions implemented by both the RBA and the government. The bursting of the US housing market bubble in 2007 led to the rapid decline in the house prices and the downgrades of related asset-backed securities as well as the collapse of the banking and lending institutions in the US and most of the EU (Moosa, 2008). The same cannot be said in the case of Australia, where the housing market was not particularly overvalued as in the case of the US, but was nonetheless vulnerable to the harsh effects of the credit crunch. The explanation behind this is that there are still large portions of subprime loans granted to borrowers in Australia, hence there is still the risk that they may not have reliable credit records. The only difference between the case of the most countries like the US and Australia in terms of the extent to which the financial crisis affected the economy are in terms of policy initiatives and effective regulation. Given this basic premise, Moosa (2008) asserted that one of the reasons why Australia was not subjected to massive losses after the financial crisis in 2008 was due to the fact that the housing sector did not experience massive shocks as in the case of the US, the UK and most countries in the EU. Typically, mortgages in banks and lending institutions was hit hard by the collapse in the subprime housing market in the US, in the case of Australia, the effect was not severe by the bursting of the housing bubble. In his study, Moosa (2008) began by discussing the reason why the subprime crisis in the US took effect in June of 2007. Moosa (2008) identified two critical areas in order to explain this. First would be the lax monetary policy as indicated by the low interest rates; second, reckless lending of banks to dodgy borrowers and excessive securitization. Although Moosa (2008) indicated in his study that the Australian economy is still susceptible to the effects of the subprime crisis brought about by liquidity situations that push investors to stay away from private sector securities, the only difference is that the Australian financial sector had the necessary policies to balance this out. The positive aspect of the study presented by Moosa (2008) is that it was able to showcase the difference between the effect of the current financial crisis in the US and other nations and Australia. Through Moosas (2008) study, it becomes clear that even though financial crises have a common shape, its consequences are not always the same for every nation. The explanation behind this is that each nation has its own set of fiscal and monetary policy. Consequently, nations, such as Australia respond differently to the same conditions set by the global financial crisis. Regarding the research gap in Moosas (2008) study, it had failed to establish the elements that were present in the Australian economy that enabled it to respond differently and optimally to the shock that was brought about by the financial crisis, as well as the credit crunch which preceded it. What could have been done by Moosa (2008) in order to address this gap would be to cite concrete instances in the Australian economy wherein the implementation of effective policies was able to overcome the negative consequences of the financial crisis. Malcolm Edey (2008), Assistant Governor of the RBA, was able to articulate reasons on why the Australian economy was able to withstand the detrimental consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. The arguments raised by Edey (2008) directly address the research gap identified in the article by Moosa (2008). According to Edey (2008), the reason why the Australian economy was able to minimize the losses despite the financial crisis and the looming threat of recession was due to the following reasons. First, subprime loans are essentially loans that do not meet standard criteria for good credit quality. In Australia, a different policy was employed to address non conforming loans. Ellis (2009) supports this by stating that in Australia, citizens pay the interest in their homes mortgage against their tax, so they are encouraged to keep their mortgage balances low. Second, unlike in other countries such as the US, the Australian government was able to develop coherent fiscal and monetary policy that will encourage households and business sectors to be more risk averse by having higher levels of savings and investment. An example of this would be the AUD 42 billion stimulus package that was called the National Building and Job Plan (Edey, 2008). To further support the points raised by Edey (2008) and Ellis (2009), Steven Kennedy (2009) from the Australian Treasury presented three reasons on why the Australian economy was one of the few who managed to overcome the negative consequences brought about by the 2007 credit crunch and the existing global financial crisis. The primary reason identified by Kennedy (2009) was that the Australian government and the RBA had timely policy responses to the occurrence of the financial crisis. Second, being at close proximity with Asian countries, such as China, Australia was able to benefit from the continuous growth rates of these Asian economies. Finally, the Australian banking system has remained in good shape throughout the crisis which meant that it has effectively operated with sound rules and regulations. The benefits offered by the studies made by Ellis (2009) and Kennedy (2009) is that both were able to acknowledge the unique characteristic of the Australian economy, which are deeply rooted in effective policy making and regulatory ability on the part of both the RBA and the government. In addition to this, income growth in Australia was already strong prior to the crisis which means that policy makers have to option to concentrate on weaker sectors of the economy that will experience the consequences of the crisis in a different scale. Again, the research gap in the observations given by Ellis (2009) and Kennedy (2009) is that the practical examples and illustrations on how these policies were translated into actual practice are once again insufficient. Another problematic aspect of these articles is that the authors only presented the positive aspect of effective monetary and fiscal policies, thus, disregarding the fact that these might also manifest flaws that might jeopardize the success of the regulation. Ellis (2009) and Kennedy (2009) in their separate articles mentioned that Australia had an edge over other nations in terms of counteracting the direct effects of the financial crises, but both scholars failed to provide stronger basis to support such assertion. The financial crisis and the housing market in Australia The final section of this literature review is allotted in examining the available studies made with regard to the current state of the housing market in Australia and how it responded towards the occurrence of the financial crisis. With regard to the overall condition of the housing market, Edgerton (2008) presented a detailed discussion of the through the pricing, purchasing and selling trends in major Australian cities namely, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, and Canbera. The method used by Edgerton (2008) was to analyze trends in housing price increase and/or decrease as well as trends for sales and purchases of houses in these major Australian cities. The findings from the study made by Edgerton (2008) indicate that it is not only the international factors such as the 2007 credit crunch and the existing financial crisis that may affect the overall performance and condition of the housing market. Instead, national factors may also affect the formation and eventually the bursting of housing bubbles. In order to support his claims Edgerton (2008) cited that Australia employ better lending standards compared to other countries, specifically the US. To illustrate this further, in Australia, there are no recourse loans unlike in the US where many mortgages are non-recourse. Non-recourse loans mean that the borrower in financial difficulty to pay their debts has the option of handing their house back to the bank without incurring any liability for any shortfall when the house is sold. It is a different scenario in Australia because borrowers, regardless of whether they give back the house or not (Edgerton, 2008). Hence, unlike in the US and other markets, the borrowers in Australia remain liable for any shortfall. With this, the housing markets as well as banking and lending institutions in Australia are not tasked to shoulder the losses from subprime mortgages. The strength of the study by Edgerton (2008) is that he was able to stress that Australia employs rather different regulatory practices compared to the US, particularly in handling mortgage. From a description of the quick acting policies in the housing, banking and lending sector, the Australian economy, most specifically the housing sector was able to survive and overcome the detrimental elements of the financial crisis. It is also important to point out that Edgerton (2008) is one of the few scholars who gave attention to the importance of the housing market in determining the overall performance of the economy, specifically in the case of Australia. Besides, the housing market can serve as an avenue for added investments and new business opportunities; hence it should not be taken for granted, particularly during times of crises. It was also helpful that the paper presented had visual illustrations such as graphs in order to illustrate further the performance of the economy relative to the financial crisis and its effect on the housing sector. On the other hand, the research gap in the study by Edgerton (2008) is that it was not able to establish the reasons that serve as motivation for the government to implement stricter mechanisms. Impact of the US Credit Crunch on Australian Economy Impact of the US Credit Crunch on Australian Economy Introduction However, due to the US housing credit crunch and turbulence in financial markets all over the world immediately took into effect and global economic growth slowed towards the end of the year (OBrien et al., 2007). Given this basic premise of the current financial crisis, this literature review will be guided by exploring studies made on how the US-induced credit crunch affected the Australian economy, particularly the housing market. The first stage of this literature review is attributed to describing the current financial crisis, specifically the events that led to its development such as the collapse of the US housing and banking sectors in 2007. Part of discussing the events that took place after the onset of the financial crisis would be to examine the various mechanisms employed by financial institutions and national governments in order to mitigate the direct and indirect consequences of the financial crisis. The second part of this literature review seeks to determine the effects of the financial crisis to the Australian economy, as well as the various policy responses made by both the Reserve Bank of Australia (herein referred to as RBA) and the Australian government. Finally, this literature review will determine whether studies on the current financial crisis were able to provide sufficient attention to the manner by which it affected the housing market, particularly in the case of Australia. The rationale behind these assertions lies on the need to broaden the scope of examining the consequences brought about by the credit crunch in 2007 and the financial crisis in 2008, from being centered in the US to involve other nations as well. It should always be understood that the effect of the subprime meltdown was not limited to US firms exposed to the subprime mortgage market for the reason that globalization made regional financial markets so interconnected that crisis spread across countries at tremendous speed (Moosa, 2008). Hence, it is just apropos to exhaust scholarly works that have managed to realize that at this point in time, economic activities of nations are intertwined and the development of policy solutions should also undergo the same process. Another reason for this literature review would be to identify research gaps that will in turn serve as a motivation for future studies on the effect of the current financial crisis towards nations economies such as the case of Australia. Since the underlying context for this review of related literature is the 2007 credit crunch and the 2008-present global financial crisis, the period covered for the literature surveyed in this paper will be from 2007 to the present. With these things taken into consideration, the focus of this literature review will be the effect of the 2008 financial crisis to the housing market in Australia. From the broad circumstance of the credit crunch and the financial crisis that happened in the US and inevitably transgressed to the rest of the world, this literature review seeks to identify the relationship from a macroeconomic environment of the global financial crisis to a specific case of the housing market in Australia. The justification for this lies on the need to determine whether policy responses used in the US are effective or otherwise in mitigating the direct consequences of the crisis, and vice versa. The credit crunch and the global financial crisis As it had been previously mentioned, this portion of the literature review is allotted to discuss the credit crunch as well as the occurrence of the global financial crisis. Both the credit crunch and the financial crisis are crucial concepts in this review for the reason that it will be impossible to present and examine the effects of the financial crisis to the Australian economy, specifically the housing sector if these concepts are not understood properly. According to the National Institute Economic Review (2008), the 2008 financial crisis is rooted in the US subprime mortgage defaults. Moosa (2009) defines subprime mortgages to encompass all activities involving the granting of loan to borrowers with inferior credit worthiness creating complex financial products. Meanwhile, Honohan (2008) in his study defines a credit crunch as credit related crises suffered by banks and other intermediaries which is often the cause of contraction in lending market especially if these are triggered by exogenous economic shocks. The positive attribute of the definitions provided by these authors lie on the fact that these are lifted from actual events and circumstances, more specifically the 2007 credit crunch and the current financial crisis. Another interesting point with regard to the financial crisis was given by Barrell and Hurst (2008) who stressed that financial crises are episodic and frequent and are difficult to address without major impacts in the prospect for financial growth. Based on this observation by Barrel and Hurst (2008), it becomes evident that it is inevitable under conditions of financial crises that economic growth will not be affected, especially with globalization as the underlying condition. With regard to the direct cause that led to the development of the financial crisis, Ben Bernanke (2008), believe that the period of financial turbulence on the part of the US began in 2006 when there were uncontrollable contractions in the US housing market that were caused by the inability of certain individuals to pay for subprime mortgages. Moreover, this was reinforced by increasing constraints on credit availability, which has dramatically slowed down the economy and has made it less responsive to market changes. Honohan (2008) supports this further in his discussion on the evolution of the 2008 financial crisis by asserting that the origin of the crisis was especially pronounced in the housing market wherein credit losses are so massive that it cannot be replenished anymore. The fall of house prices in the US and other major economies such as the UK directly affected economic growth in other countries. In his study, Honohan (2008) also believes that although the current global financial crisis was triggered by the 2007 credit crunch in the US banking sector brought about by the bursting of the housing bubble, definitions such as those presented by Moosa (2009) and Barrell and Hurst (2008) should not be confined to the US experience. The explanation behind this is that other nations might have responded differently upon the advent of financial crisis. In this case the positive aspects of the study by Honohan (2008) lies on the fact that it was able to present a coherent discussion of the origin of the 2008 financial crisis as something that did not happen overnight. Instead, Honohan (2008) attributes the occurrence of the financial crisis to ineffective risk management and lax monetary and fiscal policies in the US and eventually the rest of the world. Although Honohans (2008) article was focused on the banking aspect of the financial crisis and how mortgage problems in the US, his discussion of the detrimental effects of the crisis such as the closure and bankruptcy of banks and lending institutions were effective in stressing the importance of coherent monetary policies. On the other hand, the research gap identified in the article presented by Honohan (2008) is that it was highly concentrated on the banking sector in the US, thus, ignoring the direct consequences of the credit crunch and the financial crisis to the housing sector. It should always be taken into account that the financial crisis originated in the housing sector. Hence, potential solutions should first be geared towards addressing the negative consequences brought about by the crisis in the housing sector. Another gap in the study made by Honohan (2008) was that it was not able to present recommendations that will serve as a guide to policy makers as to how to mitigate the direct and indirect consequences of the current financial crisis. In a similar study, Barrell and Davis (2008) observed that the evolution of the 2007-2008 financial crises was brought about by low global interest rates arising in turn from high levels of global liquidity. This can be explained further by the case of the US wherein bank lending to households grew at unprecedented rates leading to the point that people can no longer pay their monthly dues. In addition to this, Barrell and Davis (2008) also indicated that banks are expected to hold increasingly low levels of balance sheet liquid assets, given low interest rates, and they undertook aggressive wholesale liability management to maintain funding levels. Without these initial actions taken to address the earliest manifestation of a credit crunch particularly the collapse of the housing market, countries would not have survived the crisis and will be forced to close down major financial institutions. Again, in order to understand the financial crisis and its effects towards nations and economies, it should be taken into consideration that the asset price bubble in the US in 2007 was perhaps the most noticeable occurrence in the housing sector and this has led to irreversible consequences in the financial sector. Given this event, Barrell and Hurst (2008) supports this by stating that it is the short-term fluctuations in house prices that affected consumption in countries like the US and the UK, therefore fostering slow growth in the rest of the developed world—and eventually, the rest of the world. In their discussion of the present financial crises, as well as the prospects for recession, Barrell and Hurst (2008) stated that the best way to address the negative consequences of the crisis would be through effective monetary policy through interest rates reduction which should be set by the central bank in order to prevent bubbles like the housing bubble in the US from bursting and damaging economies at larger scales. The low global interest rates contributed to rapid credit expansion and rise in asset prices which greatly contributed to the US financial crisis (Barrell Davis, 2008). The benefits provided by the study made by Barrell and Hurst (2008) and the article written by Barrell and Davis (2008) would be that in both instances, the authors were able to recognize the collapse of the housing sector as the root cause of the financial crisis. Hence, in both articles, the authors believe that solutions for the current financial crisis should not neglect making changes in the structure of the housing sector. As for the gaps in the studies presented by Barrell and Davies (2008) and Barrell and Hurst (2008), the authors in both articles failed to establish a strong relationship between the policy recommendations that they have made to counteract the negative effects of the financial crisis from worsening and the need to direct solutions at improving the housing sector to prevent another collapse in the future. Also, like most of the scholarly works reviewed in this paper, the articles presented by Barrell and Davies (2008) and Barrell and Hurst (2008) were both centered on the case of the US and the UK, without taking into account that these cases cannot be used to generalize the responses of other nations to the financial crisis. Perceived solutions to the credit crunch and the financial crisis After presenting the various definitions and understanding of the ongoing financial crisis, it is just apropos to also present the perceived solutions to the credit crunch as well as the financial crisis based on the literature reviewed for this study. According to Harris and Davidson (2009) governments have a huge role in addressing the credit crunches and financial crises through the enforcement of effective fiscal policy. The government holds responsibility to help manage the nations resources in order to foster growth and present more job-creating opportunities. In the same article, Harris and Davidson (2009) also raised that the initial response to the credit crunch was reliant on the role of the government to intervene and take action to prevent the consequences from worsening into a financial crisis and a global recession. The example given in the article was the case of the US, whose immediate response would be Paulsons initial $700 billion bail-out package that was envisioned to foster government spending through state and local governments spending. The research gaps identified in the studies presented above, namely the lack of coherent recommendations to address the financial crisis at the practical level were addressed by Harris and Davidson (2009). The reason for this is that Harris and Davidson (2009) stressed on the need for fiscal policies to counteract the immediate effects of the credit crunch. Although the focus on government intervention can be considered both as a positive and negative aspect of the study for the reason that in order to fully control both the financial and the social effects of a credit crunch, it is not sufficient to simply rely on fiscal policy but have a combination of both monetary and fiscal policy. With these things taken into account, the only identifiable gap in the study by Harris and Davidson (2009) is that it was not able to discuss existing and potential monetary policies that may go hand in hand with fiscal policies in managing the negative consequences of the financial crisis. The research gaps identified in the study by Harris and Davidson (2009) were effectively addressed in the study by Belke (2009) for the reason that it may have proposed the use of fiscal stimulus to counteract the direct effects of the credit crunch and that of the crisis as well but Belke (2009) also explored the option of having a combination of both monetary and fiscal policy in order prevent the credit crunch and the financial crisis from initiating a move towards a global economic meltdown. According to Belke (2009) the generic answer to prevent the generic economy from collapsing is that use of fiscal policy to sustain demand, since monetary policy with its main concentration on interest rates approaching zero is no longer effective. The strength of the study made by Belke (2009) is that it was able to cite concrete situations that will illustrate the effectiveness of using both fiscal and monetary policy. For instance, the case of the European Union (EU) specifically the UK wherein tax cuts are implemented in order to effectively increase demand and to foster higher levels and consumption were cited by Belke (2009) as an example of fiscal policy to boost the economy. With these examples and conditions taken into account, the research gap in the study presented by Belke (2009) lies on the fact that it was not able to fully exhaust the potential options that will aid nations, especially those that are not dependent on credit consumption, to handle the immediate impact of the financial crisis that has been triggered by the credit crunch in the US in 2007. Moreover, even if the most suitable cases to illustrate the proposed solutions would be that of the US and other developed EU countries, it would have been better if Belke (2009) used a comparative method between countries that relied on both fiscal and monetary policy and those that did not. It is only through comparison that Belke (2009) could further justify the assertions and recommendations that she had made in her study. As it had been previously raised in this literature review, Belke (2009) was not able to establish a relationship between fiscal policy, monetary policy and the housing sector. The reason for this would be that the housing sector was the triggered the financial crisis. Thus, it is just apt that immediate solutions be directed toward the housing sector as well. Furthermore, the fact the Belke (2009) also focused on the case of the US and the developed countries in the EU is also considered as a gap in the research for the reason that the effectiveness of both fiscal and monetary policy cannot be generalized in the case of only the US or the UK. The financial crisis and the housing sector This portion of the literature review briefly presents the effect of the financial crisis on the housing sector, where it is believed to have originated. It is already given that the credit crunch and eventually the financial crisis emanated from the housing industry in the US, but this does not mean that research should be confined in the case of the US and other economic superpowers such as the UK. The academic literature available regarding the effect of the financial crisis on the housing market and vice versa was once again confined to the case and experiences of the US. For example, in a speech delivered by Ben Bernanke (2008) he stated that housing markets remain weak, with low demand and the increased number of distressed properties on the market contributing to further declines in house prices and ongoing reductions in new construction. The observation made by Bernanke was reinforced by the arguments raised by Barrell (2008) wherein he pointed out that one of the significant factors that affected the worsening of the credit crunch into a full blown financial crisis would be the inability of the US government to respond to the need to intervene to economic activities. Based on these statements, it can be said that homeowners are affected by the decline in demand for houses because they cannot sell at a loss given that the current market prices for the house are low. In addition to this, homeowners cannot make further investments because their money has been trapped in the real estate property that they hold and their inability to shoulder the dept payments. In another scenario, homeowners who are facing debt for their mortgage are facing high risks of losing their property since they may not have the proper mechanism to generate additional income in order to finance for the payment. This was supported by Miron (2009) when he stated that if government redistributes income by intervening in the mortgage market it will however, it creates the potential for large distortions of private behavior. The financial crisis and the Australian Economy Prior to examining available literature on the effect of the present global financial crisis to the Australian housing sector, it is necessary to present the broader picture by determining the effect of the financial crisis to the overall Australian economy as well as immediate policy responses employed to control its negative consequences. The need to examine the effect of the financial crisis on the economy lies on the fact that the contagious effect of the subprime crisis has hit financial institutions in Europe and Australia, therefore, damaging health of s significant number of financial institutions and reducing the ability of others to run their business properly (Moosa, 2008). Under these conditions, Moosa (2008) presented a study that was driven by the need to clearly identify the effect of a US induced credit crunch and financial crisis towards the Australian economy, particularly in terms of the underlying policy decisions implemented by both the RBA and the government. The bursting of the US housing market bubble in 2007 led to the rapid decline in the house prices and the downgrades of related asset-backed securities as well as the collapse of the banking and lending institutions in the US and most of the EU (Moosa, 2008). The same cannot be said in the case of Australia, where the housing market was not particularly overvalued as in the case of the US, but was nonetheless vulnerable to the harsh effects of the credit crunch. The explanation behind this is that there are still large portions of subprime loans granted to borrowers in Australia, hence there is still the risk that they may not have reliable credit records. The only difference between the case of the most countries like the US and Australia in terms of the extent to which the financial crisis affected the economy are in terms of policy initiatives and effective regulation. Given this basic premise, Moosa (2008) asserted that one of the reasons why Australia was not subjected to massive losses after the financial crisis in 2008 was due to the fact that the housing sector did not experience massive shocks as in the case of the US, the UK and most countries in the EU. Typically, mortgages in banks and lending institutions was hit hard by the collapse in the subprime housing market in the US, in the case of Australia, the effect was not severe by the bursting of the housing bubble. In his study, Moosa (2008) began by discussing the reason why the subprime crisis in the US took effect in June of 2007. Moosa (2008) identified two critical areas in order to explain this. First would be the lax monetary policy as indicated by the low interest rates; second, reckless lending of banks to dodgy borrowers and excessive securitization. Although Moosa (2008) indicated in his study that the Australian economy is still susceptible to the effects of the subprime crisis brought about by liquidity situations that push investors to stay away from private sector securities, the only difference is that the Australian financial sector had the necessary policies to balance this out. The positive aspect of the study presented by Moosa (2008) is that it was able to showcase the difference between the effect of the current financial crisis in the US and other nations and Australia. Through Moosas (2008) study, it becomes clear that even though financial crises have a common shape, its consequences are not always the same for every nation. The explanation behind this is that each nation has its own set of fiscal and monetary policy. Consequently, nations, such as Australia respond differently to the same conditions set by the global financial crisis. Regarding the research gap in Moosas (2008) study, it had failed to establish the elements that were present in the Australian economy that enabled it to respond differently and optimally to the shock that was brought about by the financial crisis, as well as the credit crunch which preceded it. What could have been done by Moosa (2008) in order to address this gap would be to cite concrete instances in the Australian economy wherein the implementation of effective policies was able to overcome the negative consequences of the financial crisis. Malcolm Edey (2008), Assistant Governor of the RBA, was able to articulate reasons on why the Australian economy was able to withstand the detrimental consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. The arguments raised by Edey (2008) directly address the research gap identified in the article by Moosa (2008). According to Edey (2008), the reason why the Australian economy was able to minimize the losses despite the financial crisis and the looming threat of recession was due to the following reasons. First, subprime loans are essentially loans that do not meet standard criteria for good credit quality. In Australia, a different policy was employed to address non conforming loans. Ellis (2009) supports this by stating that in Australia, citizens pay the interest in their homes mortgage against their tax, so they are encouraged to keep their mortgage balances low. Second, unlike in other countries such as the US, the Australian government was able to develop coherent fiscal and monetary policy that will encourage households and business sectors to be more risk averse by having higher levels of savings and investment. An example of this would be the AUD 42 billion stimulus package that was called the National Building and Job Plan (Edey, 2008). To further support the points raised by Edey (2008) and Ellis (2009), Steven Kennedy (2009) from the Australian Treasury presented three reasons on why the Australian economy was one of the few who managed to overcome the negative consequences brought about by the 2007 credit crunch and the existing global financial crisis. The primary reason identified by Kennedy (2009) was that the Australian government and the RBA had timely policy responses to the occurrence of the financial crisis. Second, being at close proximity with Asian countries, such as China, Australia was able to benefit from the continuous growth rates of these Asian economies. Finally, the Australian banking system has remained in good shape throughout the crisis which meant that it has effectively operated with sound rules and regulations. The benefits offered by the studies made by Ellis (2009) and Kennedy (2009) is that both were able to acknowledge the unique characteristic of the Australian economy, which are deeply rooted in effective policy making and regulatory ability on the part of both the RBA and the government. In addition to this, income growth in Australia was already strong prior to the crisis which means that policy makers have to option to concentrate on weaker sectors of the economy that will experience the consequences of the crisis in a different scale. Again, the research gap in the observations given by Ellis (2009) and Kennedy (2009) is that the practical examples and illustrations on how these policies were translated into actual practice are once again insufficient. Another problematic aspect of these articles is that the authors only presented the positive aspect of effective monetary and fiscal policies, thus, disregarding the fact that these might also manifest flaws that might jeopardize the success of the regulation. Ellis (2009) and Kennedy (2009) in their separate articles mentioned that Australia had an edge over other nations in terms of counteracting the direct effects of the financial crises, but both scholars failed to provide stronger basis to support such assertion. The financial crisis and the housing market in Australia The final section of this literature review is allotted in examining the available studies made with regard to the current state of the housing market in Australia and how it responded towards the occurrence of the financial crisis. With regard to the overall condition of the housing market, Edgerton (2008) presented a detailed discussion of the through the pricing, purchasing and selling trends in major Australian cities namely, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, and Canbera. The method used by Edgerton (2008) was to analyze trends in housing price increase and/or decrease as well as trends for sales and purchases of houses in these major Australian cities. The findings from the study made by Edgerton (2008) indicate that it is not only the international factors such as the 2007 credit crunch and the existing financial crisis that may affect the overall performance and condition of the housing market. Instead, national factors may also affect the formation and eventually the bursting of housing bubbles. In order to support his claims Edgerton (2008) cited that Australia employ better lending standards compared to other countries, specifically the US. To illustrate this further, in Australia, there are no recourse loans unlike in the US where many mortgages are non-recourse. Non-recourse loans mean that the borrower in financial difficulty to pay their debts has the option of handing their house back to the bank without incurring any liability for any shortfall when the house is sold. It is a different scenario in Australia because borrowers, regardless of whether they give back the house or not (Edgerton, 2008). Hence, unlike in the US and other markets, the borrowers in Australia remain liable for any shortfall. With this, the housing markets as well as banking and lending institutions in Australia are not tasked to shoulder the losses from subprime mortgages. The strength of the study by Edgerton (2008) is that he was able to stress that Australia employs rather different regulatory practices compared to the US, particularly in handling mortgage. From a description of the quick acting policies in the housing, banking and lending sector, the Australian economy, most specifically the housing sector was able to survive and overcome the detrimental elements of the financial crisis. It is also important to point out that Edgerton (2008) is one of the few scholars who gave attention to the importance of the housing market in determining the overall performance of the economy, specifically in the case of Australia. Besides, the housing market can serve as an avenue for added investments and new business opportunities; hence it should not be taken for granted, particularly during times of crises. It was also helpful that the paper presented had visual illustrations such as graphs in order to illustrate further the performance of the economy relative to the financial crisis and its effect on the housing sector. On the other hand, the research gap in the study by Edgerton (2008) is that it was not able to establish the reasons that serve as motivation for the government to implement stricter mechanisms.

Memory (SPEECH OUTLINE) -- essays research papers fc

Memory Specific purpose: to increase my audience's understanding of how memory functions and how it affects them. Central idea: Memory is a process of the brain which is prone to certain failures, although specific steps can be taken to guard against these failures. Introduction I. Memory problems can affect us in many ways. A. Some of you might have had problems finding your keys before you came to class. B. Some of you have certainly suffered from "What's Your Name Again?" syndrome. 1. We can remember attributes of people without being able to recall their names. 2. For instance, you may not know my name but you would be able to recognize me as being in your class. II. I will explain some of the basic ways memory can fail and how to take care of your memory. A. Memory can fail in numerous ways, from the common examples above to more devasting problems, like Alzheimer's disease. B. Fortunately, brain problems like Alzheimer's can be delayed or even prevented. C. In order to understand how human memory fails, we need a basic understanding of how it works. Body I. Memory is a complex process that takes place primarily in the brain. Cite: Cognition Lab @ NASA, website A. Short-term memory is the first memory formed. 1. Short-term memory holds memories that were created recently for a short period of time. a. includes sensory memory b. can turn into long-term memory B. Long-term memory stores memories created throughout our past that we may need at a future time. 1. For long term memory to be formed from short-term memory, three conditions must be met: a. attention b. repetition c. connection 2. There are two basic types of long-term memory: Cite: Dr. Eric Kendel in States of Mind, Columbia professor and director of Columbia's Center for Neurobiology and Behavior a. implicit &nbs... ...p; ii. seems to protect brain's central learning & reasoning regions from shrinkage b. All-around healthy diet is recommended. Conclusion I. Take care of your brain, because your memory is one of your most important assets. II. Keep in mind that your memory is imperfect. A. Memory is generally effective. B. People's memories can make errors such that they believe in a memory that is inaccurate. C. Even your memory can fail, so don't believe everything that you remember. Works Cited Begley, Sharon. "Memory's Mind Games." Newsweek 16 July 2001: 52-54. Conlan, Roberta, ed. States of Mind. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999. Human Memory. 1998. NASA Cognition Lab. <http://eos.arc.nasa.gov/cognition/tutorials/ModelOf/Knowmore1.html>. Lemonick, Michael and Alice Park. "The Nun Study." Time 14 May 2001: 54-65. Loftus, Elizabeth, and Katherine Ketcham. Witness for the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness, and the Expert Who Puts Memory on Trial. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

the hell of 1984 :: essays research papers

The Hell of Nineteen Eighty-Four. ). Did Orwell realise quite what he had done in Nineteen Eighty-Four? His post-publication glosses on its meaning reveal either blankness or bad faith even about its contemporary political implications. He insisted, for example, that his 'recent novel [was] NOT intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party (of which I am a supporter)'.(1) He may well not have intended it but that is what it can reasonably be taken to be. Warburg saw this immediately he had read the manuscript, and predicted that Nineteen Eighty-Four '[was] worth a cool million votes to the Conservative Party';(2) the literary editor of the Evening Standard 'sarcastically prescribed it as "required reading" for Labour Party M.P.s',(3) and, in the US, the Washington branch of the John Birch Society 'adopted "1984" as the last four digits of its telephone number'.(4) Moreover, Churchill had made the 'inseparably interwoven' relation between socialism and totalitarianism a plank in his 1945 election campaign(5) (and was not the protagonist of Nineteen Eighty-Four called Winston?). If, ten years earlier, an Orwell had written a futuristic fantasy in which Big Brother had had Hitler's features rather than Stalin's, would not the Left, whatever the writer's proclaimed political sympathies, have welcomed it as showing how capitalism, by its very nature, led to totalitarian fascism? With Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is particularly necessary to trust the tale and not the teller, but even this has its pitfalls. Interpretations of the novel already exist which blatantly ignore the intentions of the author by reinterpreting its manifest content without any obvious justification. But all existing interpretations of Nineteen Eighty-Four are unsatisfactory in one regard or another. For many years Nineteen Eighty-Four 'served as a sort of an ideological super-weapon in the Cold War',(6) was used along with Animal Farm as propaganda in the Western occupied zones of Germany, which it was 'feared ... might be invaded by Soviet troops',(7) and was later also made use of by West Germany as 'warning . . . about what a future under Stalin might be like'.(8) There is much in the novel, of course, which allowed it to be interpreted as an attack on Soviet Communism and its allegedly aggressive intentions. Nonetheless, such an interpretation does not quite fit: Ingsoc has been establ ished in Oceania by internal revolution and not by military invasion or external pressure. The model is Trotsky rather than Stalin.

Graduation Speech: Remember Who You Are! :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Thirteen years of schooling - can you believe it? And we, County High Class of 2012, have made it! We're graduating! There may have been times when it was tiresome, frustrating, stressful, demanding, even physically, mentally and emotionally draining! Through the years I have felt all of these emotions and more, but one thing that has really kept me on the top has been my ability to smile. I have found that smiling, even when it seems too hard, helps to solve all kinds of problems. Not only does it improve your own attitude, but one smile affects an incredible amount of people. Think about it - if I were to smile at just three people in a day, each of them will probably smile at three people in the least, then those people will pass the smile on, and so on. It's like a contagious epidemic. That's what so intriguing about it! One quote that will always stick out in my mind is from Ms. Marris' "Quotes of the Day." Mort Walker said that "seven days without laughter makes one weak." Since you cannot read this quote, I need to tell you that weak is spelled w-e-a-k; this makes a difference if you were thinking w-e-e-k, because it is a fact that seven days make a week, but seven days without laughter makes you weak. Laughter is captivating - not only does it feel good outside and give stress relief, but there have been proven health benefits from laughter keeping with the old saying that "laughter is the best medicine." So don't be too stressed, find something to smile or laugh about! Don't get offended easily - be the kind of person who won't let another bring them down. Just "kill 'em all with kindness!" I hope that as each of us go our separate ways - whether it be off to college at BYU, UW, Western, Chicago, Boston or ECC, working or jumping into a family, that we will continue to live our lives with values, with integrity. Integrity to me means having the moral courage to do what you know is right. Found in the Holy Bible, Job proclaims: "Till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me." To the religious and the non-religious alike, this quote can be admired and sought for in ourselves. I have many values and things that I know to be true, and I hope that I can have this integrity of Job to stay strong and true to what I believe - as I hope you all do in your own beliefs and endeavors.