Poverty Rates in New Mexico Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Poverty Rates in New Mexico - Research Paper Example In some situation, the trends in poverty have taken the concerned groups back to in order to understand factors that account situation. Some have argued that poverty and societies may be inseparable. On the other hand, the liberals have attributed poverty to various factors, especially crime. Thus, according to them, a solution to crime rates should begin with addressing poverty issues. To lend an opinion to the subject, as far as the New Mexico is concerned, there is a clear relationship between poverty, crime rates, and other societal social misfits. To begin with, New Mexico is faced by two major problems. This includes crime and poverty. In 1998 statistics showed that close to 20.4 percent of the natives were living below the poverty index. As such children were pointed out as the most affected group in the society. The study further revealed that in every more than one in every four children was living way below the poverty line citing the problems of malnutrition, hunger , poor education, pressure on public utilities as well as the inefficiency of the justice system as key causes. At that, time figures released by the government pointed out that the Country was ranked among the most violent nations. This was attributed to the fact that, over 961 crimes were recorded in every 100 000 residents. In 2000, analysis in the country’s educations system pointed out that it was an issue of major concern since then debate has been raging over the enactment of the proposed legislations that would have foreseen parents cater for their children in private institutions. However the opponents of such legislations have always been at locker heads with the proponents. Indeed, they hold a different view concerning an overhaul in the education system. As such, they believe that public institutions should be given a priority as opposed to directing students in other private institutions. Such disagreements led to greater deterioration of the education system. it shoul d be noted that New Mexico has been ranked number one in aspect of poverty and crime. In addition, the its ranking as the poorest in education system proved to be a major challenge for the country. Basing on the data from the United States Census Bureau American Community Survey; New Mexico is rated as the second-worst poverty stricken county in the nation (Gaurav and Ravallion, 1992). According to the 2011 data, the percentage of families that live below poverty line within the Land of Enchantment is 16.60%, with specific rates of individual that leave below poverty levels sitting at 21.50%. These data shows that Mississippi has the worst rates in the two categories that is 17.4 percent and 22.6 percent respectively. Alaska and New Hampshire are noted to be the best terms of poverty rates in the United States. In this regard, the rates for the whole county in the year 2011 were 11.7% for families and 15.9% for all persons. There are a number of ways poverty can be measured (Gaurav, and Ravallion, 1992). The two most commonly indicators lead to similar results, New Hampshire having the best and Mississippi with the worst. In this case, the first indicator shows the percentage of families living below the poverty level as stipulated by the federal poverty level. More often than not the threshold tends to fluctuate depending on the number of individuals living in a given threshold. In the context of the New Mexico, it poverty rates is slightly better than another state called Louisiana, and somewhat worse than Kentucky. However, considering that the levels of poverty in the New Mexico are relatively high, this is not as such a good thing. There exist only one county, in which the rate of poverty approaches a critical value, which is at least above 50 percent of

Social Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Social Work - Essay Example The latter is according to research in social work. According to (Coady and Lehmann, 2008), the emergence of the two theories is a result of outcomes that were not efficient concerning approaches in case work. These approaches were stuck according to the method known as psychodynamic. The center of focus from the relating methods is on short term and brief interventions. The link emerges from theory learning and forms a basis of ideas geared towards solving problems. The call made by the two approaches is to have workers in the social sphere to be part of service users in a joint activity. The intention will be to analyze troubles, what causes them and actions that will help address them. The person-centered theory is consequently necessary for the process of applying the above methodologies (Walsh, 2006). There is a need to have the service user to be central to the problem. Then it is vital to see the urgency of the case from their perspective. In regard to that, social workers are to be good listeners if they are to trace issues because interfere with service users. As a result, they can offer help with solutions that can help handle their problems. Task centered approach also has challenges just as other social work methods. (Rzepnicki, McCracken and Briggs, 2012) Looks at the service users and how ready they are to carry forth duties with social workers and how reasonable this is. To achieve more value, it is applicable to necessary assistance from the agency. Further, the two approaches are valuable in creating empowerment and innate approach to opposing oppressive techniques. Therefore, the inclusion of a new set of skills will improve the capabilities of the service users. That will allow them to handle the present situations and more so upcoming state of affairs that portray oppression and difficulty. There are many factors that influence the practices in social work that require the inclusion of

My childhood memory that still occurs today Essay Example for Free

My childhood memory that still occurs today Essay I don’t know why I’m surprised about this as it’s happened before and still is today. Looking back at it now has made me a lot more confident and I feel a lot stronger than I was before. This all happened 10 years back from now how I had an operation on my eyes that didn’t go to plan and left me with bad results to my eyes as one was squint and the other was just normal. Knowing I had to go to school with these effects was terrifying, nerve-racking, scary, and I had this gut feeling that I wasn’t going to be good enough for anyone. Every day that went by was emotional and upsetting to not only me but to my mum too as she knew what it felt like to be bullied. Each day I came home from school with tears streaming down my face, she knew something was wrong and as I was so young she had no idea what to do but to comfort me and sometimes it wasn’t always like that she would sometimes and sit there and cry because she wanted to help and also the fact she hated seeing her children cry/ be upset. From day one I was given a nickname which was named 4- eyed Katherine and now growing up it has came to me that my new nickname is cock-eyed Katherine. As it’s been so long ago that this all started I can actually still remember an incident that happened due to the disaffect in my eyes. The school bell rang for home time, I was so happy to be g oing home. I remember running to the door with my big heavy schoolbag that was twice the size of me. I waved all the teachers goodbye and opened the door to see a few guys I knew that were in my class standing just outside to the left of the school doorI hated each and every one of them that were there. One of the boys within the group said hello so I just ignored him and walked on by then I heard someone shout from the group â€Å"oi, Katherine come here†, I didn’t want to go as I just wanted to get home so I ignored them again was halfway down the playground. After having been ignored twice they decided to come over to me, they all circled around me. Next thing I knew I was thrown to the ground; they all spat on me and called me 4-eyes. I seen that they had on roller-blades, they started kicking me with themit hurt me like mad. By this time I was crying and screaming for help. I could hear someone from the far end of the playground shouting â€Å"leave her alone†, the boy s all ran off and I was left in pain, I couldn’t feel parts of my body. One of the teachers came over and helped me up also took me back to the school to get me cleaned up. My mum was called  and was told about what had happened to me .thinking about it gives me butterflies in my tummy. Reflecting back 10 years from now is a huge difference but more to the fact that all the bullying hasn’t stopped as it still proceeds today, just like it has for the past 10 years. As I grew up I learnt that not everyone was perfect; everyone has their own flaws and opinions. Looking back from 10 years to now has mostly not affected me as much as it did before but in reality it’s hard to hold back feelings. As it still happens today I don’t really bother about it as basically I’m used to it but sometimes it can go abit too far and it will eventually get to me. There are times that someone has said something either about me or to me and I just simply walk away as people have their own opinions. I don’t understand why they bully me because if it had happened to them they wouldn’t like it. I still have the nickname of cock-eyed Katherine today, I had to wear glasses ever since I had the operation so it would help my eyes get better but every tim e I took them off everyone just stared at me and laughed and I knew from then that I was going to get bullied and be an easy target. Ever since I had theses glasses everyone kept asking me to take them off just so they could see my eyes and laugh at me. My friends stick by me today and they have for a long time, they have seen me at my worst when all this gets to me and they understand how I’m feeling as they also have been through that stage but not as long as I have though. There is an incident that happened in 1st year where it was in P.E and we were doing swimming, as I can’t really see without my glasses I had to wear them. I jumped into the water and when I rose to the top I noticed I wasn’t wearing my glasses, they must have fallen off and sunk to the bottom of the pool. I turned around to find everyone in my class staring at me and laughing. One pupil had to swim to the bottom and collect them and from that day in high school I was bullied as everyone knew the me under the glasses. I mean there are also times when I am walking in the corridor of school and people just walk by me and say â€Å"look there’s cock-eyed Katherine†, I just don’t listen and just keep on walking. In my own opinion I feel like everyone should be treated equally and fairly, we all came in this world the same way so we should all go out that way too. I would like for all the bullying to stop as I’m fed up of it and it just isnâ€℠¢t fair on me that I’m being picked on when they wouldn’t like it if I were doing it to them.

Credit Rating Agency: Impacts of Regulatory Changes

Credit Rating Agency: Impacts of Regulatory Changes How rating agencies operate, and recent regulatory changes. Credit rating agency is a private company that is assigned to detect the creditworthiness of businesses, individuals or other organizations. It uses very many factors to assess the ability of the borrowers to repay their debts. It is majorly based on the borrowers solvency. The main instruments rated by the rating agency are the government bonds, corporate bonds, stocks exchange, municipal bonds and security collaterals. These obligations to assess the creditworthiness is issued by the companies especially banks in order to give loans to other business or companies. The agencies have been in practice for a long period since the 20th century. The agencies have certain regulations that governance its operations. This work explores the activities of credit rating agency how they operate and reasonable regulations that have changed recently (White, 2010). The main purpose of the rating agencies is to give the rating to businesses that issue debts, which involve Private Corporation and the national government and other forms of government. The agency has proved to be important in the lending, and the financial industry as information is for the investors to demand to receive adequate compensation for the risk involved in any particular investment is critical (White, 2010). Investors take into account the credit rating to help manage the range. Lower rating translates to greater lending risk by a lender. In consideration of the market trends, the investors may lend at larger rates in higher risk to protect against the risks thus, having an overall effect of raising the lending rates. Credit rating agency is also essential as the information they provide are used to determine the interest to be charged on loans given or possible returns expected. Business with a low rating and high risk would attract high-interest rate while the high rating and low risk would attract the low-interest rates. The investor seeks such opinions from the rating agencies in order to make appropriate investment decisions. In history, as from the beginning of the 20th century, three companies, Fitch, Moody, and standard and poors were formed to help the investors to access the ability of other individual be able to repay loan or assistance given to the by such institutions. For Fetch, it had a unique characteristic of publishing its finding on the stock and bonds financial statistics. The standard and poor it had the same approach as for the Fitch Moodys company but was a bit different, as it was proving its rating on the government bonds. The companies help so many organization and business to consolidate their asset and operation thus improving lending among the companies (Pinto, 2006). Creditworthiness, being the capability and willingness to make full payment of debt in required time, some companies due to financial constrain cannot be able to make such commitments. In order to determine the timely debt payment a number of factors are considered, the financial risk, industry risk, business and risks associated with management. This factors if not put into consideration a business cannot repay the debt. With the factor in place, certain criteria are used to assess the credit rating process (White, 2010). In order for any business to repay debt, the venture should be able to generate sufficient cash to fund all its operation and still have the excess to be used for the repayment of the credit. And the most important is the ability to repay the debts in full within the stipulated time happens is what most credit rating the companys main point of interest (Pinto, 2006). Certain factors are use in determining the rating for businesses, these factors considered can be grouped as either qualitative or quantitative. These factors also depend on the type of business in question. Different businesses have different fundaments and management structures. The environment of operations also marks an important factor. Business can prosper quickly or perform poorly based on the area it is situated. The industry in which the company operates is also important as some industries attract more risk than others or have a varying degree of requirements to run. The extent of market dominance as it provides the positions and influence in its operations. With all these factors in place, its possible to determine and make a comparison between the financial and business risk (Pinto, 2006). Quality analysis The environment of operation is coupled with the company itself before rating the company. It is important to have a detailed analysis of any operating risk of the issuer which involves its internal and the external business environment. Then there is analysis to evaluate the financial risk involved. Assessing the financial risks would help to keep the potential of the firm to repay the depths. Industry An industry in which the issuer is active determines the external factors in which the business can be successful, or it can fail to perform in. This gives the credit a platform in which it can assess the business qualitatively. The rating takes into consideration the mode of the company cycle and its volatility as it a tool for the long-term assessment of the capabilities to repay the loan or debts involved. In this case, the level of capital intensity and competitiveness make the critical business environment; It influences the rating since in most scenarios these factors impacts on the cash flow within the firm and the timely debt repayment (Pinto, 2006). To arrive at a rating, a real business profiling is conducted which involve in-depth analysis of the finances and the business itself; this profile is in conjunction with the riskiness in the particular industry. If a company operates in a relatively risky industry there a possibility of slightly lower rating irrespective its of the financial performance (Pinto, 2006). To case study on the industry, an oilfield service company is considered. The industry involves the companies that drill, provide oil services and gas exploration. These companies do suffer if done profile do not incur financial risk, but in case it is there its in low level, but instead, they have the business risk. Its characterized by the firms being highly specialized thus limited product are offered, the risk they are involved in are hard to avoid, the risks are spillages, contaminations, environmental risks and political risk. There is no barrier to entries posting possibility of stiff competition among other critical factors. The business risk assessment; the size of the rating would be able to tell if it will be able to withstand the petroleum price that is extremely volatile. In these feeds of operations, the economies of scale matter a lot since for the business with large sizes are not significantly affected by the changing prices. Other factors that are used include; operating efficiency which involves the cost of operation and the influence due to the ever-changing prices, capital intensity, sovereign governance, and the corporate governance. Other important factors considered are contractual position, diversification in customers, environmental factors and workforce enterprise (Pinto, 2006). In the rating, the financial and the business risk are blended to come up with the best rating. In most case, in such an industry the business risks are more than the financial risk. However, at some low level of rating the financial risk take precedence to environmental factors. The position in the market Market position in most cases may override if the business that operates in highly competitive environment which happen when assessing the industry. The critical factors to be considered include, the ability to influence or maintains prices in the market, for the sake of customers who are key and the products are diversified, in case there is competitiveness in the market and above all to what the business market share (Pinto, 2006). Taking business size into consideration only is only helpful in rating if the size has an influence on the cash flow regarding cost, operation efficiency, and the economies of scale which mainly experienced in oil industry explained above. Market position is, therefore, important in gauging the ability to cope with changes or disruption factor influencing its existence. If a business is a dominant business in a particular environment, it means that the firm can easily carry its operations but still manage to pay its debts obligations within time. This is because such business has a broad customer base so they can have good returns within a short period. Assessing based finance would give high results result. Business management The way business is managed greatly determines the creditworthiness. The analyst would consider the management skills in their ratings. Excellent managerial skills to business have many benefits to the success of the firm. However, in rating management, it is evaluated in more comprehensive perspective more than just operational success. The tolerance is a critical determinant. Tolerance in business manage is the ability to sustain the business running despite other factors that may hinder smooth business operation. Factors that would rate the company include maintaining market positions with a well-established managements track record, the long-term financial performance of the venture, having established efficient operating system form the basis of qualitative analysis if the rating. Rating base on management further takes into consideration the following. The company policy, establishment of policies should be in line with the objective of the business. These should stipulate the financial risks that are involved and incase the do exist, the appropriate ways to mitigate them. An analyst would particular concentrate on the financial risk polices created by the company. Organizational considerations The senior management plays a significant role in determining the success of the business. The management is the core decision makers, and the analyst relies most on the decisions they make to run the decision. The number of people involved in the process of decision making and the frequency of its adjustments. Problem crops in when old decision are still being used to influence a business that is in an ever changing market trends. Adding to risk tolerance, the reliability and credibility in determining the creditworthiness are based on the tolerance. Businesses which are at high-risk financial aid are starting businesses. So many challenges are normally encountered in the business before it gains stability especially in a highly competitive environment. If the management can sustain such constraints and still be able to repay a particular loan with a stipulated time, then such a business could earn a higher rating in the credit rating agency (Pinto, 2006). Management strategy, any successful business should be able to anticipate the future base on its past and present. Having a short and long term strategies that predict the future and maintaining the strategies chosen to form the best platform for analysis. The short term plans short be engineered to ensuring maximum earnings to the business (Langohr Langohr, 2010). Quality analysis of corporate governance firms Still, on the management of corporate firm have a bit complex management compared to other business as it has many people involve in senior management position forming the board of management of which must participate in decision making of affirms. The board should be effective. To ensure the effectiveness of the board its primary role of oversight and ability is important. Once the decisions have been made, then its implementation is by junior members. The analysis focuses on the capacity of the board to have a big oversight that would see smooth operation with emphasis on incentivizing management in the execution of the financial responsibilities (Langohr, Langohr, 2010). The board should also be independent. An independent director would participate in decision management with a clear focused mind. Those executives with some degree of loyalty to their seniors do not make rational decisions as their decisions are influence by their relations which may set back the corporate especially its finances which the main point of focus in the rating Financial discipline and accountability is another major consideration by the credit rating of the business. Factors that are considered are the compensations within the organization. A corporate which grants remuneration far above what is normal in the market is likely to have low ratings. Money transaction among the stakeholders such as top management, the sister companies and between shareholder cannot be trusted as accountability is likely to be a problem (Langohr Langohr, 2010). Companies or nations In rating countries or companies, the following factors are considered. The political risk; most companies do have internal politics. Business politics is good if it only it can embrace diversity and allows people to share their different ideas get synergize them together to come up with better solution or leadership to the business. In cases where bad politics is present, the probabilities of financial impropriates are high which would give a poor rating. National politics could lead to a country of peace which business operations are being carried on smoothly. In such an environment with political stability, a business can carry out its operations to get funds to pay their debt within time. This also applies to government borrowing. In case a country is in turmoil business are negatively affected thus their ability to repay their debts due to the risk involved is lowered therefore in such case the rating would relatively reduce irrespective of other factors. Regulatory risk; the laws that are enacted by countries are supposed to create a conducive environment for enabling business. The government should adopt policies or sign trade agreements that protect the local investments. In such as case, the economy grows allowing business and the government to repay loan. Some countries do enact monetary policies that act like a bullet shooting them in the foot. These policies may affect the countries internal and foreign investments. External risks: These risks relate to the treat such as wars or trade sanctions. A country that is engaged in war is at high risk of punishment by trading blocks and other external countries. In case a country receives such treat the implication is that its not able to carry any business with other nations. Which means it cannot be able to earn foreign exchange and which is used in repayment of government borrowings Fiscal risk; this depends on the balance between the government borrowing and expenditure. Is the government borrowing too much and spending away? Majorly the problem of over borrowing is common in third world countries in which the government officials are corrupt. Government borrowing is supposed to channeled to project that could create the return to help repay such loan. Countries with poor quality fiscal policies are rated lowly by the credit rating families. Economic risk; the economy of a country is determined by the gross domestic product. When there is a case of a poor economy such as the in a case of civil wars, the government cannot collect taxes, and there are cases of inflation which affect the countrys and companys ability to repay the loans(Pinto, 2006). Accounting Creditability and accountability of finances in an organization is shown by good accounting. The financial reporting is a clear indication that a business is financially disciplined. Credit institutions rely majorly on the accounting statements of a business. Accurate and transparent accounting books can motivate financial institution to grant credit facilities to business. On the rating, unclear books of accounting that could be as a result of interference by the management or workers have a negative implication on the assessment of the creditworthiness of the business. The agencies would also use the accounting theories in areas as depreciation, goodwill, consolidations and pension provisions that would demonstrate a true figure of financial performance (Pinto, 2006). Quantitative analysis Other than the qualitative analysis where there is detailed assessment of the finances is analyzed there is also a quantitative survey by the credit rating agencies. Quantitative analysis deals more with the cash generation ability of the issuers. To detect long-term sustainability an important ratio is considered, the profitability and the debt coverage ratio this requires the provision of financial projections for a period of next three or five years. The quantitative measure and development and trend are significant in the analysis. Profitability Profitability is determined a by a number of financial ratios. The ability to make profit is the main determinant of the level of credit protection and the degree of credit risk for investors. The potential to obtain capital internally and enter the external capital sources is directly proportional to the companys returns and operating margins. The margins i.e. operating income and sales provide the issuers profitability as a result of revenue growth excluding the profits. Comparisons are possible due to companies of the same level (Kisgen Strahan, 2010). Cash flow Payments of interest or principle are not made on the earnings Even though it seems to be connected to the profitability. When the operating cash flow is enough to services the debt and its operation that is the time it can be used to make payments. In credit rating methodology, cash flow is being taken as the most important as an essential part of the analysis. It is not possible to cover underperformance or loses through funds from external sources. Specific attention is on the extent the issuer depends on external funds and cashflow from operations. For companies to make future obligations, their cash flows are integral. It further focuses on the leverages, coverage, and earnings which are used accounting methods which are a particular and different valuation of assets. This implies that at no point it will mirror the correct financial position of the issuer and his ability to service the debt (Kisgen Strahan, 2010). Flexibility of finances When the company is under constrains, they react in a particular way shown by the financial flexibility. The rating checks at the debt serving during the time in which the finances are volatile in the business and in case the company could be having any other sources considered as external. The financial flexibility is directly proportional to funding options that are available for business. The flexibility in the finances is affected by the debt levels especially the short-term debts. Other effects to financial flexibility are loans with more restrictive terms, possibilities of legal issues, insurance covers missing and pensions which are not fully funded (Kisgen Strahan, 2010). Capital structure This is the dependence of business on the external source of funds. This highly affects the debt serving ability. If a company entirely depend on the external source, it is hard to predict how it would be able to repay the debt (Kisgen Strahan, 2010). Pros and cons Credit rating agencies like any other agency have pro and con in its operations. The advantages include they help institutions get better rates. For institutions with higher grades are in a position to borrow many at the rates which are favorable, it is a kind of an incentive to the businesses with good management and whose creditworthiness is not doubted. Help warn investors of risky companies; for the investors who want to invest in high risk, businesses are in a position to know the level of returns they expect from companies of low rating. It is due to this high risk that such investors are able to make surplus compared to the other normal investors. Provision for a room for improvement as a good incentive for the business rated poorly, it is an opportunity for them to realize the areas they should change in. A common challenge is that such businesses are normally in denial of their debt status. However, for those that accept do get advice as an incentive to their improvements. Since anything with advantage must have the other side, the cons of credit rating include evaluation being highly subjective; the rating between different companies varies considerably. This because there exist no known standard formula or guideline used by credit rating institutions in their work, the general rating is based on their judgments. The possibility of a conflict of reference: In making reference to cases in the department of justice USA where there was a possibility of a conflict of interest in mortgage-backed securities that collapse in 2008. The rating companies at times provide their services to companies which make the private request. However, they can make such rating and give to investors even if the requesting company still pays them. Conflict of interest to occur when the business does not a company is given good rating they do not deserve on the basis that this rating company wants to retain them as their customers (Mulligan, 2009). Lastly the ratings are in most cases not very accurate. For a long time the way the agencies rate have been subject to a lot of questioning. In as much as they do have a consistent rating, it does not translate to accurate rating. The inaccuracy can be case studied mortgage-backed securities that recessed despite the good rating it was given by then. New regulations on the credit rating agencies Reform Act has been enacted to with the aim of improving rating quality, investors protections and for the transparency, accountability, and competition in the credit rating market. I the USA the amendments geared toward the CRA include CRA reform act of 2006. The act raised the number of NRSRIs which lead to increase in competition among the CRA, in case there was no-action letter process in designation, then an agency can seek to designation by submitting applications to SEC with the new laws (Hill, 2012). The CRA companies were required with the new regulation to adopt NRSROs of particular policies and procedures which would prevent misuse of non-public information, materials and on the issue of management potential of interest; SEC was mandated to inspect these adoptions by the CRAs the new regulations further demand that NRSRIs are to provide their procedures and methodology in which they use to in rating, provide the SEC with information regarding quality of information, accuracy and reliability, including the information from the third parts used in rating the issuance, the NRSRO was to have board of director who is independent as they give internal control which implements, maintains and enforce the policies, methodologies, and procedures of credit rating. Right of action against ratings agencies can also be brought by the investors regarding the reckless failure to conduct a reasonable investigation of the fact or use of independent source to gain information. Qualifying exams and continuous education were enacted, and it was mandatory for the analyst to do and pass the exams. Other international agencies also such as the European Union also stipulated some of the rules for the rating agencies. The new rule seeks to reduce overreliance on credit rating, which specifically was dependent on the external rating but instead, financial institutions were to strengthen their risk assessment programs. The credit rating companies were to be more accountable for their activities in case there was intentionally or due to the negligence of other regulations. Conclusion The credit rating agency is important organs for the investor to base the decision in their rating as it gives the picture of the creditworthiness of the issuer. The investor can determine more accurately the returns from the investment and the risk involved in a particular investment plan. Financial institutions also can use the report from this agency to reduce the possibilities of high loan defaulters in their operation. However due to poor historical misconduct of some of the agencies and numerous disadvantages associated with such agencies companies have made losses and recesses as well. In line with this US government together other-other international bodies enacted laws and regulations to that strict governance the agencies and its operation by majorly making reference to mortgage-back securities. References       Hill, C. A. (2012). Regulating the rating agencies. Wash. ULQ, 82, 43. Kisgen, D. J., Strahan, P. E. (2010). Do regulations based on credit ratings affect a firms cost of capital?. Review of Financial Studies, hhq077. Langohr, H., Langohr, P. (2010). The rating agencies and their credit ratings: what they are, how they work, and why they are relevant (Vol. 510). John Wiley Sons. Mulligan, C. M. (2009). From AAA to F: How the credit rating agencies failed America and What can be done to protect investors. BCL Rev., 50, 1275. Pinto, A. R. (2006). Control and responsibility of credit rating agencies in the United States. The American Journal of Comparative Law, 54, 341-356. White, L. J. (2010). Markets: The credit rating agencies. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(2), 211-226.

The Role of Computer Generated Imagery in the Movie (Film) Industry :: Expository Essays Research Papers

The Role of Computer Generated Imagery in the Film Industry Computer Generated Imagery is the special effects used in motion pictures to create a visual depiction of an illusion that can not be easily created in real life. Directors of major motion pictures have been using these technologies since the early days of the personal computer. Early on, when and special effects were in their beginning stages, it was difficult to make efficient and effective effects that are well accepted by the movie critics and the general public. An evolution of special effects and the introduction of computerized animation brought the standards for movie effects to a higher level. The development of new methods of Computer Generated Imagery for less money and more effective than in the past has allowed even fairly low budget movies to incorporate such technology. Today, movies use CGI to create special effects to replace thousands of extras, stunt people, and puppet like characters, as witnessed in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The evolution of special effects and Computer Generated Imagery technologies has taken the film industry to a whole new level. Computer Generated Imagery began with awkward and dull effects in the early 1980’s. The 1982 film â€Å"Tron† was a desperate attempt from Disney to jump on the CGI bandwagon and start a revolution in film making technologies (imdb.com). Although this film showed an attempt at something that had never been done before in the history of cinematics, it was weird and confusing. This broke the door down for other companies to start up and aid films in creating better and better effects that appealed to a larger market. Although the effects were not good in the early days, the general film going public was astonished by computer generated effects and flocked to the theaters to see these cheesy attempts to use basic technology that did not transfer well to the silver screen. It was not until later films like â€Å"Jurassic Park,† â€Å"Toy Story,† and â€Å"The Lord of the Rings† until CGI became a film making powerhouse and the killer application for hig h budget movies. The evolution of the 1980’s saw the pioneers of the early ages of CGI, but it was not until major revolutions in computer aided film making when the industry took a notice. Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film â€Å"Jurassic Park,† one of the first major motion pictures to use CGI on a large scale, is one of the largest grossing movies of all time (imdb.

Teenagers and Suicide Essay -- Teenage Suicide Essays

The third leading cause of death amongst teenagers: Suicide Did you know that suicide is currently the third leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States? (4). In 1992, more teenagers and young adults died from suicide than those who died from stroke, cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, pneumonia, influenza and chronic lung disease combined (4). Suicide is definitely a compelling problem amongst youth in the U.S today. It is estimated that 300 to 400 teen suicides occur per year in Los Angeles County; which is equivalent to one teenager lost every day (1). Many concerned people ask, "What is going on?" and "Why is this happening?" Among many things, some suicidal youths experience family trouble, which leads them, to doubt their self-worth and make them feel unwanted, superfluous, and misunderstood. According to one study, 90 percent of suicidal teenagers believed their families did not understand them. Young people reported that when they tried to tell their parents about their feelings of unhappiness or failure, their mother and father denied or ignored their point of view (1). Suicide can be prevented; in fact, suicide prevention has saved over ten percent of teens who have tried to attempt suicide (1). In this paper I will prove that although, suicide is a serious epidemic amongst teens in the U.S., it can also be prevented. "I'm depressed." You might say it casually to refer to sadness that engulfs you and then goes away. But depression is also a mental health illness that may require help from an experienced professional(1). Depression has been considered to be the leading cause of teen suicide in the 20th century, affecting approximately eight million teens in North America (2). Recen... ... While the above teen suicide facts are astounding, here are some positives about teen depression and suicide: The number one cause of teen suicide is untreated depression. Most suicidal teens respond positively to psychotherapy and medication. Nearly 90 percent of depressed people benefit from medication. Those contemplating suicide can be "talked out of it." WWW Sources 1)Teen depression homepage, a rich resource on how to prevent teen suicide http://www.teen-depression.info/ 2)Teen depression homepage, a rich resource on causes of suicide. http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Teenage_Suicide.htm 3)Teen depression homepage, a personal story on teen suicide http://www.1-teenage-suicide.com/story.html 4)Teen depression homepage, facts about suicide http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/mental_health/suicide.html

The Poison of Human Relationships

â€Å"My wife’s jealousy is getting ridiculous. The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was†(Dangerfield, 2007) This is a quotation from Rodney Dangerfield and it is quote evident that jealousy makes a relationship crucial and impractical. Crucial in a sense that people’s life involved in a relationship is affected and it seems that they become such paranoids. It is Impractical because it really changed one’s way of living including societal and personal development. Fear is the one acting behind the strings in jealousy. Jealousy is a state, wherein a person experiences fear, suspicion or envy cause by a real or imagined threat or challenge to one’s possessive instincts (Webster, 2007). Jealous feelings come up because we are afraid of not getting our needs. Most of the times, we want to be secured of something. We are afraid of being abandoned, of losing one’s affection and love. We are afraid of being abandoned, of losing one’s affection and love. We are afraid of unresolved issues from past relationships. Whenever we are jealous of something or of someone, all that we hear is our self. We become deaf of other people’s explanation. We tend to think and see only the negative side of the story. It’s been an experience that when jealousy comes up, we pity ourselves. We often think that he or she is far better than us. Jealousy is a double edged sword, with the sharper edge pointed towards one’s self. Jealousy is like a poison which spreads throughout the body and affecting everything that it makes contact with. Jealousy often is the result of not feeling good about yourself physically and personally. It weakens our emotional well being. At the same time, it builds paranoia to those who are stricken by it. Jealousy, as stated earlier is sort of a poison that paralyzes all the aspects of a human being. Jealousy is a state by which a person feels that he/she should be the one who experiences what another person is giving to a different person besides himself/herself.   Jealousy present even among family members. A good example would be is when a parent does favor for one if their children but not to the other. While this type of jealousy can be lessened if the parent of the child also gives favors to the child that feels jealous, this may not be the case of a jealous lover. Instead, jealousy is often expressed as anger, leading us to accuse our partner of cheating. Sometimes those who are eaten by their own jealousy even avoid their friends that have something to offer than you wish you had to your loved ones. Most of the time, jealousy is really about feeling threatened that our relationship will be affected by another person or other factors. This often results when one does not feel worthy in a relationship. There is always this thinking that one’s partner has a reason to look elsewhere for attention because one is not good enough. If the person is a friend, then this also involves betrayal, and the hatred may breed between the two former friends. Most of us, when in this situation, are blinded by jealousy. Without knowing the main reason or cause of such situation, we easily conclude and usually, our conclusions lead to a fight or to an argument. We often say that love is blind, but sometimes it is not love that makes us blind but jealousy. Being jealous usually arises from the assumption that you own and want to control another person’s affection and love and want to keep them all to one’s self. This is what we call a conditional love, the person will love another if and only if the other person loves him/her. Jealousy affects health of those stricken by it, aside from the fact that it ruins one’s relationship. Feelings of jealousy can consume a person’s heart making the person irritable and annoyed . It can cause sleepless nights and lack of appetite. Some even turn to alcohol or drugs to deal with their feelings. While others say that jealousy eats relationship alive and offers nothing in return, some believe and claim that being jealous sparks passion and romance. Jealousy can even sometimes strengthen a relationship. It sometimes means that you really love that person, that you really care for him/her and you only don’t want to loose him/her. Though jealous feelings can be frustrating, annoying and painful, somehow it brings up the feeling of sensual happiness. A little jealousy can sometimes help a relationship grow for the better. Too much of anything is detrimental to a relationship. Some scientists and researchers believe jealousy can be genetic. Culture and upbringing play a role in jealousy as well. For example, a violent boyfriend may claim his jealousy as the result of loving her partner so much, when in fact in reality, he may be copying the behaviors of his own father and does no know how else or how it is to deal with jealousy. If jealousy is an issue in one’s life, understanding of one’s behavior and what’s underneath it is essential in dealing with jealousy and preserving mental well being as well as the quality of relationships. Reference: Quotes about jealousy http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Jealousy/1/index.html Definition of Jealousy Webster Dictionary.