Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - 1718 Words

Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event such as war, abuse, and a brutal human encounter. If one has an emotional response to an event, the response can potentially become long-term. This long-term response is diagnosed as posttraumatic stress disorder. PTSD is thoroughly examined in soldiers after returning from combat. However, the US Army began screening soldiers for associations with PTSD during World War I prior to deployment (Jones 2003). Associations such as: family, education, personal histories, psychiatric disorder, and childhood abuse. With these screenings being performed prior to deployment, it raises the question—is PTSD in soldiers because of events prior to enlisting or because of combat and why do some†¦show more content†¦The latent class growth model analysis helps identify subgroups of individuals in a population that follow a pattern of change over time on a variable of interest (Andruff 2009, pp. 11). Berntsen and her team found 6 trajectories of PTSD symptoms that consisted of two resilient groups, one new-onset group, and three groups showing temporary benefits of deployment. Majority of the soldiers were in the two resilient groups. The resilience group was negatively related to depression, neuroticism, previous traumatic events, and emotional problems prior to deployment (Berntsen 2012). The new-onset group had the same PTSD symptoms levels as the resilient group. However, there was an increase in return from deployment through the 7 months after return. â€Å"A key variable in differentiating the new-onset and the resilient group was the number of previous traumas they had experienced. Traumas involving interpersonal violence in childhood appeared especially central. The three groups that had temporary beneficial effects from deployment showed more emotional problems, depression, PTSD symptoms, and previous traumas before deployment and by being less educated† (Berntsen 2012). This study showed that multiple measurements needed to be taken of one individual to be able to grasp the complexity of the disorder. By doing this, it will be easier to identify individuals in need of treatment. MILITARY SCREENING: During World War I, 2% of US recruitsShow MoreRelatedPost Traumatic Stress Disorder980 Words   |  4 PagesToday we are here to figure out why is it that past events are the triggers that cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is an anxiety disorder that some people get after seeing or undergoing a dangerous event. There are various symptoms that begin to show or actions that can give a clear answer whether one may be diagnosed with this disorder. One of the many problems is that no age range is safe from suffering PTSD. One must ask themselves what set of events happenedRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder851 Words   |  3 PagesPost Traumatic Stress Disorder Introduction â€Å"There are currently over 400,000 Veterans in treatment for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and it is estimated that with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars there is an additional 33% increase in our returning soldiers.† Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has become a severe issue for veterans returning from overseas. One of the most effective, yet unused resources given to veterans to help them cope with their disorder is specially trained dogs. TheseRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder884 Words   |  4 Pagesof traumatic incidents, such as mugging, rape, torture, being kidnapped or held captive, child abuse, car accidents, train wrecks, plane crashes, bombings, or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.† (NIMH) Families of veterans struggle to help their loved ones. â€Å"Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder caused by a person’s exposure to life-threatening or otherwise traumatic circumstances.† (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder affectsRead MorePost-Traumatic Stress Disorder1630 Words   |  7 Pagesare now accessing mental health services for the treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) defined by DSM-IV-TR is â€Å"characterised by the re-experiencing of an extremely traumatic event accompanied by symptoms of increased arousal and by avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma† (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 2000). There are many impacts and effects this disorder has on refugees requiring treatment, interventions, education andRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder1004 Words   |  5 Pagescurrent criteria of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has changed since the DSM-IV. In the DSM-V, the diagnostic criteria draws a clearer line when detailing what establishes a traumatic event. The DSM-V pays more attention to the behavioral symptoms that accompany PTSD and proposes four distinct diagnostic cluster s instead of three. They are described as re-experiencing, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal. Re-experiencing is the spontaneous memories of the traumatic event, recurrentRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder1086 Words   |  5 Pagesfirst hand the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder. It is not possible to respond to emergency after emergency and not be subject to some of PTSD’s effects. When I saw this topic in the list I felt compelled to use this opportunity to learn more. My hope is by increasing my knowledge, of a disorder so prevalent in my career field; I can recognize the symptoms in others and myself before there effect becomes devastating. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD as it is more commonly referredRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd )944 Words   |  4 Pageswith Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD Stats). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental disorder common found in veterans who came back from war. We can express our appreciation to our veterans by creating more support programs, help them go back to what they enjoy the most, and let them know we view them as a human not a disgrace. According to the National Care of PTSD, a government created program, published an article and provides the basic definition and common symptoms of PTSD. Post-traumaticRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd ) Essay1550 Words   |  7 PagesPost Traumatic Stress Disorder â€Å"PTSD is a disorder that develops in certain people who have experienced a shocking, traumatic, or dangerous event† (National Institute of Mental Health). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has always existed, PTSD was once considered a psychological condition of combat veterans who were â€Å"shocked† by and unable to face their experiences on the battlefield. Much of the general public and many mental health professionals doubted whether PTSD was a true disorder (NIMH)Read MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd ) Essay1401 Words   |  6 PagesAccording to the Mayo-Clinic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, commonly known as PTSD is defined as â€Å"Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event† (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2014). Post Trau matic Stress disorder can prevent one from living a normal, healthy life. In 2014, Chris Kyle playedRead MorePost Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd ) Essay1453 Words   |  6 Pages84.8% of those diagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder still show moderate impairment of symptoms, even 30 plus years after the war (Glover 2014). As of today, the Unites States has 2.8 million veterans who served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, of those it is estimated that 11 to 20% currently suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As of 2013, a total of 12,632 veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars are currently diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Glover 2014). Of course it

The global warming Free Essays

Global Heating: A Man-made Problem Many old ages in the yesteryear there was contention over whether planetary heating was genuinely happening. Over this period many different scientists have done many trials and experiments which have proven that planetary heating is a fact non a theory. Now that planetary heating has been proven true, there is a argument over whether it is caused by natural happenings or semisynthetic patterns. We will write a custom essay sample on The global warming or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the docudrama, Inconvenient Truth wrote by former Vice president Al Gore, it explains and provides grounds that planetary heating is a semisynthetic job. Harmonizing to Fred Singer ‘s and Dennis Avery ‘s book, Unstoppable Global Warming, planetary heating and chilling seem to be portion of a 1,500-year rhythm of moderate temperature swings and human activities are non the primary cause of planetary heating. Although some think that Global heating is merely a portion of the Earth ‘s natural rhythm, I agree with Al Gore, that planetary heating is caused by worlds ‘ actions for several grounds: 1 ) We use many of the Earth ‘s resources really heedlessly and inefficiently. 2 ) Our abuse of fossil fuels emits dozenss of C dioxide in the air doing dire alterations around the universe. 3 ) The increasing population of the universe makes the earth work harder than it should to keep all of the people in it. One indispensable ground why I think planetary heating is a semisynthetic job is because people use the Earth ‘s natural resources prodigally. For illustration, when we burn and cut down woods for paper, wood or to do room for people to populate, we are lending to planetary heating. Harmonizing to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, trees absorb C dioxide from the air, which is one of the nursery gases that are absorbed by the ambiance. By taking the trees away the C dioxide that could hold been absorbed by the trees will merely travel into the ambiance ( USEPA ) . When C dioxide or other nursery gases get absorbed by the ambiance they trap heat in the lower ambiance that goes back down to the Earth. When there is big sum of the nursery gases in the ambiance it can do excess warming of the Earth ( Inconvenient ) . Another natural resource that we take advantage of is our dirt. When we have our refuse taken to elephantine landfills we are making more injury to our planet than we know. Harmonizing to Brian Ladd, a member of Eco-Cycle ‘s Community Action Team, when waste under the land starts disintegrating it do methane gas to ooze to the surface and enters the lower ambiance. Methane is a powerful nursery gas that is twenty one times more effectual at pin downing radiant heat than C dioxide ( Ladd ) . We need to take a good expression at how efficaciously we are utilizing natural resources because we are utilizing them faster than nature can bring forth them. Beside the natural resources above, there is one resource that we use wholly irresponsibly. That resource is fossil fuels, which are the primary subscribers to planetary heating. Fossil fuels are made of organic affair such as coal or oil. We burn fossil fuels everyday when we drive our autos, and create electricity in our places. When you burn fossil fuels it releases C dioxide. Harmonizing to Inconvenient Truth, in 650,000 old ages the C dioxide degree had ne’er gone supra 300 parts per million. Harmonizing to Anne Waple, the Communications Manager at the Climate Change Science Program Office, Today, degrees are greater than 380 ppm and increasing at a rate of 1.9 ppm yr-1 since 2000 ( Waple ) . The IPCC Special Report on Emission Scenario stated that by the terminal of the twenty-first century, we could anticipate to see CO2 degrees between 490 to 1260 ppm ( Waple ) . These high degrees of C dioxide cause the thaw of glaciers around the universe. For illustration, the Himal aya ‘s Glaciers provide imbibing H2O for 40 per centum of the people on Earth ( Inconvenient ) . If the glaciers keep runing at such a rapid rate there will be a deficit of H2O. Since more glaciers everyplace are runing off it will do the sea degrees to lift. ( Inconvenient ) Harmonizing to Inconvenient Truth, if Greenland melted topographic points such Florida, San Francisco Bay, and Manhattan would be submerged. The authorities needs to take planetary warming more earnestly because if this happened it would be to lay waste toing. Though burning fossil fuels is the primary cause of planetary heating, population would merely do the effects of planetary heating greater. Do n’t you believe if we have excessively many people on Earth we will make excessively much pollution for the Earth to manage? This is why population has become a factor in planetary heating. For blink of an eyes, more people means extra usage of transit, which causes the combustion of more fossil fuels. Larger populations besides mean a larger demand for H2O. There will besides be a bigger demand for nutrient ( Inconvenient ) . Most people in the universe are meat feeders which means we have to engender more cattles. Harmonizing to the Children ‘s British Broadcasting Company, cattles are a beginning of nutrient, and their flatuss and manure contains methane. â€Å"Just one cow gives off adequate harmful methane gas in a individual twenty-four hours to make full around 400 litre bottles, which is truly bad for the environment† ( CBBC ) . To keep all the people in the universe we have to go on doing room for people to populate. One manner we do this is by cutting and firing down woods. Thirty per centum of the C dioxide that goes up into the ambiance comes from forest combustion ( Waple ) . If we keep interfering with nature ‘s rhythms at that place might non be any rhythms to mess up after a piece. Even with all the grounds above Fred Singer and Dennis Avery believe that we have nil to make with the cause of planetary heating. They think that, â€Å"human-emitted CO2 ( C dioxide ) has played merely a minor function in it. Alternatively, the mild warming seems to be portion of a natural 1,500-year clime rhythm ( plus or minus 500 old ages ) that goes back at least one million years† ( Singer and Avery pg. 3 ) . In their book, they stated that ice nucleuss from Greenland and Antarctic ‘s Vostok Glacier showed the same 1,500-year rhythms ( Singer and Avery ) . Harmonizing to Inconvenient Truth, it is true that there was a mediaeval heating period and two others. If you were to compare the mediaeval heating period CO2 degrees with those of the other two, you would see that they fit closely together ( Inconvenient ) . If you were to compare today ‘s C dioxide degrees to the predating warming period ‘s degrees, you would see that our degrees are off the chart s ( Inconvenient ) . So what happened between so and now? It is obvious that we have done something to do the CO2 degrees so much higher than the old heating periods. Harmonizing to Emily Robinson, a imperativeness secretary at Union of Concerned Scientists, another thing that you should take in consideration is that Fred Singer is â€Å"affiliated† with no less than 11 â€Å"think tanks† and â€Å"associations† that have received support from ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil is the universe ‘s largest publically traded international oil and gas company. Singer ‘s ain â€Å"Science and Environmental Policy Project† ( SEPP ) has received $ 20,000 from ExxonMobil ( Robinson ) . Dennis Avery is a â€Å"Senior Fellow† for a â€Å"think tank† called the Hudson Institute. The Hudson Institute received $ 25,000 from ExxonMobil ( Robinson ) . It sounds to me like they are covering for ExxonMobil. Do you believe they are seeking to protect ExxonMob il to maintain the money coming in? Nice defense. More people need to look at all the grounds that proves we have contributed to the cause of planetary heating. We need to acknowledge that we are doing planetary heating by utilizing the Earth ‘s natural resources recklessly, breathing immense sums of carbon dioxide into the ambiance by firing fossil fuels, and seting force per unit area on the Earth and it resources by over populating. Although there has been other warming periods before our clip, today ‘s CO2 degrees are beyond comparing with old warming periods. The authorities should halt debating over what caused it and set some Torahs into consequence. There would be no injury in puting Torahs to assist the Earth. All it could make is assist the United States become a better topographic point to populate. Work Cited Inconvenient Truth. Prod. Laurie David, et Al. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore. Paramount, 2006. DVD. Waple, Anne. â€Å"NCDC: Global Warming.† National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 30 Oct. 2009. Singer, Fred and Dennis Avery. Unstoppable Global Heating: Every 1,500 Old ages. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008. Print. Robinson, Emily. â€Å"Exxon Exposed† Union of Concerned Scientists. 04 Aug 2008. Web. 07 Nov. 2009. â€Å"CBBC Newsround | Animals | Cow farts ‘harming the planet’† British Broadcasting Corporation. Web. 30 Oct. 2009. Ladd, Brian. â€Å"New Evidence Shows Landfills are Major Contributor to Global Warming.† Ecocycle Times. Web. 07 Nov. 2009. â€Å"We Can Make a Difference.† United States Environmental Protection Agency. 23 Oct. 2006. Web. 30 Oct. 2009 Key for Color Coding ( please usage fount colour – non text highlight colour ) The first beginning used as a voice in the conversation A 2nd beginning used as a new voice in the conversation The 3rd voice in the conversation The 4th voice in the conversation The 5th voice in the conversation The 6th voice in the conversation The 7th voice in the conversation The author ‘s voice giving an illustration from his/her ain universe position on the subject, which is an of import portion of the conversation. A connexion sentence or sentences where author tells reader the connexion among the voices in the conversation – replying these inquiries: do they hold, differ, or does one widen the significance of the other? How to cite The global warming, Essay examples

Analysis Harold and Kumar free essay sample

This is what really sets â€Å"Harold and Kumar† apart not just from â€Å"Stoner films† or the entire Comedy genre, but from every film ever made. Casting two â€Å"minorities† in the leading roles. The opening scene involves two â€Å"higher ups†, who we assume are Harold’s bosses, at an accounting firm who are trying to get out of doing their work for a night out. They pass the work on to our unsuspecting Harold, who reluctantly accepts the new task load because his job was threatened. This opening scene sets up Harold’s personal problems that at the end of the ovie, he over comes. This scene cuts between multiple shots of Harold’s bosses standing over Harold, and Harold looking up at them. They loom over Harold, looking down on him as a workhorse that they can pass their work loads to. Harold sits in his chair looking up at his two bosses, bewildered and somewhat frightened to stand up for himself. His two bosses are dressed in black suits which communicates to the audience that they are not only dominant but authoritative and for lack of a better term, evil. They are the first protagonists we see in the film. As they blast out of the office parking lot in their convertible, they justify their actions by saying that â€Å"those Asian guys love crunching numbers†. We quickly get the response to this with a cut of Harold standing in the office looking out the window the speeding convertible, angrily saying â€Å"Fuck†. From this we cut to a scene of Kumar being interviewed for acceptance into a medical school program at an undisclosed prestigious university. Kumar blatantly doesn’t care about the interview, or as we discover later, becoming a doctor like his father wants him to be. Kumar sits in the interview dressed in a disheveled suit and slouches in his chair. From these two scenes we are introduced into the typical roles that normally see in Hollywood movies. The quiet Asian being pushed around and the Indian guy trying to become a doctor. Each time though we see the problems that the characters have with both of these situations, this is the side that we don’t normally see in films. Harold hates his job because he feels like he isn’t respected, it is also learned later in the film that he basically fell into his job because that’s just how it went. Until the end of the film when Harold begins to take charge and stand up for himself, the audience has no problem believing that Harold just went with the motions and became an accountant. Kumar on the other hand is basically Harold’s polar opposite, yin and yang type situation, and resists falling into his â€Å"natural† role in society of becoming a doctor even though he is obviously very skilled in the field, by living off his fathers money (who is a doctor) and spending most of his days smoking pot. Throughout the movie there are scenes where a character is presented with a problem that in some way relates to a stereotype about their ethnicity. The movie deals with this in a joking manner, but the best part is that the character encounters it in a positive manner. Take for instance the character of Kumar, after visiting his father working in the hospital he steals an access card to steal medical marijuana, in the process of locating the marijuana, the duo find scrubs to disguise themselves in and in a mix up are confused as surgeons who are to operate on a gun shot victim. Kumar’s â€Å"natural† ability in health and medicine allows him to successfully operate on the victim and save his life. This ends up being the turning point in the film for Kumar where he decides to stop resisting his father and the typical role society expects of Indians, and become a doctor. For Harold, his turning point occurs at the end of the film when he stands up for himself at his destination, white castle. His two bosses show up at the White Castles from their night out with a pair of women, their attire has changed slightly, one has shed his black coat and the other is completely disheveled in his suit. Harold stands now, face to face with both of his bosses with a visibly angry face. He confronts his bosses and lets them know that he won’t take their bullying any longer. The two men look scared and are speechless since they were caught in a lie and that Harold has literally stood up to them, a contrast from the first scene of the film. About halfway through the film there is a scene where Neil Patrick Harris has stolen the car and leave Harold and Kumar stranded. The two are attempting to walk across the street at a completely vacant intersection. Kumar urges Harold to just walk across and disregard the street sign because there is no one around. As Harold takes his first step to cross, he is stopped by a police officer. The officer harasses the two of them and in a sign of blatant racism, he mocks Kumar and Harold’s ethnicities by asking if they have strange names. He asks Kumar if his name has â€Å"like five O’s or two U’s†. At this scene Kumar stands up for himself by belittling the officer and telling him he was loser in high school and is still one now. Although the officer has a much bulkier body type than Harold and Kumar, Kumar still stands face to face with the officer, representing his courage to go against someone he knows could take him to jail. I have seen â€Å"Harold and Kumar go to White Castle† MANY times before this paper and usually only watched it as it was presented, I laughed at the funny parts and would promptly move on to something else. Until this paper I had never thought to consider the representations the film portrayed of Harold and Kumar. I had never even noticed that the two leading roles were â€Å"minority† ethnicities. The way the film acknowledges the stereotypes that come bundled with the two characters and destroys them whilst making a completely mockery of them is quite fascinating. One of the more interesting facts is that the film was written by two Jewish men, and directed by a Caucasian man. They obviously didn’t want to make a comedy like any other with a white lead, they casted two very different men together and made an incredibly successful film. The film has spawned two sequels and each did very well in the box office. I would personally love to see a film cast more â€Å"minority† ethnicities in the lead roles, not just comedies but every film genre. I think that day is not too far ahead. Rangwala, Shama. Issue 5: Film Reviews.   Scope. Http://www. scope. nottingham. ac. uk/. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. lt;http://www. scope. nottingham. ac. uk/filmreview. php? issue=5gt;.

Tom Nigro Per.6 Essays - Dresses, Toga, Roman Empire,

Tom Nigro per.6 Latin Report The year is 20 B.C. and I live in the Roman Empire, actually I live in the city of Rome itself. The Roman Empire is the greatest power in the world. Although I have not traveled much I know that it is composed of the Italian peninsula, lands around the Mediterranean Sea, from the British Isles to North Africa and from Spain to the Persian Gulf. It has taken more than 700 years for Rome to establish such a large empire and fought many wars to do so. We are a republic, governed by a Senate which makes most of the decision's like financial and foreign policies but until 509 B.C. we were governed by kings. Our current Emperor is Augustus Caesar. My city was founded, as legend has it, by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus who were sons of the war god Mars. They were abandoned as infants near the bank of the Tiber River where they were later found by a female wolf and raised by her until some shepherds rescued them. Here the two boys grew up until one day Romulus killed his brother i n an argument and then founded the city of Rome which is named after him. I was born in Rome and lived here my entire life. I have not traveled far from my home, only as far as a days walk. But some people I know have rented horses and gone on great journeys. Some have even ridden on the trading ships that cruise the seas. By trade I am a shoemaker like my father and his father before him. There are many craftsmen here in Rome. There are potters and metal workers and masons to name but a few. I have a shop in town close to the other craftsmen. My shop has a small yard in the back and a counter in the front where it opens out onto the street. Many of my fellow craftsmen and shop owners live in apartments above their shops but I live in a separate apartment building not far from my work. Apartment buildings or insulae are all over. Mine is 5 stories and I am fortunate to have a balcony overlooking the busy street below. My building has shops and boutiques in it which is convenient for me when I need something, but I do have to share fountains and bathro oms and baths with the other apartment dwellers. Since I am not married yet this is not much of an inconvenience for me . Actually going to the public baths is something that I enjoy. The baths near my apartment have a gymnasium, gardens, and a very nice reading room that I can take advantage of. It is a good time to meet people and socialize after a hard day. The men of course are separated from the women and some baths are reserved only for the elite. We do have a class system here. I belong to the social class called the humiliores or craftsmen and shop owners. There are many other classes from the wealthy Senators all the way down to the Slaves. All people here are not treated equally, those with money are protected by laws, those without have few rights. I am not fortunate enough to be wealthy and have to work for a living. My day starts very early. I may have a light meal of some kind of bread with water, around noon I will have a much heavier meal of fruit, meat, fish, and wine. After work I head to the baths to relax and then will have my dinner. Fresh food is hard to get here depending on the season and where it comes from, so much of what I eat is pickled, dried, or salted and heavily seasoned with seasonings and herbs to help the flavor. Like everyone when I get up I have to decide what to ear to work. It really isn't a terribly hard decision. People like me or plebeians wear a knee-length tunic made from a coarse dark material and it can be either short or long sleeved. I put a toga over my tunic which

An Essay on Being Alone †Creative Writing

An Essay on Being Alone – Creative Writing Free Online Research Papers An Essay on Being Alone Creative Writing Once again I am lying here on my bed staring aimlessly up at the ceiling. My ears are focused on the air conditioner hum as they have been so many nights before. The covers are pulled tightly to my throat, cloaking my body as an armor. I wonder to myself why this is all of a sudden my life. Nobody ever told me, or at least I never thought living could be so lonely, joyless, and bland. It seems like only yesterday that I was growing up at home, playing, smiling, and basking in the love and adoration of my family and friends. I was always laughing, joking, and enjoying every detail of life. It seems there were no bad days back then. Sometimes I recall and dwell upon the ignorant happiness that youth dictated. I wish that I had seized my childhood memories more carefully instead of letting them flee from my mind like a thief in the night. Suddenly, I realize and am awaken to the fact that I am twenty-eight years old, alone and lonely. Sometimes I am overcome and fear the coming of tomorrow. â€Å"Is this all there is?† I quietly ask myself. I ask myself why this lifestyle has befallen me. Am I not a good person? Have I wronged someone? Have I maybe hurt someone and this is my punishment? Never in all my life have I felt like this. The harder I try to answer my questions, the more further away the answer seems to run and hide from me, like children playing catch me if you can, or hide and go seek. This lifestyle is not of my liking or my choosing. In the not too distant past, my life was that of a perfect picture, a flawless work of art. Mr. Joe Average All-American you would say. Let’s see, where to begin? There was the family, the house, and the entire fulfillment and responsibility of it all. Then like a lightning flash one cold and rainy November day it disappeared, disintegrating before my very eyes. A shattered life now replaces what was once a promising future for all concerned. Sorting out, picking up and piecemealing a new life together best describes my newfound existence. A glorious and jovial existence it is not. Being defeated and broken by this test of life is not an option I consider or give place to. There is a reason we as human beings face different trials in our lives. Quite possibly there is a master plan for all of us. We all face situations, circumstances, and events in our lives that are not to our liking, choosing, or understanding. In my situation, I am not to question why†¦. I am but to do or die. No, I didn’t coin that phrase. No applause please. I heard that phrase somewhere. It speaks volumes to be such a short order of words. There are many people I have found from all walks of life that share my circumstances; both men, women, young, and old alike. I do find some solace and comfort in knowing that I am not alone or indifferent in my struggle. Others do share the same burden. Research Papers on An Essay on Being Alone - Creative WritingThe Spring and AutumnComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoMind TravelCapital PunishmentStandardized TestingTrailblazing by Eric AndersonBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm X19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraHip-Hop is ArtWhere Wild and West Meet

Belonging in Romulus My Father and Looking for Alibrandi

Belonging in Romulus my father and looking for alibrandi: Belonging represents the need for individuals to find their identity and place within a society. This results in the growth of individuals and their understanding of the world around them. Through reading the novels, Romulus, My Father and Looking for Alibrandi, we are helped to get a better understanding of the concept of belonging, belonging to a country, belonging to family, and belonging to a racial group. As well as the struggles of not belonging and being an outcast because of race. Romulus, My Father, written by Raimond Gaita, is a true story about Raimonds father, Romulus. Gaita explores the concepts of belonging to a family, belonging to the Australian landscape, and not being accepted because of the fact that Romulus was an immigrant. We belong when we feel connected to others and the world. Romulus found it hard to fit in when he arrived to Australia. This is understandable as immagration invariably involves detachment, loneliness and isolation. His first two years in Australia saw him working for the government, isolated from his family. Romulus did not physically belong to the community due to his appearance, everybody noticed his eyes, almond-shaped, hazel and intense. Colour imagery is used here to contrast the lighter colours of the stereotypical Australian. Romulus was embaressed about his dark complexion, he called himself gipsy and later in Australia, an Aborigine. We see here that Romulus changes his story, in a plea to belong to a community or environment. Romulus doesnt dwell over the isolation he feels, instead he has come to accept what fate dealt him. He feels he is not owed anything better then what he currently has. As time progresses and members of the community realise the blacksmithing and handyman skills he has, he earns respect. It was because Romulus treated everyone with great respect that he was eventually accepted and finally felt a sense of belonging. Similarly, in Looking for Alibrandi, written by Melina Marchetta, we see the pain of a 17 year old girl, Josephine, as she is stuck in between two worlds. She earnt a scholarship at an upper class private school where everyone is judged by how rich their families are. Josie is embaressed of her Italian background, she has been bullied through school and steers away from her Italian traditions. Josie endures pain over her background, and thinks no matter how smart she is, shes always going to be the little ethnic girl from Glebe as far as these people are concerned. She feels that she doesnt belong within society and The use of the words these people highlight the cultural divide and differences between the white anglo-saxon community and the Italian community. When Josie calls upon her father for legal help after assaulting Carly Bishop, her father asked her the reason why she hit Caly with a book, she called me a wog, amongst other things, her father then went on to say You are a wog Josie, does it offend you to be one? . From this point forward, Josie was forced to reconsider her perspective on being Italian. Eventually, a pride in her Italian heritage emerges, although she is selective and doesnt want to be a long suffering Italian woman as earlier generations of women had. However, she didn;t want to be a rebel Italian because she hates the thought of being outcasted by her Italian community, she wants to belong. A sense of belonging can be created with an environment. In Romulus, My Father, we feel Romuluss pain has he longs for the generous and soft Eurpoean foliage. Although the Australian landscape is beautiful, he has no connection or sense of belonging to the environment as he is used to the lush and green bush of Europe. Words with negative connotations such as scraggy and desolate are used to describe the harsh Australian environment and to highlight the fact that Romulus feels no sense of belonging with it. In contrast to this, we see how Raimond finally appreciates the rare beauty of the Australian environment. He now realises that how beautiful it is and feels a connection to it, he has finally stopped looking through his fathers European eyes, the scraggy shapes and sparse foliage actually became the foci for my sense of its beauty and everything else fell into place. In both texts we see the concepts of belonging to a family or close friends. In Romulus, we see the strong bond not only between Romulus and Raimond, but also Hora. The strong bond between father and son is symbolised solely by the memoir, the fact that Raimond wrote the novel about his father emphasies the strong bond they had. Romulus motorbikes were used as a symbol to show the sense of belonging they feel amongst each other, i was nervous when i rode with Mitru and entreated him to slow down on the gravel roads. When i rode with my father, no matter how fast he drove, i always urged him to go faster. Romulus and Horas relationship has stemmed from a cultural bond to a strong friendship based on respect and trust. They became close because of the similar cultures, and they were both aliens in a foreign country. Horas friendship rubs off onto Raimond, who he has great affection for. This is shown by Hora making sure Raimond had an orange for school every day. The fact that Hora would do anything for Raimond is a reflection of the deep sense of belonging that Hora feels towards Romulus. Similarly, in Looking for Alibrandi, we see the strong bond between Josie, and her mother Christina. Although they fight at times because of their fiery personalities, the bond will always be strong because of the hard times they have been through together. As Josie matures on her road to an inner sense of belonging, she becomes close to her grandmother. This is partly because of the fact she has accepted her Italian background, which means she can now tolerate her Nonna more. At the agof 17, she also meets her father for the first time. Initially, she resents him. But after spending time with him she realises how alike they are and they form a tight bond, therefore belonging with each other.

Small Businesses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Small Businesses - Essay Example From this research it is clear that business success or failure is not ultimately the result of fate or random chance, but there are good reasons why a business did well or the other one didn’t. When a business man plans to set up a business, he may have some initial concerns such as which particular business to be started, who are the main customers to be targeted, how much capital to be invested and what market to be concentrated etc. In today’s rigorously competitive market landscape, the main indicator for the success or failure of a business is the ability of the business to meet customers’ specific as well as general requirements and thus to ensure customers’ satisfaction. As Freeman emphasized, no one who starts their own small business plan to fail, but sadly they fail to plan and therefore they fail. No matter whether the business is small or big, developing a well thought about plan and comprehensive strategic planning is critical to setting a bu siness successfully. In the modern business contexts, small businesses represent a good portion of the economy since it 1) provides increased employment opportunities, 2) Requires less gestation period, 3) encourages growth of local entrepreneurship and 4) improves the standard of living of the local people. In the UK alone, it is estimated that there are 3.7 million small businesses and this plays greater roles in its economy. A small scale business is one in which management is mostly independent and usually the manager is the owner, area of the operation is mainly local and ownership is held by an individual or small group of people. (Analoui and Karami

Advertising to the Other 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Advertising to the Other 1 - Essay Example The Canadian oil sands have been discussed in many studies. The most prominent of those studies discuss the environmental benefits and costs of the project. In other studies, the cost of production vis-Ã  -vis the cost of the oil is highlighted. Of all this studies, the most prominent thing that stands out is the negative effects of the project to the environment of the province of Alberta. This implies that the acceptability of the project to the people is relative. As a means to generate acceptability, there has been an extensive need to advertise the project. Advertising the project is vital because it will make it acceptable to the population that is constantly disgruntled due to environmental factors and global issues (Mehra, 2009). Canada’s energy – water advertisement has been advanced in this campaign. In this advertisement, the Canadian oil sands explain the fact that all the water that is used in the processing of the energy is being recycled and reused over and over. The main product that is being advertised is the fossil fuels that are being produced by the Canadian oil sand companies. In fact, it gives the fact that over 80 percent of the water that is being used by the companies is being recycled. It also illustrates the fact that only a very small percentage is being wasted due to the salinity of the water from the underground process. The targeted audience for this campaign ad is the population who are interested in querying the effectiveness of the mining of oil from the sand. This group informs the general public on the dangers of the mining process (Mehra, 2009). In this attempt, the group creates a level of resentment between the public and the products of the Canadian oil sands companies. Each and every advert is aimed at communicating the importance of a good or service to the target group. In this case, the advert is mainly focused on making the target market gets the feeling that the production of

Library System Essay Example for Free

Library System Essay Library System is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed. Prior to computerization, library tasks were performed manually and independently from one another. Selectors ordered materials with ordering slips, cataloguers manually catalogued items and indexed them with the card catalog system, fines were collected by local bailiffs, and users signed books out manually, indicating their name on cue cards which were then kept at the circulation desk. Early mechanization came in 1936, when the University of Texas began using a punch card system to manage library circulation. While the punch card system allowed for more efficient tracking of loans, library services were far from being integrated, and no other library task was affected by this change. Following this, the next big innovation came with the advent of MARC standards in the 1960s which coincided with the growth of computer technologies – library automation was born. Now, in our society all over the world technology is the most important advancement, a necessity in bringing about progress as we move along in this computerized world. These changes in effect make man’s life easier and more convenient. The relationship between the library and computer is constantly changing that the use of computer contributes to the way man learns and communicates. It easy in this world to strive for changes and since library is no different from any firm and institution, considering the use of computer to perform a given task will be efficient. Librarians have the responsibility not only to know about the ways in which libraries will be managed using techniques of computerized, but also to be aware of the changes that computerized can bring to the library services in the ne ar future.(Grace, 2011) And as of today our Library System in PUP-Ragay is still operated manually. Manual operating systems are vulnerable to human error. For instance, a librarian who misfiles a borrowers records or indexes a book incorrectly slows down the process and wastes employees time, it’s also slow to operate. Instead of using a computer to issue and take back books, locating and updating a card index is slow and laborious. Manual systems are unable to store large amounts of data efficiently. With manual systems staffs spend a lot of their time on mechanical, clerical  tasks rather than liaising with library visitors. Manual systems in libraries struggle to cope with the recent explosion in information requests, many of them about online resources. Manual systems find it hard to cope with the volume of borrowers inquiries about books and research information. On a simple level, locating a precise book within the local library system is time-consuming without a linked computer network. On another level, meeting an inquiry about a precise online resource becomes almost impossible. According to Robson (2001), usability is a key requirement for users, says Elisabeth Robson, Product manager for Online Computer Library Center. The catalogue has become a way to pull together disparate resources, including commercial resources and web links. management systems also allow circulation, including check in/check out and enable libraries to purchase materials and track where they are. In the 1980s, to relieve overcrowding in existing on-campus library buildings, the UC system constructed two regional library facilities: the Northern Regional Library Facility at UC Berkeleys Richmond Field Station (opened 1982), and the Southern Regional Library Facility on the western edge of the UCLA campus (opened 1987). As of 2007, Northern Regional Library Facility is home to 4.7 million volumes, while SRLF is home to 5.7 million. Each facility receives items from all UC campuses in its respective region of the state, and has climate controls and high-density stacks. Items are shelved two deep and are arranged in a sequence that results in efficient use of space (but is not quite as intuitive as traditional library indexing systems). As a result, casual browsing is prohibited, and the shelves are accessible only by library clerks trained to retrieve and put back items properly. Users must page materials to an on-site reading room or to a library at their home campus. Today, Information Technology (IT) has changed the world massively. (examples include reading our emails and news online using neither paper nor pen, communicating with instant messengers and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) while not sending letters or going to call centers, watching video or TV shows online without renting / buying of physical DVDs, ordering and purchasing products online from around the world without traveling, and as one of the more recent developments, some minor surgical procedures can be performed without the presence of doctors). And even all the businesses are shifting to computer based system. All of this motivated us to play our  own part in supporting the PUP-Ragay Library in our effort to improve efficiency and quality of the services and reduce the sort of problems and difficulties which accompany the old system. This project is concerned with developing a System using Advance Programming. This System will provide a computer based library system with higher speed, accuracy and efficiency. It should be mentioned that such a system would be replicable and could be easily implemented in other school libraries and public libraries, once it has been successfully installed in PUP-Ragay. Statement of the Problem The problems with the current library system of PUP-Ragay Library are the following: The current system is too complicated as said by the user.  The current system is too slow for processes Scope and Limitation of the Study Scope: The scope of this project is to make a library system that will meet the general and specific objectives and are the following: (a) The proposed system will be used in borrowing, returning and recording of books of PUP-Ragay Library. (b) The proposed system will be having a single application that includes circulation, cataloging and inventory. (c) The proposed system can print the books recorded in the inventory. (d) The proposed system will be having a single username and password. (e) The proposed system may also be used to manage the inventory of PUP-Ragay Library. (f) The proposed system will be displaying a record of past and present borrowers that may be used for future references. (g) The proposed system can create multiple user accounts. (h) The proposed system will be using Visual Basic 6 programming language in making the proposal system. Limitation: The proposed system will be limited to the following: (a) The proposed system will not be using barcode scanner. (b) The proposed system will not be displaying any late returned books with  penalties but will still display a message that the book was returned. (c) The proposed system will not be generating accession number for the books. Theoretical/Conceptual Framework Theoretically, the main purpose of the proposed system is to create an efficient fast and reliable Library System of PUP-Ragay Campus. Conceptual framework paradigm will present to you like input, process and output of the system that will show the great difference between existing system to the proposed system.

The Abandoned Colony by Karen Ordahl Kupperman Essay -- roanoke colony,

Thesis: The Roanoke colony proved to be an unsuccessful venture in the New World for England, since leaders of the expedition held the viewpoint that privateering would prove to be the most profitable aspect of founding the new settlements in the West. However future, still unsuccessful attempts to make a permanent colony at Roanoke, helped England understand how to build a prosperous one; and it became a building block for establishing future colonies for England and helped shape the ideas that would help launch their empire. Summary: This book starts well before Roanoke was founded. It detailed how, at the time, England was not a superpower. Spain and France were the most dominant of the European countries, but internal conflicts in France made it weak, while Spain was getting extremely wealthy off of Indians and the Aztecs. England saw this as an opportunity to expand into the New World, and had Walter Raleigh head the trip. The main goals of the colony were to expanding their efforts of privateering, with a sustainable colony as an after thought. It was initial devised as a way to intercept merchant ships more effectively from other countries (mainly Spain) and be a short-term base of operations. Most if not all of the men brought over had only military experience, so they struggled with building proper housing, getting clean water, and growing crops. Ultimately, conflict erupted when the Indians grew weary of giving such a large amount of supplies to the colonists, and many high ranking officials died on the Indian side. The settlement was abandoned due to lack of supplies. After this unsuccessful attempt, John White lead another group intended to be a permanent settlement to Roanoke, and the prototype of plantations he u... ...ue detailing what Ralegh and White did after the Roanoke colonies. To sum up my opinions, this book was not only an excellent read from a scholarly perspective, but is also great for anyone to read if they are interested in the early colonization efforts of the New World and how it functioned. I would, however, not advise anyone to read this without having some background information on Western European powers and knowledge of Indian tribes in the mid to late 16th century. Works Cited Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony by Karen Ordahl Kupperman; Roanoke Island: The Beginnings of English America by David Stick Review by: Neal Salisbury American Indian Quarterly , Vol. 9, No. 2 (Spring, 1985) , pp. 184-186 Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony by Karen Ordahl Kupperman Review by: Bernard W. Sheehan The American Historical Review , Vol. 90, No. 3 (Jun., 1985) , p. 750

Walking Down Memory Lane Park

Salina Vang Narrative Description-FFD Mr. Henshaw APELC 8 June 2011 Walking Down Memory Lane Park Whenever I think of Projects Park it brings back many memories because it was in the neighborhood where I spent my childhood years. Even though it was just for a small portion of my life, for one of the longest times it was the place where I had the best memories of courageous acts. Project Park was where I experienced the feeling of always being around others my age and it where I met the coolest people and made the best friendships, some of whom I am still friends with today.It was the place where at that point in time I lived my life to the fullest. Projects Park was located in isolation on its own block at the very end of the road. During the daytime children from all over the neighborhood came to play with their family and friends, me included. However when the sun went down night crept in turning the sky an ominous shade of antiquity and along with it, it brought creatures of the n ight to roam among the site. One evening upon entrance to the park I remembered the story someone once told me, â€Å"one could see the glare of two floating red eyes following those who meandered around the park at night. Rejecting the thought, but still a bit superstitious I entered the park anyways. As the sun went down it created an illusion as if the shadows were waking up from their dark crevices. I was standing at the foot of a shadow from a tall tree towering over me. The sun setting turned those tree-branches into arms grazing along the cement seeming as if they wanted to grab me. At the further end of the block a tall street lamppost lit up a dim fire dull enough just to see the path of the park. Night had come and it was so quiet my eardrums hurt and ever step I took sent chills down my body.As I approached the swings I noticed the echoes of my footsteps had just suddenly started lasting longer than they should have. I took another step with my left foot, stopped, and th en heard the brisk echo of another step after that. Looking down at my left foot, it was exactly where I had left it, somehow, the long echoed steps had not stopped, but were now storming towards me faster and louder than ever like a violent beating thunderstorm. Immediately, I turned around and in that instant, it stopped, a split second of dead silence. Something was definitely wrong.I felt like a hole had been punched right through me sending waves of fear down my back making my hair stand at their ends. My sudden instincts told me to approach the swings for comfort. However I remembered that I had caught seeing a swing move on its own accord before; as if someone was riding on its seat. The feeling of terror, noticeably aroused in my appearance by now, made me want to run for the wide open field. The open field was the highly vivid field of wherein games were held because of its noticeable boundaries of where the green grass ended and the sharp concrete cement began.Now after da rk, it seemed to lay awaiting and full of hunger for something to step onto its surface so it could suck them into its dark ruptured depths. It, during the daytime acted as a virtuous grass field wherein competition took its place. It was the place in the park where cries of victories could be heard and where one could also seek for rivalry. Suddenly just filled with thoughts of competition I was overcome with memories and had forgotten about the dark surrounding me. One of the games always played was Kick the Can.This game’s boundary took up the whole neighborhood allowing for a lot of space. It was one of my favorite games because there was always one person â€Å"it†. Their goal was to spot every other player and try to get them out, at the same time, guarding the base containing the can. However with one person on one team and everyone else on the rivalry team it created several disadvantages. Players on the team with more people crouched between slits in the earth and hid within the shadows waiting for that intense moment when their rival finally looked away.At last with the opportunity they jumped out of their hiding places running as fast as their legs could carry them for the chance to â€Å"kick the can. † It was the only way to free all of their teammates from jail. Moreover for me personally the best part was being the person hiding from the rival. I loved the feeling of running from the enemy, acting like I was a ninja hiding against walls, climbing up trees, and maneuvering my way behind fences to escape the chance of being caught.At the time, I thought it was the perfect space for me to roam around freely and still feel comfortable and safe because most of the people living in the neighborhood were friendly and didn’t mind the company. Unfortunately, there were those who disliked it and I did my best to avoid them. One again acknowledging my surroundings, I built up the courage to keep walking along the path as if ever ything was normal. I recalled the best of times shared here in this park with my friends, where we had our best of times playing, talking and sharing our amazing made up stories of us coming together to be a complete family.It was also the place where we all learned how to ride our first bike and to ride our first roller blades after falling on our hands and knees countless times but getting up repeatedly to try all over again. Now walking along the path I remember the time when one of my best childhood friends, Michael Cheng, the cute little boy who secretly held a crush on me, chased me along the path while I ran for my life from the despair of being hugged and at risk of being contaminated with â€Å"boy cooties†, and it made me laugh. Sadly I regret that I no longer keep in contact with Michael.If I could go back to the day he moved away, I wouldn’t even think twice about asking him for a contact number. With the feelings of fear, courage, and sadness all mixed wit hin me, I felt crossed. Then looking back at the path I had just walked and up towards the now barely visible tree that seemed to be taunting me before, I had one last thought before I left the park that night. Standing under the dim light post, I remembered Michael, the boy who I had been running so horridly from; it had happened that he was the first boy who I had ever received my first hug from.With that flashback, it gave my stomach the faint distinct feeling of rapture evanesce that left me with a bright hint of a smile on my face as I walked away from memory lane park. Today, even though I no longer live in the neighborhood of Projects Park, whenever I visit the place, there is still a part of me that can connect to the park, making it feel like home. I’m thankful that I still keep in contact with a couple friends from the neighborhood and usually, whenever we get together, we can still go on for hours telling each other about our lives of growing up together in the pro jects.Sadly, I don’t keep in contact with most of my friends from the hood any longer. We have been separated by hundreds and thousands of miles far and wide, but, there is one thing I know we all still have in common, the family connection we had within Projects Park that will never be forgotten. In fact, to me, it feels just like yesterday that I was little kid, out freely roller skating, carelessly chasing friends, and enjoying my life to its fullest.

Capstone Project Finance (Final Project)

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