Job Analysis Interview

A job analysis is the purposeful, systematic process for collecting information on the important work-related aspects of a job. An employer needs as much information as they can get to put together a description of the job. The employer will need to observe, interview, and question the right person for the job that meets their requirements. This helps the analyst to collect the information that provides a thorough picture of the job and the duties of the job. Below are the results of a direct interview with Dale Root who is a driver for Weatherford International, LTD. Weatherford is one of the largest global providers of the advanced products and services. They have more than 900 service facilities in the world. Dale is a truck driver that has been employed with Weatherford for three years now. This interview was conducted on May, 10, 20011, at Weatherford facility in Lindsay, Oklahoma. Weatherford) Dale Root is known as the top driver of Weatherford, and is their mechanic also of all the vehicles there at the Lindsay, Oklahoma yard. The company offers advanced product and services that span the drilling, evaluation, completion, production and intervention cycles of oil and natural gas. Weatherford has over 1,000 services areas that are being used in the United States and Global area. (www. weatherford. com) Dale Root is directly involved with delivering the tools to all locations in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas area. Dale is also responsible for maintaining the mechanical issues with all the trucks, pickups, and the work over rigs. If a truck breaks down, they call Dale in to fix it. According to Dale, the company has come a long way in the analyst area since he first started with the company in 2008. At first they did not have a correct evaluation system in place for they were often losing their information for direction and location areas. All with the location time that the hands must be on location at a certain time or they lose the job. In closing of the interview with Dale, He told me that his supervisor name is Tony Springman, who is the main person that actually does the evaluation on the new hires. They are very thorough with the hiring process of the company for they do a back ground check on you to make sure that you have no felonies on your record and to make sure that the person don’t have no more than three moving violations on their record. In closing, there is so much information that is available about Weatherford International LTD. On the internet and you can contact the human resources in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for more information about the company. Tony Springman is the person to get into contact with here at the Lindsay, Oklahoma yard for a job application and to start the process of getting hired on with Weatherford. An analysis really must be done as accurately as possible and must always be kept current.

Human resource management in Small Organizations Essay

Much of our knowledge of human resource management involves large organizations with dedicated human resource departments and staff, but what about small organizations? Small organizations recruit, compensate, do performance management, and many of the same tasks as large organizations. There are certain things that can be mapped effectively from large to small organizations, but what happens to the rest that do not map? A small organization can not simply let things slip through the cracks based on size or ignorance of laws, rules, or requirements. This is what makes human resource management not only important in small organizations, but essential for their long term success. Human resource (HR) management is an issue that affects every type of organization large and small alike. The majority of research and information that is easily accessible though is for larger organizations with a staff of human resource professionals. While it is true that much of the information for larger organizations can be applied to smaller organizations the majority of things do not. This raises the question: is the practice of human resource management necessary in small organizations or is it simply for the Fortune 500 companies of the world? I propose that not only is human resource management important to small organizations, but it is essential for their long term success. Traditionally, Small organizations have always had limited resources. Many times they completely overlook the importance of a human resources department. In doing so, they elect to omit the department in their business model. This common oversight shifts the burden of specific HR responsibilities to other members of the staff. Most often, these members of management are not trained or experience in human resource management, nor are they schooled in policies and procedures. Because of this, many HR tasks fall through the cracks. These short falls do not negate laws, rules, and other employer responsibilities that cover human resource management. These regulations still apply to all organizations regardless of size. The lack of understanding creates a liability for small organizations because hey feel that they are exempt based on their size. They simply do not have an understanding of all the laws, rules, and other responsibilities that an educated human resource professional would. Without a dedicated HR department, the small business lacks a proper understanding and vision of human resource policies and procedures. This deficiency will also create problems for a small organization. Typically, most small organizations are focused on increasing sales, adding new products and services, and increasing profits. All these objectives are to be met with the aforementioned limited resources. What many small businesses overlook is that proper understanding and implementation of HR policies and procedures is vital to any business. This should be the center piece of any organization; large or small. Small businesses should create a solid foundation by creating a policies and procedures manual. While creating a policies and procedures manual is time consuming, it is essential for successful employee relations. These policies and procedures not only create an understanding between management and employee of what is expected, but most importantly, what is not expected. Often time’s small organizations assume that common sense should be the guide in determining human resource practices. This leaves too many things open to interpretation and can lead to liabilities that can damage or even end a small organization. Policies on sexual harassment, retaliation, Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and a host of other legal policies must be stated and understood by everyone in the workplace. There are many legal institutions just waiting for organizations to ignore these laws. Creating a policies and procures manual will put in writing what is not tolerated while protecting the small organization. It also will keep the business from being negligent in the protection of its employees. Liabilities are a real threat that face many small organizations; both in the short and long term scope. It does not matter if the organization is liable because of a lack of knowledge or truly negligent; the law only cares if an organization breaks it and not why. Liability issues while vital to the success of the organization are not important if there are no employees. Without employees, the organization cannot sell its goods or services and has no purpose to exist. While a human resource department is important because of liability, there are other issues that are the core responsibility of an HR director that are also key components to the success of a small organization. HR professionals must manage recruitment, compensation, retention, training, and performance. The next key component and considered to be the most important by many, including myself, is that of recruiting. The lack of a formal human resource department and policies make this important component the most challenging. Selection of staff starts with the challenge of who is going to do it. This task often falls on key management personnel and even the president/CEO of the organization. This often impacts the primary responsibilities of this person that directly affect the small organizations ability to increase and make profit. Once the person is selected he/she faces many challenges in the quest for a new staff member or members. The first of these is limited financial resources to spend on recruitment. The lack of money that can be spend limits the amount of areas the open position can be broadcast and there by limiting the pool of qualifies candidates. The popularity of Craigslist and other free online classified internet sites have cut the cost of spreading the word of open positions, but still only reach a limited audience. The ability to add open positions to a small organizations own website is also a free option, but once again limits the exposure to only people coming to its website. The more poplar websites like Monster, Career Builder, and Snag-a-Job reach a larger audience, but cost money. To increase the candidate pool from only online audience to print audience also this is another added expense to an already limited budget. Once the interview process starts there are several other issues that small organizations face. The first of these is the credibility of the organization. Credibility is hurt from even the practice of only posting open positions on a Craigslist. The amount of scams and illegimate business has made the public skeptical of many free sites like Craigslist so the free ad is not entirely free. A Fortune 500 company such as FedEx has no trouble with name recognition or creditability unlike Mailway Delivery, a small package courier. The problem of credibility for the Mailway Delivery’s of the world is another challenge that small organizations face. The next issue is the need of most small organizations employee’s to perform multiple roles. This could include answering phones, sending out mail, and various other duties that everyone shares to keep employee costs down. A candidate from a large corporation might have a specific duty that is his/her only task and that is what they are expected to focus on. In small organization tasks are far less defined and could even change regularly depending on the needs of the organization. This is why small organizations also focus on personal credentials or organizational fit when selecting a candidate. These issues have lead many small organizations to begin a new way of thinking about recruiting. This new way of thinking is outsourcing recruiting to companies such as Manpower, Talent Force and other professional recruiting organizations to take on the small organizations recruiting tasks. These recruiting organizations can provide highly trained human resource professionals and services that can reduce the time key management are taken away from their jobs and put it in the hands of the recruitment organization. The recruitment organization provides not only the benefit of the recruitment, but an array of other services such as benefit administration, payroll services, training, employee relations, and a host of other human resource tasks. This cost is significantly lower for the small organization than hiring someone plus the amount of exposure to liability issues is cut down significantly. These firms also have the option of temporary labor, seasonal labor, and other not permanent labor solutions. They can also be used as an almost try before you buy approach to hiring new people. Another important component to the success of a small organization is that of compensation. This is an important topic in any organization and small organizations are no exception. Compensation is important to several aspects of small organizations including recruitment and retention of staff. It is as simple as if the organization can not pay a fair amount for staff then recruitment will be hard and retention even harder. The limited amount of resources in small organizations makes creating an enticing compensation plan for recruiting and retention a challenge. This has lead small organizations to come up with some different strategies on pay levels, pay mixes, pay structure, benefits and pay raises, but the majority emphasis is placed on pay mix. The pay mix of small organizations focus more on pays incentives than base pay. This pay mix allows the small organization to use the saved cash on labor to reinvest in the company and freeing up scarce resources. This also provides motivation for the staff to achieve goals, increase productivity, and have an overall stake in the success of the organization. These pay incentives can be either short or long term. Short term pay incentives in small organizations may include things like stock and/or profit sharing. The reasoning of why this is a successful is simple. It provides the employee with a tangible reward for his/her work in making the organization successful. This gives the employee to achieve a larger goal with a greater reward based on long term pay incentives. Long term pay incentives are typically a larger stake in the company through some form of equity, stock, stock options, or some other stock based program. This in itself continues the motivation even when this is achieved because the employee begins to identify with management based on their ownership stake in the company. This works extremely well in the high technology organizations, but can be used in almost all organizations. Pay structure in small organizations tend to have far less levels of management and organizational hierarchy so rewards and pay rate are not an indication of status among employees. Pay raises in small organizations are often not given in the same way at large organizations. Small organizations see payroll as a fixed cost and are often not willing to increase this without the success of the organization. This is why short and long term pay incentives and organizational fit play such an important part in the retention of staff. If the employee does not feel the company will be successful they will not be satisfied with a lower base salary because of the lack of faith in the success of the organization. Benefits are a department where small organizations suffer based on the scarce resources available and the high cost of employee retirement plans, company pension plans, and life insurance type options. This is where the long term pay incentives of stock options and ownership in the company have to be a substitute for standard large organization benefit packages. One benefit that small organizations do benefit the most and many choose to invest in is that of education help or reimbursement. This helps the employee by free or subsidized education and the small organization can oftentimes fill gaps in education because of the diversity of job needs. An accountant that also helps with I. T. needs would benefit his/her self as well as the company if he/she took I. T. training classes from the local community college. This not only benefits the employee, but the organization also. This makes education the best benefit for any small organization to invest in. Benefits in small organization may seem unorthodox to many traditional human resource standards, but they are necessary to help recruit and retain the best staff they can. In small organizations it is important to look at compensation from a total view, meaning looking not just at base salary and incentives, but at psychological rewards, learning opportunities, and individual recognition. Retention is an important aspect of staffing that impacts all companies and can be devastating to small organizations. Employees are the most important asset of any small organization and the instability of losing an important asset can cause havoc. Employee retention not only affects a small organization in losing a valuable asset it is an added expensive of finding and training someone else. This combined with any education paid for by the small organization is lost. The goal then of the small organization is to retain the valuable employees through the bonus programs, family type work structure, and many of the other psychological benefits small organizations have to offer. This will lead to lower cost and more efficiency in the organization. Performance management in small organizations does incorporate some parts of compensation such short and long term incentives, training, and other rewards it mostly focuses on performance evaluation processes, disciplinary actions, the laying off of employees and the termination of employees. Often the lack of formal procedures that was discussed earlier comes into play and can negatively effect the organization. The lack of written expectations, rules, and procures open the small organization up to law suits and other liabilities. Performance evaluations, disciplinary procedures, and the law involving termination of employees are important issues small organizations need to spend time on. Training in small organizations is another important component of human resource management effects on the organization. Often times in small organizations the roles of employees are altered, shifted, and sometimes even changed to meet the demand at the time. The amount of change in roles requires that employees stay trained in the area or areas they are working in order to be effective in their job. There are several different types of training that are most common in large and small organizations alike. The first type of training is what most people associate with the word training, formal classroom training. This type of training has been shown to have a positive impact on workers, but is costly in time and money for the organization. This makes formal training for small organizations not the most efficient with some exceptions. Those exceptions are trade association training classes, college seminars, and in house training. Another option that was discussed earlier in the paper was also tuition reimbursement / tuition assistance that are options for formal training. The most common for of training for small organizations is unstructured or most often referred to as on the job training. This is even a selling point in a lot of recruiting efforts of small organizations. The hands on training that a small organization can provide is valuable to the employee as they can not often times get that at a formal training facility. This form of training is often seen as less structured which allows for more interaction and increased learning in many cases. Another form of training that is a new form of training that can be supplemented with formal and informal training is based on social psychology that uses socialization to train new employees. This approach uses socialization to teach the new employee their role in the organization, adjust to job requirements and the culture of the new job. The small organizations have been found to benefit more from this type of training because the new employee is more quickly invited to meetings, asked to go to lunch, and work closer with people than a larger organization. This results in feeling part of the team quicker and learning more quickly. The need for human resource management begins the second the first employee is hired regardless of the size of the organization. The seemingly simple process of hiring, firing, and paying employees is filled with many unseen obstacles that can create problems for a small organization. Effective human resource management has a direct effect on the success of a small organization. It has been said throughout the paper of a small organizations most valuable asset being its employees. This is why human resource management is key to the success of any small organization.

Health Promotion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Promotion - Research Paper Example Law enforcement, health care, and low labour productivity are estimated to be 9.2 billion yearly in Ontario alone. 10% of mortalities in Ontario arise indirectly or directly from consumption of alcohol. Ontario’s Ministry of health developed the program that targeted 21 communities in the entire Ontario community that have shown interest and commitment in addressing this menace. The key audiences for this program are youth and children, with every project asked to allocate 30 per cent of their budget to reach the target population. The program builds the success of highlighting projects to prevent substance abuse and alcohol at sites in 21 communities. The evaluation of the program found that the project offered a promising future of preventing alcohol and related substance abuse. Based on the finding, the ministry has come up with a FOCUS community program that implements the existing 11 sites and 10 new sites (â€Å"Partners in action: Ontarios substance abuse strategy†, 2004). Every site has a local agency responsible for preventing substance abuse and leading the implementation process of FOCUS. Addiction Research Foundation is a branch of Addiction and Mental Health Services Corporation that participated in developing the FOCUS program and in selecting the sites. The ministry invited the agencies to prepare the applications of FOCUS in conjunction with domestic partners like businesses, health agencies, voluntary groups, and injury prevention coalition. In total, there are 220 groups in partnership with FOCUS Community Program. Funding from the ministry of Health will supports the staff resources and program costs (Weinstein & Hanson, 2005). The communities that are participating in the program have matched the funding of the ministry with domestic in kind resources on a ratio of 1 to 1. Consequently, the domestic program partners have taken part in valuation of resources worth over 2.5 million

'Motivation may be internal but it also has external social factors.' Essay

'Motivation may be internal but it also has external social factors.' Discuss this in light of the relevant theory on motivation - Essay Example Because change is important and must be dealt with in a persons life, it is important to take a look at theories of motivation. We also know that motivation may be internal but it also has external social factors. Motivation can be defined in many ways but it is basically why people do what they do. We talk about how people are motivated by food and shelter needs or because they want a good job or because they want to change their circumstances. Many people will note that self-esteem is built into the existence of motivation because you must have it in order to engage in many situations. As an example, when you achieve something you want to do it makes you feel good. At the beginning of this situation if you have a strong self-esteem, you may be motivated to do a task to get what you want. You might decide to go back to school in order to gain a degree that will move you forward in your profession. Self-esteem is important in this situation because it creates the catalyst that you will use to get to your goal. On the other side, once you have achieved your goal and received your degree, your self-esteem is at play because in feeling good, you are able to share your good fortune with others. H ence, self-esteem is very important to developing a solid place in life. No one has been able to define what motivates people though many have researched the issue. Researchers have found that there are many different ideas, thoughts or processes that motivate people and generally no two are alike. For this paper, we shall examine several theories and then examine how the theories work in social situations. There are a variety of theories that tell us why and how an individual is motivated to change. A basic theory of motivation was Abraham Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. According to Maslow (as quoted in NetMBA, 2007) an individual has certain basic needs that must be fulfilled before they can begin to work on higher level

The Movies and Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Movies and Research - Essay Example Truman continued to question further his existence since he noticed that everything that is going on in Seahaven revolve around his life. When Truman decided to seek out the truth to the world beyond Seahaven, the producers of the show tried as much as they can to prevent him from doing so by making plot twists in his daily activities that would avert any attempts made. Eventually, Truman secretly sailed off from his house, and was almost killed by a storm the producer of the show made. Realizing the morality in killing a cast member for the sake of a show would be an outrage, the producer allowed Truman to exit the arcological movie set and to see the real world beyond Seahaven. In this film, one of the main themes being shown is the concept of simulated reality. Simulated reality is an approach of observation, usually scientific, that makes events in reality replicated to a point that it is difficult to distinguish it from actual reality. This form of observation is the major plot basis for the movie The Truman Show and is the driving force for the main character’s actions and existential inquiries about his life. It should be remembered that in the setting of the movie, simulated reality is used as a form of mass media entertainment while setting aside any real or applied scientific usage. However, research in the movie setting is implied to have been done in a way to make the main character Truman spend most of his life believing that his world of Seahaven is the only reality. One could consider this form of research as a controlled form of observation, as every aspect of Truman’s daily life is being manipulated by external human actions. T his is done so skillfully that it has been an accepted fact by Truman even right on the day of his birth until adulthood. It should also be noted that the reason for the simulated reality scheme is for audiences of the show in the movie’s setting would watch an

Concepts of Health Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Concepts of Health Behavior - Essay Example Views regarding the interaction between the two concepts come from all directions. Thus, the initial action of health professionals and authorities is to define and categorize the said relationship between health and behavior. There are important terms to define in the study of the relationship between health and behavior. The aspects to be defined to be able to achieve a deeper understanding of the relationship between health and behavior include behavior, health and risk factors. Behavior, also referred to as biobehavioral sciences can be defined as the aspect of the field of study related to the empirical data and analyses of animal and human behavior with the inclusion of the different types of sciences pertinent to the study such as neuroanatomy, neurology, neurochemistry, endocrinology, immunology, psychology, psychiatry, epidemiology, ethnology, sociology, anthropology and new interdisciplinary fields such as behavioral genetics, psychoneuroimmunology, and behavioral medicine. Health is another aspect of the study which is defined as the state of wellness. In terms of the definition related to behavior, it is defined as the state of resistance or recovery from different types of issues that can affect the body such as disease, illness, and intervention.

Prosecute Billy for the Alleged Assaults Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Prosecute Billy for the Alleged Assaults - Essay Example Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have issued the guidelines in order to stipulate how to handle domestic violence complaints and make prosecution of the perpetrators. Domestic violence, also termed as domestic abuse, can attract action under both criminal law and civil law. In the present case, Hilda has been assaulted by her husband Billy resulting in her hospitalisation. In an inebriated condition, he has also assaulted the nurse at the hospital where he was refused permission to see his wife. Given this scenario, the prosecution and police authorities are required to ensure the following actions are adhered to. Protection to Victims First step in response to domestic abuse incident or report is to ensure protection to the victim, her children and police officers involved in the investigation and prosecution from likely harm by the perpetrator both while receiving calls and after the violence report has been registered. Though this may not apply to the present stage, it is worth mentioning that if the suspect/perpetrator has not left the scene while the call is being received, the caller should be kept on the line and have the background noise tape-recorded through a 999 call which could capture the victim’s and the suspect’s voice and be a crucial evidence for prosecution and helpful in monitoring the incident. If the suspect has left the scene of occurrence, the victim or caller should be asked to lock and secure the premises and comeback to the phone and then take full description of the suspect for being circulated to the area officers (CPS, 2009). Prosecution Now that Hilda’s husband Billy, the perpetrator has already been arrested, the following pages will discuss how the Crown Prosecution Service (CPC) will proceed with prosecution and help victims through prosecution. The guidance document of the CPS is of particular use for legal professionals supporting victims of domestic violence. The CPS has been entrusted with the prosecution of cases probed by the enforcement agency who are responsible for investigating the allegations of domestic violence and collection of evidence. Billy has been arrested as is necessary in a domestic violence case to safeguard the victims who may be vulnerable with children from any further injury. CPS has the mandate to decide on a suspect being charged with and the nature of charges. Police refers cases suspected of domestic violence to CPS for deciding on prosecution or otherwise. CPS is not the legal representative of victims and not authorised to act on their behalf but must be concerned with their safety and support besides considering their views. Thus, CPS initiates prosecutions for domestic violence on State’s behalf. In case of the CPS deciding against prosecution, it will inform victim of the decision based on evidence furnished by the police along with reasons (CPS, 2009). Victim’s Safety CPS will send letter t o vulnerable victim or intimidated witnesses informing the decision to prosecute or otherwise within 24 hours of taking a decision and five days in all others. This is with the view to ensure victim’s safety arising out of the decisions. And it is also to

A Research on Jamaica Queens Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

A on Jamaica Queens - Research Paper Example 0 3 9 7 29 36 16 100 109th Precinct 6 18 234 252 546 895 313 2,264 110th Precinct 4 45 397 225 436 741 167 2,015 111th Precinct 1 8 80 52 321 392 156 1,010 112th Precinct 3 6 116 50 267 595 167 1,204 114th Precinct 5 19 318 303 447 931 336 2,359 115th Precinct 5 36 345 261 407 629 273 1,956 Queens North 29 159 1,992 1,433 3,209 5,114 2,037 13,973 iii) Education: a) Public Elementary Schools: Jamaica's public schools, a branch of municipal government in New York City are operated by the New York City Department of Education under the New York City School Chancellor; Joel I. Klein, appointed by Mayor Michel Bloomberg in 2002. Public Elementary Schools in Jamaica include: P.S. 50 Talfourd Lawn Elemenatry School P.S. 86 P.S. 131 Abigal Adams Elementary School P.S. 160 P.S. 182 Samantha Smith b) Private Schools: Private schools in Jamaica include Archbishop Molloy High School The Mary Louis Academy, a private, Catholic, girls' high school run by the Sister of St. Joseph. Immaculate Conception School, a co-ed Catholic school from Pre-K to 8th grade. The school is a local landmark located on the property of Immaculate Conception Church and Monastery, run by The Passionist Congregation of Priests. c) Libraries: The Queens Borough Public Library, established in 1858, operates the Central Library in Jamaica and both the branches i.e. the Baisley Park Branch and the South Jamaica Branch are also located in Jamaica. It is considered as the No. 1 library system in the United States by circulation comprising 63 branches and having loaned 21 million items in the 2007 fiscal year. It also serves the population of more than 2.2 million, including the migrants who come down to refer this library which embraces large...Klein, appointed by Mayor Michel Bloomberg in 2002. Immaculate Conception School, a co-ed Catholic school from Pre-K to 8th grade. The school is a local landmark located on the property of Immaculate Conception Church and Monastery, run by The Passionist Congregation of Priests. The Queens Borough Public Library, established in 1858, operates the Central Library in Jamaica and both the branches i.e. the Baisley Park Branch and the South Jamaica Branch are also located in Jamaica. It is considered as the No. 1 library system in the United States by circulation comprising 63 branches and having loaned 21 million items in the 2007 fiscal year. It also serves the population of more than 2.2 million, including the migrants who come down to refer this library which embraces large percentage of non-English language books, particularly Spanish ones. It is governed by a 19-member Board of Trustees, which are appointed by the Mayor of the New York City and Borough President of Queens. The latter along with the Public advocate sit on the board as ex-officio members. The current director of the Queens Library is Thomas Galante. York College, a Senior College under the city of New York located in the borough of Queens after its set up in 1966. It was the first college funded under the newly formed City Union of New York. Now, more than 6,000 students in more than 40 bachelor's degree subjects are studying there. St John's University (Queens

Cereality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cereality - Essay Example (Cereality). Cereality-The Expansion Program At present the company is making plans to expand its business operations to a European market, Paris. The city of Paris is chosen for the next phase of expansion of the Cereality Company owing to the following reasons. Increased traffic of Tourists Large presence of Fast Food Corners Rendering a Cost Effective Approach favored by many Tourists Firstly, the city of Paris is becoming the home ground for many tourists who come attracted to the city on account of the reason that they would be able to visit a number of historic sites possessing magnificent architectures. These people do not feel the interest in spending their time over large meals. Rather they take to fast food as an option which helps them feel their appetite and at the same time helps saving time. (Naczelnik). Secondly, a visit conducted by us on Paris revealed that the city on account of the above reason has already become the home ground of many fast food corners and joints wherein the tourists relish the different flavors. A number of fast food concepts have cropped up in different parts of the city which include of Stands and Food Courts serving fast food to a large number of people visiting the city. One can easily trace the growth of fast food market in Paris while observing the different options like baked products and other bread food items like pastries and sandwiches composing the fast food sector.

Explore the ways in which Shakespeare presents male characters Essay Example for Free

Explore the ways in which Shakespeare presents male characters Essay The female characters in Hamlet have several vital roles within the play that serve to add depth and interest to the overall plot. Shakespeare employs the women to emphasize key themes such as betrayal, that might not otherwise be drawn out, and also enable the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the main male characters through the way in which they view and treat women. It is important to closely examine the male-female interaction and relationships in order to understand how Shakespeare uses the women as a dramatic device. The main male characters of Hamlet, Claudius, Polonius and Laertes are repeatedly shown to possess negative attitudes towards women. These attitudes result in unjust, oppressive and abusive relationships with the female characters of Gertrude and Ophelia. The primary male character, Hamlet, bears no exception to this general negativity directed at women. Shakespeare presents Hamlet as a man with a progressive hatred of womankind, having a detrimental influence upon his relationships with the female characters. Shakespeare implies the reason for Hamlets increased negativity to be his mothers remarriage to his uncle, Claudius. The extent this has affected Hamlet is implied through repeated mention of it, such as in his second soliloquy when he speaks of Claudius two crimes as making his mother a whore and the murder of [his] father. Here, Shakespeare uses the order in which Hamlet lists Claudius crimes to convey which event Hamlet views most severely. Damage caused by the remarriage is again seen through Hamlets resulting negativity towards women. One such attitude is the belief that women are overtly sexual. Upon Hamlets Chance meeting with Ophelia, he comments unfavourably on her tendency as a woman to jig, amble and lisp. Shakespeares chosen combination of verbs implies that Hamlet thinks women to have an inherently flirtatious nature. Hamlet also speaks to Ophelia of womens wantonness becoming their ignorance, implying that sexual desires become their downfall. It seems that this view of women as sexual tempters leads Hamlet to believe that they should be cut off from men, so as not to cause men detriment. Shakespeare conveys this through Hamlets instruction to Ophelia to get thee to a nunnery; repeating this line to demonstrate his conviction that women should remain separate so their overtly sexual nature cannot negatively influence men. Shakespeare emphasizes this through the forceful language Hamlet uses to instruct Ophelia in this action, for example go, and quickly too and that she must go now. Through Hamlets repetition of the imperative verb go, Shakespeare conveys his commanding tone, leaving the audience with no doubt of his vehemence. Shakespeare again shows Hamlets problem with womens sexuality through his repulsion at his mothers relationship with Claudius. In Hamlets first soliloquy he speaks of the speed of the marriage, saying how Gertrude did post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets. Here, Shakespeares repetition of s sounds acts as a sibilant to emphasise that Hamlet is hissing the words, conveying disgust at his mothers remarriage and sexual relationship. In negatively viewing the sexuality of both women in his life, Shakespeare hints that Hamlet not only has a problem with them individually, but that his grudge also lies with womankind. This is epitomized through his suggestion to Ophelia at the Chance Meeting that there should be no more marriage, thus effectively terminating sexual relationships. Hamlets disapproval of womens sexuality is linked with his belief that they have a ruinous influence upon men. Shakespeare shows this attitude through the way that in the Chance Meeting with Ophelia, Hamlet suggests that women in general corrupt men, saying wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them. Shakespeare again shows Hamlet blaming women for mens faults including his own insanity, saying their flirtatious games hath made [him] mad. Thus, Hamlet is shown to hold women as scapegoats, accountable for mens faults. Hamlets negative attitudes of women combine to produce unequal and oppressive relationships with both women in his life. Shakespeare demonstrates the imbalance in Hamlets relationship with Ophelia through the way the two characters treat one another so differently. Whilst Hamlet carries out a character assassination of her in the Chance Meeting saying that she is corrupt and a sinner, Ophelia glorifies him. Ophelia implies that Hamlet is awed saying he is observed and the glass of fashion. Also, Ophelia believes him to be of good character, saying he has a noble mind. This suggests Ophelias adoration of Hamlet, prior to his madness, and hints at her love for him. Through this contrast between Ophelias treatment of Hamlet with his of her, Shakespeare indicates who dominates their imbalanced relationship. The result is confusion and pain for the subservient Ophelia, shown through her repeated questions such as what means this my lord? and her declaration of grief at Hamlets rejection, proclaiming O woe is me.

Global Macroeconomic Imbalances And The Financial Crisis

Global Macroeconomic Imbalances And The Financial Crisis The world experienced the global financial crisis between 2007 and 2008. This crisis led to the threat of collapse of mane large financial institutions, down turns of major financial market in the world and bailouts of banks by difference governments in the world. One of the areas that suffered most from the effects of the global financial crisis was the real estate sector, which most argue that it must have also contributed to the crisis. This crisis also played a significant role in the failure of many key businesses around the world. One of the consequences of these business failures was the rise of high rate of unemployment around the globe. It also contributed to the decline in consumers wealth and the down turn in economic activities around the globe, which eventually led to the global recession between 2008 and 2012. Other negative effects of the global financial crisis include the rise of the European sovereign debt crisis and liquidity challenges experienced from 2007 (Obstf eld and Rogoff 2009). Many reasons have been suggested as the main contributors to the global financial crisis. Some of these reasons include the existence of easy credit conditions in the global financial markets, growth of the housing bubble in the United States of America, predatory lending, over leverage, and incorrect pricing of risks among others (Ferguson and Schularick 2009). Although many controversies remain about the role of the global imbalances on global financial crisis, it is clear that there exists a connection between the two. Those who are against the idea of the role that global imbalances played towards global financial meltdown argue that external pressure could not have played any role in the crisis. The reason they give as the main cause of the financial crisis was the failure of financial regulators to effectively control financial institutions and markets in the United States of America and globally. They also argue that policy errors could also have played a significant role in t he crisis. However, those who support the view that global financial imbalances could have played a role in the global financial crisis suggest various mechanisms through which global imbalances could have had a significant role in causing the collapse of the financial system in the world. Some of these mechanisms include the high savings of china, oil exporters and other surplus countries, which depressed real interest rates globally. The depressed global real interest rate is thought to have led investors to scramble for yield and to under price the risk. The connection between the global imbalance and the global financial crisis may also have originated from economic policies employed in a number of countries globally before the crisis. There was also the existence of distortions that played a role in the transmission of these economic policies through the United States of America and finally through the global financial markets (Ferguson and Schularick 2009). United state of America policies contributed immensely to the crisis. This country had the ability to finance her macroeconomic imbalances from easy foreign borrowing. As a result of this, the country failed to come up with tough policy measures that could have prevented the crisis. This was also the same case with other major countries that experienced deficit before the crisis. One of the alternatives source sought by the United States of America to finance her deficit was foreign banks, which provided a ready source of external funding. The main source of motivation for these foreign banks was their high appetite for assets. Prior to this period, the United States of America employed loose monetary policies, which allowed the country to borrow in dollars at low nominal interest rates. These policies also created an environment in which the asset-price movement and the exchange rate kept United States of America foreign liabilities growing at a rate that was far below its cumulative current account deficit. The case of the United States of America was similar to what was experienced in many other countries around the globe, which had current account deficit prior to the global financial crisis (Ferguson and Schularick 2009). Countries with current account surpluses on the other hand, faced minimal pressures to adjust. For instance, China was able to maintain an undervalued currency and therefore, defer to rebalance its own economy due to its ability to sterilize the immense reserve purchases,which it placed in the United States of Americas markets. Therefore, complementary policy distortions kept United States of America artificially far from her higher autarky interest rates and China artificially far from her lower autarky interest rates. It was possible therefore, to either contain or mitigate the global financial crises had low-cost postponement options not been available. The action of china to undervalue her currency may have also played a significant role in the global financial crisis that followed in between 2007 and 2008. This together with the undervaluation of the exchange rate contributed to the global imbalances (Obstfeld and Rogoff 2009). Therefore, it is clear that external imbalance were a reflection of internal imbalances in many countries. The connection between the global imbalances and the exchange rate undervaluation means that the problem could not be resolved automatically without involvement of significant exchange rate adjustments. The labor rate in china prior to the global financial crisis was far below the countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Cheap relative production costs in China supported the profitability and investment in manufacturing industry. The loss of competitiveness in this country was avoided through the availability of excess labor or organized wage restraint (Ferguson and Schularick 2009). China employed policies that were aimed at promoting export-led industrialization. The policy of real exchange rate undervaluation and reserve accumulation in China could not automatically be collected by inflation due to the pervasive role of the state in the countrys financial sector, large supply o f surplus labor and the effectiveness of capital control. All this created an environment that enabled china to accumulate massive reserves of foreign currency as well as create current account surplus. This action of the Chinese country may have contributed to the global financial crisis experienced in 2008. According to Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, a saving glut in the Asian economy as well as other exporting countries is primarily responsible for the current pattern of global macroeconomic imbalances. In providing support for his argument, Ben argues that the Asian turbulence of 1996 formed the genesis of the global imbalance. He points at Thailand which had for a long time maintained a fixed exchange rate of her currency against the United States of Americas dollar. However, there was a rapid credit expansion in the Asian countries, which fuelled bubble in stocks and real estates (Obstfeld and Rogoff 2009). This credit expansion took place within the liberalized financial system. In Thailand, the current account deficit reached about 8 percent of the countrys GDP as the rising prices of assets reversed the course. The country also experienced a fierce speculation of currency which led to the breaking up of the countrys currency peg against the dollar. This crisis was contagiously transmitted to other countries in Asia, many of which seemed healthier fundamentally than Thailand. Under this pressure, the Asian banking system faced financial crisis. To avoid eventual collapse of the banking system, most of those countries that faced the crisis turned to the international monetary fund for assistance. The conditions placed by the international monetary fund as the requirement for financial assistance left bitter memories in these countries (Ferguson and Schularick 2009). Afterwards, the developing countries as well as the newly developed countries in the Asian world went into surplus although most of them had weaker currencies than before the crisis. The dissipation of the recessionary effects in the Asian countries and the boom of dot com led to the rise of commodity prices globally. This further helped to generate surpluses for the oil producing countries in the Middle East and the commonwealth of independent countries. The case was different in the advanced countries which operated on the current account deficit. For instance, the United States of America ran on a deficit of about 4.3 percent in 2000. There was persistent growth of surpluses in the Asian countries and the oil producing countries. However, in this newly industrialized Asia, the gross savings did not change substantially after the crisis although there was a considerable decline in the investment. In contrast, the savings in the developing Asian countries initially returned to the same level as before the crisis. This was followed by rapid growth in savings which peaked at about 47 percent of the GDP (Obstfeld and Rogoff 2009). The case was the same as far as gr oss investment was concerned. The investment returned to the pre-crisis level and then rose significantly thereafter. These current account surpluses were supported by the exchange rate policies, which tended to maintain rates at competitive levels different from what was the case in the pre-crisis period. Foreign exchange intervention policy in Asian countries was motivated by the need to pursue export-led strategies for maintenance of high economic growth rates. There was also the need to accumulate substantial stock of international reserves as a buffer against future financial crises. This was considered to be necessary in order to avoid a possible future dependence on International Monetary Fund. Therefore, some countries such as Saudi Arabia maintained pegs to the United States of Americas dollar. This further helped in the growth of the global imbalance that finally was responsible for the global financial crisis in 2008 (Ferguson and Schularick 2009). Further, these countries devalued their currencies against the United State of Americas dollar. Therefore, these countries remained at depreciated levels compare to the period prior to the crisis. The intervention policies by the Asian countries were responsible for the rapid growth of international reserves in these countries (Obstfeld and Rogoff 2009). Another factor that may have contributed to the global imbalance and eventually the global financial crisis was the speculation against the overvaluation of the dollar during the closing years of Bretton Wood System. This speculation led to the growth in international reserves and the high global inflation that followed thereafter. The reserve growth in the United States of America also led to the increase in the prices of commodities, housing and other assets in the country and other countries. The Chinese reserve accumulation outstripped even the growing current account surplus. The balance of payment surpluses was further augmented by the strong inward of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Therefore, economic policies and market developments played a significant role in the generation of current account surpluses (Ferguson and Schularick 2009). This in turn led to rapid accumulation of private and public claims on industrial countries especially the United States of America. According to Bernanke, the outward shift of emerging market saving schedules was the principle cause of expansion of the United States of Americas deficit starting in the 1990s. This global saving glut led to the worldwide asset price adjustments, which induced a number of advanced economies such as the United States of America to borrow m ore heavily from foreign sources. Other economic factors that contributed to the global financial crisis include equity prices. United States of America experienced heavy capital inflow from emerging market savers. This led to a large appreciation of the stock prices and the value of the dollar. This implied wealth and international competitiveness effects and a large deficit in the United States of Americas current account. Saving in the United States of America was further discouraged by the expectations of the rapid future productivity growth. These expectations encouraged investment. Another factor behind the global financial crisis was the falling real interest rates in the United States of America and other advanced economies (Ferguson and Schularick 2009). This low rate of interest contributed to the decline in savings. There was also the fall of long-term interest rates which brought down the mortgage rates in the United States of America and other countries in the world. Allan Taylor in his article The Financial Rebalancing Act argues that even without any government intervention, these global imbalances are likely to stop increasing at the same pace and may even decease. He further argues that the economists and the policy makers risk fighting the last battle even as a new post crisis economy emerges with its own set of challenges. According to him, this will happen as a result of emphasizing the importance of these imbalances. For the long-term solution to the imbalances, the view of Taylor is correct. Imbalances will create counterparts conditions in different countries which will eventually bring this countries current accounts into equilibrium(Taylor 2011). For instance, one factor that has led to the global imbalance is the devaluation of currencies by some countries. This policy has enabled countries that follow such policies to create current account surpluses. It has also contributed to huge capital investment in countries with current account deficit. In the long term, the interest rate in the deficit countries will cease to be attractive and therefore, discourage further foreign investment. The low demand for dollar as a result of this will lead to the depreciation of the dollar relative to the currencies used by the surplus countries(Taylor 2011). This will lead to the reduction in the level of surplus and the deficit in respective countries. Some of the policies that countries can employ to correct global deficit include reorientation and coordination of fiscal policies, addressing financial markets instabilities, alignment of macroeconomic and structural policies for sustainable development and dealing with job crises through g lobal rebalancing. The EURO Crisis Economic crisis has on numerous occasions hit the world and the factors that have contributed to the crisis either directly or indirectly. It is worth noting that financial crisis is as a result of a combination of complex factors which include internal trade imbalances, high risk lending as well as borrowing among others. However, one of the financial crisis that shocked the EUROZONE and has had profound impact is the EUROZONE crisis; various scholars as such have come forth with different schools of thoughts concerning the crisis. One such scholar is Martin Feldstein argues that the current crisis of the European single currency was an accident waiting to happen. To him he argued that the development of such economic structure was a ruthless, politically motivated experiment. Similarly the present problems facing member countries as a result of leaving country-specific economic policies and individual exchange rates were predictable by economists politicians chose to ignore them (Feldstein, 2010). The paper will give the views of the researcher whether he agrees or not with Martin Feldstein argument. In doing so, the researcher will critically look into arguments for and against adopting a single currency economy. Additionally the major factors deemed to be responsible for the crisis of confidence in the EURZONE. Martin Feldstein argument and my views With regards to EUROZONE crisis Martin Feldstein strongly believed that indeed the adoption of a single currency was an accident waiting to happen. The unpleasant cost of adopting a single currency on a incongruent group of countries were at first concealed by the short-run advantages that the weakest countries enjoyed when they adopted the euro in 1999 and by the favorable global economic conditions that prevailed until 2008 (Feldstein, 2010). In order to support or refute the claim, it is important to first examine the pros and cons of adopting a single currency economic structure. However it is important to understand the beginning of the crisis. The crisis in the zone started immediately the financial markets lost confidence in the creditworthiness of Greece and other periphery countries; this resulted in interest rates on government bonds going higher to levels that compelled the affected governments to ask for bailouts from international community, the European Community and th e IMF. EUROZONE adopted single currency back in 1999 with the aim of empowering the member countries economically as well as politically. This is after the region tracked greater financial integration since 1957. There are two main categories of the advantages that come with the adoption of a single currency in the EUROZONE both leading to gains in economic efficiency. One important importance of such a concept is that the transaction cost will be eliminated. Usually transaction costs are manifested in several ways for instance fixed commission as well as the spread between the buying and selling prices of any given currencies. It is worth noting that for the member countries which operate business with others in the same region, then the currency conversion cost is done away with for the member countries which are vital for both individuals as well as firms doing business with foreign partners (Rose Wincoop, 2001). On the same note a single currency ensures that there is a ground to compare prices, making price differences more noticeable as well as equalization across the borders. Scholars in the field of economy have held that the absence of transaction costs as well as transparency in prices creates a deep and more integrated financial market. This type of integration makes it possible for member countries to have various channels used to share risks. For instance when a member country is hit by negative shock, firms definitely make losses which result in lowered stock prices, on the other hand when there is an economic boom in a another country, the stocks of firms in that country will go up contributing to profit making investors from the country hit by negative shock a new lease of life. Thus single currency allows country to share the risks of negative shocks. It has been argued that the justification for adopting single currency in EUROZONE is to avert the negative effects of exchanges rates. There is no doubt that uncertainty in changes in exchange rates hinders the flow of trade as well as investments. Thus in situations where business people are faced with trade opportunities or investment, they will be more attracted to countries where the risks of currency and interest rate changes are minimal(Artis, Hennessy Weber, 2000). However Feldstein, 2010 argued that a common currency means that every EUROZONE country has the same exchange rate, stopping the natural rate of adjustments that maintain national competitiveness when there are different trends in productivity and demand. As such he posits that this denies some countries the opportunity to raise the real incomes of her employees. In fact this is what EUROZONE is trying to discourage a scenario where some countries are extremely richer than others. Despite the advantages mentioned above, single currency has a number of disadvantages. First the system brings costs to firms, individuals and other institutions to adjust to the new currency. Usually these parties have to incur huge costs in changing the invoices, price lists, office forms, payrolls, databases, bank accounts, and meters for postage as well as parking among other things (Rose Wincoop, 2001). For countries which had weaker financially, they have to engage in excessive borrowing in order to carter for these expenditures. This as explained by economists is a recipe for economic crisis (Artis, Hennessy Weber, 2000). Secondly single currency economy means that there is no national monetary policy which has been a vital tool for states to adjust the economic equilibrium in situations where it faces economic shock. Usually economic shocks are unpredictable and unexpected and it characterized with disparity in production, consumption, investment as well as government expenditure (Feldstein, 2010). Factors responsible for the current crisis of confidence in the EURO zone There are a number of factors that played substantial role leading to the present crisis of confidence in the EUROZONE. Top on the list the inability of the government to service their debts. The debts resulted in heavy government spending and the desire to help those countries in problem to get out of the economic crisis. A typical example is Greece who received numerous loans for the purposes of bailing itself out of the economic crisis. However it emerged that the country was unable to service their debts (Rose Wincoop, 2001). Similarly other countries such as Italy and Portugal accrued debts at very high levels making them unable to successfully service their loans. Additionally member countries such as Spain found it difficult to roll-over maturity debt, this coupled with the fact that it was not possible for EUROZONE member countries to raise enough financial resource to rescue member countries such as Italy and Spain was too large contributed to the confident crisis in the reg ion (Yifu, L. Treichel, 2012). More importantly financial deregulation and liberalization contributed to the confident crisis. These two concepts enhanced the creation of new financial instruments as well as derivatives which made banks in member countries to raise leverage and to boost funds to be loaned. This in the end spurred a real estate as well as expenditure explosion (YifuTreichel, 2012). Similarly another contributor to the consumption bang is the single currency which eliminated currency risk by allowing the interest rates to be lower. The two concepts as well as the decline in interest rates led to increased inflows of money from core fall in interest rates contributed to large inflows of capital from core countries into periphery countries resulting in housing bubbles and surplus consumption. Conclusion From the review the paper has critically looked into the assumption that the adoption of a single currency is to blame for the recent EUROZONE crisis. However, looking at the advantages and disadvantages of the economic structure I beg to disagree with Martin Feldstein views that the current crisis of the European single currency was an accident waiting to happen. To my understanding, a host of factors contribute to financial crisis and it is wrong to lay blame on a single currency economy as the sole reason for the crisis. Similarly the major causes of confident crisis in the region include failure of government to service their debts, high level of unemployment as well as financial deregulation and liberalization. The Asian Curreny/Financial crisis The East Asia Currency/financial crisis were mainly caused by sudden shifts in market confidence and expectations. Since the macroeconomic in some countries had worsened in 1990s, the depth of the 1997-1998 crisis are not attributed to deterioration in fundamentals, but to panic on the international domestic investors, reinforced by the international financial community and response of the International Monetary fund faulty policy (Poser, 2008). The financial turmoil reflected policy and structural distortions in the countries of that region. The currency and financial crisis in 1997 was triggered by fundamental imbalances. Once the crisis started, herding and market overreaction caused the plunge of exchange rates, economic activity and asset prices to be more severe than the one which was warranted by the weak economic conditions. The macroeconomic imbalances in East Asia countries are accessed within structural factors: foreign indebtedness and current account deficits, savings and investment ratios, real exchange rates, growth inflation rates, budget deficits, and foreign reserves, measures of debt and profitability and political instability (Roubini, Pesenti, Corsetti, 1999). Principal factors responsible for the Asia currency/financial crisis The roots of the Asian crisis are evident on the structure of incentives under which financial sectors and corporate operated in the region, in reference to regulatory inadequacies and close relationship between private and public institutions. The Asia moral hazard magnified the financial vulnerability of the countries in the process of financial market liberalization in 1990s, showing its fragility in the financial and macroeconomic shocks that occurred in 1995-1997 period. This problem lead to the exhibition of three different yet strictly related dimensions at the financial, corporate and international level (Mengkni, 2009). For the corporate level, political pressures for maintaining high economic growth rates led to long public guarantee to private projects, where some of them were undertaken under control of the government, subsidized directly, or supported policies of credit to favor industries and firms. In the absence of explicit promises of bail out, the strategies and plans of production of the corporate sector overlooked riskiness and costs of the underlying investment projects. Having the industrial and financial policy enmeshed within a business sector network o political and personal favoritism, and with the government being ready to intervene for the troubled firms, markets were operated with the impression that to be back to the investment was some how insured against adverse shocks (Poser, 2009). This beliefs and pressures represented the underpinnings of a sustained process of accumulation of capital, hence resulting into sizable and persistent current account deficits. As we all know, borrowing from a broad to finance investments domestically should not lead to concerns about external solvency, but it can be the optimal course of action for economies which are undercapitalized with good investment opportunities. According to the evidence for the countries, in 1990s, it highlights that the profitability of the projects which were new was low. The capital inflows and investment rate in Asia remained high even after the negative signals which were sent by profitability indicators. This result was due to the interest rate which fall in industrial countries lowered the capital cost for inflows and motivated financial flows in these East Asian countries. The crucial factor which underlined the sustained investment was the moral hazard problems in the countries, hence leading the banks to borrow excess finances from abroad and lending excessively at home. The financial intimidation also played a crucial role in channeling the funds to projects which were marginally if not outright unprofitable (Roubini, Pesenti, Corsetti, 1999). In the Asian pre crisis, there is a long list of structural distortions in the banking and financial sectors. these are: low capital adequacy ratios, weak regulation and lax supervision, insufficient expertise in the regulatory institutions, lack of compatible-incentive deposit insurance schemes, distorted incentives for monitoring and project selection, non market criteria of credit allocation, outright corrupt lending practices, according to the model of relationship of banking that practiced semi monopolistic relations between firms and banks while down playing price signals. The stated factors lead to the creation of severe weaknesses in the undercapitalized financial system, with a growing share of non performing loans (Poser, 2008). The distortion consequences were magnified by the financial market deregulation and rapid process of capital account liberation in the region during the 1990s, which leads to the increase of elastic supply of funds from abroad. The liberalization of capital markets was consistent with low supply of funds to the domestic corporate and national financial institutions sector. This goal motivated policies of exchange rate aimed at reducing the domestic currency in terms of the US dollar; hence the risk of premium on dollar denomination debt is reduced (Mengkni, 2009). International dimension of the moral hazard problem was affected by the international banks behavior, which lead to crisis over a period had lent large funds to domestic intermediaries, with the neglect of standards for risk assessment. This over lending syndrome may have lead to short term interbank be effectively guaranteed by a direct government intervention in financial debtors favor, or by indirect bail out through IMF support programs. Again, large amount of foreign debt accumulation was in the form of unhedged, bank related short term, and foreign currency denominated liabilities. In the year 1996, a short term liability in the form of total liabilities above 50 percent was the norm in the countries. Also, the ratio of foreign reserves to external liabilities, which is an indicator of financial fragility, was above 100 percent in Thailand, Indonesia and Korea (Roubini, Pesenti, Corsetti, 1999). The implication of moral hazard is the adverse shock to profitability which does not induce financial intermediaries to be more cautious in lending and following the financial strategies hence reducing the riskiness of their portfolios. To be opposite, the negative implications of a future bail out gives a strong incentive to act on more risk. On this regard, several countries, specific and global shocks lead to severely deteriorate that the outlook of the overall economy in the Asian region. This exacerbated the distortions in place (Poser, 2008). Inevitability of the Asia Crisis The Asian financial crisis was inevitable because before the crisis, the Asia countries currencies were already depreciating and the growth was very slow. There was also a drop of stock markets and real estate, and speculative trends were fueled by foreign capital inflows. This led to outright defaults and wide losses in the financial and corporate sectors. Again, policy uncertainty which was stemming due lack of commitment to structural reforms by the domestic authorities made things worse. The rapid reversals of financial capital inflows on the summer of 1997 lead to regional currencies collapse hence the international and domestic investors panic (Mengkni, 2009). The timing of the crisis The timing of the crisis was in line with financial challenges of the East Asia countries. The economy of the countries was stagnant before the crisis began. Before the crisis, there was fundamental imbalance which was triggered by financial and currency crisis. Therefore, the timing of the crisis was in relation with the weak economic conditions experienced (Roubini, Pesenti, Corsetti, 1999).

Violent Femmes - Add it up :: Music

Violent Femmes - Add it up The disc player drones on as I recline peacefully on the pure white sands of my very own desert island. I am the only human being on this island. Ah, peace at last, but as the days turn into weeks and the weeks to months and the months to years I wonder; why have I not gone completely insane? Sentenced indefinitely to solitary confinement on my paradise prison. Yes, it has been a struggle to maintain my sanity, but I have one very special companion; the Violent Femmes album Add it up. Every time I listen to this album I am reminded of the last time I ever saw all my friends together; before we all went our separate ways in life. Park Rules for Your Safety: No Smoking No Radios or Music No Open-air Fires Do not take Shortcuts Watch for Bears Oh, what do we care of rules and regulations anyway. We were, after all, rebellious teenagers. We carefully stowed away radio, and cigarettes, and tightly tied our hiking boots. The four of us waved casually to the ranger as we began our ascent of the mountain. When we were out of earshot we stopped and emptied the smuggled goods from our backpacks. Unloading the radio we popped in Add it up from the Violent Femmes and continued on our journey. Not only did we play the music loud and probably scare every living organism in the forest stiff, but we also sang at the top of our lungs. People we passed on the trail smiled from ear to ear and some even laughed at our antics, but we didn’t care. Then we came to a shortcut along the trail. Should we take it? Of course, we were rebels. Against the advice of the experts, we got off the beaten track and made our own path through the forest. We were careful to keep out of sight when entering and exiting our newly blazed trail, not becaus e we feared getting caught, but because we wanted out own sovereign experience: to be shared with and had by no one else. Finally reaching the top was the greatest feat we could have ever accomplished. Being at the top of the mountain was like standing on top of the World. Looking down over the surrounding farmland and towns one could really appreciate the wonder that is Nature. The World below so tiny one could pick it up and make it snow by shaking it, just like one of those snow globes. Violent Femmes - Add it up :: Music Violent Femmes - Add it up The disc player drones on as I recline peacefully on the pure white sands of my very own desert island. I am the only human being on this island. Ah, peace at last, but as the days turn into weeks and the weeks to months and the months to years I wonder; why have I not gone completely insane? Sentenced indefinitely to solitary confinement on my paradise prison. Yes, it has been a struggle to maintain my sanity, but I have one very special companion; the Violent Femmes album Add it up. Every time I listen to this album I am reminded of the last time I ever saw all my friends together; before we all went our separate ways in life. Park Rules for Your Safety: No Smoking No Radios or Music No Open-air Fires Do not take Shortcuts Watch for Bears Oh, what do we care of rules and regulations anyway. We were, after all, rebellious teenagers. We carefully stowed away radio, and cigarettes, and tightly tied our hiking boots. The four of us waved casually to the ranger as we began our ascent of the mountain. When we were out of earshot we stopped and emptied the smuggled goods from our backpacks. Unloading the radio we popped in Add it up from the Violent Femmes and continued on our journey. Not only did we play the music loud and probably scare every living organism in the forest stiff, but we also sang at the top of our lungs. People we passed on the trail smiled from ear to ear and some even laughed at our antics, but we didn’t care. Then we came to a shortcut along the trail. Should we take it? Of course, we were rebels. Against the advice of the experts, we got off the beaten track and made our own path through the forest. We were careful to keep out of sight when entering and exiting our newly blazed trail, not becaus e we feared getting caught, but because we wanted out own sovereign experience: to be shared with and had by no one else. Finally reaching the top was the greatest feat we could have ever accomplished. Being at the top of the mountain was like standing on top of the World. Looking down over the surrounding farmland and towns one could really appreciate the wonder that is Nature. The World below so tiny one could pick it up and make it snow by shaking it, just like one of those snow globes.

Essay on Prejudice and Pride in Pride and Prejudice -- Pride and Preju

Prejudice and Pride in Pride and Prejudice      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In any literary work the title and introduction make at least some allusion to the important events of the novel. With Pride and Prejudice, Austen takes this convention to the extreme, designing all of the first and some of the second half of the novel after the title and the first sentence. The concepts of pride, prejudice, and "universally acknowledged truth" (51), as well as the interpretation of those concepts, are the central focus of the novel. They dictate the actions of almost all the major characters (not just Darcy and Elizabeth), and foreshadow all of the major events in the novel, especially in the first few chapters, involving the first ball at Netherfield. While Darcy comes to represent pride, and Elizabeth prejudice, all of the characters in Pride and Prejudice are impacted by both pride and prejudice, and their scorn towards the two central characters in the novel becomes only hypocritical.    While everyone (at first) scorns Darcy's excessive pride, that very same pride in self and family effects the actions of many of the characters. Pride in her daughters makes Mrs. Bennet confident that they will soon be married off. "It is very likely," she tells her husband, "that [Bingley] may fall in love with one of them" (52). Pride makes the early Darcy cold and disrespectful, and Miss Bingley haughty, jealous, and spiteful. "[The Bingley sisters] were in fact very fine ladies...but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds...and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others" (63). Pride drives Mr. Col... ...Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. Butler, Marilyn. Jane Austen and the War of Ideas. Oxford. Claredon Press, 1975 Harding, D. W. "Regulated Hatred: An Aspect in the Work of Jane Austen." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 291-295. "Jane Austen, " Discovering Authors' Modules, http://galenet.gale.com/a/acp/netacgi/nphrs?d=DAMA&s1=bio&s2=Austen,+Jane&1=50&pg1=DT&pg2=NM&p=17    Johnson, Claudia L. "Pride and Prejudice and the Pursuit of Happiness." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 367-376. Mudrick, Marvin."Irony as Discovery in Pride and Prejudice." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 295-303. Sherry, Norman. Jane Austen. London. Montegue House, 1966   

Richard Wright and Black Boy :: Black Boy

Richard Wright and Black Boy One main point of the United States Constitution was missing from the Jim Crow South: equality. The Constitution clearly states that "all men are created equal," but in the Jim Crow era blacks were continuously persecuted for something that would be acceptable in today's society. In the early 20th century the South was a place of racial prejudice, discrimination, and hate; blacks could be punished for simply looking at a white person in the wrong manner. Punishments included arrest, beating, even lychings were a common part of the age. This is how life was while Richard Wright was growing up; but in his autobiography Black Boy we learn that despite his being a black boy in the Jim Crow South, born on a Mississippi plantation, he is eventually able to achieve success. Although independence was a crucial factor that enabled Richard Wright to succeed, his rebelliousness, intelligence, and perseverance were also important contributing factors. Richard Wright was an independent person by nature. Throughout the book Richard never seemed to have an extreme emotional attachment to anyone. It was as if he did not need or want anyone's assistance or approval, except his own. Ever since Richard was very young he was forced to be independent. When he mother had her stroke, Richard was forced to take charge and become the person of the house and he would accept no one's help. "Though I was a child, I could no longer feel as a child, could no longer react as a child...When the neighbor's offered me food, I refused, already ashamed that so often in my life I had to be fed by strangers."(pg.97) While Richard was living at his Granny's his independence really started to show through. All Richard ever thought about was leaving to go to the North; especially after being ridiculed for writing his story, The Voodoo of Hell's Half-Acre. No one supported him. He wanted to be able to do what he wanted to, by himself. "I drea! med of going north and writing books and novels."(pg.186) Once Richard was on his own he felt free of the burden, of other people's opinions that had tied him down his entire life. Along with independence, his rebelliousness was another beginning point of Wright's drive to make it in a white man's world. The very first sign we see of the rebel in Wright is when he is only four years old. Richard and his brother are playing with a stray cat one day when his Richard Wright and Black Boy :: Black Boy Richard Wright and Black Boy One main point of the United States Constitution was missing from the Jim Crow South: equality. The Constitution clearly states that "all men are created equal," but in the Jim Crow era blacks were continuously persecuted for something that would be acceptable in today's society. In the early 20th century the South was a place of racial prejudice, discrimination, and hate; blacks could be punished for simply looking at a white person in the wrong manner. Punishments included arrest, beating, even lychings were a common part of the age. This is how life was while Richard Wright was growing up; but in his autobiography Black Boy we learn that despite his being a black boy in the Jim Crow South, born on a Mississippi plantation, he is eventually able to achieve success. Although independence was a crucial factor that enabled Richard Wright to succeed, his rebelliousness, intelligence, and perseverance were also important contributing factors. Richard Wright was an independent person by nature. Throughout the book Richard never seemed to have an extreme emotional attachment to anyone. It was as if he did not need or want anyone's assistance or approval, except his own. Ever since Richard was very young he was forced to be independent. When he mother had her stroke, Richard was forced to take charge and become the person of the house and he would accept no one's help. "Though I was a child, I could no longer feel as a child, could no longer react as a child...When the neighbor's offered me food, I refused, already ashamed that so often in my life I had to be fed by strangers."(pg.97) While Richard was living at his Granny's his independence really started to show through. All Richard ever thought about was leaving to go to the North; especially after being ridiculed for writing his story, The Voodoo of Hell's Half-Acre. No one supported him. He wanted to be able to do what he wanted to, by himself. "I drea! med of going north and writing books and novels."(pg.186) Once Richard was on his own he felt free of the burden, of other people's opinions that had tied him down his entire life. Along with independence, his rebelliousness was another beginning point of Wright's drive to make it in a white man's world. The very first sign we see of the rebel in Wright is when he is only four years old. Richard and his brother are playing with a stray cat one day when his

Faculty Reaction Paper

Jeerer Tarot It's a very good film. I am amazed with the lines of the actresses, I felt every single word coming out of their mouth and it's like I'm a part of that scene. The actresses were very good, they portrayed the role given to them excellently. The characters acted naturally like they're Just having a quarrel on a real life. The teacher on a violet shirt fits her role very well, Just the way she walked and her gestures, she already looked like a brave woman.The shot and angles are quite impressive because it's very artistic and it also beautifies the whole film. I noticed that the glass fell down and broke into pieces and that symbolizes their friendship, a shattered friendship because of different principles in life. Even though the film was so short they still had a chance to put conflict on it. I was also a bit unsatisfied with the ending because some of my questions are not answered (who is the student they're talking about and what happened? . Teacher plays a great role towards how they influence and affect students and how a student can be molded to have a better personality. The teacher n the film says † angostura aka Eng high school†, but before she resigned, she taught college students, in short she wants to teach high school students so that when those students enter college they will be open minded and they would also be exposed to the real world and know how hard life is.To cut the story short, the teacher always wanted her students to learn something not Just inside the four corners of the room, but also learn something outside that they could not learn inside the school. On the other side, I'm also in favor of what the other teacher (wearing white) said, because if hose students were trained earlier, they will have a better personality and being open minded towards things.During college days, I think that most of us had completely developed our personality that's why it's already hard for us to deal with something we're really not into. It's also true that Joan has a good intention towards those students but I also agree that she taught it to the wrong students, students that are fully molded by an opulent family and through the years they are not doing those things that's why Joan should have go with the flow towards the rules and regulations of that college.

„Reconciliation“ by Polly Clark Essay

„Reconciliationâ€Å" is a short story and is written by Polly Clark. The story takes place in an office. The main character of the story is a woman, her name is Laura, and she is also the narrator of the story. Basically is the story about the fear of loosing someone, changes of persons and a marriage and a relationship after many years. It is difficult to find out how old the narrator of the story is. But because of the fact that she is married for a long time, in the text she said, â€Å"We began our relationship half my life ago.â€Å", I would say she probably is in her midlife maybe a bit younger. The fact that the main character is also the narrator makes it easier to see the proceedings form her angle and we are able to know how she thinks and feels – even when she doesn’t know it herself. The reader of this story receives an impression of a completely normal person when it comes to her appearance. But when the reader gets deeper into the story and sees how she thinks about things and the way of handling things, makes her look like she has some smaller mental issues. This can be caused because she is loosing her husband, his name is Vernon, she also calls him Mr. Pringle, whom she wants to stay with and stood with for many years. For months she and her husband have not spoken that much to each other. In the text she says: â€Å"We regard each other over months of frozen silence.â€Å" You can easily notice that she is afflicted with the silence between Vernon, her husband, and her. She mentions it with following sentence: â€Å"We began our relationship in a bar, and those were our best times, telling each other the truth of our lives in the warm light. I might be defective in every other way, defective enough to mean that I must be divorced, defective enough to mean that silence is actually my lot, but it doesn’t mean it comes naturally to me. News and questions bubble up in my throat, but I cannot speak.† She does not want to give up on their marriage and relationship. She has been used to having her husband and being with him, so if he is gone, she does not know what to do with herself and the things around her. The reader could get the impression that she doesn’t have a very high self-esteem, because she sees herself as faraway from perfect. This fact could explain why she is so afraid of loosing her husband, because if he doesn’t want to have her who then would like to have her with all her faults.? â€Å"I am your wife. That is everything that I am. Help me.† Laura applies for a job in her husband’s office just to be more in contact with Vernon and be with him together. On her first day in the office and at her new job, her actions disclose that she is very nervous. In the text you can find following examples for her tension: â€Å"I have forgotten my shoes†, â€Å"I bite my lip as I reach the desk† and â€Å"I slide one foot over the otherâ€Å". The fact that she has forgotten her shoes could be a sign that she is unable to think clearly. To describe the relationship between Laura and Vernon you can only use Laura’s point of view. So, it is difficult to understand their relationship and their marriage if you don’t know Vernon’s point of view. It is obvious that she wants her husband back. For the reader it is not quite clear how Vernon thinks about it. It seems that her husband doesn’t feel the same way and it seems that he doesn’t want to go back to her and move on with his â€Å"old† life. She says about him: â€Å"He looks so like my husband, and yet†¦How has he managed to remain himself, to become -dare I say it- even more himself, with not even a scar and even a brand new blue shirt?† Laura’s husband Vernon has already moved on. It is difficult for Laura, the narrator, to understand and recognize this fact.

Effects Of Verbal And Emotional Abuse Essay

The effects of verbal abuse and emotional abuse intertwine because verbally abusive statements play on the victim’s emotions. For example, the simple statement, â€Å"You’re just looking for a fight!† tells the victim what he’s doing and thinking, accuses the victim of attacking the abuser, and diverts the topic to a new problem (avoiding a fight).3 Emotionally, the victim feels misunderstood, unimportant, and afraid of what may happen if he presses the issue. Is this how we want our loved ones to feel? There are many causes for verbal abuse. Some people have grown up in the environment of a verbally abusive parent or parents and the chain continues in many cases onto the children (learned behavior); a person who feels they are insufficient in the eyes of society and have not succeeded; a person that has had a lot of bad luck and feels they are judged by their peers; a person that hasn’t had the opportunities others have and feel cheated; lack of confidence; over-confidence to the point of having a high ego within themselves and they feel other people don’t stack up to what they feel is on their intelligence level; medications can cause a change in personality; different diseases can change a person’s personality; Alzheimer’s and Dementia (sister to Alzheimer’s) can change a person’s personality as well as traumas such as rape, losing a loved one to murder, physical or emotion abuse including partner physical and emotional abuse. A master at verbal abuse can damage your self-esteem while, at the same time, appear †¦ Answer: Physical abuse is easily identified. There is no doubt, once you have †¦ you are living with someone who goes verbally ballistic for very little cause. †¦ Major Effects of Infidelity  · Responding to Your Spouses Infidelity  · Negative †¦ Effects And Causes Of Addiction Social Networking Essay Below is a free essay on â€Å"Effects And Causes Of Addiction Social Networking† from Anti Essays, your source for free research papers, essays, and term paper examples. Effects and causes of Addiction social networking The world is an extremely modern place and technology become necessary for people. Almost people used communication technology by social networking. Social networking can lead to many serious problems. This essay will examine some possible effects and solutions of social networking. There are many negative effects why most of people become addiction social networking. Firstly, the main effect of not stopping social networking spends too much time at home. As a consequence, many people become passive in living. For example, teenagers waste lots of time for using computer so they do not enough time to exercise. Therefore, they might become isolated and have a physical issue. Additionally, people may lose concentration in school or work. For instance, students always feel tired in class. As a result, they do not understand what their teacher taught them. Thus, students can fail examination. All of these negative situations can happen with addition social networking. There is a variety of social networking. Firstly, parents should monitor time of their children using social networking at home. To illustrate, they can make a plan for using social networking, studying and do exercise in each day for teenagers. Consequently, they would control their using time for social networking. Moreover, people should go outside activities. For instance, they can go to the gym to exercise with friends. In addition, they can play many popular sports such as swimming, football, basketball and tennis. Finally, schools should limit online games and only open a lot of useful studying. All of these possible solutions, people need to pay attention. In conclusion, addiction social networking is a severe issue existing in modern life. Addiction social networking can be negative effects by spending too much time and losing concentration in class or company. Therefore, it is important that solutions are found. Besides that, parents should†¦ MLA Citation â€Å"Effects And Causes Of Addiction Social Networking†. Anti Essays. 10 Feb. 2013 APA Citation Effects And Causes Of Addiction Social Networking. Anti Essays. Retrieved February 10, 2013, from the World Wide Web: http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/131958.html

Protecting Victims’ Rights

The criminal justice system is designed to prevent crime from occurring, as well as administering justice after a crime is committed. One important aspect of this side of the law is to ensure that victims of crime are well protected and receive fair treatment throughout the process. That is why government and local agencies are required to ensure victims’ rights, from making sure that the accused stays away to notification for every important date concerning the crime. And no single segment of crime victims receives as much protection as female victims of sexual crimes. More than any other group of crime victims, female victims of sexual assault, harassment, and other sexual crimes are the main focus of many local, state, and federal law enforcement measures to ensure the protection of victims’ crime. As the federal level of the justice system offers a vast amount of information regarding the protection of victims’ rights, it serves as the perfect starting point to understanding victims’ rights. The most comprehensive bill that covering victims’ rights is 18 United States Code, Section 3771, which includes eight measures designed to protect victim’s rights. One point of the Bill of Victim’s Rights is that the victim has the right to be reasonably protected from the accused (United States House of Representatives, 2006). This includes every measure that local and government authorities can take to make sure the accused does not cause any further hardship or threaten the victim in any way. Another important part of the victims’ bill of rights is making sure that victims are able to state their case in full, and have the right to be reasonably heard at any public proceeding in the district court involving release, plea, sentencing, or any parole proceeding (United States House of Representatives, 2006). Making sure that victims utilize their right to be heard begins initially with the law enforcement agent taking their statement. The purpose of the victim impact statement is to give the victim of the crime the chance to express, in writing, the impact of the crime, including all economic losses, physical or psychological injuries, and significant changes to the victim’s quality of life (Commonwealth of Virginia, 2000). Whatever the victim tells the law enforcement agents about the impact of the crime on his or her life helps determine the types of assistance that a victim may need. For sexual assault victims this aspect of the process is very important, as the crime is often committed with few or no other witnesses. Victims of sexual assault illustrate many of the reasons that victims require such strong protection of their rights. Because of the violent nature of rape and sexual assault, victims are often traumatized far more than other crime victims. Victims of sexual assault and rape are often left frightened and unwilling or unable to pursue the necessary course of justice against their perpetrators. This fear might encourage them to withhold information that may also be embarrassing or painful to bring up, leading to the perpetrator getting away with the crime. As serious crimes, the charges that result from sexual assault and rape are significant and can result in severe penalties for the perpetrator, including long prison sentences. However, despite the seriousness of sexual crimes, most victims fail to report them to authorities for a variety of reasons, including the fear that their rights may not be fully protected. The fact that many of these victims do not report the crime leads to the criminals not being convicted. As for all sexual crimes against females, rape remains the least reported of them all, which also includes having the least number of indictments and least number of convictions of all violent crimes in America; the segment of the population that experiences the highest amounts of rape and lowest amounts of reporting them is among college students, where the reporting rate is around 5%. (Fisher, et. al, 2000). This low instance of reporting of sexual assault and rape illustrates an important deficiency in the criminal justice system’s ability to convince female sexual crime victims of their rights. Many of the reasons that females cite for not reporting the crimes inflicted against them include fear of blame from society, desire to quickly move on with their lives, their desire to avoid a long investigation and subsequent trial, and finally out of concerns for their privacy. It is the job of police, the district attorney’s office, and federal branches to make sure that none of these reasons prevent a victim from reporting a crime. Because of this there are many programs designed to provide crime victims with accurate information about the criminal justice system and the many rights that victims possess. At the federal level, the Department of Justice offers many programs and initiatives to ensure that victims are made fully aware of their rights. The Office of Justice Programs has an Office for Victims of Crime that works throughout the year on programs designed to assist victims of crime through grants. The amount of help that the Office for Victims of Crime gives to victims is considerable. In Fiscal Year 2007, Office of Victims of Crime distributed more than $370 million to the states through Victims of Crime Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 30, 2004 and contains four major sections related to crime victims and the criminal justice process, which include protecting crime victims' rights, eliminating the substantial backlog of DNA samples collected from crime scenes and convicted offenders, and improving and expanding the DNA testing capacity of federal, state, and local crime laboratories (U. S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime [OVC], 2008). The Office for Victims of Crime has also given assistance grants and more than $165 million to the states through Victims of Crime Act compensation grants, with both the victim assistance grants and the victim compensation awards funded by the Crime Victims Fund, which is culled from fines, penalties, and bail forfeitures collected from convicted federal criminals (OVC, 2008). Other compensation measures taken on behalf of victims include providing reimbursement to crime victims for crime-related expenses such as medical costs, mental health counseling, funeral and burial costs, and lost wages or loss of support. hile state victim assistance programs fund local victim assistance services such as crisis intervention, counseling, emergency shelter, and criminal justice system advocacy (OVC, 2008). And, while the Office for Victims of Crime provides monetary compensation to many victims, it also heads up several programs designed to create a stronger conglomeration of criminal justice d epartments to ensure the protection and assistance of crime victims. The Office trains criminal justice professionals about the needs and rights of victims of crime and provides them with the latest in ideas and practices in victim protection through such networks as the Office’s Help Exchange Lessons and Practices in Victim Services message board, and finally the Office sponsors the National Victim Assistance Academy, an annual training conference for those who assist victims and survivors of crime (OVC, 2008). While there remain many programs set up by the Department of Justice to ensure victims’ rights, most of the inspiration for the programs continues to come from the basic tenets of the Victims’ Bill of Rights. Another important aspect of the Victims’ Bill of Rights is that the victim is made aware of everything that occurs in the case as it progresses. This also means that the victim has the right to any and all information concerning the case of the prosecution. According to the U. S. code victims have: â€Å"The right to reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of any public court proceeding, or any parole proceeding, involving the crime or of any release or escape of the accused† (United States House of Representatives, 2006). This means that victims should not be made to wait for the latest information that arises in the case, including any revelations about the accused or any changes in his or her status. Providing accurate and timely information to victims about their rights is one of the main ways of protecting their rights, and the Nationwide Automated Victim Information and Notification System has been established to make sure that they receive information pertaining to their case as soon as it becomes available. Began with funding by the Office for Victims of Crime, the Victim Information and Notification System is a computer-automated system that notifies crime victims of key events in their cases, including an offender’s release before trial or from prison; as of September 2007, VNS was serving more than 1,300,000 crime victims nationwide with information on federal criminal justice cases provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Attorneys' Offices, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (OVC, 2008). By keeping crime victims informed of the status of their case and of the perpetrator, criminal justice professionals are able to provide victims with a piece of mind that allows them to retain a semblance of a normal life after crime. The Victims’ Bill of Rights continue with: â€Å"The right not to be excluded from any such public court proceeding, unless the court, after receiving clear and convincing evidence, determines that testimony by the victim would be materially altered if the victim heard other testimony at that proceeding; the reasonable right to confer with the attorney for the Government in the case† (2006). By giving the victim the right to access the court information, as well as hear the case made against the accused in detail, the federal and local governments are ensuring that victims have significant influence on the outcome of the case. They are able to revise and mistakes made in the case of the prosecution, and they are also able to participate as much as possible in the proceedings. Not only does this help the victim put some of the trauma from the crime behind him or her, but it also significantly affects the ability of the Government to prosecute the accused. Additional rights ensured by the Victims’ Bill of Rights are loyal to the basic ideals of the American Bill of Rights and deal mainly with the right to a speedy trial. According to the bill, victims have: â€Å"The right to full and timely restitution as provided in law; the right to proceedings free from unreasonable delay† (United States House of Representatives, 2006). This not only ensures that the law will pursue the case against the accused to prevent further crime, but it also reinforces the role of the law as efficient protector. Also, by ensuring that the proceedings move in a timely manner, the victim is not required to endure a long and painful process. These measures go along well with the final right guaranteed by the victims’ bill of rights, and that is the right to be treated with fairness and with respect for dignity and privacy (2006). In the end, this is most important of all the rights, and perhaps a culmination as well, as all of the rights assured victims are to treat them with the utmost respect, fairness, and dignity. The duty of the U. S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice is to ensure victims of crime that their rights will be protected, and their results have been mixed at best. While there remain many important programs to educate victims on their rights, the case of sexual assault and rape victims and their low rate of reporting crimes against them speak of a general failure in assuring victims of their rights’ protection. Organizations like the Office for Victims of Crime must work harder to ensure that the victims of crime requiring the most assurance and protection receive what they need, and not just monetary compensation for financial losses or medical bills. While some rights vary from state to state, with some states guaranteeing even more rights to victims than others, the general protections afforded by the Victims’ Bill of Rights should be known by all victims. In the end, educating victims on their rights is the biggest protection that any government or local authority can offer victims of crime.