The Economic Crisis of 2008 and the UK Government Response Essay Example For Students

The Economic Crisis of 2008 and the UK Government Response Essay Outline1 Introduction2 The Economic Crisis of 20083 The UK Government Response4 Decision Introduction The current economic crisis which had its roots in the US sub-primes market produced a profound displacement in UK economic policy, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . The latter suggests that prior to this crisis UK economic policy centred on three rules which included financial prudence, low rising prices and unequal ordinance and supervising of the UK banking sector. However, the consequence of the crisis was so terrible that the authorities refocused economic policy such that big public sector adoption was necessary. This was due to the fact that a figure of big UK Bankss were in problem holding had exposure to the troubled sub-primes market with subsequent bad debts on their balance sheets, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . Therefore, in order improve the wellness of the Bankss the UK authorities became effectual stockholders utilizing revenue enhancement remunerator s money. The Bankss which were assisted include Northern Rock, HBOS and Lloyds TSB every bit good as the Royal Bank of Scotland. Howeve r, the rule ground for authorities intercession was to supply liquidness to the interbank loans market and facilitate Bankss to impart to houses and consumers, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . It was envisaged that one time sufficient liquidness had been provided to the interbank market, so the Bankss would be willing to impart to each other and so the Bankss would be able to impart to the wider economic system. The entire cost of authorities action to debar a prostration in the fiscal markets amounted to 28 % of GDP, Furceri et Al ( 2009 ) . The Economic Crisis of 2008 We will write a custom essay on The Economic Crisis of 2008 and the UK Government Response specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The roots of the fiscal crisis which surfaced in July 2007, and which became worldwide after the collpase of Lehman Brothers on 14th September 2008, Guillen ( 2009 ) , lay in the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States, Lapavitsas ( 2009 ) . It was between 2001 to 2003 that mortgage loaning in the US rose significantly until 2006. At the bosom of the fiscal crisis lay the fact that loans for places were being made to those who would non be able to go on to do refunds on the mortgages either because they lost their occupations or involvement rates increased. The latter may be a consequence of the authorities seeking to stem a short term addition in rising prices. Therefore, the planetary economic crisis of 2008 had its roots in 2007. In the US, fiscal establishments were imparting money to borrowers whose income was deficient for them to comfortably maintain up the payments on mortgages, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . However, as house monetary values were traveling up more and more bad loans for mortgages were being made. It was due to the fact that these mortgages were valuable because the monetary values of houses were increasing that US investing Bankss took the mortgages and securitised them to organize CDO s. Nevertheless, the job started when US house monetary values began to fall, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . In this instance, as the monetary value of US houses began to worsen the securitised debt besides began to lose value. However, by this clip the securitised debt had been cut up into smaller balls and siphoned off to Bankss around the universe, stoping up as liabilities on their balance sheets, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . Some Bankss had larger balls of securitised debt on their balance sheets than other Bankss while some Bankss had no exposure to securitised debt at all. In the period 2004-2006, US $ 1.4 trillion worth of mortgages had been securitised.This represented 79.3 % of all sub-prime mortgages, Lapavitsas ( 2009 ) . Furthermore, harmonizing to the latter securitisation was the procedure whereby morgages were parcelled into little sums puting them into other fiscal constructions and selling the tonss as new securities. These new securities or CDOs were to be held by fiscal establishments around the universe. However, as involvement rates began to lift after 2004, mortgage foreclosures increased.The consequence of the increased foreclosures was that the securities became worthless and Bankss wer e unable to sell or merchandise them and increase their hard currency assets, Lapavitsas ( 2009 ) . The fact that Bankss had worthless, untradeable liabilities on their balance sheets put into uncertainty the solvency of UK every bit good as other planetary Bankss. These fiscal establishments preferred to roll up liquid assets alternatively of guaranting that liquidness to other Bankss was maintained through the interbank market. The ensuing liquidness deficit was characterised by the motion between the interbank loaning rate and the 3 month Overnight Indexed Swap rate. The Overnight Indexed Swap rate was exceeded by the interbanklending rate after August 2007 with the difference making a extremum in the last one-fourth of 2008, Lapavitsas ( 2009 ) . Therefore, liquidness dried up with Bankss unwilling to impart to each other ; and accordingly to houses and consumers. .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a , .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a .postImageUrl , .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a , .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a:hover , .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a:visited , .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a:active { border:0!important; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a:active , .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uc42ac26a32a2ff266c30a17731cb623a:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Physical Therapists And Physical TherapyIt is now clear that the jobs in the US lodging market started when involvement rates rose and house monetary values began to fall. At the same clip the cost of borrowing to houses began to increase, doing it more expensive for them to be able do productive investings which maintained current employment and generated farther employment. In this instance people began to be laid away and unemployment in the UK began to increase, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . Furthermore, in the UK people began to lose their occupations demand for goods and services fell and in the US as the figure of lodging foreclosures began to increase significantly as pe ople were laid away. Once people began to acquire laid off they lost their capacity to pay for the mortgages which they had taken out, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . As the figure of foreclosures soared and house monetary values to drop even deeper, the values of the securitised debt which was sitting on the balance sheets of Bankss around the universe besides began to fall in value. A effect of this was that the liabilities side of the bank s balance sheet began to increase. As rumors began to distribute in the market that some Bankss were more exposed than others to bad securitised debt, Bankss became fearful of loaning to each other through the interbank market. The impact of this was reduced ingestion, increasing unemployment and overall contraction of the economic systems of developed states, including in the UK. The UK authorities was therefore confronting an economic crisis which was non alone to this state but portion of a far wider planetary contagious disease whose spread was facilitated by the mechanics and linkages of globalization, Lapavitsas ( 2009 ) . However, the authorities in its response to the crisis had to guarantee that the Bankss did non prostration, continued to impart to each other and to consumers and houses in the wider economic system. The following subdivision will look at the UK authorities policy response in more item. The UK Government Response The UK was one of the European states to be hit the hardest by the planetary economic crisis which began with the US sub-primes crisis. The crisis led to the first tally on a UK bank since the latter portion of the nineteenth century with the whole banking sector confronting near meltdown 12 months subsequently with the prostration of Lehman Brothers on the 18th September 2008, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . Furthermore, the latter suggest that the ensuing recognition crunch and the bursting of the UK lodging bubble have had a profound impact on the UK economic system which has required a UK authorities policy response which has had to be non merely significant but besides has had to put aside regulations such as those associated with competition policy which would non usually have been done, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . It has besides been suggested in the literature that the UK economic system will contract by about 4 % in 2009 with rising prices falling by 1.7 % and unemployment making 3 mill ion before a sustained recovery boots sets in, NIESR ( 2009 ) . Furthermore, the economic crisis has led to unprecedented economic policy co-ordination at an international degree with policy preparation at the national and international degree invariably germinating, Pauly ( 2009 ) . Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) suggests that the policy paradigm which was followed by the UK Labour Party following its 1997 election triumph was basically the New Keynesian consensus on macroeconomic policy, the complex of policies which changed after the crisis. Specifically, the UK authorities relied on financial policy and pecuniary policy although doubtless, the latter was dominant. With respects to financial policy, the chief drivers included the decrease in the VAT rate from 17.5 % to 15 % ; and an addition in authorities adoption. Indeed the authorities s adoption demands increased 5 crease from its degree in 2007-2008 to its degree in 2008-2009 with the adoption demand traveling from2.3 % of its GDP in 2007-2008 to 11.3 % in 2008-2009. The addition in authorities adoption was non due to the work of automatic stabilizers and was in fact outside the work of the automatic stabilizers which caused the authorities to suspend its normal financial regulations for borrowing. On the other ma nus with the usage of pecuniary policy the authorities was able to make far more extended surgery to the UK economic system. First, the Bank of England dropped bank base rates from 5.75 % in November 2007 to 0.5 % in April 2009. This process was meant to do borrowing cheaper in the interbank market and ease general bank loaning to the wider economic system leting houses to borrow to put, while the decrease in VAT was meant to cut the costs of houses so that they would non put off staff, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . In footings of an IS-LM analysis the increased loaning by the Bankss due to take down bank base rates would be reflected by the LM curve switching downwards with national result theoretically increasing. However, the lowering of bank base rates did non work in the mode dictated by theory, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . The latter characterise the impersonal impact of the lowering of bank base rates on interbank loaning by detecting that neither did the volumes of interbank loaning ad dition or interbank rates fall. Furthermore, because rising prices besides fell, the Bank of England was unable to pull strings the existent involvement rate. For illustration, if rising prices is high and the nominal rate of involvement is low, so it is possible to hold negative degrees of the existent involvement rate, Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . However, this may non be possible when the degree of rising prices is falling or really low. This is declarative of the fact that possibly the pre-crisis policy of aiming rising prices was set at excessively lower rate and a higher rate of possibly 5 % should hold been operational to give more flexibleness to the Bank of England when utilizing pecuniary policy. The failure of the usage of involvement rates to decide the crisis led to the Bank of England conveying into action new policy instruments such as quantitative moderation and the Asset Purchasing Facility ( APF ) , Hodson et Al ( 2009 ) . The former policy instrument allowed the Bank t o impart against securities utilizing its price reduction window in order to increase liquidness. Furthermore, the APF allowed the bank non merely to impart against securities but to buy them from other fiscal establishments. .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 , .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 .postImageUrl , .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 , .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7:hover , .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7:visited , .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7:active { border:0!important; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7:active , .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7 .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2f8adeb582c6569bf7cea1d2004c27a7:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Functions Of A Discourse Community EssayDecision This paper has evaluated the causes of the planetary economic crisis of 2008 and the subsequent policy response of the UK authorities. It has been shown that the crisis began the US sub-primes market and spread globally due to the securitisation of sub-primes mortgages which therefore entered the circulation of the planetary fiscal system. The subsequent busting of the US lodging bubble made the securitised debt worthless and as a effect loaning in the interbank loaning market dried up with Bankss waiting to neglect with black effects. The authorities s policy response to the crisis was at first to utilize both pecuniary and financial policy with financial policy concentrating on an addition in authorities adoption and a decrease the rate of VAT. Monetary policy at first relied on the usage of take downing bank base rates to excite interbank loaning. However, this did non work because rising prices was at a low and so the authorities resorted to utilizing irregular techniques such as quantitative moderation and the Asset Purchasing Facility to increase liquidness in the market. The authorities still faces the jobs associated with the demand for coordinated action amongst state provinces to cover with the crisis every bit good as the chance that there may be a 2nd recognition crisis which involves non Bankss or houses but consumers and autonomous provinces.

Organisation in Memory essays

Organisation in Memory essays The study is to investigate if whether Ss recalled more critical items with fewer part-set cues. Psychology students were used from Manchester Metropolian University all in their first year of the course. They had to sit a questionnaire involving two recalls, it was the second recall that was being measured using a experimental control method, and using the independent t test to test the significance, which was p=0.012, meaning that the results were significant and that Ss presented with 15 part-set cues will recall fewer critical items, then Ss presented with 5 part-set cues. The nature of the study is to investigate the effects of part-set cuing (PSC) on recall, to see how the presentation of PSC affects the recall of the remaining list items. There have been a number of studies which have investigated the effects of PSC, and have suggested that PSC can both increase and decrease the number of items recalled. These studies can suggest that the use of cues can either be helpful, or completely useless. Tulving and Pearlstone (1966), for example presented Ss with a list of 48 words, comprising of 12 categories, each containing 4 words: 4 birds, 4 sports, 4 forms of transport etc. during recall half the Ss were presented with the category headings (cues), and the other half of the Ss were not presented with any cues at all. Results showed that Ss presented with the cues recalled on average 30 words out of 48, and the non-cue group recalled 20 words on average out of 48. these findings do suggest that the use of cues can increase recall. Tulving and Pearlstone reinforced these findings, when they presented the non-cue group with the cues, and found they were able to recall eight more words, which they did know but were unable to retrieve. This was due to the failure of the long term memory (LTM), and how sometimes if we are unable to recall something, it does come back to us later, but in Tulving and Pearlstones study the use...

An Understanding of Sports Sponsorship in India

An Understanding of Sports Sponsorship in India 1. Introduction The boost in competition, produced by the globalization of markets, had made the marketing mix a key factor for companies to be successful, or even to stay alive (Hollensen, 2003). Promotion has become ever more useful to have an effect on consumers’ attitudes and behaviour as a part of the marketing mix. Conventionally, promotion was consisted of advertising, PR and sales promotions (Vignali, 1997). Nevertheless, in modern years, there has been a substantial improvement in sponsorship of organasations and events in the fields of the sports, arts, social aid and broadcasting. This improvement has placed sponsorship at the same level of significance than most conventional promotion tools, particularly advertising (Lardinoit and Derbaix, 2001). In 2004, as per the projections, global spending in sponsorship was estimated to reach US $28 billion (from $23.6 billion in 1999 and $2 billion in 1984), of which 69% relates to sporting events (Meenaghan, 2001). Sponsor ship is a business-related activity where one party allows another a chance to utilize an association with a target audience in exchange for funds, resources or services. Sponsorship activities are used by organisations in a various ways to create brand associations, awareness and to penetrate through the clutter of commercial messages (Fill, 2009). Sponsorship can also be defined as † an investment in cash or kind in an activity, in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with that activity. The company promotes its interests and brands by tying them to a specific and meaningful related event or cause† (Rowley and Williams, 2008). Sponsorship investment primarily was perhaps seen as a type of philanthropy; the sponsors may be expecting simply goodwill or nothing as a return (Quattrocchi, 2004; Chadwick and Thwaites, 2005). Considerable amount of sponsorship investments were carried out with no precise explanation or business objective except for helping a favourite sport or event (Davies and Quattrocchi, 2002). As a result in quiet few cases, sponsorship has been talked about as a kind of corporate philanthropy that is the company’s share of profits restored back into community (Polonsky and Speed, 2001). Though, lot of researchers affirmed that corporate philanthropy that used to be ascertained as a pure dedication to the community did look for circumlocutory benefits in corporate image, positive attitude towards the company or social recognition in the community, which similar to desired objectives of business sponsorship nowadays (Martnez et al. 2005). Sponsorship investment has been escalating quickly for many years and sport is the biggest area that has been used by sponsorships (Drewer, 2006). Numerous researchers have been produced to reveal how sponsorship works and how its results could be evaluated hypothetically, but the questions still remain debating (Cornwell et al. 2005). Sport has developed into a professional product or a service over the years. The increasing relevance in professional sport has turned it into a productive business, producing great revenues annually (Mason & Cochetel, 2006). Sport players and games have become commercial possessions offering companies new occasions to communicate and develop their brands (Morgen, 2004). Given the verity that sport sponsorships are usually more profitable compared to art or social cause sponsorships (Walliser, 2003), it can be concluded that sport sponsorship is an instrument of communications that ought to be given serious thought as a business investment. The allocations of limited resources with the purpose of attaining definite organisations’ objectives are important segments of sport sponsorship (Slack and Bentz, 1996). Therefore, it has repeatedly been described as a strategic activity in the marketing literature (Carter, 1996).

Topic-Gold stocks and index performance comparison Research Paper

Topic-Gold stocks and index performance comparison - Research Paper Example When a country’s currency devalues significantly, gold held by central banks and Federal Reserve can be used in trade as a means of exchange to facilitate trade. For governments to hedge against instability in currency, gold is deposited in reserve by governments, private individual and companies to be exchange when need arises. A country’s development is pegged on the amount of gold in its reserves and is used to determine the value of a country’s currency. With a good reserve of gold, economic stability is realized alongside stable commodity prices in a country (World Gold Council). The United States ties its dollar on the price of gold and gold in its reserves which in turn the international community tie their currency against the value of the US Dollar. This explains the reason why the dollar is the widely accepted means of foreign exchange against all currencies in the world. Before 1971, gold was the only exchange standard. Since then, international cooper ative monetary system has been used. Instead, it has remained trading in the international markets freely, with forces of demand and supply determining its mean price just like any other commodities. Though it has been replaced by international monetary system, gold still enjoys about 13% official reserves around the world as a cornerstone reserve asset. Gold as a commodity has been trading in the international market, often fetching high prices in times of economic turmoil. When the international financial markets are in great upheaval, traders dumb the socks and other financial instruments to save the devaluation of the positions in gold reserves. For example, when the prices of stocks or other forms of securities are falling, traders resort to buying gold. This takes to the hypothesis that, when the price of stock index is falling, the price if gold rises. Over the recent past, there has been sharp increases I the prices of gold as most of the major financial markets were falteri ng around the world. This is so because gold has been seen as a substitute investment instrument to the financial system. Currently the price of an ounce of gold in the international market is about $1,608. S&P 500 is one of the major indices in the United States that can be used in this study to compare its performance against that of gold. To get the relationship in movement and to proof the hypothesis quarterly performances can be looked at with a main focus in the pre and after 2008 financial crisis. The explanation to the relationship that can be adduced is found on the graph. S&P 500, alongside other indices in the United States like Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and NASDAQ, have been observed to be inversely correlated with the price of gold over time (World Gold Council). When there is exists uncertainty in the economy and by extension the financial markets, investors tend to offload their positions in stocks and other securities to buy the save haven; gold. Gold has b een taken as the ultimate safe haven as explained earlier. When there is an imbalance between supply and demand for shares, the prices will either pick up or tumble depending on the two forces. When there exist jitters on the stability of the economy which will affect the performance of the listed companies in the securities exchange the shares will drop in their valuation. Investors buy stocks expecting to get returns either from good dividends or appreciation in the share prices, increasing the net worth of an

The Concept of Status Consumption With Regard to How a Marketer Might Essay

The Concept of Status Consumption With Regard to How a Marketer Might be Able to Use Status to Market a Specific Brand or Product Type - Essay Example People with high degree of honour in society are simply referred to have status. Logically, people with high social status have much recognition than people with low social status. In this direction, there are people who believe that real success in life has to do with the attainment of status. Regrettably though, Waytz (2009) observes that the eagerness to acquire social status leads to aggressive and self-defeating behaviour. However, once achieved, becoming a person of status or class live its ‘benefactors’ with a conventional ways of life. One of these conventional ways of life has to do with what these people with social status consume: thus status consumption. As there become a pedigree of standard placed on the kind of purchases people with status consume, marketing as an industry also become a benefactor if well harnessed with status consumption (Haruna, 2003). What is Status consumption? Schertz et al (2007) argue that status consumption has to do with the †Å"intent of showing off wealth to others when the good is publicly consumed – ranging from applying an expensive lipstick in public to driving an expensive car† (p. 2). ... As Maiese (2004), notes in Harold (1983, 113), there could be several reasons accounting for why people would consume conspicuously but the most outstanding reason could be due to the fact that â€Å" most societies do have some form of social hierarchy with some people in stronger, more dominant positions, and other people in weaker, lower positions.† So in other for the one-time ‘ordinary’ person to be noticed and accorded necessary social respect, he or she would then resort to status consumption. Again, with the blame still going to society as the cause of status consumption, it would be in place to argue that society expects people occupying certain positions to live within a certain conventional class. To this effect society always want to see people such as politicians, music icons, movie stars and sports personalities own certain property, that are tagged as expensive or of class. These are the major reasons why status consumption continues to exist among both the one-time ‘ordinary’ person and the so-called people with status. There are people who presume that status consumption automatically leads to social status acquisition. This is of course another reason why people resort to status consumption. To such people, there is a level of benefit to them. Nobel Laureate economist, John Harsanyi, said that â€Å"apart from economic payoffs, social status seems to be the most important incentive and motivating force of social behavior† (Waytz, 2009). For this reason, people who succumb to status consumption with the hope of gaining social status get a level of psychological satisfaction of the presumed lens with which society sees them. Empirical Scenarios of Status Consumption One group of people

Phoenix Rising Essay Example for Free

Phoenix Rising Essay The Young adult novel Phoenix Rising: or how to survive your life by Cynthia D. Grant is a candid sensitive story about the serious effects of seventeen-year-old Helen Castle’s death from cancer on her family. The story is told through the eyes of Jessie who has been traumatized by her older sister’s death. Jessie and the other members of her family begin a healing process, while Helen, whose world we see through Jessie comes to terms with a life that seems capricious and unjust to Jessie. She feels pain, anger, loneliness, confusion and withdrawal throughout the novel. The family is shattered. Its new dynamics are realistically revealed with the already strained relationship between Lucas, and the father that become explosive. Jessie reads on in the journal to learn Helen’s feelings as her cancer progresses, which ranges from morbid despair to soaring hope that is made more poignant to the readers reading along with her. The setting of the story is white, comfortably middle-class, California suburbia. The characters in Phoenix Rising are of average intelligence and are raised above being stereotypical characters by the pain, reflection, and eventual growth of Helen’s death forces upon them. They remain true to their backgrounds and natures throughout their trials and adjustments. It is the mark of Cynthia D. Grant’s talent that the reader never doubts they are reading this novel through believable teenage eyes. The central character of the novel is Jessie, and the one who is most dangerously affected by the older sister’s death. Jessie’s tendency is not only to idealize her sister making her feel worthless, and unattractive but she also feels that she has failed to reach Helen and talk to her about her illness making Jessie shut herself off from her father, mother, her friend Bambi, Helen’s boyfriend Bloomfield, and their next-door neighbor; little Sara Rose. Jessie not only stops eating toward the end of the novel, she also shuts herself off more ultimately refusing to leave her room. Jessie’s brother Lucas is the kind family philosopher. On the surface, however he plays a role of a rebellious youth whose love for loud rock music. He is an exceptionally good electric and acoustic guitarist and this puts him at odds with his father, whom he engages in arguments at the slightest opportunity. Jessie’s hard-working architect father seems fixated on his role as a family provider and Lucas as the antagonist. Jessie tells the reader â€Å"My father thinks he won’t cry as long as he keeps screaming. It is as if the father and the other members have been so traumatized by the Helen’s death that a kind of static role-playing is easier for them than facing their world and moving on with their lives. Jessie’s mother seems simply to have been bludgeoned into being a relatively passive person who can do little more than to keep up with the necessary household chores, to weep for her oldest daughter, Helen as well as the self destructive, Jessie and to drink several glasses of wine to dull her pain. Two more important characters round out the characters in this novel. One is Bloomfield, who is always called by his last name. He is Helen’s boyfriend and the other is Bambi. Bambi is both sister’s plump, loud mouthed, and mildly sex-crazed friend. Jessie reads further into the Helen’s journal and discovers Bloomfield is not the fair-weather friend she has criticized him as being. Similarly, she finds there is more to the tattooed, fake nailed Bambi than meets the eye. She is surprisingly admirable for her down-to-earth, her common sense ability to cut through the silliness that ordinarily surrounds her.

Illinois Capital Punishment System :: essays research papers

Clemency, compassion?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How exactly can I explain the Capital Punishment System here in Illinois? Well to be honest, I would have to go with, total chaos. For you who don’t know what Capital Punishment is, it is the system we use to place criminals who commit very serious crimes on Death Row. Out of the 50 states in our wonderful country, 38 of them have a Capital Punishment System, Illinois being one of them. Recently, while Governor George Ryan was in office, it was decided to halt all executions, making Illinois the first of the 38 states to do so.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Capital Punishment was brought back to Illinois in 1977. From ’77 to ’87 there were a total of 128 prisoners enrolled on death row. In 1990 alone there were 125 murderers waiting to face the ultimate punishment. Out of those people, a total of 12 people have been executed through lethal injection, but 13 prisoners were released from death row as innocent. 7 of the 12 executed were after 1976, 5 were in 1995 alone. Is it just me, or is this a bit confusing? The Government seemed to get a little death hungry during these years. It’s obvious that there are bound to be many other innocent people, sitting in jail cells suffering for a murder that they did not commit.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Governor Ryan stepped in office determined to find out what is wrong with this system in Illinois. He came in actually as a firm believer of the death penalty, but seeing that 13 people were found innocent, Governor Ryan became frustrated and decided to take action. After researching how the system works, and becoming aware of the flaws, the former Governor pardoned 4 more prisoners (Aaron Patterson, Madison Hobley, Stanley Howard and Leroy Orange) who confessed under police torture and convicted because of those confessions. â€Å"I believe these men are innocent or I wouldn’t have pardoned them, the system has failed for all four men and it has failed for all the people of this state.† Governor Ryan said at Depaul University. He also believes that there are at least 33 wrongly convicted, and since Capital Punishment was reinstated 93 have been released from custody because they were found innocent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This system in Illinois is obviously full of error and no one can ever seem to be 100% sure of determining who’s guilty and who’s innocent, and if they should die or not.