Do corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports provide shareholders Essay - 7

Do corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports provide shareholders and stakeholders with useful information on corporate soci - Essay Example The gaining momentum of CSR activities is evident from the fact that many mergers and acquisition dealings are also viewing investments in such activities as a factor for consideration prior to finalising the deal. Despite such growth in the value of CSR activities, the question as to why managers find it important to undertake these activities and whether there is any need for engaging in these activities apart from maintain good public image (Font et al., 2012). There are multitude of problems in the business world which include accounting frauds and corporate irregularities and graver concerns like environmental issues and social obligations. In this regard, the paper discusses the importance of engagement of companies in a socially responsible behaviour and also illustrates reasons behind non engagement of few organizations in the same. The paper discusses evidence of non compliance and lack of belief in CSR initiative in firms and concludes in discussion of relevance of such CSR initiatives in today’s world. Importance of Engaging in a Socially Responsible Behaviour CSR reporting that are now being mandated in firms by various controlling bodies are an attempt to legalise the concerns business activity while making it comply with various environmental, social and ethical issues. It is argued that voluntary as well as compulsory CSR reporting ensures competitive advantage of firms over those who do not engage in CSR reporting (Mahoney et al., 2013). The melamine contamination case of China was a shock for the entire world. It highlighted the need for investors to respond to a corporate social responsibility of companies towards its consumers. It is argued that a firm’s financial performance has direct bearing with consumer buying and selling activities and such immoral behaviours drop sales by drastic measures. In the similar way, the case of Coca Cola and Cadbury contamination brought forth an alarming situation of quality standards and norms that were practiced within the company. These events tarnished the brand name to such large extent that it required years to gain back reputation and hence sales. Hence it is critical to understand the direct linkage between CSR performance and financial results (Kong, 2012). The importance of engaging in CSR activities can also be studied in light of most important financial decisions like a merger and how it impacts the decision and impact on shareholders during such events (Deng, Kang & Low, 2013). In support of shareholder’s value maximisation in engaging in a merger, the role of CSR activity has been explained as a trust building action among the stakeholders (Jo & Harjoto, 2011). This argument thus establishes that high socially responsible firms have greater support of shareholders and stakeholders which in turn contribute towards firm profitability and long term efficiency in contrast to firms that maintain somewhat weak socially responsible image (Jensen, 2001). Evi dence of dismissal of view of CSR Corporate governance requires that companies make their activities more transparent, their activities more accountable and their business more socially responsibly. It is argued that companies engage in business ethics, corporate governance and social responsibility merely to gain legitimacy in business activities and they do not really care about what possible impacts these could have on their business activity (Brennan & Merkl-Davies, 2013). According to views of Milton Friedman, social

Theoretical Analysis of the Banking Crisis

Theoretical Analysis of the Banking Crisis Crisis in the banking sector The current crisis and the Great Depression Theories and the crises: Several theories exist connected to the financial crises that have happened since the banking system was established. Some of them tried to explain the reasons and the origin of them however none of these theories could provide an acceptable solution how to prevent the crisis. To determine the continuity in the timeline and the spread of the crisis it was not enough to create just an economic comparison. The analysts set some mathematical and other type of model to investigate the behavior of the market. The two mostly accepted models of banking panics are the Diamond and Dybvig model and the Calomiris and Kahn model. These models were set in the 1990s as the reflection of the systematic banking crisis since 1970.Both of the two theories were accepted the fact that the banks liabilities are more liquid than its assets. In the Diamond and Dybvig model they set a hypothetical world without the banking system. The banks make contract to transform its illiquid assets.( Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review Vol. 24, No. 1, winter 2000, pp. 14-23, Dybvig: Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance, and Liquidity).The problems with the contract is that it doesnt include any risk-sharing option. The deposit insurance is the only way to reduce the risk because its decrease the ability of the bank to transform its assets. The asymmetric information affects the liquidity demand. The final conclusion of this model is that the bank run is triggered only because patient agents believe.†This result is a self-fulfilling prophecy (panic): Because patient agents expect other patient agents to withdraw their funds early, they do the same. As a consequence too many funds are actually withdrawn, which otherwise would have not been the case. (Banking and Finance /Banking Crises.ppt/2008.12.03)† The Calomiris and Kahn model basis is the Diamond and Dybvig model, but it is more complex (Charles W. Calomiris, Charles M. Kahn, â€Å"The Role of Demandable Debt in Structuring Optimal Banking Arrangements† in American Economic Review, Vol. 81, 1991). They introduced one other potential option that the banks follow a risky behavior and put their investors money into risky projects. Because the asymmetric information the investors dont know about this step. Then, two possible things can happen; the project turns out well or not. If the project turns out negatively the bank starts to invest again. In the model the depositors can purchase information, but if is shows a negative indicator they withdraw their money. If there are a huge number of the depositors who want to withdraw the bank has serious liquidity problems and the bank panic starts. The only possible solution, according to this model, is to increase monitoring in the banking sector and strengthen the regulation to avoid moral hazard. I. The Great Depression 1. The beginning of the Great Depression (1928-30) The history of the Great Depression is important to analyze the main aspect of the crisis. From May of 1928 the stock market rise continuously and the average stock price increased because the FED raised its discount rate, and saw the stock market was booming and the stock price doubled, as excessive speculation. They tried to resolve this by increased monetary policy to raise interest rate and a new deflationary policy was introduced. As a consequence, a huge financial bubble evolved. In October 22, 1929 New York Times published an article; â€Å"Fisher Says Prices of Stocks Are Low†. (The 1929 Stock Market: Irving Fisher Was Right, Ellen R. Mc Grattan p.1) Then, two days later the stock market went crashing and the stock prices had fallen by 30 %: According to Irving Fisher the problem was that the people have been speculating on the small margins. It was not that the stock market was too high, but the people so enthusiastic to making money that they properly expected to mak e. It created debts because the people bought stocks on borrowed money. The politicians issued optimistic predictions to prevent the selling panic in the U.S. market (The causes of the 1929 stock market crash, Harold Bierman).The secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Melon stated: â€Å"There is no cause to worry. The high tide of prosperity will continue†. The stock market did come back in the middle of 1930, more than half of the stock that has been decline as been reversed. People thought it was over recession turned into something different. The agriculture sector stocks continued to decline. This regressive tendency was intensive not only because the Great Depression. Massive overproduction started in the European agricultural production sector after the World War I to recover the lack of the agricultural goods. To increase the legislative protection of the domestic farmers the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of June 1930 raised U.S. import tariffs (U.S Department of State, http://future.state.gov/). The Smoot-Hawley Tariff declined the international trust and cooperation and caused some problems in international trade. As a result of market crush bank collapsed from October 1930 until March 1933 by this time over a third of Americans bank was out of business. It continued to decline by mid 1932, the stock had declined to 10% their value in the peak 1929 and the increase in this in uncertainty from unsettled business conditions created by economic contraction made adverse selection and moral hazard problem worse in credit market. (The great crash, 1929, John Kenneth Galbraith) There was reduction in the number of intermediation due to loss of one-third of banks. This only increases adverse selection and moral hazard problem. Funds to firm with productive investment opportunities were greatly decreased due to this problem. In some sectors like manufacturing sector the production fell dramatically which was the basis of the Firms wage rates cuts. The level of price fell by 25% in the period of 1930-1933. Debt deflation was triggered in which net worth fell C:Documents and SettingsJudyAsztalunemploymen t.gifbecause of the increase burden of indebtedness borne on the firm. One sector problems affected the others. Millions of people lost their jobs. In the period of 1900-1947 two types of unemployment were made. These researches were developed the data set for the civilian labor force and for the Non-farm employees. (Historical unemployment in relation to today, A. Andrews)The employment rate declined by approximately 20% and the economic contraction and unemployment rose to 25 percent because of the decline in net worth. The result was more increase in adverse selection and moral hazard in the credit market. This was the worst ever experienced in the United States of America. 2. The FED This system was introduced to the public as economic stabilizer in 1913 to prevent further economic crisis although Federal Reserve System was totally passive during the Great Depression. In general, the Federal Reserve controls the interest rates and the money supply (inflation).The FED is controlled by its Board members and the majority of the twelve member Constitute the Federal Open Market Committee with five Reserve Bank The Fed not only supply the money to economy, it loans the money to them at interest. Besides, it regulates the value of the currency being issued. It should have acted as the last resort to lend as that its role. For the period of 1921-1929 the FED increased the money supply by 62% .The main reasons they did nothing was they never anticipated the negative of bank failure could have on money supply and economic activity. They thought a bank failure is as a consequence of poor bank management or bad banking practice. Small banks failures were the first to be affe cted in the bank panics in the early stages. And since the big city bank was the most influential they saw the failure of the small banks as complacency. Some suggested that political role might have played an important role in the passivity of the Federal Reserve System at that period. The New York Federal Reserve System was the most dominant force in the 1928, and it supported the Fed in open market purchase to lend money to the banks during the bank panics. This was opposed by other powerful member in the Federal Reserve System and the New York position was out voted. There were multiple causes and many theories about the origin of the Great Depression. According the monetarist theory the Crisis is the consequence of the lack of the FEDs policy making. The level of government influence on a bank varies from one country to another let say for example, in China the government regulation is very high probably the highest in the world and in United Kingdom the government regulation i s very low .It can be said that in the United Kingdom it high if we compare with the United State. So depending of which countries are comparing to another, government influence is usually different. 3. The economic decline (1930-32) Thanks to the Tariff Act the world market suffered a huge damage but, the act was not enough to recover the U.S. economy. People starting lose their jobs, homes and their confidence to the system and they take out their money from the banks and in the end they couldnt repay their loans. The continuous decline shows the effect in political elections in November 1930 when the representatives of the Republican Party lost their places in the Senate and their number and voting power reduced dramatically. In 1931 some new predictions appeared in the news which says that the depression would be over in the end of that year. During this year the deepening economic depression hit Europe and credit structures collapsed there. The media blamed United States for create this depression by cutting back on imports. Various conspiracy theories were voiced about the Soviet Union and some Biblical prophecy appeared too. In1932 a new presidential campaign started where Hoover and Roosevelt describe two different political aspects about the Depression. Hoovers economic aspect based on voluntarism and individualism, but the natural economic forces and the voluntary action by business groups couldnt work in the last 3 years. So his voters lost the trust in Hoover and he was easily beaten in the election (Burner David, Herbert Hoover: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979). 4. The New Deal Roosevelt the new president was introduced a new program called the New Deal that contained social and economic reforms in 1933. He settled up new governmental agencies with the Glass-Steagall Act. â€Å"It gave tighter regulation of national banks to the Federal Reserve System; prohibited bank sales of securities; and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures bank deposits with a pool of money appropriated from banks. (New York Times, http://topics.nytimes.com /topics/reference/ timestopics/subjects/g/glass_steagall_act_1933/index.html )â€Å" The senate tried to restore the peoples trust in the U.S financial system with the Glass-Steagell Act .It made a clear separation between the investment and the commercial banks .To handle the banks poor asset management Franklin Roosevelt declared a â€Å"bank holiday â€Å"as a result of bank panic in March 1933.The† bank holiday† regulated that the banks had to be until the governmental inspecto r investigation. The inspector after a monitoring process judged about the banks reopening. Another program was started namely in that time: the Agricultural Adjustment Act which helped to increase the income of the farmers. The overproduction created corps surplus and the government pay the farms, in the frame of this program, to leave the fields fallow and not to raise pigs and lambs. (Ronald Edsforth: The New Deal: Americas Response to the Great Depression, 2000) The Act aimed to raise the value of the corps, but few months later, natural disasters destroyed almost all the corps and the machinery. To help the farmers and teach them how to measure and reduce erosion the government established the Soil Conservation Service. This program stopped in 1936 when a new agricultural act had been accepted. The new regulation provides a possibility to the farmers to get federal subsidies. Besides of this, NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act) had been accepted by the government to generate more jobs, strengthen the right of collective bargaining. The unemployment increased since the Great Depression had started. Based on this reason, they provided jobs in government projects such as work camps. Approximately two million people participated in this program until 1934. The unskilled workers got hard work like digging and railway repairs but they earned only a little money. National Labor Relations Act introduced new fair labor practices in 1935.The New Deal program had helped the US economy but didnt bring the end of the Great Depression. The roots of the economic problem came from the financial insecurity and the distribution of money, because the people on relief lived from one day to another (Bernardit Bellushit, The Failure of the NRA (1975)). The investors were afraid of buying sto cks and lose their money. The companies couldnt sell their new products because the people spent their money to food. The inventories were full and nobody wanted to produce more and that stopped the cycle of the economy. 5. The Second New Deal President Roosevelt decided to set a group of new economic and social measures and provided some legislative initiatives. The public and political forces lead the president to make some radical steps. . In 1936 Roosevelt won the election but the Americans wanted the government to take greater responsibility for the welfare of the nation. The Second New Deal as legislative program established some government controlled agencies and projects. He allocated billions of dollars to start and give a financial budget for the Work Progress Administration (WPA).Roosevelt nominated the social worker Harry Hopkins to be the head of the WPA. In its early years it focused on the construction programs such as build schools and government buildings. Attempt to the population of the United States it found that the one of every six people was unemployed and most of them was unskilled (http://www.u-shistory .com /pages /h1599.html). Unskilled laborers the forgotten man of past generation works at decen t wages. The nation was building and repairing schools, public buildings, community centers and airports to meet the changing needs of the modern world. In one project twelve hundred men were employed to improve bowling field and construct building hangers and administration buildings. In addition to the hundreds of the unskilled laborers, many skilled workers were employed in this improvement project. Hundreds of homes have been treated from bondage of property. In New York City WPA housing demolisher project was started which improved the families living conditions. In many other cities of the country old firetraps are being demolished to make way to modern buildings. Swimming pools and parks were constructed to make more public value to the community and remove the children from the streets. In many parts of the country nursery schools were established to where almost 10 thousand children got hot meals, supervised train activities. In these projects employment has been provided 6 00 hundred teachers nurses dieticians and cooks. More than 300 thousand adults learned to read and write first time in their life and started to learn foreign languages from native teachers. In cooperation with the national youth administration 26500 young man and women were employed as instructors laboratory assistants and clerical helpers.( Historical unemployment in relation to today, A. Andrews) Clerical white -collar workers find employment at filling and checking important land records. As part of the program of rehabilitation of the conservation of human resources a number of household training school were established by WPA. In these school girls from relief families are prepared for domestic works. Health education is an important part of the WPA program in a number health centers in large cities teaches the proper care of the children and adults. In some cities sawing rooms were established to support the poor families with clothes. Another type of permanent construction was the community stadium as a representative a large group of project provides the public gatherings all over America. Hundreds of new bridges were constructed thousands of old bridges have been repaired and made safe. In Many cities the construction was undertaken with the cooperation of the public health agencies. The rapid growth of air traffic gives the opportunity to built modern airports and gives a job to thousand s to improve and repair the existing facilities. The increased air transportation also made necessary the development of hundreds of emergency landing fields. In cooperation with the local police departments in several cities automobile inspection stations were established to reduce the unsafe vehicles on the roads. Women who had the principle to support their families are paid for the work. And the product they made was distributed free to the families on relief (John Salmond, The New Deal: The National Level (1975). pp. 188-89). Many other type of employment was provided for women and other part-time jobs were provided in kitchen and in libraries and schools. As a result of some projects thousand of books and maps were translated. This program also contained training for adults t o learn tailoring. The financial support of the administration was enough to invest into more projects like Federal Writers Projects , Federal Theater Project, Federal Art Project, National youth Administration ,to generate more jobs for white-collar workers.â€Å"Because Harry Hopkins believed that the work provided by the WPA should match the skills of the unemployed, artists were employed to paint murals in public buildings, sculptors created park and battlefield monuments, and actors and musicians were paid to perform. These white-collar programs did not escape criticism and the term â€Å"boondoggling† was added to the English language to describe government projects of dubious merit.( Jim Crouch, The Works Progress Administration Eh. Encyclopedia(2004)). The WAP was a long program and finally was abandoned in 1943.Social security act created a new health insurance system based on employer and employee contributions, supported by taxes 6. The SWOT Analysis of the WPA SWOT Strengths: Weaknesses: Education to unskilled workers Started project didnt wanted Various types of jobs WPA as Financial â€Å"black hole† Provide part-time jobs Political influences Jobs for Artist and Black people and Women No ability to control the workers productivity Improve the health care system Opportunities : Threats: Starting more useful projects Instable economical environment Decreasing political aspects of the projects Living expenses increases, because import stop Strengthen the economy throughout projects Potential health problems, disease could stop projects Developing international export-import partnerships Other political parties critics-political intervention Support the banking act, provide more financial security The SWOT analysis is for compute the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of a sector or a company (Mehta, S. (2000) Marketing Strategy). It is used for strategic planning to create a way to the desired goal or objective. In this case it was decided to apply this technique to set a real picture about the Second New Deal through WPA. The main aim of the current analysis is not generate alternative strategies, but to summarize the situation of WPA and the critiques in 1930s.Starting with the strength of the WPA it can be seen that the group of different types of jobs were provided to a high-scale target area. People could achieve different skills by the WPAs trainings and educations, and they got motivation to learn and use their knowledge in long-term. There were several weaknesses of the program from the beginning. As a governmental project the WPA needed a huge financial background to work and in some cases they only waste the money. The critiques described that some part of the program was only started to get more votes. The real leaders of the WPA had no ability to control the workers productivity and their effectiveness. To mention some real threats the instable economic environment remained the same. The diseases could spread faster among the workers and it may stop many constructing projects and it may indicate more financial problems in the health care system. One of the most important opportunities was to prevent more political fight and decrease the obvious political aspects of the projects. It would have been useful if they could solve the import problems. The following table above contains the main strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. 6.1. The external factor analysis EFAS (External Factor Analysis Summary) External Factors: Weight Ratings Weighted Score Opportunities: O1 Starting more projects 0,1 3 0,3 O2 Decreasing political aspects of the projects 0,2 4 0,8 O3 Strengthen the economy through projects 0,05 3 0,15 O4 Developing international export-import partnerships 0,1 2 0,2 O5 Support the banking act, provide more financial security 0,05 3 0,15 Threats: T1 Instable economical environment 0,2 4 0,8 T2 Living expenses increases, because import stop 0,1 3 0,3 T3 Potential health problems, disease could stop projects 0,05 2 0,1 T4 Other political parties critics-political intervention 0,15 3 0,45 Total Scores: 1 1,0-5,0 3,25 The SWOT table can be used to introduce three other type of analysis the EFAS, the IFAS and the SFAS. The External factor analysis and the internal factor analysis are calculated in a same way. The external factors (opportunities, threats) are used to show the economic background of the company or the sector. The elements of the SWOT table are the main factors of these tables. Every row contains weights and the rates and the multiplied result; the weighted score. The sum of every weight has to equal by 1, and the factors ratings should be between 1 and 5.The total score will be the sum of the weighted scores and it shows a real picture about the companys position. The company is in danger if the result is less 3,5 than. 6.2 The internal factor analysis IFAS(Internal Factor Analysis Summary ) Internal Factors: Weight Ratings Weighted Score Strenghts: Education to unskilled workers 0,15 3 0,45 Various types of jobs 0,15 4 0,6 Provide part-time jobs 0,1 3 0,3 Jobs for Artist and Black people and Women 0,2 2 0,4 Improve the health care system 0,1 3 0,3 Weaknesses: Started project didnt wanted 0,05 3 0,15 WPA as Financial â€Å"black hole† 0,05 2 0,1 Political influences 0,1 4 0,4 No ability to control the workers productivity 0,1 3 0,3 Total Scores: 1 1,0-5,0 3 If the result is more than 3,5, the company is in safe. The internal factors (Strengths, Weaknesses) are closely related to the object of the analysis. The internal strengths and weaknesses summarize the main topics the company has to deal with. The total score is 3 and this means that the company is not in safe and for a long -term basis the management has to handle the weaknesses to strengthen the company position in the market. SFAS(Strategic Factor Analysis Summary ) Factors: Weight Ratings Weighted Score Duration (in terms) S Strenghts: Short Medium Long S1 Education to unskilled workers 0,2 3 0,6 X S4 Jobs for Artist and Black people and Women 0,2 4 0,8 X W Weaknesses: W3 Political influences 0,15 4 0,6 X W4 No ability to control the workers productivity 0,1 2 0,2 X O Opportunities: O1 Starting more projects 0,05 5 0,25 X O2 Decreasing political aspects of the projects 0,05 1 0,05 X T Threats: T1 Instable economical environment 0,2 4 0,8 X T4 Other political parties critics-political intervention 0,05 3 0,15 X Total Scores: 1 1,0-5,0 3,45 6.3. The Strategic Factor Analysis Summary The Strategic Factor Analysis Summary (Business Policy and Strategy lecture SFAS power point presentation 2008.12.03) has an additional column, the duration that is separated into three different parts; long-term, medium-term, and short-term .The most important factors are listed here with weights and ratings to represent the main internal and external aspects of the WPA and to make a summary about the problems and possibilities. As a conclusion, based on the analysis listed below, the SFAS ‘s weighted score is 3,45.It means that the WPA could work in a long-term if the leadership could handle the problems. The WPA project stopped in 1944; therefore the main reasons did not connected to the internal factors, but only the externals. Some critiques had right the all the projects of WPA had only a political step to achieve more cotes in the elections. 7. The worlds reaction to the Great Depression (Theories) The world reacted in a several way to the Great depression and created a lot of theories how to solve the situation. The most famous reaction was the communism, fascism and the Keynesian theory. The fascism took place in Germany, Italy and it represented a highly centralized economy. The public construction programs provided jobs for unskilled labourers to built roads, work camps and military facilities. It increased the demography of the population, but the system was highly dictatorial. According to the statistics the unemployment rate decreased dramatically from 6 million to 0.2 million people.The Communism, as a highly bureaucratic and centralized system, was one of response to the Great Depression. It focused to fully employ the people in a strictly regulated obligatory way. The Keynesian theory: It states that the fully employment is needed, but only the intervention of the government can create this possibility. It can be long -term purpose of the existence of the government. The Keynesian theory changed the way of the thinking about the unemployment. The idea of the welfare state was another solution of the crisis. The education, the minimal guarantee of a job to every citizen is the basis of a welfare system. It guarantees the minimum wages and the minimum social and healthcare system. II. The Current Financial Crisis 1. The beginning of the Current Crisis The current financial crisis started in 2007, but it was not until the last quarter of 2008 .Firstly, this part of the thesis going to show how it all started, the causes and those who were affected by the crisis and how they are trying to deal with the crisis. Most of the people are pointing directly to real estate as the major cause of the current financial crisis even financial institutions that not directly involve with real estate are affected. It can be seen how the subprime mortgages and unscrupulous lenders has caused the unsustainable real estate bubble which began to collapse in 2006.There was increase in homeownership in the United State to about 5 million in little more than six years thanks to the increase in subprime lending. Within these six years constructions of new house sing units grew more but this housing bubble could not grow forever. In this period the price of house went so high and rent price went so low. When the price of housing began to decrease in the lat e 2006 to early 2007, many subprime borrowers had very hard time to make their payment. The housing bubble or the excesses of the subprime mortgage market became even more evident when subprime mortgage lender filed for bankruptcy. All the sectors like households, businesses (including financial institutions), and government are the main participants in the financial market and hit by the crisis. The secondly related financial groups are the surplus units provide funds and while the other group that enter the financial market to obtain fund are the deficit units. If market securities yield low returns why invest in it? Three factors can be seen to why it important to make investment in market securities these are, as we have said before the advantage to convert to cash rapidly so it can be substitute as cash. The second reason is that when a firm has excess cash let say for a month it can invest the excess cash in form of securities as not to hold too much cash in hand. The third reason is that when a firm know it going to pay a loan soon it gathers the money monthly to pay and this money could be invest in market securities before the loan is to be paid. As it have seen when the financial crisis started the public could see that the financial system is in a deep trouble some even call it recession because the stock market came crashing and lost almost 42% of it original price. Before the peak of the financial crisis the total world stock market worth $62.5 trillion and now it $36.6 trillion so it lost $25.9 trillion. Let compare the stock market of leading countries of one day and another day and see how it doing. STOCK MARKETS May 5 prev %chg SP 500 903.8 907.24 -0.38 Nasdaq Comp 1754.12 1763.56 -0.54 Dow Jones Ind 8410.65 8426.74 -0.19 FTSEurofirst 300 846.81 842.7 +0.49 DJ Euro Stoxx 50 2407.55 2419.53 -0.50 FTSE 100 4336.94 4243.22 +2.21 FTSE All-Share UK 2226.6 2174.64 +2.39 CAC 40 3225.0 3237.97 -0.40 Xetra Dax 4853.03 4902.45 -1.01 Nikkei (c) 8977.37 Hang Seng 16430.08 16381.05 +0.30 FTSE All World $ 153.46 153.19 +0.18 ( source New York Times May 5 2008) There was turmoil in the all over the international financial system due to the losses in the subprime mortgage in the mid-2007.This was wide spread global crisis even thus firm not associated with the mortgage firm. This made the financial institutions very nervous and the stock market got very weak. Between July 2007 and March 2008, there was a significantly drop in the price of shares in the large, small and investment bank. A Theoretical Analysis of the Banking Crisis Theoretical Analysis of the Banking Crisis Crisis in the banking sector The current crisis and the Great Depression Theories and the crises: Several theories exist connected to the financial crises that have happened since the banking system was established. Some of them tried to explain the reasons and the origin of them however none of these theories could provide an acceptable solution how to prevent the crisis. To determine the continuity in the timeline and the spread of the crisis it was not enough to create just an economic comparison. The analysts set some mathematical and other type of model to investigate the behavior of the market. The two mostly accepted models of banking panics are the Diamond and Dybvig model and the Calomiris and Kahn model. These models were set in the 1990s as the reflection of the systematic banking crisis since 1970.Both of the two theories were accepted the fact that the banks liabilities are more liquid than its assets. In the Diamond and Dybvig model they set a hypothetical world without the banking system. The banks make contract to transform its illiquid assets.( Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review Vol. 24, No. 1, winter 2000, pp. 14-23, Dybvig: Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance, and Liquidity).The problems with the contract is that it doesnt include any risk-sharing option. The deposit insurance is the only way to reduce the risk because its decrease the ability of the bank to transform its assets. The asymmetric information affects the liquidity demand. The final conclusion of this model is that the bank run is triggered only because patient agents believe.†This result is a self-fulfilling prophecy (panic): Because patient agents expect other patient agents to withdraw their funds early, they do the same. As a consequence too many funds are actually withdrawn, which otherwise would have not been the case. (Banking and Finance /Banking Crises.ppt/2008.12.03)† The Calomiris and Kahn model basis is the Diamond and Dybvig model, but it is more complex (Charles W. Calomiris, Charles M. Kahn, â€Å"The Role of Demandable Debt in Structuring Optimal Banking Arrangements† in American Economic Review, Vol. 81, 1991). They introduced one other potential option that the banks follow a risky behavior and put their investors money into risky projects. Because the asymmetric information the investors dont know about this step. Then, two possible things can happen; the project turns out well or not. If the project turns out negatively the bank starts to invest again. In the model the depositors can purchase information, but if is shows a negative indicator they withdraw their money. If there are a huge number of the depositors who want to withdraw the bank has serious liquidity problems and the bank panic starts. The only possible solution, according to this model, is to increase monitoring in the banking sector and strengthen the regulation to avoid moral hazard. I. The Great Depression 1. The beginning of the Great Depression (1928-30) The history of the Great Depression is important to analyze the main aspect of the crisis. From May of 1928 the stock market rise continuously and the average stock price increased because the FED raised its discount rate, and saw the stock market was booming and the stock price doubled, as excessive speculation. They tried to resolve this by increased monetary policy to raise interest rate and a new deflationary policy was introduced. As a consequence, a huge financial bubble evolved. In October 22, 1929 New York Times published an article; â€Å"Fisher Says Prices of Stocks Are Low†. (The 1929 Stock Market: Irving Fisher Was Right, Ellen R. Mc Grattan p.1) Then, two days later the stock market went crashing and the stock prices had fallen by 30 %: According to Irving Fisher the problem was that the people have been speculating on the small margins. It was not that the stock market was too high, but the people so enthusiastic to making money that they properly expected to mak e. It created debts because the people bought stocks on borrowed money. The politicians issued optimistic predictions to prevent the selling panic in the U.S. market (The causes of the 1929 stock market crash, Harold Bierman).The secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Melon stated: â€Å"There is no cause to worry. The high tide of prosperity will continue†. The stock market did come back in the middle of 1930, more than half of the stock that has been decline as been reversed. People thought it was over recession turned into something different. The agriculture sector stocks continued to decline. This regressive tendency was intensive not only because the Great Depression. Massive overproduction started in the European agricultural production sector after the World War I to recover the lack of the agricultural goods. To increase the legislative protection of the domestic farmers the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of June 1930 raised U.S. import tariffs (U.S Department of State, http://future.state.gov/). The Smoot-Hawley Tariff declined the international trust and cooperation and caused some problems in international trade. As a result of market crush bank collapsed from October 1930 until March 1933 by this time over a third of Americans bank was out of business. It continued to decline by mid 1932, the stock had declined to 10% their value in the peak 1929 and the increase in this in uncertainty from unsettled business conditions created by economic contraction made adverse selection and moral hazard problem worse in credit market. (The great crash, 1929, John Kenneth Galbraith) There was reduction in the number of intermediation due to loss of one-third of banks. This only increases adverse selection and moral hazard problem. Funds to firm with productive investment opportunities were greatly decreased due to this problem. In some sectors like manufacturing sector the production fell dramatically which was the basis of the Firms wage rates cuts. The level of price fell by 25% in the period of 1930-1933. Debt deflation was triggered in which net worth fell C:Documents and SettingsJudyAsztalunemploymen t.gifbecause of the increase burden of indebtedness borne on the firm. One sector problems affected the others. Millions of people lost their jobs. In the period of 1900-1947 two types of unemployment were made. These researches were developed the data set for the civilian labor force and for the Non-farm employees. (Historical unemployment in relation to today, A. Andrews)The employment rate declined by approximately 20% and the economic contraction and unemployment rose to 25 percent because of the decline in net worth. The result was more increase in adverse selection and moral hazard in the credit market. This was the worst ever experienced in the United States of America. 2. The FED This system was introduced to the public as economic stabilizer in 1913 to prevent further economic crisis although Federal Reserve System was totally passive during the Great Depression. In general, the Federal Reserve controls the interest rates and the money supply (inflation).The FED is controlled by its Board members and the majority of the twelve member Constitute the Federal Open Market Committee with five Reserve Bank The Fed not only supply the money to economy, it loans the money to them at interest. Besides, it regulates the value of the currency being issued. It should have acted as the last resort to lend as that its role. For the period of 1921-1929 the FED increased the money supply by 62% .The main reasons they did nothing was they never anticipated the negative of bank failure could have on money supply and economic activity. They thought a bank failure is as a consequence of poor bank management or bad banking practice. Small banks failures were the first to be affe cted in the bank panics in the early stages. And since the big city bank was the most influential they saw the failure of the small banks as complacency. Some suggested that political role might have played an important role in the passivity of the Federal Reserve System at that period. The New York Federal Reserve System was the most dominant force in the 1928, and it supported the Fed in open market purchase to lend money to the banks during the bank panics. This was opposed by other powerful member in the Federal Reserve System and the New York position was out voted. There were multiple causes and many theories about the origin of the Great Depression. According the monetarist theory the Crisis is the consequence of the lack of the FEDs policy making. The level of government influence on a bank varies from one country to another let say for example, in China the government regulation is very high probably the highest in the world and in United Kingdom the government regulation i s very low .It can be said that in the United Kingdom it high if we compare with the United State. So depending of which countries are comparing to another, government influence is usually different. 3. The economic decline (1930-32) Thanks to the Tariff Act the world market suffered a huge damage but, the act was not enough to recover the U.S. economy. People starting lose their jobs, homes and their confidence to the system and they take out their money from the banks and in the end they couldnt repay their loans. The continuous decline shows the effect in political elections in November 1930 when the representatives of the Republican Party lost their places in the Senate and their number and voting power reduced dramatically. In 1931 some new predictions appeared in the news which says that the depression would be over in the end of that year. During this year the deepening economic depression hit Europe and credit structures collapsed there. The media blamed United States for create this depression by cutting back on imports. Various conspiracy theories were voiced about the Soviet Union and some Biblical prophecy appeared too. In1932 a new presidential campaign started where Hoover and Roosevelt describe two different political aspects about the Depression. Hoovers economic aspect based on voluntarism and individualism, but the natural economic forces and the voluntary action by business groups couldnt work in the last 3 years. So his voters lost the trust in Hoover and he was easily beaten in the election (Burner David, Herbert Hoover: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979). 4. The New Deal Roosevelt the new president was introduced a new program called the New Deal that contained social and economic reforms in 1933. He settled up new governmental agencies with the Glass-Steagall Act. â€Å"It gave tighter regulation of national banks to the Federal Reserve System; prohibited bank sales of securities; and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures bank deposits with a pool of money appropriated from banks. (New York Times, http://topics.nytimes.com /topics/reference/ timestopics/subjects/g/glass_steagall_act_1933/index.html )â€Å" The senate tried to restore the peoples trust in the U.S financial system with the Glass-Steagell Act .It made a clear separation between the investment and the commercial banks .To handle the banks poor asset management Franklin Roosevelt declared a â€Å"bank holiday â€Å"as a result of bank panic in March 1933.The† bank holiday† regulated that the banks had to be until the governmental inspecto r investigation. The inspector after a monitoring process judged about the banks reopening. Another program was started namely in that time: the Agricultural Adjustment Act which helped to increase the income of the farmers. The overproduction created corps surplus and the government pay the farms, in the frame of this program, to leave the fields fallow and not to raise pigs and lambs. (Ronald Edsforth: The New Deal: Americas Response to the Great Depression, 2000) The Act aimed to raise the value of the corps, but few months later, natural disasters destroyed almost all the corps and the machinery. To help the farmers and teach them how to measure and reduce erosion the government established the Soil Conservation Service. This program stopped in 1936 when a new agricultural act had been accepted. The new regulation provides a possibility to the farmers to get federal subsidies. Besides of this, NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act) had been accepted by the government to generate more jobs, strengthen the right of collective bargaining. The unemployment increased since the Great Depression had started. Based on this reason, they provided jobs in government projects such as work camps. Approximately two million people participated in this program until 1934. The unskilled workers got hard work like digging and railway repairs but they earned only a little money. National Labor Relations Act introduced new fair labor practices in 1935.The New Deal program had helped the US economy but didnt bring the end of the Great Depression. The roots of the economic problem came from the financial insecurity and the distribution of money, because the people on relief lived from one day to another (Bernardit Bellushit, The Failure of the NRA (1975)). The investors were afraid of buying sto cks and lose their money. The companies couldnt sell their new products because the people spent their money to food. The inventories were full and nobody wanted to produce more and that stopped the cycle of the economy. 5. The Second New Deal President Roosevelt decided to set a group of new economic and social measures and provided some legislative initiatives. The public and political forces lead the president to make some radical steps. . In 1936 Roosevelt won the election but the Americans wanted the government to take greater responsibility for the welfare of the nation. The Second New Deal as legislative program established some government controlled agencies and projects. He allocated billions of dollars to start and give a financial budget for the Work Progress Administration (WPA).Roosevelt nominated the social worker Harry Hopkins to be the head of the WPA. In its early years it focused on the construction programs such as build schools and government buildings. Attempt to the population of the United States it found that the one of every six people was unemployed and most of them was unskilled (http://www.u-shistory .com /pages /h1599.html). Unskilled laborers the forgotten man of past generation works at decen t wages. The nation was building and repairing schools, public buildings, community centers and airports to meet the changing needs of the modern world. In one project twelve hundred men were employed to improve bowling field and construct building hangers and administration buildings. In addition to the hundreds of the unskilled laborers, many skilled workers were employed in this improvement project. Hundreds of homes have been treated from bondage of property. In New York City WPA housing demolisher project was started which improved the families living conditions. In many other cities of the country old firetraps are being demolished to make way to modern buildings. Swimming pools and parks were constructed to make more public value to the community and remove the children from the streets. In many parts of the country nursery schools were established to where almost 10 thousand children got hot meals, supervised train activities. In these projects employment has been provided 6 00 hundred teachers nurses dieticians and cooks. More than 300 thousand adults learned to read and write first time in their life and started to learn foreign languages from native teachers. In cooperation with the national youth administration 26500 young man and women were employed as instructors laboratory assistants and clerical helpers.( Historical unemployment in relation to today, A. Andrews) Clerical white -collar workers find employment at filling and checking important land records. As part of the program of rehabilitation of the conservation of human resources a number of household training school were established by WPA. In these school girls from relief families are prepared for domestic works. Health education is an important part of the WPA program in a number health centers in large cities teaches the proper care of the children and adults. In some cities sawing rooms were established to support the poor families with clothes. Another type of permanent construction was the community stadium as a representative a large group of project provides the public gatherings all over America. Hundreds of new bridges were constructed thousands of old bridges have been repaired and made safe. In Many cities the construction was undertaken with the cooperation of the public health agencies. The rapid growth of air traffic gives the opportunity to built modern airports and gives a job to thousand s to improve and repair the existing facilities. The increased air transportation also made necessary the development of hundreds of emergency landing fields. In cooperation with the local police departments in several cities automobile inspection stations were established to reduce the unsafe vehicles on the roads. Women who had the principle to support their families are paid for the work. And the product they made was distributed free to the families on relief (John Salmond, The New Deal: The National Level (1975). pp. 188-89). Many other type of employment was provided for women and other part-time jobs were provided in kitchen and in libraries and schools. As a result of some projects thousand of books and maps were translated. This program also contained training for adults t o learn tailoring. The financial support of the administration was enough to invest into more projects like Federal Writers Projects , Federal Theater Project, Federal Art Project, National youth Administration ,to generate more jobs for white-collar workers.â€Å"Because Harry Hopkins believed that the work provided by the WPA should match the skills of the unemployed, artists were employed to paint murals in public buildings, sculptors created park and battlefield monuments, and actors and musicians were paid to perform. These white-collar programs did not escape criticism and the term â€Å"boondoggling† was added to the English language to describe government projects of dubious merit.( Jim Crouch, The Works Progress Administration Eh. Encyclopedia(2004)). The WAP was a long program and finally was abandoned in 1943.Social security act created a new health insurance system based on employer and employee contributions, supported by taxes 6. The SWOT Analysis of the WPA SWOT Strengths: Weaknesses: Education to unskilled workers Started project didnt wanted Various types of jobs WPA as Financial â€Å"black hole† Provide part-time jobs Political influences Jobs for Artist and Black people and Women No ability to control the workers productivity Improve the health care system Opportunities : Threats: Starting more useful projects Instable economical environment Decreasing political aspects of the projects Living expenses increases, because import stop Strengthen the economy throughout projects Potential health problems, disease could stop projects Developing international export-import partnerships Other political parties critics-political intervention Support the banking act, provide more financial security The SWOT analysis is for compute the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of a sector or a company (Mehta, S. (2000) Marketing Strategy). It is used for strategic planning to create a way to the desired goal or objective. In this case it was decided to apply this technique to set a real picture about the Second New Deal through WPA. The main aim of the current analysis is not generate alternative strategies, but to summarize the situation of WPA and the critiques in 1930s.Starting with the strength of the WPA it can be seen that the group of different types of jobs were provided to a high-scale target area. People could achieve different skills by the WPAs trainings and educations, and they got motivation to learn and use their knowledge in long-term. There were several weaknesses of the program from the beginning. As a governmental project the WPA needed a huge financial background to work and in some cases they only waste the money. The critiques described that some part of the program was only started to get more votes. The real leaders of the WPA had no ability to control the workers productivity and their effectiveness. To mention some real threats the instable economic environment remained the same. The diseases could spread faster among the workers and it may stop many constructing projects and it may indicate more financial problems in the health care system. One of the most important opportunities was to prevent more political fight and decrease the obvious political aspects of the projects. It would have been useful if they could solve the import problems. The following table above contains the main strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. 6.1. The external factor analysis EFAS (External Factor Analysis Summary) External Factors: Weight Ratings Weighted Score Opportunities: O1 Starting more projects 0,1 3 0,3 O2 Decreasing political aspects of the projects 0,2 4 0,8 O3 Strengthen the economy through projects 0,05 3 0,15 O4 Developing international export-import partnerships 0,1 2 0,2 O5 Support the banking act, provide more financial security 0,05 3 0,15 Threats: T1 Instable economical environment 0,2 4 0,8 T2 Living expenses increases, because import stop 0,1 3 0,3 T3 Potential health problems, disease could stop projects 0,05 2 0,1 T4 Other political parties critics-political intervention 0,15 3 0,45 Total Scores: 1 1,0-5,0 3,25 The SWOT table can be used to introduce three other type of analysis the EFAS, the IFAS and the SFAS. The External factor analysis and the internal factor analysis are calculated in a same way. The external factors (opportunities, threats) are used to show the economic background of the company or the sector. The elements of the SWOT table are the main factors of these tables. Every row contains weights and the rates and the multiplied result; the weighted score. The sum of every weight has to equal by 1, and the factors ratings should be between 1 and 5.The total score will be the sum of the weighted scores and it shows a real picture about the companys position. The company is in danger if the result is less 3,5 than. 6.2 The internal factor analysis IFAS(Internal Factor Analysis Summary ) Internal Factors: Weight Ratings Weighted Score Strenghts: Education to unskilled workers 0,15 3 0,45 Various types of jobs 0,15 4 0,6 Provide part-time jobs 0,1 3 0,3 Jobs for Artist and Black people and Women 0,2 2 0,4 Improve the health care system 0,1 3 0,3 Weaknesses: Started project didnt wanted 0,05 3 0,15 WPA as Financial â€Å"black hole† 0,05 2 0,1 Political influences 0,1 4 0,4 No ability to control the workers productivity 0,1 3 0,3 Total Scores: 1 1,0-5,0 3 If the result is more than 3,5, the company is in safe. The internal factors (Strengths, Weaknesses) are closely related to the object of the analysis. The internal strengths and weaknesses summarize the main topics the company has to deal with. The total score is 3 and this means that the company is not in safe and for a long -term basis the management has to handle the weaknesses to strengthen the company position in the market. SFAS(Strategic Factor Analysis Summary ) Factors: Weight Ratings Weighted Score Duration (in terms) S Strenghts: Short Medium Long S1 Education to unskilled workers 0,2 3 0,6 X S4 Jobs for Artist and Black people and Women 0,2 4 0,8 X W Weaknesses: W3 Political influences 0,15 4 0,6 X W4 No ability to control the workers productivity 0,1 2 0,2 X O Opportunities: O1 Starting more projects 0,05 5 0,25 X O2 Decreasing political aspects of the projects 0,05 1 0,05 X T Threats: T1 Instable economical environment 0,2 4 0,8 X T4 Other political parties critics-political intervention 0,05 3 0,15 X Total Scores: 1 1,0-5,0 3,45 6.3. The Strategic Factor Analysis Summary The Strategic Factor Analysis Summary (Business Policy and Strategy lecture SFAS power point presentation 2008.12.03) has an additional column, the duration that is separated into three different parts; long-term, medium-term, and short-term .The most important factors are listed here with weights and ratings to represent the main internal and external aspects of the WPA and to make a summary about the problems and possibilities. As a conclusion, based on the analysis listed below, the SFAS ‘s weighted score is 3,45.It means that the WPA could work in a long-term if the leadership could handle the problems. The WPA project stopped in 1944; therefore the main reasons did not connected to the internal factors, but only the externals. Some critiques had right the all the projects of WPA had only a political step to achieve more cotes in the elections. 7. The worlds reaction to the Great Depression (Theories) The world reacted in a several way to the Great depression and created a lot of theories how to solve the situation. The most famous reaction was the communism, fascism and the Keynesian theory. The fascism took place in Germany, Italy and it represented a highly centralized economy. The public construction programs provided jobs for unskilled labourers to built roads, work camps and military facilities. It increased the demography of the population, but the system was highly dictatorial. According to the statistics the unemployment rate decreased dramatically from 6 million to 0.2 million people.The Communism, as a highly bureaucratic and centralized system, was one of response to the Great Depression. It focused to fully employ the people in a strictly regulated obligatory way. The Keynesian theory: It states that the fully employment is needed, but only the intervention of the government can create this possibility. It can be long -term purpose of the existence of the government. The Keynesian theory changed the way of the thinking about the unemployment. The idea of the welfare state was another solution of the crisis. The education, the minimal guarantee of a job to every citizen is the basis of a welfare system. It guarantees the minimum wages and the minimum social and healthcare system. II. The Current Financial Crisis 1. The beginning of the Current Crisis The current financial crisis started in 2007, but it was not until the last quarter of 2008 .Firstly, this part of the thesis going to show how it all started, the causes and those who were affected by the crisis and how they are trying to deal with the crisis. Most of the people are pointing directly to real estate as the major cause of the current financial crisis even financial institutions that not directly involve with real estate are affected. It can be seen how the subprime mortgages and unscrupulous lenders has caused the unsustainable real estate bubble which began to collapse in 2006.There was increase in homeownership in the United State to about 5 million in little more than six years thanks to the increase in subprime lending. Within these six years constructions of new house sing units grew more but this housing bubble could not grow forever. In this period the price of house went so high and rent price went so low. When the price of housing began to decrease in the lat e 2006 to early 2007, many subprime borrowers had very hard time to make their payment. The housing bubble or the excesses of the subprime mortgage market became even more evident when subprime mortgage lender filed for bankruptcy. All the sectors like households, businesses (including financial institutions), and government are the main participants in the financial market and hit by the crisis. The secondly related financial groups are the surplus units provide funds and while the other group that enter the financial market to obtain fund are the deficit units. If market securities yield low returns why invest in it? Three factors can be seen to why it important to make investment in market securities these are, as we have said before the advantage to convert to cash rapidly so it can be substitute as cash. The second reason is that when a firm has excess cash let say for a month it can invest the excess cash in form of securities as not to hold too much cash in hand. The third reason is that when a firm know it going to pay a loan soon it gathers the money monthly to pay and this money could be invest in market securities before the loan is to be paid. As it have seen when the financial crisis started the public could see that the financial system is in a deep trouble some even call it recession because the stock market came crashing and lost almost 42% of it original price. Before the peak of the financial crisis the total world stock market worth $62.5 trillion and now it $36.6 trillion so it lost $25.9 trillion. Let compare the stock market of leading countries of one day and another day and see how it doing. STOCK MARKETS May 5 prev %chg SP 500 903.8 907.24 -0.38 Nasdaq Comp 1754.12 1763.56 -0.54 Dow Jones Ind 8410.65 8426.74 -0.19 FTSEurofirst 300 846.81 842.7 +0.49 DJ Euro Stoxx 50 2407.55 2419.53 -0.50 FTSE 100 4336.94 4243.22 +2.21 FTSE All-Share UK 2226.6 2174.64 +2.39 CAC 40 3225.0 3237.97 -0.40 Xetra Dax 4853.03 4902.45 -1.01 Nikkei (c) 8977.37 Hang Seng 16430.08 16381.05 +0.30 FTSE All World $ 153.46 153.19 +0.18 ( source New York Times May 5 2008) There was turmoil in the all over the international financial system due to the losses in the subprime mortgage in the mid-2007.This was wide spread global crisis even thus firm not associated with the mortgage firm. This made the financial institutions very nervous and the stock market got very weak. Between July 2007 and March 2008, there was a significantly drop in the price of shares in the large, small and investment bank. A

Lady Of Shallot by Alfred Lord Tennyson :: essays research papers

Lady Of Shallot   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Lady of Shallot is an interesting poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. In this poem he tells a story of sadness and disappointment. This story is showing how a person crushed his life somehow. My guess would be he had his heart broken and felt trapped in depression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the beginning he talks about the scenery and how beautiful it is but he can’t get out to go where everything is ok in Camelot. He sees people enjoying their lives and longs to join them outside in the freedom of the world. He realizes he is trapped in the castle just like a prisoner. He feels as if nobody can see or hear him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Later, he sees all the great things Camelot has to offer him but is reminded that if he goes a curse will fall upon him. He watches the whole world pass him by but he is scared by just the threat of the curse so he stays. He realizes just how alone he is wishing he had a lover to be with, someone to keep him company. He sees a new couple deeply in love and he watches wishing someone would come along.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the next stanzas he meets someone and is completely stunned by her beauty and charm she is perfect in his eyes. Everything she does is right to him the way she walks and talks and presents herself, but she doesn’t even know he is alive. He decides he can’t take not being with her so he leaves the castle to go find his love he knows the curse has got him but he would rather live for just one more day in love and with hope then 100 years of sadness, regret and despair.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He goes out looking for her but can’t find her then the cures begins to take him and he starts to die before he can ever tell her how he feels but he would still prefer to die like this than in the prison of a castle. Lady Of Shallot by Alfred Lord Tennyson :: essays research papers Lady Of Shallot   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Lady of Shallot is an interesting poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. In this poem he tells a story of sadness and disappointment. This story is showing how a person crushed his life somehow. My guess would be he had his heart broken and felt trapped in depression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the beginning he talks about the scenery and how beautiful it is but he can’t get out to go where everything is ok in Camelot. He sees people enjoying their lives and longs to join them outside in the freedom of the world. He realizes he is trapped in the castle just like a prisoner. He feels as if nobody can see or hear him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Later, he sees all the great things Camelot has to offer him but is reminded that if he goes a curse will fall upon him. He watches the whole world pass him by but he is scared by just the threat of the curse so he stays. He realizes just how alone he is wishing he had a lover to be with, someone to keep him company. He sees a new couple deeply in love and he watches wishing someone would come along.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the next stanzas he meets someone and is completely stunned by her beauty and charm she is perfect in his eyes. Everything she does is right to him the way she walks and talks and presents herself, but she doesn’t even know he is alive. He decides he can’t take not being with her so he leaves the castle to go find his love he knows the curse has got him but he would rather live for just one more day in love and with hope then 100 years of sadness, regret and despair.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He goes out looking for her but can’t find her then the cures begins to take him and he starts to die before he can ever tell her how he feels but he would still prefer to die like this than in the prison of a castle.

Narrative Argument About Education Religion Essay

Considering the gift of computers Bill Gates bestowed upon libraries for students, I’m sure his intentions were for the students to excel and keep abreast of the ever changing world of technology, not to replace reading with surfing the web. I agree with Judith Levine when she stated, â€Å"It’s important for students to read books, magazines, newspapers, history, poetry, politics and listen to people who know what they’re talking about.† Reading books and other literature teaches students the past, present and future, not only for things happening in the world today but facts about things past. Dating myself, I think back to the days of the sixties and seventies when reading was fundamental to education. Literacy was important and the only choice we had was to read a book because there were no computers. Teachers took us to the library weekly, and we were required to check out at least one book and read it. There was also time set aside during class for u s to stand up and read a portion of your book aloud. Most of our books had no pictures to stimulate the imagination, so you felt a sense of accomplishment when the book was finished. Teachers took education very serious, and they knew reading was essential to be successful in life; therefore, they made sure we took it serious as well. When we read a story for a writing assignment, our first resource was the encyclopedia, which was neatly stacked inside the bookcase in almost every home. There were no short cuts to obtaining information. Reading is more empowering than one-click learning; you develop increased discernibility and critical thinking skills. Computers are a great tool. I use one every day for my online college courses and I know how important it is to question everything I retrieve on the internet. Computers, however, have made students slack  and lazy. From a very young age children have developed the attitude of not liking to read and with computers supplying all the answers for them, they don’t have to. As I sit and look at my blank computer screen, and time is ticking away until my essay is due, I read my story once again. I also head for the web, but only to get ideas and something to assist me with my starting point. Nothing takes the place of old fashioned reading. I know my subject is education and my story is talking about computers, so I google education using computers. One site – Using Technology: Ways to use Computers/Education.com – catches my eye, but after accessing the site I soon find this is not the site or the data that’s going to help me prepare a creditable paper. So I reread my story and the instructions, put my critical thinking cap on and choose not to one stop shop for my assignment. I begin writing everything I can think of and soon the ideas surface. This is unlike inexperienced users, like our children and grandchildren, who rely heavily on data they retrieve from the internet without considering how much weight the site is going to hold, and what kind of argument the data will present to their readers who may feel they did not provide enough information about the topic. Our students have become accustom to presenting data found on the web as fact, giving no thought to how bias the information might be . Some even portray the data as their own, without verifying its validity. Parents need to share some of the responsibility, because we are not teaching our children the difference between working hard and hardly working. From a Biblical perspective Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 states: â€Å"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates†. This command from God explains why education is important, and why it is our responsibility as parents to educate our children, both academic and Biblically. My eighty-three year old Uncle Mike was a prime example of why getting an education is important. He only had about an eighth grade education and virtually no Biblical  knowledge. Because of his limitations, he was never able to make a decent living throughout his life. He also had no knowledge of who God was and expressed no desire to be saved. His soul was doomed to hell; however, I never gave up on Uncle Mike. I knew it was God’s will that everyone be saved, and on July 28th, 2013, his eyes were opened, and his heart soften as he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior two days before he passed away. In conclusion, computer use has caused us to no longer read books or utilize our critical thinking skills. Our students have become slack and lazy and collect unreliable data to present as facts. We must guide and teach them how to surf the web and to become better readers, which in turn, will make them better writers. References Levine, J, â€Å"I Surf, Therefore I Am†, in To the Point, Reading and Writing Short Arguments, 2nd, 222-224. Pearson Education, Inc. 2009 MacArthur Study Bible NKJV (1997) Word Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson Inc. Narrative Argument about Education Thesis/Outline Topic: Education and Computers Thesis Statement: The everyday use of computers has caused us to become slack and lazy. We no longer read or utilize our critical thinking skills. The inexperienced user collects unreliable data, and presents them as fact. Outline: I. Introduction Reading vs Computers II. Body Paragraphs A. Author argument B. Education Importance C. Alternative to Computers D. Biblical Perspective. Conclusion Computer use has caused us to no longer read or utilize of critical  thinking skills.

Peer-Reviewed Literature Versus Popular Press Essay

The purpose of peer-reviewed literature is to present original reports, research, or reviews, and evaluate the material that scholars have already published (â€Å"Scholarly Vs Popular Press,† 2005). Peer review refers to a process that screens the writings of scholars before they can be published. Review panels, comprising other scholars and researchers, are responsible for evaluating the already published material with respect to its significance in addition to methodology. Although the published research finds may or may not be true, peer-reviewed literature is generally considered â€Å"authoritative evidence for a claim† which is validated once the research has been analyzed in depth and its findings have been applied as well as reexamined in a variety of contexts or by the use of different theoretical models (â€Å"Peer-reviewed literature†). Lee Shulman, the President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, explains that the essentiality of scholarly literature is that it can be â€Å"cited, refuted, built upon, and shared (â€Å"Peer-reviewed literature). † Hence, peer-reviewed literature is considered more reliable than popular press, the purpose of which may be simply to present articles that entertain, inform, or market goods and services. Popular press may contain literature on current events or myriad popular interests (â€Å"Scholarly†). Given that the articles published in the popular press are not peer-reviewed, they may or may not be reliable. They are definitely not considered scholarly, seeing that they cannot be refuted. According to a scientific study, popular press coverage of a health problem known as the chronic fatigue syndrome has magnified and even distorted the divisions within the research community on the subject of the chronic fatigue syndrome (MacLean & Wessely, 1994). It is clear, therefore, that popular press cannot be trusted to present valid information.

3 Types of Usage Errors

3 Types of Usage Errors 3 Types of Usage Errors 3 Types of Usage Errors By Mark Nichol The term usage in the context of language refers to the employment of the proper word or phrase to convey an idea. Writers often produce usage errors in one of several ways. They misuse a word with a meaning similar to that of a more appropriate term, they employ the wrong homophone- a word that sounds like the intended term but it spelled differently- or they mangle an idiom. Each of these sentence demonstrates one of these errors, and a discussion and a revision accompanies each. 1. The website allows one donation every day, but one person found a way to bypass the twenty-four-hour caveat. The Latin verb caveat, which literally means â€Å"let him beware† (its root word, cavere, is also the source of caution), has been adopted into English as a noun meaning â€Å"warning,† but sometimes, as here, the term is used inappropriately; other, more apt words are available: â€Å"The website allows one donation every day, but one person found a way to bypass the twenty-four-hour restriction.† (A more egregious violation of the meaning is the bureaucrat-speak abomination â€Å"Let me caveat that†- originally attributed to loopily loquacious Alexander Haig, who was serving as secretary of state to Ronald Reagan at the time- which means, â€Å"I want to caution you about that.†) 2. The Zika virus is a mosquito-born illness that can cause neurological problems in adults and birth defects in children. The adjective born, referring to birth, is here confused with borne, meaning â€Å"carried or spread by†: â€Å"The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne illness that can cause neurological problems in adults and birth defects in children.† Both words are derived from the Old English word boren, the past tense of beran, from which the verb bear stems (and borne is the past tense of bear), but the meanings are distinct. 3. The news agency saved its face by reporting before the official announcement that Smith had been fired. The past tense of the idiom â€Å"save face† is here rendered with an altered form suggesting that the news agency’s physical visage was preserved rather than that it managed to maintain its figurative dignity; the sentence should read, â€Å"The news agency saved face by reporting before the official announcement that Smith had been fired.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Usage Review category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Definitely use "the" or "a"Expanded and ExtendedThe "Pied" in The Pied Piper

Examining Mass Religious Suicide Religion Essays

Examining Mass Religious Suicide Religion Essays Examining Mass Religious Suicide Religion Essay Examining Mass Religious Suicide Religion Essay neer really saying the figure. Religious self-destruction is an action of taking one s life in the name of some kind spiritual, or sacredly associated, belief system. Equally shortly as Christian societies were formed, self-destruction was officially forbidden in them ( Durkheim,2006 ; p.292 ) . From ancient times suicide was really judged by faith and in no manner was tolerated. Evidence I came across was a penal countenance at the council of Prague in 563, which stated that people who decided to stop their life by self-destruction should be honored with no commemoration in the holy forfeit or the mass, and the vocalizing of Psalmss should non attach to their organic structures to the grave ( Durkheim,2006 ; p.292 ) . In the twenty-first century Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants ( these I am certain about ) are still non supportive of direct self-destruction. The significance of direct self-destruction is that a individual, consciously and being in stable mental status performs an act of hurt against himself. Christian traditions province that we do non hold the right to take away life that was given to us by God. Life is a gift of God and w e should appreciate that. Suicide is the cruelest signifier of slaying, due to the fact that the individual who committed self-destruction has no opportunity to remorse for the wickedness. The chief inquiry is how can somebody convert to religion, admit that God is the One who is responsible for our heartbeat- than turn their dorsums to God and unplug themselves? How can they bewray God in such manner? In Palmers book about self-destruction I found a subdivision called Myths about self-destruction . The 4th was that individuals perpetrating self-destruction are insane ( p.86 ) . Then the myth is busted by stating that people perpetrating self-destruction are normally normal . The grounds for self-destruction might be loneliness, hopelessness, weakness, deep letdown etc. What if 918 people commit self-destruction at the same clip? ( Jim Jones,1978 ) . Or 39 people kill themselves because they believe that they are go outing their human vass and will go to a gender non acknowledging starship after decease? ( Heaven s Gate, 1997 ) . Are these people merely lonely or badly depressed? Or possibly they are really non normal ? In my probe for the motive of spiritual self-destruction I searched through some lurid world-wide known events: People s Temple, Heaven s Gate, the most recent group called Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God and the inquiry of suicide poetries selflessness. Peoples s Temple The People s Temple is one of the most dramatic and well-known instance of mass spiritual self-destruction. On November 18, 1978 more than 900 people committed suicide. How a spiritual group came to that decision ? One does nt hold to delve deep to happen out the secrets of this organisation. Leader of the People s Temple was Jim Jones. This spiritual motion started when its leader made a really brilliant notice- spiritual miracles gain tonss of attending and money. Religion all in all might be a really profitable concern ( Greenberg, 1979 ) . Furthermore, by faith one may do people to follow him, by so fulfilling the demand for power and acknowledgment. Jim Jones has eventually become a metaphor, a symbol of power-hungry insanity ( Harrary, 1992 ) . In Shneidman s book The Suicidal Mind I found an analysis of Jim Jones personality. Louis West by utilizing Henry Murray s geographic expeditions in Personality and 12 demands trial evaluated Jim Jones. Out of 12 demands Jim Jones scored highest on aggression ( 12 points ) , defence ( 12 points ) , need for domination ( 12 points ) , need for attending ( 11 points ) , and turning away of shame ( 9 points ) . Interestingly in the demand for attending Jim scored the 2nd out of all presented historical people ( such as Adolph Hitler, Sigmund Freud, Vincent Van Gogh etc ) he was outscored in this demand merely by Marilyn Monroe ( 16 point ) . Some of the lowest demands were for apprehension, drama, and respect. The trial for basic demands gives us an penetration and does explicate a batch in Jones behaviour. So the creative activity of this spiritual domination did assist its leader to fulfill his basic demands for power every bit good as addition mercenary wellbeing. At first the People s Temple motion was mostly based on spiritual constructs ( mending, prays, wickednesss ) . However, the more the members of it became depended on its leader the more the motion stepped off from basic spiritual apprehension. Actually easy the God that was presented at first stepped off, and the leader of the motion Jim Jones took his topographic point. Get downing from false miracles, slippery ways of happening out information about people after on showing it as visions and weakling of household ties, it came to a point of no-escape society in which there was control over verbal look, cognitive and emotional control of the head, control of followings belongings and income ( Greenberg, 1979 ) was present. As the survived members of Peopless Temple subsequently on proclaimed they found: an unexpected sense of intent, as though they were going a portion of something inordinately important ( Harrary, 1992 ) . It turns out that for that sense of purpose Jones got to presume ultimate power over their lives ( Harrary, 1992 ) . One of the subsisters, Yolanda Williams, subsequently recalls: Although we were non shackled in ironss, our heads and Black Marias were non free, she said. Jim Jones used really slow, really seductive head control ( Carolyn, 2008 ) . Some beginnings province that Jones did drug up the participants of this motion, some province that they did hold self-destruction seek outs , others even mention that Jones was bisexual and made people watch his public intercourse both with females and males. Though the beginnings of this information seem dependable I am non certain that the instance of Jim Jones was that terrible. However, I believe that the adult male got paranoid with the thought of ultimate control. Furthermore, I do believe that he got to obsessive reading about how Stalin got people to obey him. Finally, it did made sense when aˆÂ ¦.. in his article stated that the concluding mass self-destruction, though it had some kind of message to the universe, was really the ultimate climax of power for Jones. Sadly plenty something that did get down as a faith and had some traditional elements entwined in it- finally became merely obsessional irresistible impulses of a really alone adult male. Queerly enough this adult male had his ain manner to take literally everything from people. At first people joined this motion for the interest of praying to God and functioning Him, finally they were naming Jones as their male parent and sacrificed their lives and their kids lives for him and his superb thought of directing an evolutionary message to the universe. Some subsisters province that People s Temple was the best thing that happened to them, others called it a calamity . Still there is one fact that no 1 can doubt or reason about- more than 900 people died that twenty-four hours, doing November 18 historical day of the month. Heaven s Gate If the old flooring mass self-destruction required logic for apprehension, the Heaven s Gate event requires one to turn the ability of imaginativeness. The figure of victims is much smaller, the media s attending was much less enthusiastic, less articles online, less reviews, less adept probe. However, this group decidedly stands out when compared to others- that by perpetrating self-destruction together at the right clip, they will go forth their containers ( organic structures ) behind. The psyche goes to kip until it is replanted in another container ( Robinson, 2009 ) . Thi belief led 39 people to perpetrate suicide get downing on 23 of March ( 10 people a twenty-four hours ) , 1997. The chief motive of the self-destruction was that The latter will be on-board a UFO infinite ship such as the 1 that they believe is presently hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet ( Robinson, 2009 ) . They feared that the starship might go forth from its current location and the group will neglect to be on board, unless they take away their lives now. Analyzing the belief system one can understand why despite such unusual thoughts, mentioned above, the group was still called Christian. When it comes to the rudimentss of the faith this group did hold a batch in common with the traditional faiths, nevertheless they decided to spice it up a small. So alternatively of saying that God sent his Son Jesus to the Earth, this group goes like: He left his organic structure behind, transported to Earth in a space-ship, and incarnated ( moved into ) a human organic structure, that of Jesus Christ ( Robinson, 2009 ) . Basically the chief facets of Christianity are taken, and UFO s elements are someway entwined into that. Somehow reading about these groups the leaders are ever even more absorbing than the groups themselves. The leader of this group was Marshall Applewhite. Some of the elements of the group might be explained by how the group s leader understood the universe. Applewhite did acknowledge being homosexual, after his guidance and aˆzhealing aˆzprocess failed, he was truly defeated. He was a homosexual and a homophobe at the same clip. It is believed that his facet of his life led to the fact that the group members in Heaven s gate were gender-free, no sexual individuality, no sex. This is why they cropped their hair so short, abstained from sex, wore indistinguishable vesture upon decease, and the work forces were castrated ( Hornberger, 1997 ) . When the organic structures were found on the 27th of March, 1997 They dressed in unisex garments: amorphous black shirts with Mandarin neckbands, and black bloomerss ( Robinson, 2009 ) . This group had a strong connexion to the universe via cyberspace ; moreover they spent a batch of clip shooting their thoughts on tape on posting them online. FBI did shut the site after the incident, nevertheless, some followings reposted it and one can entree it now and track the rudimentss thoughts of the group belief system. The group was examined exhaustively by the sceptics, reviews and many more. The compulsion with the UFO was someway explained that this thought was popular in the late 90 s. Movies, Tv would be that all of the people who committed self-destruction had $ 5 measures, quarters ( 55? ) in their ownership upon decease ( is at that place a toll route to Heaven s Gate? ) ; the starship is 25 stat mis broad ; etc. At the clip of this composing the significance of this numerology is non clear ( Sceptic, 1997 ) . Hornberger states that one of the primary features of cults is the denial of world . He points out that Heaven s Gate did broaden the boundaries of that denial rather far. For them their action of taking away their ain lives was non really perpetrating suicide alternatively they embarked on an exciting, intergalactic infinite escapade . Motion for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. So far we had a really a instance which required logical thought, another one where imaginativeness and tolerance had to take topographic point, now a cryptic instance surrounded with many contentions and arguments will be presented. I decided to non settle my research in Europe or USA, allow us go to Uganda. Motion for the Restoration of Ten Commandments of God was formed someplace in the late 80 s. This motion was celebrated for its highly rigorous followers of the 10 commandments of God. An illustration could that they refused to speak and used mark linguistic communication or notes in order non, even by accident, interrupt the 9 the commandment of God- Thou shalt non bear false informant against thy neighbour . This motion was instead unseeable in the universe until one twenty-four hours when more than 300 members ( subsequently on stated more than 900 ) of the motion locked themselves in the church and set the church on fire ( Santucci, 2000 ) . The motion started as one of its leader, one of the most of import 1s, Joseph Kibweteere, convinced people that he heard a conversation between the Virgin Mary and Jesus in 1987 foretelling the universe would be destroyed for non obeying the Ten Commandments ( Santucci, 2000 ) . This portion is clear and easy. However, why self-destructions took topographic point than? There is grounds that the leaders of the motion predicted the terminal of the universe on the December 31, 2000 ( Santucci, 2000 ) . After this notice the members of the group started to sell and donate their properties and ownerships. Some of the group members antecedently to the self-destruction indicated: All along they had said that this [ church ] is the boat of Noah ( Santucci, 2000 ) . However, the terminal of the universe did non go on and there are grounds that the church attendants demanded their money back from the leaders ; alternatively of money self-destruction was offered? There is one popular theory that this was non a self-destruction, but instead a mass slaying organized by the leaders of the motion. Subsequently on 153 organic structures were discovered in another compound belonging to the spiritual group in nearby Buhunga ( Robinson,2000 ) . Numbers do nt halt here: 155 organic structures were unearthed in a mass grave in a sugarcane field in Fr. Dominic Kataribabo s estate at Rugazi , Another 81 organic structures, including 44 kids were discovered on the farm of laic leader Joseph Nymurinda ( Robinson,2000 ) . The instance of decease in the found organic structures was hard to province ( toxicant, fighting was mentioned ) , though the organic structures were buried in one grave. Religious Tolerance organisation states that this instance is really hard analyze due to many obstructions some of which are- The country is far off the beaten path for intelligence gatherers , There are major cultural differences between newsmans and local citizens , Local forensic resources appear unequal to manage the probe . Till this twenty-four hours there is no 1 decision on which everyone would hold on. Some province that the leaders of the motion, when demanded to give back the money, killed the group members who demanded that. Others province that when the terminal of the universe did non go on the members of the motion decided to stop their lives anyways. I was believing that the group leaders may really convert them to perpetrate self-destruction, if they succeeded to convert them about the terminal of the universe. Due to the many factors which Uganda is confronting, the organic structures were non located immediately. The instance was closed without an official concluding study ; there were non adequate resources to do a trusty probe. The grounds that is presented in the articles may confront different reading. Mine was that more than 3oo people would non come in a church were the Windowss and doors are shut down, and do nil while they are being set on fire. Possibly this instance does non trul y exactly travel along with the subject ; nevertheless I thought this instance could non be left without attending and merely ignored. Commonalties It seems that all motions which led to a mass spiritual self-destruction have some facets in common. Some of which, I noticed, were a strong doctrine and reading of spiritual traditions. Either compulsively obeying the Ten Commandments or remaining pure and clean-no sex merely adopt kids ( Jim Jones ) , acts of emasculation ( Heaven s Gate ) . In add-on to that all motion had a talented leader who had a great sum of power over the group members. Furthermore, the leader seemed to hold some strong accomplishments in both public speech production and persuasion techniques. Jim Jones ( People Temple ) , who created miracles and had the power to convert people to follow his every universe. Marshall Applewhite ( Heaven s Gate ) , who came up with the thought of unisex people and the trip to spaceship- win in convincing in both. Joseph Kibweteere ( Movement for the Restoration of Ten Commandments of God ) , positive people that he had talked to Virgin Mary and she mentioned the terminal of the universe in 2000. The last two presentments seem to travel manus in manus with each other. Two of import facet for all group ends: distance of the group members from their household and taking control of groups mercenary ownerships. By insulating the group from its household members and friends the leader of the group illuminated any other beginning of information that the member could hold entree to. Finally all the members in all the groups had merely one strong, relentless and changeless beginning of information. The money issue was simple. The group leaders convinced the members to give and donate their money for the church to thrive. On the one manus people give away everything they have so no worries left. Their lone concern is the church now. On the other manus if a individual s gives off all his money for a belief system, so the doubting of that belief system decreases quickly. The component of self-destruction itself has different motive for all of the groups, tho ugh all groups, evidently, had that component in common. I believe its leaders initiative for the self-destruction to go on. First of all the political relations in the group were handled in a manner that the people had to obey, liberty was decidedly non praised in these communities. Peoples got used to follow, easy in all of these groups the thought of God was substituted with something. The message that life is the most superb gift from God was wiped off. The leader came up with the thought of self-destruction in the name of whatever, and the motion participants were so used to follow every word that even this thought was non questioned. Untitled I would wish to advert the construct of self-sacrifice in the name of the faith and how it differs from self-destruction. This portion of the universe is truly affected by the Soviet Union times. I wo nt advert all of the impacts merely the faith one. I somewhat different glimpse at the thought of giving your life off in the name of faith is offered. Soviet Union wanted its home grounds to be atheist by all agencies. In the first five old ages of the Soviet Union ( 1922-26 ) , 28 Russian Orthodox bishops and more than 1,200 priests were executed, and many others were persecuted ( US, Library of Congress ) . By the 1940s merely approximately 500 Russian Orthodox parishes were unfastened at that clip, compared with the estimated 54,000 that had existed before World War I ( US Library of Congress ) . Christians were wiped off from the Russian land? There are many narratives, even in our history books, were illustrations of true religion are presented. Peoples were forced to give away God, nevertheless many did non acknowledge to make that. They stayed faithful and refused to deny God s being, despite the fact that for these statements they were sent to working cantonments where most of them spent the last yearss of their lives in torment and hurting. Due to famishments and bad conditions their decease twenty-four hours appro ached much sooner than it should in normal conditions. There is no statistics for how many people really refused to accept godlessness and faced terrible effects for making that ( decease on the topographic point, life in prisons, in working cantonments ) . Can this be called mass spiritual self-destruction? Peoples knew that for their noncompliance they will confront decease in the nearest hereafter, nevertheless still went for it. There were instances when Christian took away their lives themselves in order non to give away other Christians. Is it self-sacrifice or suicide? Can these actions be called the biggest wickedness of the human being or is it the most extraordinary thing a human being can make in the name of faith? So is this simple self-destruction or an action of giving off the most cherished gift one has in order for the God s name to thrive? Decision No judgement was offered. The point was to demo how diverse this subject could be ; how many different apprehension and readings might be found. It seems that spiritual motions, slightly similar to those presented here, have really different motives when they are created. Some start as faiths dedicated to function Jesus, nevertheless, no 1 in the motion realizes or tracks how the figure of Jesus is substituted with some leader who is obsessed by power. It seems that people s religion sometimes is so blinded that they do nt truly recognize what is traveling on around them. And something that is supposed to convey joy and peace, and longer life ( it is believed that spiritual people live longer ) really turn out to be wholly the antonym. Or possibly all of the narratives presented here are merely the same as the last one? Possibly all those people did the extraordinary thing of giving their lives in the name of God? I believe God will make up ones mind. While the two chief American values are conflicting: the right to seek 1 s ain version of spiritual truth in whatever mode one chooses and the right to be free from coercion and use in the name of person else s version of spiritual truth ( USA today, 1992 ) I want to stop with God s message: You are the visible radiation of the worldaˆÂ ¦ , allow your light radiance before work forces, that they see your good workss and praise your Father in Eden ( Matthew, 5:14 ) . For I know the programs I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to thrive you and non to harm you, plans to give you hope and a hereafter ( Jeremiah 29:11 ) . This sounds like an invitation to populate a long life and avoid activities that would harm both flesh and psyche.