Occupy Walstreet and Government Essays - Films, Margin Call, Broker

What would you do? Most people think that in similar situations they would behave differently. The truth is most people would do whatever they had to, to maintain their best interest. In the movie ?Margin Call? the investment bank brokers are faced with a difficult decision. They find out that the company that the work for is about to go under and managers and CEO make the decision to sell the company to other brokers as soon as possible so that they can save themselves. Kevin Spacey?s character is the manager of the Risk management department and seems more interested in the failing health of his dog than the fate of his employees that have been randomly selected to be terminated. Jeremy Irons plays the self absorbed CEO who?s only concern is his own financial stability. Simon Baker?s character is second in command and Demi Moore?s, Stanley Tucci?s character is fired after many years of service. Although he receives a severance package he is understandably upset when he learns that he has lost his job. Before leaving the building he gives Penn Badgley?s character a young broker some sensitive information and tells him that he has been working on it for a while but was unable to finish it and ask him to finish it but warns him to be careful. Because of the information the young broker finds the company his disassembled within twenty four hours. There are several dilemmas in this movie. Some of the dilemmas are obvious, but others are less noticeable. The first is should he tell and if so who should he tell. After spilling the beans he is quickly whisked into a meeting, where he witnesses the decision making process to sell a company because of his discovery. The choices made in the film could be seen as ruthless or necessary. Either way people were going to lose their jobs but the question could be if compromising their integrity and still losing their jobs was the best option. Decisions are often hard to make but in this instance the decisions had more losers than winners. Business minded people may thing the choice to sell before the company was worthless was the right decision, others may feel that people are more. Employees are people; many have families that rely on their income, and their benefits. Though this was a movie it was based on actual events, it had such real elements that it seems plausible that this scenario could have very well have played out in a conference room during the early stages of the housing crisis.

P-47 Thunderbolt in World War II

P-47 Thunderbolt in World War II During the 1930s, the Seversky Aircraft Company designed several fighters for the US Army Air Corps (USAAC) under the guidance of Alexander de Seversky and Alexander Kartveli. In the late 1930s, the two designers experimented with belly-mounted turbochargers and created the AP-4 demonstrator. Having changed the company name to Republic Aircraft, Seversky and Kartveli moved forward and applied this technology to the P-43 Lancer. A somewhat disappointing aircraft, Republic continued to work with the design evolving it into the XP-44 Rocket/AP-10. A fairly lightweight fighter, the USAAC was intrigued and moved the project forward as the XP-47 and XP-47A. A contract was awarded in November 1939, however the USAAC, watching the early months of World War II, soon concluded that the proposed fighter was inferior to current German aircraft. As a result, it issued a new set of requirements which included a minimum airspeed of 400 mph, six machine guns, pilot armor, self-sealing fuel tanks, and 315 gallons of fuel. Returning to the drawing board, Kartveli radically changed the design and created the XP-47B. P-47D Thunderbolt Specifications General Length:  36 ft. 1 in.Wingspan:  40 ft. 9 in.Height:  14 ft. 8 in.Wing Area:  300 sq. ft.Empty Weight:  10,000 lbs.Loaded Weight:  17,500 lbs.Maximum Takeoff Weight:  17,500 lbs.Crew:  1 Performance Maximum Speed:  433 mphRange:  800 miles (combat)Rate of Climb:  3,120 ft./min.Service Ceiling:  43,000 ft.Power Plant:  1 Ãâ€" Pratt Whitney R-2800-59 twin-row radial engine, 2,535 hp Armament 8 Ãâ€" .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gunsUp to 2,500 lb of bombs10 x 5 unguided rockets Development Presented to the USAAC in June 1940, the new aircraft was a behemoth with an empty weight of 9,900 lbs. and centered on the 2,000 hp Pratt Whitney Double Wasp XR-2800-21, the most powerful engine yet produced in the United States. In response to the aircrafts weight, Kartveli commented,It will be a dinosaur, but it will be a dinosaur with good proportions. Featuring eight machine guns, the XP-47 featured elliptical wings and an efficient, durable turbocharger which was mounted in the fuselage behind the pilot. Impressed, the USAAC awarded a contract for the XP-47 on September 6, 1940, despite the fact that it weighed twice as much as the Supermarine Spitfire and Messerschmitt Bf 109 then being flown in Europe. Working quickly, Republic had the XP-47 prototype ready for its maiden flight on May 6, 1941. Though it exceeded Republics expectations and achieved a top speed of 412 mph, the aircraft underwent several teething problems including excessive control loads at high altitude, canopy jams, ignition arcing at high altitudes, less than desired maneuverability, and issues with the cloth-covered control surfaces. These issues were dealt with through the addition of a reward sliding canopy, metal control surfaces, and a pressurized ignition system. Additionally, a four-blade propeller was added to better take advantage of the engines power. Despite the loss of the prototype in August 1942, the USAAC ordered 171 P-47Bs and 602 of the follow-on P-47C. Improvements Dubbed the Thunderbolt, the P-47 entered service with the 56th Fighter Group in November 1942. Initially derided for its size by British pilots, the P-47 proved effective as a high-altitude escort and during fighter sweeps, as well as showed that it could out-dive any fighter in Europe. Conversely, it lacked the fuel capacity for long-range escort duties and the low-altitude maneuverability of its German opponents. By mid-1943, improved variants of the P-47C became available which possessed external fuel tanks to improve range and a longer fuselage for great maneuverability. The P-47C also incorporated a turbosupercharger regulator, reinforced metal control surfaces, and a shortened radio mast. As the variant moved forward, a host of minor improvements were included such as enhancements to the electrical system and a re-balancing of the rudder and elevators. Work on the aircraft continued as the war progressed with the arrival of the P-47D. Constructed in twenty-one variants, 12,602 P-47Ds were built during the course of the war. Early models of the P-47 possessed a tall fuselage spine and a razorback canopy configuration. This resulted in poor rear visibility and efforts were made to fit variants of the P-47D with bubble canopies. This proved successful and the bubble canopy was used on some subsequent models. Among the multitude of changes made with the P-47D and its sub-variants were the inclusion of wet mounts on the wings for carrying additional drop tanks as well as the use of a jettisonable canopy and a bulletproof windscreen. Beginning with the Block 22 set of P-47Ds, the original propeller was replaced with a larger type to increase performance. Additionally, with the introduction of the P-47D-40, the aircraft became capable of mounting ten high-velocity aircraft rockets under the wings and utilized the new K-14 computing gunsight. Two other notable editions of the aircraft were the P-47M and P-47N. The former was equipped with a 2,800 hp engine and modified for use in downing V-1 buzz bombs and German jets. A total of 130 were built and many suffered from a variety of engine problems. The final production model of the aircraft, the P-47N was intended as an escort for B-29 Superfortresses in the Pacific. Possessing an extended range and improved engine, 1,816 were built before the end of the war. Introduction The P-47 first saw action with the fighter groups of the Eighth Air Force in mid-1943. Dubbed the Jug by its pilots, it was either loved or hated. Many American pilots likened the aircraft to flying a bathtub around the sky. Though early models possessed a poor rate of climb and lacked maneuverability, the aircraft proved extremely rugged and a stable gun platform. The aircraft scored its first kill on April 15, 1943, when Major Don Blakeslee downed a German FW-190. Due to the performance issues, many early P-47 kills were the result of tactics which utilized the aircrafts superior diving ability. By the end of the year, the US Army Air Force was using the fighter in most theaters. The arrival of newer versions of the aircraft and a new Curtiss paddle-blade propeller greatly enhanced the P-47s capabilities, most notably its rate of climb. In addition, efforts had been made to extend its range to allow it to fulfill an escort role. Though this was ultimately taken over by the new North American P-51 Mustang, the P-47 remained an effective combatant and scored the majority of American kills in the early months of 1944. A New Role During this time, the discovery was made that the P-47 was a highly-effective ground-attack aircraft. This occurred as pilots sought targets of opportunity while returning from bomber escort duty. Capable of sustaining severe damage and remaining aloft, P-47s were soon fitted with bomb shackles and unguided rockets. From D-Day on June 6, 1944, through the end of the war, P-47 units destroyed 86,000 railway cars, 9,000 locomotives, 6,000 armored fighting vehicles, and 68,000 trucks. While the P-47s eight machine guns were effective against most targets, it also carried two 500-lb. bombs for dealing with heavy armor. By the end of World War II, the 15,686 P-47s of all types had been constructed. These aircraft flew over 746,000 sorties and downed 3,752 enemy aircraft. P-47 losses during the conflict totaled 3,499 to all causes. Though production ended shortly after the war ended, the P-47 was retained by the USAAF/US Air Force until 1949. Re-designated the F-47 in 1948, the aircraft was flown by the Air National Guard until 1953. During the war, the P-47 was also flown by Britain, France, Soviet Union, Brazil, and Mexico. In the years following the war, the aircraft was operated by Italy, China, and Yugoslavia, as well as several Latin American countries who retained the type into the 1960s. Selected Sources Aviation History: P-47 ThunderboltWarbird Alley: P-47 Thunderbolt

Intro to Disaster (SLP) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Intro to Disaster (SLP) - Essay Example In CRED (2010), earthquakes are the most frequent disaster to occur in Japan and the most economically damaging, followed by storm and flood. Japan and the Three Natural Phenomena As mentioned, Japan is prone to seismic activities, storm and floods due to their geological and geographic locations, which is also heightened by global warming. Following the earthquake, is a possibility of tsunami generation in the coastal areas of Japan. In 1993, â€Å"only 239 people died when a 30 m high tsunami smashed† in Hokkaido (Bird & Lubkowski, 2005, p. 271). This is due to the experience and knowledge of the residents. Although not all earthquakes can cause tsunamis, it is still imperative for people to have precautionary measures of a possible tsunami. This is necessary in terms of a needed time for self-evacuation, just as what happened to December 26 event. Unlike the July 17, 2006 tsunami of Java, Indonesia, the number of deaths in Japanese tsunamis is not so high. Johnson (2006) co ntends that â€Å"immediate assistance is crucial when natural disasters strike,† but precaution is a better way of addressing help. In other words, tsunami disaster prevention solves the problem before it occurs.

Did the First World War or the Second World War mark the pinnacle of Essay

Did the First World War or the Second World War mark the pinnacle of the importance of wartime propaganda before 1945 - Essay Example Recent advent of better and faster communication Medias like radio, television, print media and the internet have served to take it to even higher levels, with the propagandist being able to reach millions within a very short period. The word propaganda in its self has a negative undertone, although it does not necessarily have to be towards a negative undertaking. There are many uses of these persuasion methods to champion for just courses in mobilizing people to take positive actions regarding issues affecting their society. Historically the most pronounced use of propaganda is in the two world wars than it was in isolated case of civil wars that rocked the entire Europe and the Americas in the 16th and early 18th centuries. Aspects of propaganda As demonstrated in the First World War propaganda by Americans, it involves the use several aspects to gain the confidence and support of the masses. Wilson, the then president in 1917 formed a committee on public information purely for ra llying domestic support while communicating the intentions abroad. The committee application of its mandate best demonstrates the primary facets of propaganda in wars. These include; the use of emotional appeals, in which case the propagandist focuses on capturing the hearts of his target audience and not their minds at all. As observed by various scientists after the war, draining off emotional agitation into the desired activity is the propagandist best and most effective strategy. A simple publication of a young child suffering together with her pet during the war with Germans for instance was enough to turn all Americans into deep hatred for Germans and generate the enthusiasm needed for sustenance of the war. Positively such an article also could result to increased membership in the universal Red Cross society to help eliminated suffering as well as setting up of orphanages for abandoned pets. Analysts suggest that the failure of Germans propaganda against the Americans was by the simple appeal to common sense in explaining their cause other than using emotional appeals that create infatuation. Another technique that propaganda employs is demonization of the enemy in a great manner that everyone beliefs that they are the aggrieved parties in the whole situation. All their subjects easily hated Germans by simply portraying them as brutal inhumane rulers who flourished on committing atrocities against the rest of the society. The propagandist in this case used the promise of better working and living conditions as soon as the Germans were gotten rid of, a strategy which brought immense support of the American war against the Germans. The third face is the widespread dishonesty that propaganda prevails upon. As analysts observed at the close of the war in 1918, the organisers and decision makers at the helm of the American camp had used many lies and skewed promises that right from the start they knew were not possible, simply to ignite passion among the ma sses. Many of the stories published bore huge chunks of untruths that they dimmed appropriate for attainment of the desired outcome (Randal 167). Propaganda and World War One The First World War relied explicitly on propaganda to mobilise local citizens to support their respective armies. In Europe for instance, the Britons used various techniques to appeal

Ethics discussion board Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethics discussion board - Assignment Example However, the use of harsh actions towards her, in order to extract confessions needs justification. Although it is painful to torture for information, it is the responsibility for every citizen to maintain peace by doing what is necessary for saving lives. The moral value of certain steps should be determined by happiness and utility that can be created. By bringing the terrorist’s daughter into a room, and holding the flame against her skin, the conscience of the terrorist will come to fore and this assist in the interrogation process as the terrorist would not just look at her torture. As a result of this torture, he will give all the information about the bomb and even future attacks. There is no reason to why torture should not be used in such a case of a terrorist. Information extracted from him would help people act in a morally upright way and save lives of other people. It is necessary to maintain and create happiness among the citizens, rather than happiness for a person. Torturing would make the country a peaceful

The Uses And Misuses Of Derivatives Finance Essay

The Uses And Misuses Of Derivatives Finance Essay Hedge funds are pools of investment that invest in almost any opportunity in any market where they foresee impressive gains at reduced risk. Hedging refers to implementing strategies that manage or protect against an identified risk exposure. They take leveraged positions in publically traded equity, debt, foreign exchange and derivatives. The primary aim of most hedge funds is to reduce volatility and risk while attempting to preserve capital and deliver positive returns under all market conditions (Friedland., 2008). Derivatives provide institutions the opportunity to break financial risks into smaller components and then to buy or sell those components to manage risk. Hedge funds hold a number of assets; they use derivatives to protect against the adverse price movement of these assets. Hedge funds play more of the role of speculators than of hedgers. They use derivatives when buying and selling assets and by putting long-short positions, they seek to hedge themselves against broad market moves while profiting from changes in the relative value of the instruments they go long or short. Hedge funds offer a variety of unique strategies to utilize when investing in hedge funds, these are called hedging techniques. These include Market Neutral Strategies, Event Drive / Special Situations Strategies, Long Short, Global Macro, Sector and Country, Dynamic Strategies, Funds of Funds, Funds of Funds of Funds etc. (http://www.global-derivatives.com) Market Neutral Strategies are used in Market Neutral Funds. They tend to take positions which offset each other through both a long and short position simultaneously to reduce their risk exposure. These strategies include Long Short and Convertible Arbitrage. Long-Short methodology attempts to reduce market risk by taking both long and short positions in the market. This can be done by taking a long position in undervalued assed and a short position in overvalued ones. In these funds, it is anticipated that the undervalued assets will increase in value than any losses incurred from the overvalued assets, or vice versa. Convertible arbitrage is a relatively more complex strategy. In this convertible securities such as convertible bonds which can be converted into normal shares or bonds are bought, to take advantage of any price discrepancies between the convertible security and that of the exchangeable underlying. A position can be taken for buying convertible security or selling the underlying asset to realise any difference in prices. (http://www.global-derivatives.com) Event Driven / Special Situations Strategies intend to make profit from events related to particular companies. Event Driven funds take a bet that something in the future will happen which will affect the company and its assets in a particular way. These funds include Distressed Securities and Merger/ Risk Arbitrage; these securities include debt and equity of companies undergoing reorganization or bankruptcy, it is hoped that companies will recover and increase in value. These securities have very low value and can be given to the management of a company during the restructuring process. Merger/Risk Arbitrage funds tend to analyze companies which are potential takeover or merger targets by taking two positions. An example of it would be to buy the stocks of a company that is being acquired with hope that its prices will rise and to sell stocks of the company that is acquiring, in anticipation that its value might fall. (http://www.global-derivatives.com) Long Short is another strategy which includes buying and selling a security based on the sentiments in the market or of a company. It includes short selling, long, and growth fund. Short selling occurs when a person anticipates that the price will fall in future and sells a stock which it does not possess, through borrowing. If the price really falls in future, they buy the lot from the market at a lower price and return it to the one they borrowed from earlier at lower price, thus making a profit. Long is another strategy in hedge funds, it is a fixed income instrument that benefits from the rise in the price of the held asset. They often utilize leveraged positions to maximize returns. Global Macro is an economics based strategy which intends to benefit from shifts in global economic conditions such as inflation, interest rates and other macro-economic factors; a common example of it is the use of interest rate derivatives for speculative purposes, they give profit from economic movements within particular countries. Sector and Country strategies include sector funds and emerging markets. Sector funds are hedge funds that specialize within a particular industry for example technology, textile etc. these investments consist of long or short positions in stock, debt, or even derivatives on the stocks. Emerging markets include funds that emphasize on emerging markets with less-developed economies and aim to profit from market growth which influence the securities positively. Securities in these hedge funds include sovereign debt or corporate securities with the anticipation that their prices will rise with economic growth. Dynamic strategies include elements such as market timings and opportunistic. Strategy of market timing involves the right timing of the market. It includes making profit based on the correct timing of investments across markets by moving between various asset classes depending upon the view of the manager regarding the market environment. Opportunistic strategy involves switching across asset classes, they use a number of strategies mentioned above depending upon the managers discretion, and the reason for switching strategies is to make the most profit. (http://www.global-derivatives.com) Funds of funds is the strategy of hedge funds to invest in other hedge funds in order to diversify the risk and exposure. The success of these funds depends upon the managers way of handling the funds rather than the performance of the actual investments. Funds of funds of funds or F3s is a new concept to hedge the risk exposure in terms of investments by reducing the volatility of the funds itself. They are good for high risk-averse investors willing to invest in the hedge funds industry. (http://www.global-derivatives.com) Amaranth Advisors LLC (Amaranth) Formation and Background Amaranth comprises of Amaranth LLC and Amaranth Advisors LLC. It was founded by Nick Maounis (Maounis) in 2000 as a multi-strategy hedge fund with a special focus on convertible arbitrage (selling (short) equity stocks and at the same time buying (long) convertibles of the same company creating a delta neutral portfolio), with its headquarter in Greenwich, Connecticut and with approximately $600 million in capital. Maounis experience was in managing a number of various arbitrage accounts in the US, Japan, Europe and Canada. The aim was to make profits from the small discrepancies in prices of stocks and bonds, through its structure of three principal funds Amaranth Partners LLC, Amaranth Capital Partners LLC, and Amaranth International Limited and the 27 investment professionals. It sought to employ a group of arbitrage trading strategies particularly featuring convertible bonds, stocks of merging companies and utilities. However, Over the years, the trading activity of Amaranth ex panded into merger arbitrage (making a riskless profit by purchasing individual stocks of two merging companies and selling them together), leveraged loans (loans given/extended to individuals or companies that already have large debts on their books), blank-check companies (developing companies) ,volatility trading arbitrage (buying or selling an option on an underlying instrument and selling or buying a varying percentage of the underlying instrument this to gain from the difference between the implied volatility of an option and forecasted future probable volatility of the corresponding underlying instrument), long/short equity, and energy trading. (ICMR, 2010) Strategy As noted above, at the time of formations and throughout its term, the firm emphasized that it was a multi-strategy hedge fund, but as it could be noted in the aftermaths that most of the firms investments and losses were in natural gas derivatives. Amaranths basic strategy comprised of trading in the Natural Gas market; the firm took a long position in winters, with hope that the prices will rise, especially when the demand for natural gas exceeds the supply and storage capacity due to the cold season. Its winter months were November, December, January, February and March. Amaranth used to take a short position in summers when it anticipated that the prices will fall. Part of its strategy also included taking short position in April and long position in March. Moreover, another strategy was to purchase call options on winter months and put options on non-winter months. Amaranth used to bet that natural gas prices will rise, and the spreads in March and April prices will rise as well. Nature of Natural Gas Market By nature, the natural gas market is very risky and volatile. Majorly because there is a commercial need for the commodity. This situation creates a need for an institution to control its supply and storage. In America, there has been inadequate storage capacity of natural gas for peak the winter season demand. Therefore the price of natural gas is higher in winters; firstly due high demand and secondly due to increase the incentives to store natural gas. These factors raise the prices of winter natural gas contracts to an all time high level. Apart from that, the market of natural gas is also volatile because the natural gas production in America is lower than the rise in the demand for natural gas. U.S. Natural Gas markets are shielded from the global energy factors because a very small amount of US natural gas need are met by imports of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). Commodities trades require less margin money (collateral) than other markets. On the main exchanges, trades post 10 percent of their positions value, whereas in the stock market, 50 percent is common. (Davis, Sender, Zuckerman, 2006). After gaining credit from banks, it is very easy for commodity hedge funds to get highly leveraged quickly. Traders of natural gas have a number of options. The largest exchange for trading natural gas is the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) which has standardized futures contracts up to few delivery months up to 5 years that are traded on the exchange. Traders can also use ICE (Intercontinental Exchange) which is an over-the-counter market for trading natural gas futures contracts. There has been a lot of debate if hedge funds have an impact on energy trading. According to Gary Gensler (a former Goldman Sachs banker and treasury department official and chairman of the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) the chief regulator for energy futures energy trading said I believe that excessive speculation in commodity futures can cause sudden or unreasonable fluctuations or unwarranted changes in commodity prices,. He also expressed his opinion that the rapid growth of commodity index funds and increased hedge fund allocation to commodity assets contributed to the bubble in commodity prices. (Delamaide, Jan 11, 2010) Performance The founders original expertise was in convertible bonds (Till, 2006). The firm later specialized in leveraged loans, blank-check companies and in energy trading. Till June 30th 2006, energy trades accounted for about half of the funds capital and generated about 75% of their profits. (Till, 2006) In 2002 Amaranth started trading with JP Morgan Chase, in energy commodity trading. The winters of 2003 were exceptionally cold and lasted till February, this raised the prices of natural gas manifolds, and this in turn gave huge profits to Amaranth due to its long position in winters. By 2004-5 Amaranth shifted most of its investments into energy trading. The company used to make huge profits from placing spread trades and placing bullish bets on energy in 2005. In the same year America was severely hit by Hurricane Katrina, which adversely impacted it natural gas and oil production and refining capacity. This raised the price of natural gas and Amaranth reaped huge profits out of it. The accounts of Amaranth LLC showed robust performance by the company since its inception. The compound annual return for the period September 2000-November 2005 according to media reports was 14.72 net of all costs. (Gupta Kazemi) The chart below shows Amaranths returns till May 2005. The chart compares the Amaranths returns against CISDM Equal Weighted Hedge Fund Index and CISDM Convertible Arbitrage Index. Amaranth had gained a noteworthy position in May 2005, in CISDM Equal Weighted Hedge Fund Index. The chart show the volatility Amaranth was facing in May 2005, this volatility had brought high returns in the past but things then started taking the turn towards the wrong side. Amaranths returns; source: (Gupta Kazemi) NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) noticed Amaranths considerable open interest of 51% in Aug 2006 in September natural gas futures contract, which would expire at the end of the month. NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) brought its concerns into notice to Amaranth. Amaranth not only reduced their September but also Octobers positions, as per the directions of NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange). Alongside Amaranth increased their positions in October and September positions under ICE contracts, thus escalating their overall positions in natural gas. (Gupta Kazemi) According to US Securities and Exchange Commission filings, investors in Amaranths funds included a number of Wall Street banks including Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group and Deutsche Bank AG. (Burton Leising, 2006) Amaranth was marketing energy and commodities fund to open in December 2006 of about $5 billion. The fund was to be managed by Hunter and Jeff Baired, co-head of Amaranths Global energy and commodities business. But unfortunately the events that followed didnt allow it to happen. (Burton Leising, 2006) Collapse and Beyond Amaranth used to bet that natural gas prices will rise, and the spreads in March and April prices will rise as well. However in 2006, so did not happen and gas prices began to decline due to rising inventories leaving Amaranth on the wrong side of the market trend and consequently reducing its portfolio value of $9.2 billion by less than half. Headed by Brian Hunter, it seemed that Amaranth had not anticipated the rise in the natural gas storage capacity, and the weather pattern bringing a warmer winter. It was in a weeks time that Amaranth lost 65% of its $9.2 billion assets. On September 14 alone, the fund lost $681 million from its natural gas exposure. On September 20th 2006, Amaranth sold its entire energy trading portfolio in a flurry to J.P. Morgan Chase and Citadel Investment Group. It did so at significant discounts to the portfolios then mark-to-market value. (Till, 2006) At the time of liquidation of Amaranth, the spread on gas future declined. The spread on positions held by Amaranth were $2.85 in late August, but after the liquidation had reached below $0.75. (MORGENSON ANDERSON, September 20, 2006). This indicates the lower price expectations in both the bid and ask price for every $1 invested in Amaranths holdings. When Amaranth Advisors LLC announced that it had suffered losses just as big as LTCMs, markets did not respond for Amaranth the way as they did for LTCM (Long Term Capital Management). New York Fed did not hold summit meeting for a bailout plan; but JP. Morgan Co. and Merrill Lynch Co started selling off Amaranths portfolio of natural gas futures. The co-founder of Energy Hedge Fund Centre (which tracks 520 energy funds) said, There is not systematic risk. The market can absorb this. (Mufson, 2006). The reasons for such a reaction were that, firstly Amaranth (although was doing rash trading) but borrowed less heavily and had less leverage than LTCM (Long Term Capital Management); secondly its positions were smaller and focused in natural gas futures. LTCM s failure threatened the stability of banks, whereas Amaranths failure only hurt imprudent investors in the natural gas market who hadnt done any research before investing. Amaranths co-founder and chief executive, Nicholas Maounis, said in his letter to investors that the fund was aggressively reducing our natural gas exposure to meet payments to creditors. The said that there was large scale fluctuations in the value of the fund, which was up sharply in August, would be down 35 percent for the year after the sell-off. Later Maounis said that the conditions in the natural gas market deteriorated and market liquidity dried up so quickly that the fund was unable to unwind its energy positions. He said it became clear that we couldnt trade out of it. Amaranth had no choice but to sell its positions at a huge loss because the fund was faced with margin calls and couldnt borrow anymore because of the liquidity problem that emerged once news of its losses hit the market. Maounis apologized to the institutional investors, pension funds and wealthy individuals who lost money as a result of the bad trades. He said We feel bad about losing our money. We feel even worse about losing your money. (CBC-News, 2006) Officially at Amaranth desperately tried to sell the fund to Citigroup. But despite the extensive talks and negotiations, Citigroup decided to walk away from making any deal. (Taulli, Sep 29th 2006 ) On July 25, 2007, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged Amaranth and head energy trader Brian Hunter with Attempted Manipulation of the Price of Natural Gas Futures including making false statements to the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has also charged Amaranth and its traders with market manipulation. Amaranth filed a lawsuit against JP Morgan claiming US$ 1 billion in damages, on the grounds that the bank interfered in the companys work to make a deal with Goldman Sachs and Citadel Investments. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) later announced a settlement with Amaranths defendants. However Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) did not withdraw its charges on Amaranth and on August 12, 2009, the federal court ordered Amaranth to pay a $7.5 million civil monetary penalty. The court also enjoins Amaranth from violating the anti-manipulation provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act. (Release, 2009) Amaranth then sued Touradji and his employees (Touradji Capital Management LP), by filing a complaint on September 18, 2006 in New York Supreme court in Manhattan, seeking at least $350 million for claims including breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets. Amaranth says that Touradji Capital Management LP breached two contracts agreed to in September 2006 regarding the transfer and purchase of Amaranths base-metals portfolio. According to the official documents, Touradji Capital Management LP used the information to recover profits obtained by defendants through improper trading practices and misuse of plaintiffs propriety and confidential information. Maounis, through a spokesman, refused to comment on the Touradji Capital Management LP suit (Chanjaroen, 2006). However in September 2009, Amaranth withdrew the summon it filed against Touradji Capital Management. Neither of the parties made a payment of any kind due to the withdrawal of notice. After the fall of Amaranth, Goldman Sachs was quick to come into action, and struck a deal to take over hedge fund manager of Amaranth Advisor LLCs lease at Greenwich America. Goldman occupied about 124,000 square feet at the property, which had served at Amaranths headquarters before the company was wound up in September. Amaranths lease was to expire in at the end of 2015 and had a rate of about $35 per square foot. (Ambroz, April 10, 2007) Internal control or Management of Amaranth Maouniss original expertise was in convertible bonds. In mid 2004 Maounis hired Brian Hunter (Hunter) an energy trader who was working for Deutshe Bank energy trading desk. Calgary-based Hunter was Amaranths head energy trader, who was given a free hand to trade the commodity market, due to his past experience of taking huge positions and making huge profits in the natural gas market. Maounis was impressed that Hunters made hundreds of millions of dollars (around 1 billion) for the firm in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina sent natural gas prices soaring, made the 32-year-old Canadian a co-head of commodities trading. Maounis let Hunter increase the size of his natural gas positions so that they became more than half of the entire firms exposure. This was against Amaranths claim of maintaining a multi-strategy fund. Before Hunters arrival, all commodities positions made up about 20 percent of Amaranths portfolio with natural gas having roughly 7 percent share. Amaranths partners had a confidence built on past success and they thought that they had a fool-proof strategy (taking long position in winters and short in summers); the company had reaped huge profits in 2002-2005 from this strategy. Amaranths website said moving nimbly and effectively within an ever-changing investment landscape and said that its employees possess fearlessness with respect to complexity, learning, as well as invention, and continuously strive for perfection. Maounis, said he had chosen the companys name, which means unfading in Greek. According to the wall street journal, Brian Hunters had so much success in trading natural gas futures, or bets, on the future prices of the commodity, that Amaranth allowed him to work from his home in Calgary, where he drove a Ferrari in summer and a Bentley in winters. (Hedge fund: a gamble too far, 2006, September 20). Analysts estimate that in order to fund his positions, Hunter was borrowing $8 for every $1 of Amaranths own funds. When the bet went in his favour, he could pay back the debt and keep the rest of the profit for Amaranth. As the bets started to go against him September 2006, his borrowing amplified his losses. (Hedge fund: a gamble too far, 2006, September 20). It is commonly believed that hedge funds improve the efficiency of the financial markets by introducing liquidity and innovation (Hedge fund: a gamble too far, 2006, September 20). However Amaranths collapse shows that the hedge fund managers earn for their lavish salaries only and not for the investors who have put up their earnings and savings in their funds. Operational risk is the risk associated with the internal management of the company and the probability of making wrong decisions that might harm the performance of the firm. Amaranth seemed to be suffering highly from operational risk. Hunters had a target of making $2 billion for the year at the end of August 2006. Analysts comment of such a target that Hunters must have had an unconsciously large position for this market, One of the biggest players in the energy markets, such as Goldman Sachs Group, would take up positions less than a tenth as big as Hunters, traders said. Hunter was involved in rash trading in the market as his positions were often twice as big as the next biggest. It is also said that in Amaranth, there was an exclusive risk manager for every trading book, who sat with the risk takers on the trading desk. (http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Finance/Collapse-Amaranth%20Advisors-Case%20Studies.htm#Risk_Management)The risk managers were well qualified and had advance degrees. Paul Touradji, founder and managing partner of Touradji Capital Management, said was obvious about risk control and not about commodities. Touradji admitted that he exited the natural gas market for a year because Amaranth had entered the market, comparing its presence with that of well-financed poker player sitting down with poorer players and making big bets. I cant think of a right counterstrategy other than to say, I am going to be at the bar until youre done, Touradji said. (http://www.hedgefundintelligence.com/Event.aspx?ProductID=7035ElementID=4983, 2006) Problems Diversification is the key element of all investment portfolios. It reduces the unsystematic risk of instability in any part of the economy. Amaranth specialized in the natural gas industry so much that it failed to realise that if it took any incorrect venture at any point in time, it would not have to face severe consequences. This is counted as a factor of poor risk management. One of the biggest issues with hedge funds is that there is lack of transparency for investors and they have no idea as to what the fund is doing with their money. Most hedge funds make money with the performance fees that are generated when the fund achieves larger gains; the bigger the gains the larger the fees for the hedge funds. If the funds stays still or falls, the performance fee is exactly the same. This type of fee structure can force hedge fund traders to implement exceedingly risky strategies. Much of the blame for what happened to Amaranth is being put on Brian Hunters, although he had a strategy, experience and understanding in the natural gas market; which worked well with various weather shocks, but the fund manager failed to take into account the rise in storage capacity of natural gas. The arrival of a relatively warm winter did not raise the demand of natural gas as much as in the previous years. These factors did not increase the price of natural gas as much, thus creating problems for Amaranth which has a long position. Amaranth was operating on a high leverage. As told earlier, Amaranth was operating on an 8:1 of debt to equity ratio. This amplified the credit problems for Amaranth because once it started facing liquidity problems; it ran out of cash to maintain its cash flows. After its collapse but before liquidating, Amaranth placed restrictions on its investors to withdraw holdings of cash. That is, they were allowed to withdraw for certain number of days but were required to submit the amount before the end of the term because inability to do so resulted in a penalty. Investors were not allowed their savings beyond 7.5% of their savings. (MORGENSON ANDERSON, September 20, 2006). The bankruptcy of funds causes damage to a number of individuals and companies that have their stake with them. In the Case of Amaranth, Morgan Stanley, invested $126 million, or about 5 percent, of its $2.3 billion funds of hedge funds in Amaranth. Even New York Fed Governor Timothy F. Geithner warned that hedge fund failures could hurt market participants other than those investors and lenders who have chosen to do business directly with those funds. (Mufson, 2006). This is because the instability created in the market (because of the bankruptcy of the company and the loss of a lot of people) can result in a systemic risk, which influences other sectors as well. It is commonly said that Amaranths systems did not measure risks correctly and did not take steps that would reduce the risk. The risk models that were employed by hedge funds use historic data, but the natural gas markets in 2006 were more volatile than any other year since 2001, making models less useful. A managing director of Lyster Watson Co, an advisory firm that invests in hedge funds for clients but not with Amaranth said, It was a total failure of risk control to put your entire business at risk and not seem to know it. They were more leveraged than they realised. (Davis, Sender, Zuckerman, 2006). Lessons to be learnt Derivatives as we know are risky sources of investments, and there a number of lessons that one can learn from the incident of Amaranth. Before making an investment (esp. in sector fund) it is important to analyze the performance of the sector relating to the profits and losses, during the past few years. A monthly sector analysis reveals that a -24% monthly loss is normal and the monthly volatility of the energy strategies was around 12% (Till, 2006), therefore due consideration should be made by investors before investing in such an industry. The second factor that fund managers should consider is of marketability or liquidity, which is the ease with which the contracts can be sold into the market again. The exchange traded futures market of natural gas contracts is way smaller than the over-the-counter natural gas positions. This should put the question in investors minds that in case the market of natural gas declines so how will they sell their contracts and liquidate their position. The strategy of Amaranth did not include an exit strategy. The following case of MotherRock also proves this point. Before the fall of Amaranth, on August 2, 2006 MotherRock, a natural-gas-oriented hedge fund had announced that it was shutting down, its losses had reached up to $300 million; it had made a wrong short position and was therefore forced to liquidate due to mounting losses. This should have sent alarming bell to the investors in Amaranth to secure their position in the market and they make sure that the dont face liquidity risk in near future (liquidity risk explained later). All successful investors have an exit strategy as part of their main strategy; liquidity is one of the four core factors to consider when investing in the market, these factors are risk, return, liquidity and maturity. Liquidity risk includes the risk that liabilities cannot be met when they fall due and can only be met at an uneconomic price. This risk can be accounted for by widening the bid/offer spread. An institution might lose liquidity if its credit ratings fall, it experiences sudden unexpected cash outflows or some other event that causes the counterparties to avoid trading with or lending to the institution. A firm can also be exposed to liquidity risk if markets on which it depends are subject to loss of liquidity. Liquidity risk tends to compound other risks. If a trading organization has a position in an illiquid asset, its limited ability to liquidate that position at short notice will compound its market risk. Suppose a firm has offsetting cash flows with two different parties on a given day. If the counterparty that owes it a payment defaults, the firm will have to raise cash from other sources to make its payment. Should it be unable to make its payment, it will default too. Here liquidity risk is compounding credit risk. A position can be hedged against market risk, through diversification of the portfolio by including assets with different unsystemic risks, but still has liquidity risk. Amaranths investments were high-risk funds that lacked liquidity due to the nature of the natural gas futures market. They did not have any counter party to take their position under a week, when they needed it most. One reason that can explain this liquidity problem is that the counter parties had already locked their position in the forward contracts relating to production or storage. It seemed that due to their past experience, of success in assuming long position in winters and short position in summers, Amaranth failed to anticipate the liquidity risk they were getting into by being unable to find a counter party. (Till, 2006). This was the job of the funds risks managers to employ scenario analysis based on this past events. Taking all the factors mentioned above proves that Amaranth was taking immense risk with respect to liquidity. Amaranth was giving the natural gas comodity market a service by providing liquidity to the participants who cou

Glass Menagerie :: essays research papers

The Glass Menagerie   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Glass Menagerie, written in 1945 by Tennessee Williams, remains today as a great literary masterpiece. Williams gave unimaginable depth and uniqueness to each of his characters. Even though the play was written in the mid-forties it is timeless, in that the problems and troubles of the characters can be related to life today, more than 50 years later. The Glass Menagerie is a great play with a central theme of escape and many symbols to support this theme. In the following I will give a brief summary and discuss the theme.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Glass Menagerie begins with Tom introducing the play as a memory, his own memory of the past. At the start of the play the Wingfield family is eating dinner, after constant harassment on how to eat his food Tom leaves the table to go smoke a cigarette on the fire escape. Amanda tells Laura her story of the old days when she received seventeen gentlemen callers in one day. The next day Amanda finds out that Laura has dropped out of business school, and confronts her, Laura explains that she could not handle the class and has been out walking every day. Amanda sits down with Laura and asks if “she ever liked a boy';?, Laura points to a picture in her yearbook. Later that evening Amanda and Tom argue, she does not understand why Tom goes to the movies every night. Tom states that he hates working for the family as he has been doing and leaves for the movies. He returns late that night drunk and after losing his key Laura opens the door for him. Tom tells he r about the movie and of the magic show he had seen, giving her a scarf from the show.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next morning Amanda wakes Tom for work and asks him to bring home a gentlemen caller for Laura. Tom came home from work and announced that he had invited Jim O`connor to dinner the next day. When Jim comes for dinner Laura recognizes him as the one she pointed out in the yearbook. Laura becomes sick and must excuse herself from the dinner table. After dinner Amanda tells Jim to keep Laura company in the parlor, at first Laura is scared but loosens up after some conversation. Jim ends up kissing Laura and regretting it after he announces that he is engaged. Amanda becomes angry with Tom for not telling of the engagement, Tom insists he did not know.

Biography of a Race Essay

It may be hard for biographers to win prize for his work. Therefore, for this to happen, it would take an exceptional skill paired with devoted attitude towards the craft. Such award as Pulitzer Prize requires these and David Levering Lewis apparently has these as proven in his biography about the civil rights leader William Edward Burghart Du Bois. The book is called ‘Biography of a Race’ which shows a remarkable manner of tackling of the life of Du Bois. It shows with clarity the picture of the environment in which the struggles set for the purpose of an endeavor. The complexity of this civil right leader’s involvement in socio political movements was carefully drawn with a structure that is outlined according to significant key points. The life of Du Bois revolves around his contribution with the condition of the present American society. He tried to escape the stereotypical position of blacks as subject class. Du Bois strived to gain social reform and have equity among the people regardless of race and color. He pushed the belief that blacks should also have access on all essential community benefits such as education. His life story is indeed challenging for any biographer to write. The whole context of the book is particularly exquisite although there are some parts of the first five of eleven chapters that may seem a little bit confusing. The length of the passages may require some reader to go over it again to get the key points but otherwise, they are precise. It is given that the life of Du Bois is complex and that can be the reason for this. The choice of the right approach is the true mark of Lewis’s skill in telling story and history. His book is a comprehensive study of a life story and succeeded in its purpose to reflect the life that made a huge contribution in the history. Thus, an award is nothing but deserved. Reference Lewis, D. L. (1993). W. E. B. Du Bois, 1868-1919: Biography of a Race. ON: Henry Holt and Company, LLC

The Salem Witch Hysteria Essays - Capital Punishment, Dead People

The Salem Witch Hysteria Essays - Capital Punishment, Dead People The Salem Witch Hysteria The Salem Witch Hysteria Specific purpose: To inform my audience about the Salem witch trials Thesis Statement: The Salem witch trials were a series of events that lead up to the hanging of 19 man and women in Salem Mass. I. Introduction- A. - The year, 1692. The place, Salem Mass. Imagine yourself a woman at home cooking dinner for your family. You peer out the window and find your husband finishing up his days work in the field while your children frolic about as the sun sets behind them. Or imagine yourself a man. Wiping the sweat from your brow as you hurriedly finish up a long days work with anticipation of dinner with the family. Now your at the dinner table , across from your husband or wife. You discuss the weather, how the day went , and the Reverend's most recent Sunday sermon. Suddenly, there's a knock on your door. It's the town magistrate with a warrant for your arrest. You are charged with the crime of witchcraft, examined , then found guilty . If you confess, you spend a lifetime in prison. If you maintain your innocence, you're hung. This is similar to a common scenario of what happened at the Salem witch trials. B- The Salem witch trials were a series of events that eventually lead to the hanging of 19 men and women. They took place in Salem Mass. in the year 1692. C- Who were the accusers? Who where the people being charged? What were the out comes of the trials and why ? Let's start with how it all began. II How did it all begin?- A - Rev. Samuel Parriss' daughter Elizabeth, age 9, and niece Abigail Williams, age 11, had a slave that cared for them : TITUBA B - Tituba tells story from native land C - Girls love stories and start playing with it. Joined by other girls in town. D- On Jan. 16, 1692, started to have fits , seizures , and trance - like episodes. Soon after that the rest of the girls did too. E- Rev. Parriss brought in Dr. William Griggs who could diagnose no medical reason for girls behavior. Concluded girls under influence of Satan. F- Pray services and community fasting held by Rev. in hoped of relaying the evil forces that plagued them. In efforts to expose the witches John Indian baked a witch cake with rye meal and the afflicted girls urine. G- Pressured to identify the witches, girls named 3 woman. Tituba, Sarah Goode, and Sarah Osborne. H- Goode and Osborne maintained their innocence while Tituba confessed to seeing the devil. AND testified to a witch conspiracy in Salem. I- Judges John Hawthorne and Jonathan Corwin examined the 3 women. Once again only Tituba confessed to practicing witchcraft. J- Over the next few weeks, more and more people came forward with accusations III - Who were these new accusers? - A - Most of the new accusers relates to the Putman family B - Ann Putnam Jr. - one of the afflicted children Age 12, accused a total of 62 people of being witches. C - Thomas Putnam - Chief filer of complaints in the Town of Salem. Aided Anne Jr. In her accusations by taking her to court. D - Her mother Anne Putnam SR in court room as much as daughter with accusations. Coincidentally in court room, would become afflicted. E - Mercy Lewis- Servant to Putnam's 17 years old. Also on of the afflicted girls F - Mary Walcot- Ann jr. Best friend. Afflicted girl. G - All 5 girls, Ann Jr., Mercy, Mary, Abigail, and Elizabeth were involved in Tituba's story telling, voodoo practicing, and fortune telling IV Who were the people being charged ? A - The 1st people accused of witchcraft were Tituba, Sarah Goode and Sarah Osborne. Once again , Tituba confessed, while Sarah Goode and Osborne still maintained there innocence. B - Sarah Goode- a prime example of what caused a lot of the accusations. She was viewed as socially undesirable. Sarah 's actions and attitude caused friction amongst other community members and it was no wonder she was accused. C - The next to be convicted was Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse. Both were upstanding members of the community. Always

Public Health Promotion Strategy Essays

Public Health Promotion Strategy Essays Public Health Promotion Strategy Essay Public Health Promotion Strategy Essay Public Health Promotion Strategy of Lhuntse Introduction Public health is the first priority of a nation as health is the chief priority to man. According to the American Public Health Association, APHA(2001), public health as the practice of preventing diseases and promoting good health within groups of people from small communities to entire countries. The functions of public health include preventing epidemics, monitoring health status of the population, developing policies and laws to protect health, providing health care services at all costs and all activities related to benefiting public and their health. Bhutan, within the confines of China in the north and India in the south, was a late bloomer in to development. Now, 90% of the population has access to basic health care services delivered through a network of 29 hospitals, 176 Basic Health Units and 541 outreach clinics. Of the twenty Dzongkhags or districts in Bhutan, Lhuentse dzongkhag is one of the least developed with eight gewogs. â€Å"Most of the villages are still in accessible with lack of roads and electricity. one hospital, 11 Basic Health Units and 31 Outreach clinics render public health services in the dzongkhag. About 50% of the households have access to piped drinking water supply. †(Ninth five year plan, Bhutan, n. d). This paper plans to focus on studying the public health sector scenario in the particular dzongkhag and improving it. Purpose of the action plan Purpose of the action plan is to promote various factors such as followings To improve maternal health care, it is very essential to provide healthy manner of health services to improve maternal health care to make pregnancy safe. Mother’s education, Mother’s education is the basic knowledge of parenting. To Improvement in food supply and sanitation, improvements in food supply and sanitation will lead to increase life spans and reduce disease. Initiatives taken by the health services such as clean drinking water supply and hygiene directly help in improvement in food supply and sanitation. To Reduce in Poverty, to make reduction in poverty line . To Change living standard, with the development taking place in t he country, living standard of the people has been rapidly changed. Public health Issues and Concerns Lhuentse Dzongkhags has the concern over the issues related to public health as follows; As the morbidity among the children under five year of age and all pregnant women and women in child bearing age was accounted to , Male-767 and Female-642. (PHCB, pg. 191). The number of deliveries of the new born babies attended by health professionals was – 90 pregnant women, whereas, the number of deliverie not attended was recorded to -231 cases as noted in (PHCB, pg. 04). According to PHCB, 2005,The Dzongkhag has also noted the increase in the number of disables that was numbered to 990 people and most were disabled to seeing that was recorded to-327 people. (PHCB,pg. 211) Most of the people in the Dzongkhag had limited access to safe drinking water with the account of 253 households having piped water within house and 2377 households having piped water outside house. (PHCB, pg. 222) 5. The people in the Dzongkhag had limited acces to basic health facility of proper toilet. As, 2143 households had the accessibility to pit latrine and 423 households had no latrines at all (PHCB, pg. 241). The issues also includes, Maternal and child health The lack of nutrition in the diet leading to malnutrition Outbreak of infectious diseases The high alcohol consumption leading to increase in alcohol related diseases (Liver cirrhosis). Public Health Promotion Strategy Their strategies put emphasis on improvement ofquality of services, development of human and institutional capacity, and decentralization with focus on rural access. 1. Enhance the quality of health services To improve the quality of services and further consolidate the infrastructure. Standardization and quality assurance, focusing on diagnostic and healing aspects, and use of appropriate technology. 2. To reach the inaccessible population There are still population groups who are not reached satisfactorily by the health services. Taking into account all of the problems and factors, Out Reach Clinics (ORCs) have been constructed and organized. 3. Strengthen traditional medicine system The traditional medicine system is being strengthened with the emphasis on human resource development through the Institute of Traditional Medicine. This has also been included in the ordinary health services at the hospital. The capacity and productivity of the Pharmaceutical Units have been increased.

Human Sustainabilty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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Separation of Powers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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