Role Of Public Health Practitioner

Role Of Public Health Practitioner The writer seeks to critically analyse the role of the public health practitioner in general, taking into consideration the current socio-political context, the knowledge and skills needed for the role, challenges that exists in fulfilling the public health role and the approaches. In the second part of this work, the writer has chosen an initiative and will critically appraise how well the identified initiative meets the criteria for good public health. Public health skills and competencies will be identified and discussed in this initiative including health promotion theories and approaches. See Appendix-1. The public Practitioner role, knowledge and skills The writer has found it appropriate to start by defining public health though there are many definitions. The Public Health Resources Unit (2008) state that the purpose of public health is to: Improve health and population wellbeing; disease prevention and minimise its consequences; prolong valued life and health inequalities reduction (PHRU, 2008). PHRU states that all these can be achieved through: taking a population perspective; mobilising the organised efforts of society and acting as an public health advocate; enabling people and communities to increase their own health and wellbeing; acting on the social, economic, environmental and biological determinants of health and wellbeing; protecting from and minimising the impact of the health risks to the population and ensuring that preventive, treatment and care services are of high quality evidence-based and of best value (PHRU, 2008). Public health as defined by Webster and French in (Tones Tilford, 2001) comprise of three aspects which are population-level health promotion; the epidemiological analysis and health professional trained in medicine. Naidoo and Willis (2000 p. 181) looks at public health being characterised by several factors and embraces three domains; the health promotion of the whole population, health protection-a concern for the prevention of illness and disease and health service improvement-a recognition of the many factors that contribute to health The public health practitioners have autonomy on specified areas and continually own work area and support others to understand it and practitioners are likely to work in multi-agency and multi-disciplinary environment, whereas general practitioners work as a part of a larger team led by someone working at a higher level (PHRU, 2008). An approach to public health is described by the Faculty of Public (2000) with emphasis on the collective responsibility for improvement in health and prevention of disease; recognizes the key role of the state, linked to a concern for the underlying socio-economic and wider determinants of health as well as disease. This approach is multi-disciplinary, incorporating quantitative as well as qualitative methods; emphasizes partnerships with all those who contribute to the health of the population (FPH, 2000). Sir Donald Acheson, (1988) defines public health as the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting, protecting and improving health through the organised efforts of society. He also describes the role as planning and evaluation of services as well as undertaking the surveillance of disease and co-ordinating the control of communicable diseases and public practitioner provide epidemiological advice on priority setting. Naidoo and Willis (1998) states that this will include public health practitioner skills for example communication, planning, networking, management and the use of research based evidence. A public health practitioner is identified by Naidoo and Willis (2001) and Donaldson and Donaldson (2006) as a trained person with a role to make people and the environment healthier, to carry out researches, to advocate and work collaboratively with the community on identified projects. The public practitioner is required to implement health initiative by the government that are aimed at improving health inequalities in society. Naidoo and Willis (2008) also points out that there are three principles that underpins the health practitioner for example empowerment, participation, equity and collaborative working which concurs with World Health Organisation (WHO, 1986). Reducing health inequalities is a priority and all health professionals have a role to play in the targeting of individuals whose health status is below average, or who may not access current health services for a variety of reasons. The 10 year NHS Plan (DOH, 2000) set a new statutory objective for NHS to allocate resources to contribute to a reduction in health status. Public health practitioners work to increase individual knowledge concerning the body function and ways of preventing illness, raising competence using health care system and awareness about political and environmental factors that influence health. Community capacity can be built by increasing their abilities to participate in promoting their health. The government White Paper, Saving Lives (DOH, 1999) on public health strategy for England first response to Acheson Report set a national agenda for action to reduce health inequalities for example it gave a commitment to action on living standards and tackling poverty, child poverty in particular, pre-school education, employment as a poverty way out, transport, urban regeneration, crime reduction and housing improvement for disadvantaged areas, as well as preventative activities through a strengthened public health workforce (Hogstedt et al, 2008). The governments strategy in Our Healthier Nation in Department of Health 1999a is to ensure that the public health labour force was knowledgeable and skilled, well staffed and resourcefully supplied to deal with major task of delivering health strategies. Health professionals with their knowledge and skills are expected to play a part in meeting the aims set in the White Paper (DOH, 1999). Public health practitioner skills includes acting as leaders knowledgeable and quipped to manage strategic change and working in partnership with other agencies, focus on health promotion for community development, familiarising with public concepts and use evidence in guiding work were appropriate. Socio-Political Context Donaldson and Donaldson (2006) states that in the UK in 1980s there were serious failures in the standards of care which was provided in public health. Communities before were seen as passive recipients of service and service users were not valued according to McKnight (1998) in (Gorin and Arnold, 1998). Naidoo and Willis (1998 p. 9) states that modern public health acknowledges the importance of living conditions to promote health, action on health inequalities, physical and social regeneration of neighbourhoods, development of healthy public policy on food, transport and the workplace. Public health system lacked sufficient hospital beds, staff, buildings and equipment (Tones and Tilford, 2006). According to Naidoo and Willis (2001) the public health movement emerged with the noble idea of educating the public for good health. Under the Public Health Legislation of 1848 public health workers were appointed to regularly publicize health advice on safeguards against contamination. It was noted that there was a rise of the sanitary reform in which the local government focusing on environmental issues. The National Health Service and Community Care Act (1990) was introduced which was a significant piece of public health legislation which brought changes in the way health services was delivered, which includes massive closure of health care institutions and people were cared for in the community (Donaldson and Donaldson, 2006). Naidoo and Willis (2006) notes the publication of Health of the Nation (1992) strategy which targeted five key areas which includes coronary heart disease, cancer, mental health, sexual health and accidents. However Donaldson and Donaldson (2006) pointed out that Personal Hygiene era noted that the main causes of death and disability shifted from infections to chronic illnesses, such as heart diseases, stroke, cancers, respiratory illness and accidents where lifestyles play a causative role. Another role of the public health practitioner is to promote and protect individuals and the wider populations health and wellbeing by preventing the spread of infectious diseases and protection against chemical radiation or other hazards. Lifestyle changes such as stop smoking, better nutrition and more physical activities can improve health and reduce the burden of diseases like obesity, coronary heart disease and cancer. Naidoo and Wills (2001), state that the intervention of the public health practitioner was health education with an emphasis on individual behaviour. The Public Health Act of 1994 focused on housing, sanitation, safe water and food. Ewles and Simnet (2001) states that public health was introduced by the New Labour Party in 1997 matching with same principles as World Health Organisation adopting similar policies to the Jakarta (1997) declaration with emphasis on infrastructure and investment, with empowering the service user to make informed choices. The Minister of Public Health was then introduced in 1997 (Donaldson and Donaldson, 2006) which led to the creation of Health Development Agency in (1998) with the aim of maintaining and publicizing evidence based for health improvement and advising on standards for public health and health promotion carrying out campaigns in addition to the formation of public health observatories which were linked with universities in order to monitor health and highlight areas of action and evaluating progress by local agencies with the aim to improve health and reduce inequality. Naidoo and Willis (2000, p. 139) also states that the New Labour government created a Minister for Public Health in 1997 with a responsibility to co-ordinate health policy across different sectors and highlight the impact of different policies. New reforms were also introduced in The New NHS-Modern, Dependable (DoH, 1997) with intention to replace the internal market with integrated care led by primary care groups of General Practitioners and community nurses whose responsibilities are commissioning and providing health care services for their local population. The New Public Health was introduced focusing on heath promotion and education using the bottom-up approach and focusing on public health rather than acute services. Tones and Tilford (2001) cites the Acheson enquiry which raised concerns regarding critical inequalities in health that in society the worst off are more ill and die earlier resulting to Green Paper (2003) with aims to reduce health inequalities. Three areas were prioritised by the report in relation to health inequalities, assessment of all relevant policies, for example the health of families with children and further reduction of income inequalities and poverty. The Department of Health (2003) Tackling Health Inequalities 3 year programme was set up to tackle health inequalities. It had four topics to support families to break the cycle of poverty, engaging communities and individuals to ensure relevance, responsiveness and sustainability as well as preventing illness and providing effective treatment and care culminating in addressing the underlying determinants of health. Tones and Tilford (2001) furthermore notes the reformation of the NHS by the Labour government to create a health service fit for the needs of 21st century Britain which is better, faster, more convenient service for patients that is fair and free to everyone. A variety of measures were introduced to improve quality of life in run down areas with a range of strategies to work towards quality homes for all. The New Labour implemented a policy of providing good housing in collaboration with the private sector in order to protect and meet the needs of the most vulnerable people (Naidoo and Willis (2001). Challenges that exists Challenges that exist in the public health sector are the current economic situation faced by the government which can cause difficulty in securing funding. The other challenge is failure in understanding or valuing the work of public health professional which can undermine their effectiveness and generate a defensive culture and negatively affects their moral; a lack of defined standards for public health practice and; a lack of clear accountability for health improvement. The shortage of some technical skills for example needs assessment, analysis and interpretation of information, critical appraisal and implementation skills; limited number of eligible applicants; sub-optimal working arrangements with local authorities manifesting in lack of consistency of local community plans and health plans. The other challenges are inadequacy of health as opposed to health service information systems and surveillance system for communicable and non-communicable disease. The other challenge is the difficulty in accessing public health evidence of promptly in a useable form; duplication of activity, in marshalling epidemiological information and evidence of effectiveness of health programmes. Lastly limited partnership between academic and public health service departments; limited pooling of resources and expertise between Health Boards and the NHS and other agencies and a lack of milestones by which to measure success (Review of the Public Health Function in Scotland, 2000). Part 2: Health initiative (Sure Start) The writer has chosen to focus on Sure Start which is a government programme aimed at delivering the best start in life for every child by bringing together early education, childcare, health and family support. The following are responsible for delivering Sure Start within Department for Children, Schools and Families: The Early Years, Extended Schools and Special Needs Group. Britain had the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe in the mid-1990s which led to the need of health promotion (UNICEF, 2001). In UK the Child Act, 2004 provides the legal underpinning childrens services set out by the government in the Green Paper in 2003, Every Child Matters as a Governments approach to the well being of children and young people aimed at giving all children the support they need to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well being which concurs with Ottawa Charter. The Childrens Plan (2007) was then published with a ten year strategy with aims to improve educational outcomes for children, improve childrens health, reduce offending rates among young people and eradicate children poverty by 2020 (DCFS, 2007). Health promotion works through concrete and effective community action in setting priorities, making decisions, planning strategies and implementing them to achieve better health (Ottawa Charter, 1986). For that reason the government therefore planned to deliver the best start for every child in bringing together early education, childcare, health and family support through Sure Start (Asthana and Halliday, 2006). Sure start is a public health approach that takes a population perspective, tackling causes of ill health and this is done by teaching mothers on breast feeding avoids lifestyles focus and its marginalisation of socio-economic and environmental influences on health which is in line with Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation (1999). The Department for Education and Skills (2000) set up Sure Starts core aims, targets and initiatives in their guidance document at the beginning of the programme (DES, 2000, pp. 1-2) were to improve health by accessing appropriate healthcare; enable informed choices about continuing a pregnancy or not; support teenage parents in caring for their children. Ewles (2006) support the idea that there is evidence to support the use of behaviour modification in conjunction with changes in caring for the vulnerable children and levels of activities involved in pre and post birth which concurs with the governments programme responding to Acheson report (1998) in Tackling Health Inequalities. This is seen by Beattie (1991) as objective reality of empowerment based on actual situation on community level. By promoting and protecting the health of pregnant and parenting teen mothers and their children Sure Start seem to be inline with Bradshaws taxonomy (1972) of health and social needs. Teenage parenthood is identified by Sure Start as both a cause and a consequence of social exclusion (Social Exclusion Unit, 1999) and this can be a normative need. Social Exclusion Unit (1999) also predicted the problems that involve a greater than average risk of being poor, unemployed and isolated. This is in accordance to the Acheson report (1998) which focuses on health inequalities and defines public health as the art and science of the prevention of disease and the promotion of health through the organised efforts of society. According to McLeod (2001) teenage mothers when compared to other mothers they have been seen as more likely to experience poverty and social deprivation and even in adult life, although these likelihoods might be a meaning of their deprived status relatively than of becoming a parent early per se (Ermisch and Pevalin, 2003). According to Bradshaw taxonomy this could be identified as a comparative need which concerns problems which emerge by comparison with others who are not in need. Furthermore he state that one of the most common uses of this approach is the comparison of social problems in different areas in order to determine which areas are most deprived. According to Social Exclusion Unit (1999) the government policy objective is to promote continuous learning among young people through Sure Start focusing on prevention of conceptions and secondly focussing on supporting teenage mothers primarily by measures to strongly encourage them to complete their education and keep in touch with the jobs market. This concurs with Naidoo and Willis (2001) who views public health as working together with others on shared programmes on the other hand to ensure that health promotion activities were achieved. Sure Start use collaboration, education and participatory approaches. Furthermore Dugan (1996) encourages public health practitioners to use participatory approach as a process that has rewarding effects and increases local talent and capacity, provides flexibility and systematic process for people. Micklewright (2002) assets that seven out of thirteen indicators in the second annual statement on poverty and social exclusion connecting to children and young people are measures of education and gaining skills. Educational approach enables health promoters to work with the community as partners giving guidance and not taking control but listening and taking their perspective on board. Educational approach expressed by Naidoo and Willis (2001) enriches the community with knowledge, information and developing skills that will enable them to make informed choices with regards to their health behaviour. Whereas community development aims at empowering people to work together to influence the social, economic, political and environmental issues that influence them (Naidoo and Willis, 2000). World Health Organization believed that people needed to hold some degree of control over their living and working conditions in order to develop lifestyles conducive to health (WHO, 1986). Ottawa Charter defines health promotion as the process of enabling people to increase control over, and improve their health (WHO, 1986). In conclusion public health practitioners role is to influence and identify those factors that promote the health of the population and contributes to reducing health inequalities, and able to influence teams and organizations and valuing professional development. For health practitioners to work effectively, good and effective communication skills are required that enables them to use appropriate verbal and non verbal communication skills to deliver relevant information to various people. It is essential that studies are conducted that primarily focus on the whole range of public health roles within health practice with particular emphasis given to examine the effects of these roles on public health professionals, and the education and training that will be necessary for these roles.

Aig Scandal

[pic] THE INTERNAL CONTROLS AND FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES THAT LED TO THE BAILOUT OF OUR NATION’S LARGEST INSURANCE COMPANY By: Monte Schwartz PREFACE Anyone who watches TV has most likely seen the American International Group (hereinafter AIG) commercial with the little boy who walks into his parent’s room while they are sleeping. When his mother asks if he had a nightmare, he says â€Å"no† and that he’s worried about his parent’s financial future. After a twenty-second spiel about his worries, the father says, â€Å"Buddy, we’re with AIG† and he goes, â€Å"Oh! and walks out of the room and (assuming) back to his bedroom. [1] AIG, established as a Delaware corporation in 1921 by Maurice â€Å"Hank† Greenburg, is primarily engaged in insurance-related and financial activities in the United States and European countries (over 130 combined total); including but not limited to home insurance, car insurance, life insurance and various investments. Imagine that this boys parents’ discover one day with their financial planners that they lost all of their investments and insurances in which they paid dearly.The parents had agreed to make an investment so they and their children could have a secured future protection against market risks. Well, it became a reality for many Americans. This devastating loss left many taxpayers with misappropriated assets along with a burden to pay the â€Å"bill† for the bailout of AIG. PART I: HOUSING MARKET SCANDAL: VIOLATIONS IN BUSINESS OPERATIONS To understand the accounting scandal of AIG, one must first understand its business transactions and operations leading up to the SEC investigations. In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed into law the OmnibusBudget Reconciliation Act, commonly known as the OBRA-93 or the Deficit Reduction Act. Part XIII, is our primary focus, the Revenue Reconciliation Act which allows limitations on executive compensations by limiting the deductible for tax purposes to $1 Million unless the compensation was earned through performance, bonuses or equity: ultimately increasing the average executives paycheck. [2] When an executive’s paycheck percentage is primarily a bonus, those profits can lead to decisions that are not in the best interest, short-term and long-term, of taxpayers or shareholders.You may think what this Act has to do with AIG, but this act is the very essence of why AIG failed as a business. AIG had paid its top executives a whopping $165 million in bonuses after it had received bailout funds. In early 1995, the Clinton Administration issued new and revised regulations to the Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA (in which was created by the Jimmy Carter administration) which de-emphasize a lender to make subjective assessment measures in favor of strictly numerical quotas, or as others may say, racial quotas. 3] In simpler terms, private banks were compelled to provide loans to low income famili es and minority neighborhoods as long as the person was making some sort of income to repay the loan and did not require any initiation of a credit check. In more ways than one, this was a Federal scheme that pressured and extorted banks into loaning money to people at high-risk. The new regulations also instructed lenders to take into account how well they responded to complaints from groups such as Minority Community Activist organizations like ACORN.In December of the same year, Henry Cisneros (herinafter Cisneros), then head of Department of Housing and Urban Development (hereinafter HUD), moved Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac towards a requirement that 42% of the mortgages would now serve predominantly minority neighborhoods and low to moderate income families. In 2000, Andrew Cuomo (hereinafter Cuomo), Cisneros’ successor, established an even more aggressive social-engineering goal by increasing the number of mortgages to 50% by method of dramatically hiking Fanny Mae’ s and Freddie Mac’s mandates to buy mortgages to under-serve neighborhoods for the very low income. 4] Cuomo also encouraged them to strongly enter the sub-prime loan markets, which are credit-default swap markets. And who sold the credit-default swaps? AIG did, because it was an insurance on bonds. Large banks buy bonds and insurance policies so that if a company, say General Electric, should declare bankruptcy, the large bank is out on whatever premium amount it paid and receives money from whoever sold the insurance policy, which in this case was AIG since AIG was the biggest underwriter of credit-default swaps. 5] Take for instance, as an example, General Electric (GE)[6]. There are only two (2) reasons as to why a bank would purchase credit-default swaps. Either they do not want to provide the full credit amount as it may be a risk or they are looking to hide something, like a cash transaction. Suppose that Bank A wants to better its business relationship with GE and so GE asks for $70 million on credit. The bank, in return, speaks to their senior credit manager that the maximum they can provide is $50 million, due to risk exposure.However, in order to satisfy the customer, the bank lends the $70 million anyway and writes off the $20 million difference by purchasing a credit-default swap from Bank B. The only problem is, GE believes the entire $70 million came from Bank A. Now, Bank B was â€Å"AIG Financial Products† (hereinafter AIGFP), a division of AIG. Bank A was Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, etc. PART II: THE ACCOUNTING SCANDAL: VIOLATIONS OF INTERNAL CONTROL There are four (4) most common ways of distorting a company’s financial condition.They are revenue recognition, cost or expense recognition, accounting for reserves and accounting related to business combinations. [7] AIG distorted their financials via accounting for reserves. What does that mean though? In accounting, companies use reserves to cover future costs such as taxes, possible litigation and pay-off debts or other liabilities. When a company intentionally falsifies information and misleads auditors of true financial reports, these fake transactions are better known as â€Å"sham transactions†.In 2001, the Securities Exchange Commission (herein after SEC) began investigating and making allegations that AIG was providing investors, shareholders and auditors with false financial statements, showing two sham schemes where the company altered its balance sheets through bogus transactions in efforts to conceal the company’s losses on investments related to the credit default swaps. By September of 2003, the SEC filed a lawsuit against a company known as Brightpoint Inc. (hereinafter Brightpoint), in which is a wholesale distributor of electronics.Their allegations included, but not limited to, improper use of insurance policies in attempting to reduce a loss by 11. 9 Million in efforts to show the public a smaller lo ss. As a result, Brightpoint’s Financial Statements overstated their net income. The SEC found their net income overstated by 61%. [8] It was revealed later in the discovery period that AIG was involved in assisting Brightpoint to spread out their losses over a time period. This technique is known as â€Å"retroactive insurance† which combined two policies into one.The two policies were the Retroactive Coverage and a Prospective Coverage. The â€Å"policy† was supposed to cover the cost of losses over a three-year term. The idea was to â€Å"smooth† the financial statement so that the public did not see such an impact of losses by AIG clients. Brightpoint paid a monthly premium for this policy of $15 Million. This tactic, while completely fraudulent, allowed Brightpoint to show an Insurance Receivable of $11. 9 Million. See, SEC v. Brightpoint (2003). Retroactive Coverage is not insurance.It just moved cash from one place to another, which the SEC called a â€Å"round-trip of cash†. Brightpoint deposited monies with AIG and later on, AIG would return the funds; yet mark it off in their books as if they made an Insurance Claim Payment. There was no risk being transferred. Once Auditors realized that this policy wasn’t quite an Insurance Policy, Brightpoint began making â€Å"restatements† to their financial statements. It is obvious that there is fraud when the books require numerous â€Å"restatements†. After the SEC had filed their lawsuit, AIG quickly made agreements to settle for $10 Million.This was only a civil penalty. No criminal penalties were administered by the Federal Courts for this â€Å"Retro-active Policy†. This payment of $10 Million resulted in AIG’s profit a mere $100,000. See, SEC v. Brightpoint (2003). Brightpoint was not the only company received â€Å"assistance† from AIG around the same time frame. Another company, known as PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (her einafter PNC), was also involved. In short, PNC was a Pennsylvania bank holding company. AIG helped PNC to move $762 million of assets off of the balance sheets. 9] By now, it seems AIG was a â€Å"pro† at distorting balance sheets. They didn’t like low net incomes and they helped others by sharing their tactics of â€Å"distortion†. The SEC calls these â€Å"PAGIC† transactions, since net incomes magically show profit. PNC had transferred their assets to another entity which PNC held major interest. They had created three (3) transactions which were intended to reduce their losses in regards to loans and venture capital investments by â€Å"transferring†, according to the SEC summary findings.PNC had then failed to account for these transfers as an asset or a loan which failed to appear on their balance sheets. This reduced their exposure to â€Å"troubled loans and volatile assets†. (See SEC v. PNC Financial Services, Inc. ) These transact ions were obviously structured to benefit PNC and its interested entities by increasing the value of their net income. Recently, as of January 2010, the SEC has also filed a complaint against a company known as Gen Re (General Reinsurance Corporation) which SEC has evidence of involvement in assisting AIG and other Financial Companies in using this sham scheme.The SEC makes allegations that Gen Re â€Å"knowingly provided substantial assistance to both AIG and Prudential in connection with their own violations of the books and records and internal control provisions of the federal securities laws, Sections 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1932. †[10] AIG falsely reported on its financial statements increases to both loss reserves and premiums written via sham reinsurance transactions. Gen Re helped AIG’s balance sheet transactions appear as thought AIG had an increase in loss reserves[11] by $500 million, which obviously was far from the ac tuality.The loss reserves should have been $250 million – half of the claimed amount – according to the SEC findings. There is also another accounting scandal involving AIG and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The individual parties involved Hank Greenberg, the CEO and founder of AIG and Timothy Geithner, then President of the NY Fed. Bank. The party investigating was the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (hereinafter Committee), whose senior chairman is Darrell Issa, also Republican Representative of California.Over twenty-two (22) hearings, discovery proceedings, interrogatories were produced on behalf of the Committee towards Timothy Geithner in why the Federal Reserve ordered AIG to refrain from disclosing in the notes of the financial statements all the facts of the bailout. Geithner, in hearings, attempted to defend the bailout by suggesting that had AIG collapsed, America would face a Great Depression. This answer was something the Committee h ad heard numerous times before. They demanded a new answer.Even if the case is true, that America would have faced a Great Depression, the Committee smelled a bad scene unfolding, especially since two of Geithner’s closest advisors, Mark Patterson (chief of staff) and Henry Paulson Jr. (former ex-chairman of the Federal Reserve), were both ex-employees of Goldman Sachs. In AIG’s bailout, Goldman Sachs had received $13 Billion. In defense to the bailout, Timothy Geithner’s general counsel had claimed that the disclosures were unnecessary since the company’s regulatory filings had offered more detailed information.In opposition to this statement, Issa released a five-page list of derivative transactions, also known as â€Å"Schedule A†[12] which is a comparative list of notional value, total collateral and negative mark to market values, respectively. Notional value is the value of the derivatives underlying assets at spot price (current price). The total collateral posted is the total securities for the guaranteed repayment of a loan and the negative mark to market measures the fair market value of accounts, which can change overtime.Between the three comparisons, it is clear that â€Å"Schedule A† shows little reason for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York insisted that information should be kept private. PART III: THE RESULTS: BAILOUT & BONUSES A â€Å"bailout† is the giving of financial assistance (via the Fed, therefore taxpayers) to a failing business to save it from collapse. A bailout can be through the use of cash or a loan; however it can only happen when a company faces potential bankruptcy.With AIG’s housing market scandal and accounting scandal, it faced bankruptcy because it reported an overstatement of net revenue on its annual financial statements leading investors and shareholders to believe the company was a success. AIG initially received $85 Billion from the government as a loan, and th en sometime in March 2009, they received another $88 Billion. Now that we know what financial assistance was received, term $173 Billion, what did AIG do with all the bailout money? Well, now we can look closer at Figure 1-1 in determine where the money has gone. 44 Million went back into the Banks of the United States. AIG paid itself $600 Million. Golden Sachs received $13 Billion and Merrill Lynch: $7 Billion. The chart also includes bailout money that each of the 50 states received, totaling $12 Billion, even though they were originally supposed to receive $15 Billion. $113 Billion went to guarantees, such as bond guarantees and securities guarantees. If you look closer, you will see that foreign banks and countries received more bailout money than the United States did. France, Germany and the United Kingdom received the bulk of the funds, a whopping $49 Billion.These countries received, rounded, 80% of the AIG foreign funds. See below figure for details of the funds AIG disbur sed to large banks and foreign countries. [pic] And what about that $165 Million â€Å"bonus† contract AIG had? Senior Judicial Analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano states that (1) the â€Å"existence of a contract is the building block to our commercial society† and that (2) therefore, the contract to pay top executives a $165 million cannot be broken because the â€Å"constitution prohibits the government, federal and state, from interfering with valid contracts and these contracts were valid when they were signed. [13] Much of the debate of where all of the taxpayer bailout funds come into scrutiny but that is another issue of AIG. The majority of the housing market and accounting scandals began during the Jimmy Carter administration when he enacted the CRA. Then, in the Bill Clinton administration, while he may have had good faith intentions to help the minority communities, he literally forced banks to handout loans when the applier had a high credit risk.Then, Cuomo increased the percentage of mortgages that were required to serve minorities via credit-default swaps which AIG were the primary underwriters. This factor, along with the sham balance sheet insurance transactions was the reason AIG nearly went bankrupt. While the bailout certainly helped AIG in avoiding bankruptcy, thousands of American citizens who file and pay annual income tax returns (the 50%), lost their investments and insurances to secure their futures all due to tax-schemers and executives who are high on themselves and want a bigger return. PART IV: AIG:WHAT IT IS NOW Since the discovery of AIG’s fraudulent behaviors in business and financial activities in 2001, the company has had to face many lawsuits from investors and shareholders; some are still pending. The CEO of AIG, Hank Greenburg as well as a few top executives were forced to resign. Some executives received a two (2) year prison term, which isn’t a very long time when considering how much money was misappropriated. Just recently, Oct 2, 2012, the company revealed a new image for their name. They have changed their logo which is the cover image above.They claim the new logo is â€Å"transparent† and â€Å"simplistic†. Does a new logo change the history of a company though? In a company that had so much potential yet failed to secure the futures of the Americans who they insured, the reputation is irreparably damaged and until it repays the billions of dollars back to the government (or, taxpayers). Until then, AIG is owned by the Federal Government. ———————– [1] â€Å"AIG Commercial†  © 2005 < http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=9VvGW98D3XA> [2] Korzenik, Jeffrey D. Forbes. om â€Å"The Tax Code Encourages Big Wall Street Bonuses† Feb 2009. < http://www. forbes. com/2009/02/04/wall-street-bonuses-opinions-contributors_0204_jeffrey_korzenik. html> [3] Money Gather: â€Å"Bill Clinton Helped Cau se the Housing Crisis† September 2008. [4] Morris, Dick. Take Back America. Pg 266, Harper, April 13, 2010. Print. > [5] The Big Picture. â€Å"Credit Default Swaps are Insurance Products. It’s Time we Regulated them as Much. † March 2012. [6] General Electric was in no way shape or form related to the AIG scandal; this is strictly an example. 7] See Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, 2009 Securities Litigation Study 30 (2009), available at http://10b5. pwc. com/PDF/NY-10-0559%20SEC%20LIT%20STUDY_V7%20PRINT. PDF. [8] Securities Exchange Commission v. Brightpoint Inc. , (2003) http://www. sec. gov/litigation/complaints/comp18340. htm [9] Securities and Exchange Commission v. PNC Financial Services Inc. http://www. sec. gov/litigation/admin/33-8112. htm [10] Securities and Exchange Commission v General Re Corporation, 10 CV 458, PACER [11] Loss reserves in the Insurance industry are an estimate of the value of a claim or group of claims not yet paid. [12]

The Aventure of the Red Tape Gang

Adventures of the Red Tape Gang are a mystery book. It was write in the United States of America in 1974 by Joan Lowery Nixon, she was born in February 3 of 1927 in Los Angeles, California, United States she was an American journalist and author, specializing in historical fiction and mysteries for children and young adults. Then Joan Lowery Nixon is the only four-time winner of the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award and a two-time winner of the California Young Reader Medal. She died in June 23, 2003. The story start in a place in Los Angeles in the middle of 1974, all the history will be narrated for Michael that is the main character in that book. One day Michael was talking with his family when he said them one morning the crime rate in Los Angeles because in those moments the city was suffering many problems with the delinquency. Michael desired to build one clubhouse with Tommy and Jimmy, Leroy, Dorothy and Linda Jean that was a person that always liked to take the big risks in adventures of gang. Michael's fathers everyday liked to read the newspapers; he was very informed about the acts that were passing in the city. Especially in those day arisen some problems near from the Michael's house and his red gang like they called their group decided to investigate the origin of problems, they were very informed with the news of newspaper that Michael's father had. Problems had been in a house that was near from the clubhouse and they wanted to solve problems. They one night went to check what was happening over there because in the newspaper was announcement many bad acts. They arrived to the house that was alone, nobody lived in that house, they saw by the window what had inside, but they just saw that inside just had one little light, they decided to return to their clubhouse and to make a schedule to be checking in different days what was happening there. Days later they saw a person outside the house but he looked strange person, then one black truck arrived there and they were talking and then they leaved from there, but it was not normal. The group wanted that anything else was their identification in the name of the gang and they decided to choose the name or Red Tape Gang because many groups have a specific name. They one day went to the house again and in that time they had many problems, in this time the turn was to Linda Jean, because she went in to the house but never saw that bad people was inside the house and she could not to come back with their friend because she stayed there and people when they leaved to there close the door, but they never saw that she was there. In his moment Michaels and his friends went to their houses to find tools and keys to open the door but everything was useless. Then bad people came back to the house, but Linda Jean was still inside the house and they saw her. In this moment start the climax because she took a gum that strange people had inside of house, so in this moment her friends got to open the door and they saw the problems that Linda Jean was living. In this moment they run away . to a police that was in the corner of a street and he arrived to the house to see what was going on. There the police took care of that problem and solve the mysterious. Story end in the moment that the policeman solved difficulties. End. The book is especially for young man because the idea and setting is very interesting. It is easy to catch what the author wants to transmit to people that reads that book. The main point that the author wants is that when the people is reading this book the readers can imagine the situation and they can live the emotion of the characters are living in each situation that they have. Is very important to know the kind of literature we are reading in that book, in this case we are reading fiction, and the book is designate for everybody like mysterious stories. I recommend that book because in the moment that you are reading you feel that you are one more character in the story, because is not easy that many book to get involve the reader in the story. For example in the fiction the author just write the things trying to give it’s a logic, but the main purpose that author wants is that the reader can image the lecture and then the reader try to be involve in that to forget the difficulties or problems that you are living. The most important thing is to think like a child and to have much imagination. Other thing is that book has an easy vocabulary, because it permits that almost everybody that knows or can understand English can read. Reading book permit us to put in practice our skills in foreign language. In that book is very important the use of some techniques that helps the understanding of the lecture for example to compare two or three ideas in the paragraph tat we can denominate Analogy. In that’s kind books is very common to live an emotional sense when the author just with words is involving you in the story (Connotation). Lectures permit to do personifications in the moment that you are reading the text, because you are going to imagining the things that are missing. The most important key in one book is to catch all the interest of the audience and it is the job to the author to get all the interest of people. The Mood in this book is very important in that book because the atmosphere is very interesting and you don’t want to stop to read the book, because you are implicit in that. The key in any book is the Plot, to know the progress of story and in that book is very used for the author to give the suspense necessary to develop the story.

The Power Of God A Push Of A Button - 1639 Words

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