Federalist papers-The House of Representatives and the Senate Essay Example for Free

Federalist papers-The House of Representatives and the Senate Essay The United States congress which is also the legislature one of the three arms of government is divided into two chambers; the House of Representatives ‘house’ and the Senate. They both serve a vital role in ensuring that the proper policies and laws that represent the citizen’s views are passed. The House of Representatives is made up of representatives from all the states. The Senate being the upper house is made up of individuals two from every state who are chosen by not looking at the populations in the states. Thus ensuring equal representation. They have the powers of consenting treaties, appointing federal officials for instance judges, secretaries in the cabinet and even the senior military personnel. The Publius writings are the name under which the Federalist papers were referred to back in the day when they were being formulated. These papers aid in highlighting the functions of the House and Senate in relation to how they were formed, the principles that govern how the members are elected, how they work and how their role plays an important part in the formulation of policies. There are several differences and similarities between these two chambers. The differences include that the senate is headed by the sitting Vice President who will vote in case there is a tie. The House of Representative is headed by the speaker who is elected by the members. â€Å"The senate is made up of 100 senators while the house has about 435 representatives and the number is determined by the populations they represent. In addition, the senators serve six year terms while the representatives serve 2 years (Patrick 225).† Though having many people means that the citizens’ views are well represented, these large numbers are said to inhibit them reaching a solution quickly. Since the senate is made up of fewer individuals, they form a strong team that is able to make and reach decisions quickly. This is well stated by James Madison in the Publius no. 63,   where it states that the senates’ small number makes it more stable and because of this, they are in a better position to form strong and lasting relations with foreign countries. moreover, he says that because the senators serve a longer period, this ensures that they will be held accountable for actions as well as policies   they have formulated. By being aware of this fact, they are always cautious of what they do. â€Å"The representatives on the other hand serve a smaller term therefore they will not be as keen as the senators after all they will not be around to be held responsible (Grossman 70).† This is further enhanced in the federalist no. 53 which states that the people who are chosen should be governed that are given to the House are not enough because during that period they have just known how the office works therefore their knowledge on foreign affairs is limited. The functions of the House of Representatives are mostly legislative purposes. â€Å"This is because their numbers enable them to pass ordinary legislation, override vetoes and make amendments (Wescott 127).† This is much more than what the senate can do. In the Federalist no. 66, Hamilton says that there is likelihood that the senators can act corrupt more so because they will side with the president or influenced by the public to make invalid decisions. For this reason, he does not see why they should be allowed to pass judgments. Though they are restricted to serving these purposes mostly, they can contribute in the impeachment of legislators. Senators are also engaged in the legislative matters but will also try those political offenses that the house has agreed on. On top of this, it acts as an executive council to the state. When the president wants to engage in treaties with other countries, the Senate has to agree on it before it is signed. This is quoted in the federalist no. 64 as it is said that, â€Å"the Senates advice is valuable and necessary.† Moreover if he appoints people to the high offices; the senate has to agree on the same issue. These powers of engaging in international treaties are not found within the House. The similarities are that there gender equality is observed in both chambers as men and women are elected. The role of both the Senate and the house is to ensure that proper laws are passed and that they are adjusted regularly so that they can fit with the changing times. Another similarity between the House and the Senate is that they both ensure that the system of election is just and according to the constitution. This therefore shows an example with which the national elections are conducted such that all individuals are treated fairly. â€Å"This is seen in Federalist 78 where constitution morality with regard to the proper use of the judicial system so as to enhance trust in the judicial system is enhanced (Wescott 144).† The House carries the banner for the whole constitution as the representatives are elected in a just manner and they represent the populations. This is because the voters in such electors are the same ones who elect state legislators as found in the Federalist no, 52.   These elections are administered by the states and are done in proper organized manner. For this reason, the system is fair and shows that the federal state elections need to be conducted in such an orderly manner. The same applies to the senate because only the competent individuals with prior experience in state matters are chosen. â€Å"Madison in the Federalist no. 62 says that the Senate is structured so that it can overcome the various organizational structures that face government institutions thus enhancing its stability (Millican 171).† Both the senate and the House of Representatives have the power to make pass policies that will impact different sectors of the economy with regards to what they feel is right for the people. This is because before a bill becomes law, it has to be approved by majority of the senate and the House of Representatives. To ensure that they do their work well, the Senate and the House engage in frequent meetings where they discuss issues that face the country and what needs to be done, share ideas, debate over issues as this aids in making strategic decisions and voting on bills. By doing this, they are fulfilling their constitutional rights to the people. Conclusion Though the Senate presence is considered to be more superior to the House of Representatives, they both play an important part in congress as they work in unison with other arms of government to ensure that the country is propelled in the right direction. The Federalist papers therefore ensure that there is balance within the system especially in the distribution of power so as to ensure that laws are passed in proper ways without bias. Works Cited Grofman, Bernard Wittman Donald. The Federalist Papers and the new institutionalism Algora Publishing, 1989 Grossman Jay. Reconstituting the American renaissance: Emerson, Whitman, and the politics of representation. Duke University Press, 2003 p.70 Millican Edward. One united people: the Federalist papers and the national idea. University Press of Kentucky, 1990 p. 171 Patrick John J. Founding the Republic: a documentary history. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995 p. 225 Wescott C. George. The Federalist: design for a constitutional republic. University of Illinois Press, 1994

Comparing Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Our Time Essay

Soul Writing in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Our Time      Ã‚  Ã‚  Real writing, soul writing is dangerous; there is an intrinsic, gut-churning element of risk within the process of telling the truth, a risk that yields an adrenaline rush that parallels skydiving and skinny-dipping. The thrill of one's own truth displayed nakedly in little black letters on a white page is scary and beautiful, both chaining and freeing. The issue for authors, like skydivers, is that after they jump out of the plane (start writing) the fears don't disappear. The diver-author asks herself, "Should I really be doing this... What if my parachute doesn't work... What if I'm misunderstood?" Harriet Jacobs and John Edgar Wideman undergo this free-fall, these fears. In the telling of their stories, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Jacobs) and Our Time (Wideman), each author is self-conscious. Both authors tell about a minority in their stories; Jacobs speaks of the female slave and Wideman speaks of the African-American gangster. Because they tell the story of a minority to a majority, they can't afford to be misunderstood. They also can't afford to write solely in metaphors because they not only must prove their competence through reserved analysis but also must appeal to the hearts and minds of their audience.    The authors must bring middle class white readers as close to the slave plantation or the Ghetto or the prison cell as possible. For this reason, both authors refer to the reader with questions. This rhetorical device forces the reader to place herself in the situation of the main character. For example, when discussing the abuse she took from her master, Dr. flint, Jacobs asks, "But where could I turn for protection?"(47... ...nd unresolved, not because the authors are incompetent, but because the issues that they write about don't have resolutions. The readers are left with the same frustration as the authors. Past can't be erased, roles can't be traded, and sympathy can't be transformed into empathy. But the sheer act of writing and publishing their stories is a resolution. While to jump off the plane is terrifying, and wind stings the face as one falls, once on the ground the writer can find resolution purely in the explanation itself, even if it ends unresolved.    Works Cited Jacobs, Harriet.   "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl."   The Classic Slave Narratives.   Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.   New York: Mentor, 1987. Wideman, John Edgar. "Our Time" excerpted in Ways of Reading (4th edition), David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky, eds. (Boston: Bedford Books, 1996).

Performing Arts Is a Waste of Time, Money and Resource Essay

Nowadays almost all schools include such subjects as art, drama, and music in their educational program. Therefore, by the time when children graduate school they have general understanding and basic knowledge in all of them. In my opinion, it is a positive tendency and these subjects should indeed be a part of every child’s education. I would like to introduce several reasons and examples that I believe will support my viewpoint. First and foremost, teaching of subjects such as art, drama and music is very crucial in forming of a thoroughly developed and educated individual who is well aware not only of science and related fields but also of arts in wide sense of this word. Completely educated person should have skills or at least knowledge in and understanding of art, music and drama as well, because these subjects develop creativity and artistic approach to life and surrounding world. Even though if a child will not pursue any of these fields of arts, he will be able to comprehend and appreciate them, by making his input to preservation and promotion of these subjects in future. For example, I did not attend any specialized music or art school, but my basic knowledge obtained at school assist me in apprehension and evaluation of pieces of art, music or drama. In addition, I can hold discussion in any of these subjects without any difficulties due to my background, received at school. Furthermore, teaching of these subjects helps parents in detection of hidden talents and special aptitudes of their child, because usually parents take their children to specialized art or music schools after discovering interest and abilities toward any of the mentioned subjects. For instance, my neighbors decided to send their seven years daughter to fine art courses because she was doing very well in her art class, especially in painting. Moreover, teaching of these subjects enrich the inside world of any child and assist in expression of ideas, thoughts and feelings that a child is unable to due to the traits of character. Usually people who cannot convey their feelings through words are successfully express them by playing music, drawing, creating sculptures and so on. The best example is the prominent scientist A. Einstein who was at the same time a very good violin player. When asked of the reason of his passion to music he responded that it was the best way to express what he could not deliver in words. In contrary, too much propagation of music, art or drama may shift a child away from the other subjects that constitute an important part of education as well. Only few of children desplay special ptitude to the mentioned subjects and mere interest in, let us say, music may persuade parents and a child to believe falsely that the latter has talent to it and drift him/her away from studying other subjects, causing serious gaps in a child’s education. In conclusion, I would like to emphasize, that teaching of music, art, and drama are critical in revealing hidden abilities of children toward these subjects and in forming completely educated and thoroughly developed individual with rich inside world. That is why I adhere to opinion that music, art and drama should be a part of every child’s education.

Actuarial Finance Advanced Enterprise Risk Management Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2772 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? A rating-based credit model can typically be looked at as two separate parts; a credit sensitive component based on the firms rating and a non-credit sensitive part which looks at other factors which have an impact on a bonds price. There are two primary ways for identifying these factors as described below. The first way to identify factor structures is to take known factors which are likely to impact the price of the bond and then use multivariate regression techniques to identify each bonds exposure to the factor. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Actuarial Finance Advanced Enterprise Risk Management Finance Essay" essay for you Create order These factors are commonly broken down into two categories: Fundamental factors These are factors which are specific to each individual issuer and can be derived from a companys annual report and accounts. For example, one factor could be the companys price to book ratio. Economic factors These are economic factors which are external to the company but known to affect the price of bonds. For example, these could include interest rates, exchange rates and / or commodity input prices. The second way to identify factors is through a statistical analysis. This method eliminates the need to have any prior knowledge about the factors affecting the bonds price. The idea of the statistical analysis is to identify other predictable time series that, in aggregate, can mainly explain the historic returns of the bonds in question. These time series are then our factors and we can calculate the exposure of each bond to each factor. The most common way to do this is through a principal component analysis. As seen in lecture notes, if we assume changes in credit ratings are independent of the other factors identified above then an r rated bond can be valued as below: Where represents the cash flow of the bond at time i. The term represents the impact on the price of the credit rating has, i.e. the discounting impact of the credit spread. The represents the price of a default free zero coupon bond paying 1 at time t, given it is currently time . Here we can build in the factor structure pricing model described above. A risk manager of the life insurer interprets the term tail dependency to mean correlations between returns in those cases where the return is relatively adverse over a relatively short time period, say, in the bottom 1% or 5% of outcomes in a given month. The risk manager asserts that bonds of similar duration issued by different companies typically exhibit higher tail dependency (as defined above) than their common stock, i.e. their equity share capital. (b) Identify economic reasons for and against this point of view. [6 marks] For: Corporate bond returns are largely driven by the underlying government bond yield (i.e the interest rate) of the same duration. Therefore, if the government bond yield at a particular duration rose sharply, the value of all corporate bonds at that duration would fall sharply, assuming credit spreads remained unchanged. A suitably large move in the government bond yield could result in all corporate bonds experience a bottom 1% or 5% outcome. Such correlations to a single underlying factor do not exist in equity markets. This is especially true for very long dated corporate bonds which are very sensitive to the underlying rate. The bottom 1% or 5% of outcomes for a bond is likely to be a default event or very close to default. A company defaulting is more likely to be a sign of hard economic times, than its common stock experiencing a tail event, which could easily be driven by a media event or localised disruption. In hard economic times you would expect the default rate to rise and credit spreads across the board to widen (i.e. tail events for a number of stocks). Equity returns are significantly more sensitive to a companys short term results (i.e. quarterly earnings and profit reports) than its bonds. These results which can trigger tail events in a companys equity are often released on different days and this observation would suggest equity markets have a lower tail dependency than bonds. Against When a companys bond has a tail event, its common stock is also likely to have fallen significantly, i.e. a tail event of its own. Therefore a tail dependency for two bonds would also imply a tail dependency for the companies common stock. Equities are much more sensitive to market sentiment in the short term than bonds. A bad market reaction to a particular piece of news can cause equity markets to crash sharply and sell off. In these situations there are rarely stocks that are exempt from the sell off and hence equities display a high le vel of tail dependency. Two bonds which have significantly different credit ratings are likely to be exposed to different factors and hence what may cause a tail event for one bond might not for another. For example, a high yielding C rated bond will be a lot more sensitive to market sentiment than a AAA rated bond and this division of market sensitivity is much less pronounced in equity markets. (c) Describe how you might test this assertion statistically. [5 marks] To test an assertion we first need to specify exactly what we want to test. We would therefore need to decide whether we are looking at the 5% or 1% tail event, what measure of tail dependence we want to look at and also which companies or markets we are talking about. We also then need to decide on what data we want to use to test the assertion. For example, we could use historic data for the specific companies or markets over the last X years. We would need to decide how many years to look at and in particular decide the relevance of major economic events and also consider if this history is likely to be a good representation of the future. Once we have decided on what data to use and collected this information we need to calculate the tail dependencies of pairs of bonds and the corresponding pairs of common stock. The tail dependence is given by Here, u is the level of tail dependence (i.e. the 1% or 5%) and the probability is calculated using the empirical CDFs or the two stocks and bonds given by the data. Once we have calculated the tail dependencies we need to check whether the hypothesis is true and also evaluate how significant the result is. For example, if the hypothesis holds in this one test but the tail dependencies are very close, there is little evidence to support the hypothesis. To further test the results we may wish to consider a longer time period, or splitting the period into a number of sub periods and seeing if the result still holds in each individual period. (d) Highlight types of insurance products the insurer might sell or investments the insurer might hold that would be particularly sensitive to correlations between different bonds or different equities in relatively adverse outcomes. [3 marks] The insurer may sell trade credit insurance to other businesses that are looking to insure against the credit risk in their accounts receivable. An increase in the correlation of credit events for the insurer, especially in adverse conditions, may trigger a high number of claims and have a large negative impact on their business. The insurer may hold a number of complex investments in credit derivative products which are highly sensitive to correlations in adverse conditions. For example an n-th to default credit derivative whereby a pay-out is made if more than n credit names default within a predefined basket. The price of the long position in the derivative will rise dramatically if there is likely to be a high correlation in the tail of bond markets. If the correlation is expected to be relatively low then it is likely even if one name defaults others will not follow and the price will be lower. Other such investment products particularly affected by the correlation in th e tail are iTraxx, CDOs, CDO-Squared, LSS and Quanto or diff swaps. The life insurer may also sell an insurance bond (or investment bond product) which allows investors to tax efficiently invest in an underlying investment fund. An investment fund which holds any of the above products will be exposed in the same way as the company to correlations in bond and equity markets. Question 2 [20 marks] (a) Summarise the main ways in which banks typical approaches to liquidity risk proved inadequate during the 2007-09 credit crisis and also summarise the main changes that Basel III is mandating to capital requirements for such risks in the light of these inadequacies. [5 marks] During the credit crisis bank balance sheets became very stretched. The majority of banks business models had relied on continued access to liquidity and I have set out a number of reason for this below. Prior to the 2007-09 credit crisis, bank risk models generally relied on past data to act as a guide to the future. Therefore stress tests carried out by banks largely underestimated the linkage between market liquidity and funding liquidity as such a scenario had not occurred before. They also had relatively little focus on developing new stress test scenarios so were caught out by the crisis. Furthermore, banks typically treated the funding cost of transaction with a maturity of less than one year to be equal. When the fear of the crisis set in and large spreads opened up between the costs of funding within the one year period (i.e. spread between overnight lending and 3 6 month LIBOR) many banks models become inadequate and had to quickly adapt. Banks also did not prop erly account for the funding and liquidity requirements of off balance sheet vehicles. Banks had largely seen these as standalone and separate from their main business, however, during the crisis banks found themselves facing large legal and reputational risks if these vehicles were not brought back onto the banks own balance sheets. This left the banks even shorter of liquidity. Additionally, a number of banks had taken out liquidity lines with other private sector firms, whereby the banks were able to access liquidity from these firms on demand. They had allowed for this provision of liquidity in their models, however, it became very difficult for banks to draw on this liquidity during the crisis. Banks found that if they were seen to be drawing on liquidity from these sources they were perceived to be more vulnerable and subsequently cut off from other sources of liquidity. Basel III has looked to address the inadequacy of banks liquidity management through two liquidity ra tios falling under pillar 1. The first of these is the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) which is designed to ensure banks hold sufficient high quality liquid assets such that they could survive and cover its net outflows over a 30 day period in a stress case scenario. The second is the Net Stable Funding Ratio which has a longer term focus and aims to encourage banks to fund their activities with stable sources of funding. Basel III also introduced additional liquidity monitoring metrics which look to address the mismatch of cash flow durations. (b) Review the risks that the pension fund might face if it enters into such a transaction and, if practical, propose refinements that might address these risks without invalidating the stated attractions of the transaction to the investment bank. You may assume that the transaction would relate to a sizeable proportion of the pension funds overall asset base. [9 marks] Firstly the pension scheme is exposed to the risk that the bank goes bankrupt and the contract becomes worthless. The pension fund would be left with a portfolio of illiquid, long-dated, less well rated corporate bonds. It may be the case that the pension scheme can sell these bonds and replace the original portfolio of bonds it had to begin with and be better off. However, in a situation where a bank has defaulted it is likely credit spreads will have widened and government yields fallen and the pension scheme would lose out and not be able to repurchase its original portfolio. One potential way to mitigate against this risk would be to invest through a pooled fund (like that run by FC) which pools pension scheme money together and put the above trade on with a number of banks, thus diversifying the risk of that one bank. Another potential solution is to enter the trade with the banks less liquid portfolio being valued at a significant haircut to market value, thus improving the likelihood of being able to replace the liquid portfolio should the bank go under. Another solution would be to require collateralisation of the difference in value between the two portfolios so that the pension scheme could regain its portfolio should the bank default. Given the purpose of the trade in the first place it would be sensible to let the bank collateralise the trade with similar illiquid holdings at a haircut. To further mitigate this risk the pension scheme could employ an investment advisor to help assess the constituents of the illiquid portfolio. Ensuring the portfolio is well diversified can help the portfolio to retain value and hence minimise losses in the event of the bank going bankrupt. The trade also introduces liquidity risk for the pension scheme, while it is true pension schemes are long term investors and are unlikely to be forced liquidators of assets, it does not mean that pension schemes are void of risks posed by low liquidity. Most of t he risks associated with low liquidity for a pension scheme are opportunistic ones. For example, suppose five years down the line, after having carried out the trade, interest rates move significantly and buyout conditions become favourable. The pension scheme would not be able to liquidate its assets for a year, in which time, markets may have moved again. Another example might be that the government wants to get pension schemes involved in infrastructure projects and offer a very attractive investment opportunity, again the pension scheme has its assets tied up and would miss out on this opportunity. There is little to be done to mitigate this risk as the pension scheme is effectively receiving a premium for its liquidity. Reducing the pension scheme illiquidity by, for example, shortening the notice period, would reduce the premium it was being paid. The only way to slightly reduce this risk without reducing the attractiveness of the trade for the bank is to ensure that the contract can be traded on the secondary market (i.e. if the pension scheme wants to get out within the years notice period, it could find another pension scheme to take its place in the trade). The easiest way for the pension scheme to do this is again to use a pooled fund. The low number of pooled funds currently offering this type of product improves the chances of the pension scheme finding a buyer in the secondary market. (c) Propose 3 reverse stress tests that might be used when reviewing and discussing the risks involved in such a transaction and indicate with reasons which of your proposed reverse stress tests might be the most plausible way in which a typical UK (defined benefit) pension fund might run into significant trouble with the proposed transaction. [6 marks] If the trade was carried out on a sensible part of the pension schemes assets it is likely an accumulation of events will need to have occurred to put the pension scheme into financial difficulties (i.e. not being able to make benefit payments as they fall due). I believe the most likely scenario is that the world economy falls into recession, leading to rising default rates and widening credit spreads. Further, the bank with which the pension scheme had entered the trade with collapses. The pension scheme is left with a portfolio of illiquid corporate bonds which are trading at extremely distressed levels due to the widened credit spreads. To add to the pension scheme woes all the growth assets are likely to have also fallen in value, while the value of their liabilities rise as gilt yields fall. In addition to the bank defaulting and credit spreads rising as two reverse stress tests, the pension scheme could be put into trouble if it faced a large portion of members request ing transfer values. This could potentially lead to the pension scheme having to sell all its liquid assets to meet these transfer values. In the extreme case, the one year lock in period could lead to the pension scheme not having assets to sell to meet its on-going benefit outgo.