Digital and Visual Literacy Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Computerized and Visual Literacy - Article Example The auxiliary object is to demonstrate the absence of utilization of the equivalent to help the showing part in the training framework with computerized education. The inquiry that the creators are tending to is that would could it be that characterizes education effectively in the present situation, in this present reality where kids are exceptionally innovation keen. The inquiry likewise tended to by the creators unequivocally and clearly is that what is the device or way which causes us have a capacity to perceive whatever we witness, and deduce effectively from what we experience. Truly the appropriate response is advanced just as visual education. In contrast to prior occasions when overhead projector, carefully assembled slides and blackboards were utilized, nowadays, new media proficiency specialized abilities are utilized in training like ongoing sound video interface, utilization of web joins for direct access, power point introductions, gushing recordings and so forth. The creators have expected their depiction of utilization of advanced devices in instructive data to advance visual and computerized proficiency. This can be all around addressed as today instructive establishments have are definitely further developed than the view introduced in the article. The thinking of the creators bolsters the advanced just as visual proficiency and its use in the present serious world and the thinking is all around upheld by proofs which put forth a more grounded defense for better ramifications. 7. b. In the event that we neglect to pay attention to this line of thinking, the suggestions are: 30 In the event that the creators' thinking isn't paid attention to, individuals would in any case

Those who inspired me free essay sample

Numerous individuals have various of individuals that may have affected them once in their life. I just have three that truly comprehended a great deal throughout everyday life. My mom, my cousin Tina and my cousin Tiffany are a major motivation n my life. Without them I most likely wouldnt be as fruitful as I am today. The main individual that Influenced me the most is my mom. This woman has been there for me since the very first moment. Without her wouldnt be here. She Is an exceptionally persevering lady. Maintaining two Sources of income and overseeing two children with very little help Is a major hand applaud. My mom had me when It was her first year In school. Not once did she let that prevent he from prevailing throughout everyday life. I recall there were days when she would take me to class with her. Despite the fact that she had me while she was still In school, my mom moved on from school with her single men degree. We will compose a custom paper test on The individuals who propelled me or on the other hand any comparable point explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page She called me her little inspiration and I was the motivation behind why she buckled down. The second individual that Influenced me Is my cousin Tina. At whatever point I need anyone to converse with she was consistently there to tune in. She Is another persevering lady. Like most youngsters I would prefer to discuss certain things with the storeroom grown-up figure to me other than my mom. My cousin was and has lways been an exceptionally straight forward individual. She will never disclose to you something since you need to hear it. She preferably be totally legit with you over to make them accept lies. As she generally disclosed to me l no need to relive that, so I comprehend what life resembled as an adolescent. She has truly helped me open my eyes and see a great deal of things. The third individual that moves me is my other cousin Tiffany. She is one of those laid back, fun kind of cousins however can likewise get intense with you with regards to your future. She has been in the naw for over 10+ years now and she has truly roused nd urged me to Join the naw also. There have been times when I needed to abandon everything since I had a feeling that I couldnt do it however thank god for her motivation she snapped me directly once more into reality speedy. Well these are my primary three women that have brought so much confidence, love, support, insight, motivation, thus considerably more into my life. I am grateful for them every single day that I wake up. As I get more established I endeavor to be Just similar to them yet perhaps multiple times better. You can never turn out badly with moving yourself to turning out to be something such a great amount of better than what you are now focusing on.

Do Your Money Problems Stem From Addictive Behavior

Do Your Money Problems Stem From Addictive Behavior Addiction Addictive Behaviors Shopping Print Money Problems and Addictive Behavior By Elizabeth Hartney, BSc., MSc., MA, PhD Elizabeth Hartney, BSc, MSc, MA, PhD is a psychologist, professor, and Director of the Centre for Health Leadership and Research at Royal Roads University, Canada. Learn about our editorial policy Elizabeth Hartney, BSc., MSc., MA, PhD Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on August 05, 2016 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD Updated on October 04, 2019 Westend61 / Getty Images More in Addiction Addictive Behaviors Shopping Caffeine Internet Sex Alcohol Use Drug Use Nicotine Use Coping and Recovery Money problems affect most of us from time to time. Being at an early stage of your career; going through life changes such as marriage or starting a family; facing unemployment; and unexpected life events that bring unexpected costs, such as illness or the death of a family member are all issues that cause temporary money problems. But sometimes money problems are long-term, the causes are deeper, and the solutions are more dramatic because they require lifestyle changes. Addiction and Money Problems Most addictions have a serious impact on finances. In fact, financial problems are even cited as a possible symptom of addiction for substance dependence and compulsive gambling in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) used by mental health workers to diagnose mental health problems. Although alcohol dependence, drug addiction, and internet addiction all tend to carry significant financial costs, both in terms of paying for the addictive substance or behavior, and in terms of the time taken away from other activities, including work, gambling and shopping addiction almost always lead to money problems, simply because they strike at the core of the addict’s finances. Without money, there can be no gambling, and without money, there can be no shopping. How Denial Keeps Overspenders Addicted Denial is common among people with addictions of all kinds. Basically, denial is a way that you hide the truth of your addiction from yourself, for example, by making excuses, by blaming others, by blaming circumstances outside of your control, or by kidding yourself that you are in transition and that circumstances are about to change. Denial is used to cover up addiction from other people but is also used to avoid facing the fact that you are addicted, and that you will continue to have money problems until you overcome your addiction. Overspenders can blame others for money problems in a variety of ways. The overspent addict might blame their partner for poor money management, they might blame their children for having material needs, they might blame their boss for needing them to look good for work without acknowledging that designer fashions every season are not actually a workplace requirement, or they might blame enemies for frustrating them to the point where they need retail therapy. Money problems can also be blamed on circumstances outside of your control in a variety of ways. Let’s say winter is coming and you need a new coat. Do you really need five or ten coats? No, you only need one, or at most two. But a shopping addict may rationalize buying more and more coats, using the excuse of the cold weather every time. You might equally blame the cost of whatever it is you are buying, despite the fact that you buy it again and again, the need for a non-essential item for good luck, or the remote possibility that you might need that item one day. Some shopping addicts even blame the shop, advertising, the fashion industry or peer pressure for their overspending. Ultimately, this is simply an avoidance of responsibility for your own actions. Take Control of Your Money Problems Like all addictions, the solution to money problems for shopping addicts and overspenders is both simple and difficult. You need to take complete responsibility for your actions and for the consequences of your actions, and to take control of those actions by monitoring and making careful decisions about what you spend your money on. Unlike addictions to alcohol and drugs, there is no way to avoid money or to avoid the need to shop. You may need a complete break from spending before getting to this point, by asking someone else to take responsibility for purchasing the basic necessities of life until you have had a reasonable break from spending. But sooner or later, you will need to formulate a spending plan which will give you complete control over how much you spend, and what you spend it on.

Differences Between The Roman And Han Dynasty - 1289 Words

Thesis: Due to a better centralized and staffed bureaucracy based on a common political philosophy the Han dynasty was able to more cohesively integrate the regions it ruled over, and because of this they were able to have a longer lasting influence. One necessary part of any large empire like the Roman empire or the Han dynasty is an organized power structure. Both the Romans and the Han had similar power structures in some functions, but they differed in ideologies and emphasis on roles of the power structure which accounts for the differences in success of integration. The ruler of the Roman and Han empires were emperors who had absolute control over every aspect of the empire. For the success of these two empires, a bureaucracy was†¦show more content†¦The Han dynasty, instead, viewed their government bureaucracy in more high esteem. The origins of the Han dynasty bureaucracy were in the preceding Qin dynasty. This is described in one passage by Sima Qian, a Han historia n, where he describes the first emperor of the Qin dynasty. In these writings he describes the first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, as a very cruel despot who burned important writings, imposed cruel penalties, and was very arrogant.(FOOTNOTE). However, even Sima Qian acknowledges that he unified China through the appointment of officials to rule provinces, and standardizing their measurements and writing system.(FOOTNOTE). When the Qin dynasty ended in 202 BCE, however their bureaucratic system survived through the Han dynasty.(FOOTNOTE). This is significant because even though the Han viewed the Qin dynasty very poorly, they still enacted a bureaucracy that was very similar. The unique attributes of this bureaucracy was that it was more centralized, and cohesive then that of the Roman empire. Also, as mentioned earlier, it was better staffed and more equipped. The aspect of the Han dynasty that allowed for them to have such a cohesive government and empire was that it was built upon Co nfucian ideals, or at least, they attempted to build it on Confucian ideals. Mencius, a famous Confucian philosopher, describes the idealShow MoreRelatedSimilarities Between Rome And Han Dynasty1041 Words   |  5 PagesRoman Empire and Han Dynasty Comparison Han Dynasty and Roman Empire have many cultural aspects including religious, geographical, and political similarities that can be compared, though many differences are also widespread during this era. Though Roman and Han political structures, both emphasized bureaucracies, they came to them quite differently. Through many amounts of expansion, both societies spread culture and earned money, though expansion was eventually their downfall. Their religionsRead MoreROMAN EMPIRE AND THE HAN DYNASTY IN CHINA1441 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE HAN DYNASTY IN CHINA Rodrick Carter HIEU 201 Liberty University 29 November 2014 Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty in China The Roman Empire and Han Dynasty in China are two kingdoms that, despite the geographical difference between them, managed to achieve great success and failure in equal measure. Both were characterized by imperial dynasties that were headed by the emperors and they held large territories. Both of these kingdoms faced various challenges afterRead MoreComparison on the Polybius from Punic Wars and Ssu-ma Chi’en995 Words   |  4 Pageswere two independent and strong powers existing separately at the southeast of China in Asia and at the core area of Mediterranean in Europe, the Han dynasty and Rome. They have both reached the high point of the contemporary civilizations. Also, they formed their empires by defeating their own hostile forces. There are significant differences between the two great empires in their process of birth, growth and perfection, ruling ideologies and institutions and so on. Before discovering and comparingRead MoreThe Han Dynasty governed China for more than four hundred years. It rose to power in 206 BC and900 Words   |  4 PagesThe Han Dynasty governed China for more than four hundred years. It rose to power in 206 BC and stayed until 220 AC. The Han Dynasty played a vital role in China’s development. This dynasty pioneered a political system and social structure that lasted in China for almost 2,000 years. The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were considered two of the most strongest civilizations at that time. The Roman Empire lasted from 27 BC to 393 AD. This empire changed the way Romans lived. The Romans made rapidRead MoreRoman Empire Vs. Han Dynasty939 Words   |  4 PagesCompare and Contrast Essay Roman Empire vs. Han Dynasty Bethany Corl HIEU 201-B11 September 29, 2014 Compare and Contrast Essay The Roman and Han empires flourished in culture, wealth, and technological advances at their pinnacle, leading not to future stability, but to greed, corruption, and ultimately their downfall. The Roman and Han empires were different with respect to how each came to gaining their power. However, each held several similarities within their governmentsRead MoreThe Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty Essay1272 Words   |  6 PagesTHE ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE HAN DYNASTY The Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty Imagine being the head of government in one or two of the most famously remembered governments in the world’s history! The Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty are two of the most famous governments in history. The Roman Empire and Han Dynasty were governed in very different ways, however both contributed greatly to Western civilization. The Roman Empire was in power between 1,000 and 1,200 years. The Han Dynasty was inRead MoreEssay on Ap World Similarities and Differences China and Rome1144 Words   |  5 PagesHan China and Rome The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire both had a great influence not only on its people but the world as a whole. The two had similar and different methods of political control. Both ruled their people under a bureaucracy, they had civil servants to maintain their large empires, and their foundations were made of great and strong rulers. Aside from the similarities they also had several differences. Take China for example, they focused more on Confucianism and they had a MandateRead MoreHan And Roman Attitudes Towards Technology1411 Words   |  6 PagesThe Han and Romans attitudes towards technology resembled each other in a variety of ways like how both empires allowed non-government workers to practice engineering and other crafts that dealt with technology. However, during the first century of B.C.E the Han and Roman empires had many differences with their attitudes towards technology. For example, the Roman empire was against engineering and advancements in technology as it had government officials speak out against engineering and being aRead MoreComparing The Romans And The Han Dynasty Chinese907 Words   |  4 PagesBoth the Romans and the Han Dynasty Chinese had a lot in common even though they lived thousands of miles apart, but had many differences as well. Both civilizations lasted hundreds of years and accumulated each a population of more than fifty to sixty million inhabitants. While the two developed around the same time frame they spoke different languages, had different governments, and different ways of living. Their main way of food was agriculture. Both great civilizations had perfected the waysRead MoreCompare And Contrast Rome And Han Empire1342 Words   |  6 Pagesthree centuries, Rome and the Han Dynasty were successful in their expansion throughout their respected parts of the world. Although both ran a very similar government, both successful civilizations did so using different methods. The Han would govern using imperial rule in addition to the Analects of Confucianism to run their political ideology. The Han Dynasty would eventually even change the text of the Analects per how they ruled through the original tablets. The Roman Empire would also use their

Why The Destruction Of Japan - 1693 Words

Brittney Herrera Professor Smith History 118 06 December 2014 Why the Destruction of Japan, Through the Use of the Atom Bomb, Was Unnecessary Much controversy comes to mind when thinking about the events of World War II. Maybe one of the most controversial topics surrounding World War II is that of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, Japan. Many historians and scholars have spent much time researching this topic and, through the examination of numerous records and manuscripts, have been able to answer many of the questions surrounding this topic; like why President Truman, and his administration, chose to use atomic weapons against Japan. While many experts can agree on his reason, they still disagree on the†¦show more content†¦This compilation was called the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey. Once completed the Survey turned to the Pacific campaign. In 1946 the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey’s report, Japan s Struggle to End the War, established that, â€Å"†¦certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.† (U.S. Gov.) This quote, which was said to be impartial, shows that there was no need to drop the bombs on Japan in order to prevent an invasion because, there was no need for an invasion; Japan would have surrendered without it. This would have been true even if Russia had not entered into the war. Additionally, in a top-secret War Department Study, declassified in the 1970’s, titled Use of the Atomic Bomb on Japan found that â€Å"†¦the Japanese leaders had decided to surrender and were merely looking for sufficient pretext to convince the die-hard Army Group that Japan had lost the war and must capitulate to the Allies†¦.† (Alperovitz) Furthermore it states that Russia’s entry into the war â€Å"†¦would almost certainly have furnished this pretext, and would have been sufficient to convince all respo nsible leaders that surrender was unavoidable†¦.†

Capstone Project Finance (Final Project) Free Essays

string(79) " left various financial institutions unrehearsed to engross subsequent losses\." Abstract The need to encourage house or homeownership has been in the government’s strategic plan since 1934, however, the current financial policies and practices in the housing finance and the mortgage market has characterized by minimum flow of capital in the secondary mortgage market, confusion on the main control authority and various ill practices. This fact has necessitated various changes in the house and homeownership financial. This study collected both primary and secondary data, and found out that the government must set the right policies that will empower house and home consumers to circumvent biased practices and practice informed decision making, these sentiments. We will write a custom essay sample on Capstone Project Finance (Final Project) or any similar topic only for you Order Now There must be an improvement in the foreclosure processing and mortgage servicing, notably, from the beginning of the last financial crisis, foreclosures and NAR tried to work by administrators and regulators to formulate criteria for decreasing the risk of foreclosure. There should be increased capital availability to creditworthy borrowers from all communities and states including Michigan. The study has also revealed that more solution based research is necessary than general solution researches. Keywords: financial policies, house and homeownership, and mortgage. Dedication This project has been dedicated to those who believe that financial policy making is a joint responsibility, for every United States citizen, and it should not be left to the government and politicians. It has also been dedicated to those who believe in acquiring their own homes as a step towards fulfilling the upper needs in the Maslow hierarchy of needs. Acknowledgement First, I offer gratitude to God almighty the giver of life and strength to complete this project. Second, my gratitude goes to my Tutor and all participating members in the Capstone project committee. Third, I offer my greatest gratitude to all the members Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), who conducted the 2012 Assets Opportunity Scorecard, they highlighted the lower score leading to a grade of C for Michigan State’s Housing and Homeownership, and they brought to my attention the problem of low house and homeownership in Michigan. Last but not least, is gratitude to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce (MCC), for suggesting the need to amend financial policies that encourage house and home ownership in the State of Michigan. Table of Contents List of Abbreviations8 Chapter 1: Introduction9 1. 1 Background of the Problem9 1. 2 Statement of the Problem9 1. 3 Purpose of the Project/Study10 1. 4 Significance of the Project10 1. 5 Nature of the Project11 1. 6 Research Questions12 1. 7 Theoretical Framework12 1. 8 Assumptions12 1. 9 Scope and Limitations13 Chapter 2: Literature review14 2. Historical Overview: Development of American Housing and Home Financial System14 Federal Housing Administration (FHA)14 History of the FHA14 The current FHA15 The FHA Down Payment16 The Mortgage Insurance17 Stopping the FHA Mortgage Insurance18 The Economic Effects of the FHA19 2. 2 The Current Housing Finance System20 Tax Policy20 2. 3 Flows in the Housing Finance System22 2. 4 The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)23 History of F HFA24 Conservatorship of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae24 Chapter 3: Description of the Research Design Used26 3. 1 Research Method and Design Appropriateness26 . 1 Population26 3. 2 Informed Consent26 3. 3 Confidentiality27 3. 4 Data Collection27 3. 5 Instrumentation28 Open and Closed Ended Questionnaires28 Interviews29 Reading29 3. 6 Validity and Reliability30 Internal validity30 External validity30 Reliability30 3. 7 Data Analysis31 Chapter 4: The Results and Findings of the Project32 Chapter 5: Discussion of Results and Findings33 Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations37 Chapter 7: References38 Chapter 8: Appendices41 Appendix 1: CFED Assets Opportunity Scorecard 2012, Michigan State: Profile41 Appendix 2: Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Questionnaire42 Appendix 3: Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Interview Questions44 List of Abbreviations CFED – Corporation for Enterprise Development FHA – The Federal Housing Administration FHFA – Federal Housing Finance Agency FHFB – Federal Housing Finance Board GSEs -Government Sponsored Enterprises HUD – Department of Housing and Urban Development IRS – The Internal Revenue Service LTV – Loan-to-Value Ratios MBS – Mortgage-Backed Securities MCC – Michigan Chamber of Commerce MMI – Annual Mutual Mortgage Insurance MRBs – Mortgage Revenue Bonds MSHDA – Michigan State Housing Development Authority NAHB – National Association of Home Builders NAR – National Association of Realtors OFHEO – Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight UFMIP – Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium Chapter 1: Introduction 1. 1 Background of the Problem The recently released Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) Assets Opportunity Scorecard 2012, under Michigan State: Profile, and further under House and Homeownership section, revealed that; the main challenging issue to be tackled in Michigan is the low rate of the house and homeownership. Appendix 1 clearly shows that Housing and Homeownership Area in the Scorecard it has been ranked 32, and given a grade score of C. The House and homeownership in Michigan is seriously wanting due to the fact that, it had the least score in the scorecard, and it is closely followed by the challenge of attaining health insurance for all. Meanwhile, recent financial literature on the challenges of the current US housing finance policies; has attributed the reduced rate of the house and homeownership to poor financial policies regulating the house and homeownership industry. Swindler (2011) discussion on the house and homeownership in the US, also blamed the low house and homeownership turnout in Michigan on; unfavorable financial environment supporting it. This is currently a crucial issue, and it has raised a lot of concern, especially with the residents of Michigan, and it is upon financial experts and researchers, to device the means of improving the poor housing finance policies and practices. 1. 2 Statement of the Problem The problem the existing poor house and homeownership consumer protections permitted low-quality, risky mortgage products, and that are predacious imparting to thrive, an outdated, and inadequate regulatory system that has remained unchanged since the 1930s, and which has failed to control the house and homeownership financial industry. There is a complicated securitization procedure that lacks accountability, standardization, and transparency. There is inadequate capital in the house and homeownership system: this has left various financial institutions unrehearsed to engross subsequent losses. You read "Capstone Project Finance (Final Project)" in category "Essay examples" Lastly, the 2008 US recession, proved that the house and homeownership servicing industry still remained ill-equipped to assist the requirements of investors, lenders and borrowers, especially when the housing and homes prices fell down (The Department of the Treasury and U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2011). 1. 3 Purpose of the Project/Study This project aims to: †¢Find out the weakness of existing financial policies meant to encourage home and homeownership in Michigan. †¢Find out various relevant financial policy changes that can encourage house and homeownership in Michigan. Find out proof of the applicability of the discovered financial policy changes that encourage house and homeownership in Michigan. 1. 4 Significance of the Project This project aims at benefiting the people of Michigan State, and the general republic of the United States. The outcome of this project will assist the federal government, Michigan State Authorities, and all other sta keholders in homeownership to; understand how best they can improve their operations and financial policies to encourage homeownership in this state. The main influence and justification of this project is: the reality of the low and decreasing rate of homeownership in Michigan State and the turbulences that are currently facing the US mortgage market. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2010), had released a report on current economic and financial issues in the US, and they revealed a low turnout in homeownership in the US and went a head to blame it on poor financial polies. Wiseman (2010) highlighted the issues around homeownership in the US, and he proposed various polies that could be used to encourage homeownership, but, he lacked a scientific research to back his ideas. This missing links or research evidence to back bright ideas on financial policy changes is a serious problem, and it is the reason why this project aims at finding out credible evidence of various proposed financial policy changes that could be used to encourage homeownership in Michigan. 1. 5 Nature of the Project This project will mainly apply mixed research method, including a survey method and integrate it with other relevant finance supporting research methods. It will collect both primary and secondary data, to illustrate the relevant financial policy changes that can be used to encourage homeownership in Michigan. An open and closed questionnaires are often used to collect data in the 100 branches of various homeownership financial institutions, and the other institutions closely associated with homeownership in Michigan. These financial and other institutions associated with homeownership in Michigan, will include: the public and private banks, Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), the US Urban and ousing department, and other mortgage and housing finance companies. This information will then have to be cross examined against various secondary literature, and the current document and applying housing finance policies that heve been intended to be encouraging homeownership in the US. And the new ideas will have to be filtered, and finally, financial knowledge have to be will be applied to test the applicability of the sele cted new ideas, before discussing and interpreting them, so that they can be included in the final project document. . 6 Research Questions This project aims at answering three main questions, namely: †¢What are the current weakness of existing financial policies meant to encourage home and homeownership in Michigan? †¢What are the various relevant financial policy changes that can encourage house and homeownership in Michigan? †¢What can prove the applicability of the discovered financial policy changes that encourage house and homeownership in Michigan? 1. 7 Theoretical Framework The NAR issue Analysis (2011) had supported the financial policies that: empower house and home consumers to escape from biased practices and make fully informed decisions before engaging in any transactions aimed at acquiring a house or home, improving foreclosure processing and mortgage servicing, and they also supported the need for guaranteeing that capital is accessible to creditworthy borrowers allover the united states. These were similar sentiments suggested by the American congress by the Department of the Treasury and U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2011) to the congress. . 8 Assumptions This project has assumed that there have been existing literature, which will have to be used as secondary sources of information, since the topic on assisting US citizen to acquire houses and homes is as old as the legal financial policies that guide it. The second assumption is that the sampled respondents, who hail from the management of various house and home ownershi p financial institutions sector, are a group of financial experts who poses the necessary knowledge on how to change the financial polices to encourage house and homeownership. 1. 9 Scope and Limitations The project will have to be limited to the respondents from the Michigan State only, and topic coverage wise; it will have to be limited to the housing financing institutions and policies, which revolves around features, like mortgages policies, and any other policies aimed at assisting US citizens acquire homes, but, it will not touch the wider financial policies which could also influence homeownership in one way or another. Chapter 2: Literature review 2. 1 Historical Overview: Development of American Housing and Home Financial System Federal Housing Administration (FHA) National Housing Act of 1934 led to the creation of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which one of the United States government agency concerned with housing is financing. It insured house and home loans made by private lenders and banks for a house or home buying and building. The main goals of FHA are to develop housing conditions and standards, offer a suitable home/house financing system through insuring mortgage loans, and to attain stability in the mortgage market. History of the FHA The history of FHA can be traced back to the times of the Great Depression, when the failure of the banking system took place, and as results instigating an extreme decrease in houses and homeownership and loans. During this time, majority of the home mortgages were under short-term period. They were ranging between 3-5 years periods, the inflatable items were targeted at LTV (Loan-to-Value Ratios) that were below 50-60%, and there were no amortization (Goldfield, 2007). This banking crisis during the 1930s obligated all lenders to recover due mortgages. The refinancing services were never available, and most borrowers, who had been unemployed by then, were unable to repay their mortgages. Therefore, numerous homes and house had to be foreclosed, making the housing/homes market fall. The banks calmed the foreclosed homes (Loan Collateral), but, the prevailing lower property values caused a comparative lack of assets. Since thwre had been minimal faith in the U. S. government backing, limited loans were being dispensed and least new homes were being bought. In the year 1934 the United States federal banking System attained its reorganization. Then the National Housing Act of 1934 that brought the creation of the Federal Housing Administration was passed, to initiate its operation. Its intention was to control the mortgage terms and interest rates and insure the entire industry. These practices applied on the new lending increased the quantity of people who could raise a down payment for a house or home, and manage to support the mortgage monthly debt service payments, thus also raising the size of the single-family owned homes market (Gravin, 2002). The main criteria that the FHA had applied was through various calculations, they computed the appraisal value centered on eight criteria, and it instructed its agents to loan more for greater appraised projects, up to a full amount that can be possibly. The two significant criteria which were being used are: â€Å"The Relative Economic Stability, that instituted appraisal value of 40%, and Protection from adverse influences,† (Gravin, 2002). This made up a new 20%. By the time of World War II, FHA supported many projects of worker’s housing, like the Kensington Gardens Apartment Complex in Buffalo, New York (Gravin, 2002). The current FHA The Federal Housing Administration joined the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1965. As from 1934, the HUD and FHA had managed to insure way above 34 million housing and home mortgages, and it has also insured 47,205 mortgages for multifamily projects. Presently, the FHA is insuring approximately 4. million mortgages for single family, and also insuring13,000 multifamily projects in its current portfolio (Monroe, 2002). The Federal Housing Administration is the lone US government agency that is totally self-funded. Arguably, even if it asserts to operate exclusively on its own revenue, without any taxpayers money, there is an understood assurance that the taxpayer will aid them in hard times of financial need. In the year 2008, the US budget planning HUD had requested high budget all ocation bulging at $143,000,000 budget deficit stanching from the FHA run program. It is the first time after 30 years that HUD had prepared an appeal to the Congress for a taxpayer funding. Even though the FHA has been constitutionally obligated to be budget impartial, the relevant agencies are projecting taxpayer financed subsidies of $ 500 million dollars over the coming three years, this is incase there are no changes put in place on the FHA program (Goldfield, 2007). Succeeding the subprime mortgage crunch, the FHA, along with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, converted to be the source of ost of the United States housing mortgage financing. The portion of home and houses purchases which were funded with FHA mortgages grew from 2% to over 30% of mortgages in the US as conservative mortgage lending could not weather the credit crunch. In the absence of the subprime market, a number of the riskiest mortgagors ended up going to the Federal Housing Administration for assistance, and this made FHA suffer from considerable losses (Woodward, 2008). The FHA Down Payment The mortgagor’s down payment can arise from various sources. This 3. % amount can be fulfilled with the mortgagor using their own money or from a support of a family member, labor union, employers, or a government agency. From 1998, non-profits continues to assist with down payment gifts to mortgagors who buy homes and the house, where the vendor has approved to repay the non-profit and pay an extra processing fee. In May 2006, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had resolved that their idea was not a â€Å"charitable activity† and has managed to revoke that status of supporting non-profit for groups settling down payment support in that way. The FHA has subsequently ceased the down payment support program using third party non-profits. Several bills were presented to the Congress to try to bring-back the non-profit program. The Mortgage Insurance Mortgage insurance guards mortgagees from borrowers mortgage repayment default. When a property or housing/home purchaser borrows an amount of money greater than 80% of that property’s value, the financier will possibly need the borrower to an acquire a private mortgage insurance to cover the financier’s risk. Nonetheless, in case the lender had to be approved by FHA and the mortgage amount is within the FHA set limits, the FHA will have to offer the mortgage insurance, which is likely to be more affordable, particularly for borrowers with higher risk. Financiers can characteristically acquire FHA mortgage insurance covering the 96. 5% of the assessed value of the house, home, or any building. These FHA mortgages are being insured using a mixture of UFMIP (Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium) and MMI (Annual Mutual Mortgage Insurance) premiums. The UFMIP is a whole amount extending from 1 – 2. 25% of the loan total value (it is dependent on the duration and LTV), funded by the mortgagor in whichever way, it can be funded using the loan or cash at closing. The MMI, though is a yearly payment, is overally encompassed in mortgage payments in monthly basis and ranges from 0 – 1. 15% of the loan value (also, this is dependent on duration and LTV). In case a mortgagor has had a credit history rated as poor to moderate, the MMI perhaps is far less expensive with an insured loan from FHA, than with a conformist regular loan irrespective of LTV, this can occasionally go as low as 1/9, as more contingent on the credit score of the borrower approval status, loan size, and LTV. Conventional mortgage rates of insurance increase with the decreasing credit scores; while FHA rates of mortgage insurance does not differ per credit score. The conventional mortgage premiums fluctuate vividly, if the credit score of the borrower is below 620. Owing to a suddenly increased risk, many mortgage insurers do not write their policies, when the credit score of the borrower is below 575. Nonetheless, when they write their policies for mortgagors with low credit scores, the annual premiums might be up to 5% high of the loan amount. Stopping the FHA Mortgage Insurance The FHA insurance payments comprise of two parts: UFMIP and the yearly premium paid on a monthly basis referred to as the MMI. This UFMIP is compulsory payment that can be funded into the loan or paid in cash. It increases a definite amount to the monthly payments; nonetheless it does not resemble PMI, or the MMI. An individual purchasing a home using an FHA funded loan, he or she pays monthly mortgage insurance up to a 5 year period or till he covers 78% of the assessed amount. The MMI payments are superior to all FHA Acquisition Money Mortgages, Streamline Refinances, and Full-Qualifying Refinances. The idea of canceling or stopping FHA insurance program, concerns only the MMI. It is different from other forms of conventional funded mortgage insurance. The value of UFMIP compiled on a loan by FHA is prorated through a 5 year period, denotation that if a homeowner sells or refinances during the loan’s first 5 years, they are permitted to an incomplete refund of the amount of UFMIP paid at the inception of the loan. If he has funded the UFMIP within the loan, he cannot stop this compensation part. The insurance payment on a thirty year FHA loan has to be paid for a minimum of 5 years. The MMI premium has to be terminated spontaneously when the unpaid start balance is exclusive of the pfront premium, and extents to 78% of the lowest initial property assessed value or sales price. Mortgagors who do pay additional payments to the mortgage principal of the FHA, might have to take the ingenuity by using their lender to terminate the insurance by referring to the 78% rule, however, this is possible after 5 years of consistent payments for loans lasting for 30 year. The PMI termination, nevertheless, can be lessened using extra payme nts or a fresh assessment to prove that the house or home as added value. The Economic Effects of the FHA The formation of the Federal Housing Administration effectively improved the housing market size. Through, persuading the banks to lend yet again, also through standardizing and changing mortgage procedures and instruments, home and house ownership has improved from 40% during 1930s to approximately 68% in the year 2000. In 1938, which is 4 years after the formation of the Federal Housing Association, only a 10% of the value of the house was being required to purchase it, the remaining 90% was being funded through a 25 year, FHA-insured, self-amortizing mortgage loan. Afterward, the ending of World War II, and the subsequent prevailing condition, made the FHA assist the returning veterans to acquire homes. When the rising energy costs and inflation endangered the existence of thousands living in a private apartment during the 1970s, the FHA’s emergency funding reserved cash-strapped houses afloat. During the 1980s, while the US economy did not fund a growth in the house and homeowners, FHA assisted to stabilize the dropping prices, enabling the probable homeowners to fund as the private mortgage insurers moved out of states producing oil (Mitchell, 1985). The ultimate effects of the FHA can be realized in cities and by marginal populations. Almost half of FHA’s urban area business is being situated in dominant cities, a fraction that is far higher above the conventional loans percentages. The FHA likewise lends to a greater fraction of Hispanic Americans, African-Americans and younger population, credit restricted borrowers, causing an in homeownership on the named groups, but, that is not enough. As the United States capital markets matured after many years, the FHA shockingly has witnessed a decrease in their impact. In the year 2006, the FHA had a return less than 3% of overall issued loans in the US. After the 2006 FHA failure revelation, the Congress and other interested parties have questioned the role of the US Government in the mortgage insurance business, and how financial policies can be amended to encourage house and homeownership and most respondents and analysts advocated for the abolition of the FHA. The consequent weakening in the credit markets and the recent world recession, nevertheless, has fairly explained criticism of the FHA. Currently, FHA insures about 40% overall new mortgages, but, its impact is still wanting. 2. 2 The Current Housing Finance System Tax Policy It is a common knowledge and many financial experts often site, deductibility of housing and home property taxes and mortgage interest as the main source of federal support to encourage house and homeownership. As expressed in this long quote by the 32nd President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt: â€Å"The movement toward progressive taxation of wealth and income has accompanied the growing diversification and interrelation of effort which marks the industrial society. Wealth in the modern world does not come merely from individual effort; it results from a combination of individual effort and of the manifold uses to which the community puts that effort. The individual does not create the product of his industry with his own hands; he utilizes the many processes and forces of mass production to meet the demands of a national and international market †¦ Social unrest and a deepening sense of unfairness are dangers to the national life which we must minimize by rigorous methods. People know that vast personal incomes come not only through the effort or ability or luck of those who receive them, but also because of opportunities for advantage which Government itself contributes. Therefore, this duty rests upon the Government to restrict such incomes by unusually high taxes. † (Duclos Makdissi, 2002). But, we can mention categorically that; various literature indicates that encouraging homeownership had been factored in the initial formulation of deductions and taxes, thus the interest expense deduction is not limited to deductions of state and local taxes, and housing mortgage interest, and this is according to the Tariff Act of 1913 and the Revenue Acts of 1864 and 1865 (Arestis, Mooslechner Wagner, 2010). Numerous analysts interpreted that the real tax subsidy for house and homeownership as an elimination of homeowners’ implied rental income put of the taxable income, but not as a deductible on property tax and mortgage interest (Arestis, Mooslechner Wagner, 2010). The Act of 1997, on Taxpayer Relief, substituted the rollover of capital advantages for homeowners who purchase additional house and the elimination of up to $125,000 in advantages for owners who are 55 or above with an elimination of advances up to $500,000 for proprietors of some age ? ing for joint returns. It gave a higher incentive for owning a home, but, it eliminated a discouragement for walking out of owning a home or transacting to a lowly priced home. Another tax incentive that is provided by the federal tax system after instructing the local and state government agencies to support house and homeownership for those with moderate income and ? rst time buyers was the application of MCCs (Mortgage Credit Cer ti? cates) and MRBs (Mortgage Revenue Bonds). MRBs are securities for tax-exempt issued by local or state housing ? ance agencies, to increase mortgage capitals for ? rst time house or home buyers (Arestis, Mooslechner Wagner, 2010). There have also been the temporary housing-related tax incentives amongst others that will have to be discussed as the literature review progresses. 2. 3 Flows in the Housing Finance System There has been a mix up in the housing markets and the policies that were meant to encourage house and home ownership, and it has turned out to be a crisis, various studies have tried to explain this crisis, but, they have not found a perfect cause that can explain it. Baily (2011), had identified that the US housing market was characterized by misjudgments, Misbehavior, and missed opportunities, mainly on Wall Street. American people must be protected and encouraged to own houses and homes, but, the discussed below points hinders this achievement: * Reduced consumer protections encouraging; low quality and risky mortgage products and greedy lending targeted mainly at multiplication of the financiers wealth. The evident presence of unregulated mortgage brokers and inventors encouraged complex mortgage products that ended up increasing sharply, the rates required and down payments. * The outdated and inadequate regulatory regime had been and currently is unsuccessful in controlling the system: as a fact especially following the history that was earlier presented, the regulatory boundaries have been largely since the 1930s, they have encouraged the inancial system that were earlier being committed to supporting house and homeownership finance to function with almost no oversight. * The complex securitization procedure lacked accountability, standardization, and transparency: The market progressively depends on complex securitization procedure containing securitizes, mortgage brokers, ratings agencies, originators, and investors and they tend to fuel the home prices to increase. * The insufficient capital in the housing finance system left financial agencies unprepared to engross losses. Th e systemically-significant financing agencies were never mandated to hold sufficient capital against the actual mortgage risk reflected in their balance sheets since these institutions were already permitted to have lower capital compared to securities supported by the issued mortgages than if they reserved the equivalent mortgages themselves. * The mortgage servicing industry is ill-equipped as they service the needs of the lenders, borrowers, and investors when the homes prices go down. 2. 4 The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is a self-governing federal agency formed as the replacement regulatory agency consequential to constitutional merger of the OFHEO (Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight) and the FHFB (Federal Housing Finance Board), and the HUD (U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development government) sponsored enterprise mission team, engrossing the regulatory authority and powers of the two authorities, with stretched regulatory and legal authority, and, plus the capacity to substitute GSEs (government sponsored enterprises) into conservatorship or receivership (Wilshusen, 2010). This is one of the authoritative bodies of interest to this project. History of FHFA The permitting law founding the FHFA is: â€Å"the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008†, which is Partition an of the greater â€Å"Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008†, (Public Law 110-289), contracted on July 30, 2008 by the then US President George W. Bush. A year afterward the FHFA and OFHEO went out of existence. Every prevailing, decisions, and regulations, of the Finance Board and OFHEO had continued to be influential until superseded or modified. Conservatorship of Freddie Mac nd Fannie Mae The FHFA manager Lockhart proclaimed that he had put Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the conservatorship of the FHFA on September 7, 2008 (The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, 2011). Just to give a brief history; the Federal National Mortgage Association is the normally called Fannie Mae, it was created in 1938 when the Great Depression as an effort of dealing with the crisis that faced the mortgage sector. It is a US Government Sponsored Enterprise, nevertheless, it has remained a publicly traded company from the year 1968. Its main role was to enlarge the tributary mortgage market through securitizing mortgages in using MBS (mortgage-backed securities), enabling mortgagees to reinvest their properties into additional lending and as a result growing the population of lenders in the mortgage market through decreasing the dependence on thrifts. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, referred to as Freddie Mac, is also a public government sponsored enterprise. It was founded in the year 1970, to enlarge the tributary market for mortgages. Beside other government sponsored enterprise, Freddie Mac purchases secondary market mortgages, merges them, and then selling them to investors as a mortgage-backed security on the open market. The US secondary mortgage market raises the quantity of money obtainable for mortgage lending and raises the money accessible for the new house and home purchases. The earlier mentioned action of putting Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae under conservatorship being termed as â€Å"one of the most sweeping government interventions in private financial markets in decades† (The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, 2011). This would only commit the highly avoided, employing of taxpayers’ money into funding GSEs. The debate is never ending, but, it was a sign of the failing financial power to support house and homeownership in the US. The action has brought various challenges to FHFA, which are evident through the number of law suits agents it and other homeownership financial institutions. In 2001, the FHFA sued UBS plus other 17 financial institutes, FHFA accused them of parodying approximately $200 billion as mortgages vended to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and many other suits have followed. This signifies the lack of sound control in the market, because there are lots of fraudulent deals in still persisting in this market (The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, 2011). Chapter 3: Description of the Research Design Used The purpose of this qualitative and qualitative study is to discover to the weakness of existing financial policies, discover relevant financial policy changes in the existing financial policies, and proof of the applicability of the discovered financial policy changes that encourage house and homeownership in Michigan. 3. 1 Research Method and Design Appropriateness The mixed research methodology and design, that allows the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data is the most favorable for this project. The mixed research design enables the collection of expert opinion when least knowledge is present in respect to a financial problem and the researcher pursues to raise understanding and prospects for resolutions (Creswell Clark, 2007). This method was appropriate as the project was to improve housing finance knowledge that is present among the US citizens identified through various studies and research (Creswell, 2003). . 1 Population The data will have to be collected from the top management of the sampled financial institutions, which are in direct association with financing housing and homeownership in the State of Michigan. All the institutions and their branches will be then listed and then fed to sampling software to come up with randomly selected 100 institutions, a branch of an institution will have to be viewed as an instit ution. Then two people per institution are interviewed, after filling the questionnaires 3. Informed Consent The sampled institutions will first be contacted through the mail, and, if they confirm their participation in this project, they are presented with an early informed consent form, which they will have to fill. Their respective institutions will also have to issue them with a human subjects approval document, in the form written official document, with a valid letter head and signed, this to allow the sampled staff to participate in this project. 3. 3 Confidentiality Apart from the names highlighted in various official documents concerning this project, there is no other place that the names of the participants will feature; the researcher will not disclose the names of the participants and the names of their institutions, despite the fact that they are captured in the questionnaire and the interviews transcript for communication purposes. 3. 4 Data Collection First, the primary data is collected using questionnaires and interviews, the sampled institutions are listed according to the geographical location and their availability of the participating respondents. Then, the questionnaires are emailed to the respondents, and they will have one week to fill them and email them back to the researcher. Thereafter, on the day of the interview the respondents in various institutions are interviewed only if they have successfully filled and submitted the questionnaire. The respondents are then interviewed for about 10 minutes, but, there is no fixed time for the interview duration. Remember they had already been informed about the project requirements during the earlier debriefing, this was to enable them prepare for the actual data collection through the questionnaire and interview. Then, after the data are collected in all the institutions they will be compiled together for data processing and analysis. Secondly, after the collection of the primary data, the secondary data are collected through; actual reading of various assembled relevant published research literature, highlighted in various textbooks, journals and online sources. They will also be compiled and assembled for data processing and analysis. 3. 5 Instrumentation Open and Closed Ended Questionnaires The questionnaire will be one comprising both open and closed sections. The instructions on how to fill the questionnaire, and the relevant details on how to send the reply mail of the questionnaire, are captured on the actual questionnaire, which are represented in the Appendix 2. The questions in this section to be answered using yes or no, some sampled closed ended questions are: * Does the US house and home financing policies need change? * Do you support increased regulation in the mortgage sector? * Have you been affected negatively by the current the current home financing policies? * Have you been following the debate on housing financial reform? And the questions requiring ticking the preferred option still under the closed ended section are; * Which is the most influential institution in the provision of the house and home financial assistance? List MSHDA – Michigan State Housing Development Authority NAHB – National Association of Home Builders FHA – Federal Housing Administration FHFA – Federal Housing Finance Agency The open ended section will contain one question which is: asking what changes should be made on the house and home financial policies? Interviews The interviews will be used to collect, further opinions and to clarify the data collected earlier on using the questionnaires. The main opinion will be requesting for their opinion on: â€Å"Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac having drawn $170 billion in taxpayer funds, Many Republicans want to end federal backstop in housing and the Conforming loan limits on government’s mortgages expiring Oct. 1† (Virtanen, 2011). Appendix 3 named the Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Interview Questions; contain a set of questions that will guide the interview sessions, with the respondents. The main concern will involves the Type of Loan that best suits house and home buyers, the Interest Rate Annual Percentage Rate that would not burden the house and home buyers, the Discount Points and Origination Fees that would encourage house and homeownership in Michigan, and minimizing Prepayment Penalty that discourages house and homeownership. These key questions will ensure that fruitful information is attained on financing housing and homeownership in Michigan. Reading This is applied in the secondary data collection, as earlier mentioned various reading skills are to being applied to collected data from the secondary literature. 3. 6 Validity and Reliability Internal validity The internal validity can be treated by the researchers’ knowledge, data collection procedure and instruments, and biased documentation. This is mitigated now that the all the researcher have consulted various financial research experts to ensure that they have a sound knowledge on data collection, documentation, data processing and analysis. Independent people are employed for the data collection, and the random selection of the participants helps to militate against biased data collection. External validity Threats to external validity apply mainly through three main factors: time, place, and people (Creswell Creswell, 2009). People threat could be created by selection of people from individual organization, but, this is avoided using a selection encompassing various different financial institutions and associated institutions in the home financing industry. Threat to validity by place replicates the setting in place for the data is collected process (Creswell Creswell, 2009), this has been avoided through conducting the interviews in the best desired place with the institution, a person can also respond only once and finally no respondent is allowed to take a break during the data collection process. The time of data collection is chosen to be in the morning hours when most of the respondents are fresh in the mind, and now that we are dealing with the management level of the institutions, they can easily create time. Reliability The validity is met through the number of participants sampled to participate in this project. The large number is according to the nature of this study, which aims at collecting as many views as possible. The second reliability is, the increase through strict adherence to the set research procedure and methods, the clear step will have to be followed without skipping or by passing any, and this is to avoid any confusing in the project. A short pilot study will also be carried out to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the research procedure. 3. 7 Data Analysis Data analysis starts with testing the questionnaires and data collection. The subsequent data analysis procedure will involve: sorting, and identification of various themes and ideas, and processing to identify various relationships in the responses from both the questionnaires, and interviews. Finally, the outcome is then summarized into lists of written ideas, and percentages. The data retention is done through computer programs, write-ups of field notes, transcription conventions and procedures, and any other relevant tool that will be identified later. The collected data are grouped into various relevant themes, then, the most extreme and irrelevant data are eliminated by a software program, then the remaining data will be further tested for inconsistencies. The finally selected data will be analyses and tested for applicability, using various financial calculations, for example, the proposed favorable mortgage repayment rate, will be tested by calculating the average cost of maintaining that mortgage, and the expected financial impacts of that rate to the US economy. After this stage only applicable data will be compiled for the final presentation. Chapter 4: The Results and Findings of the Project Out of the 200 respondents, 178 successfully submitted the questionnaires on time fully filled, and they successfully completed the interview. The responses are summarized in the table below: The No. of Respondents| The Ideas Expressed| 81% of the respondents (144 Respondents) | Expressed that the economic and housing reclamations remain very fragile| 90% of the respondents (160 Respondents)| Accused the housing and homeownership interest groups to have the objective to â€Å"cause destruction†. | 79% of the respondents (141 respondents) | Further explained that the financial experts and policy-makers must let go their political scorn for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. 98% of the respondents (174 respondents)| Insisted that the roles of the GSEs are important, but, they should not rely on tax payers’ money to run their operations. | 60% of the respondents (109 respondents)| Insisted that the suggested government plans appear to substitute policy that permits home and house prices to remain to decline because of condensed credit accessibility that is not economically productive. | Overall 91% of the respondents | Suggested that the current housing finance policies require change. | The secondary literature, fully suggested that: reduction in loan limits is very appropriate, raising guarantee fees (g-fees), for the GSE will increase the acquisition cost of mortgage, the FHFA and the GSEs should decrease their risk-layering to inspire more lending, and last but not least, many of the secondary literature suggested decreased portfolios of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Chapter 5: Discussion of Results and Findings Both the respondents and the secondary data revealed that most people demand major changes and fast changes in the housing finance policy especially the mortgage market. The outcome of this project expressed the following; both primary and secondary expressed that the economic and housing reclamations remain very fragile. The more time need to be dedicated for the homeownership and housing sector in to recover and stabilize before extreme, but highly needed, changes are formulated as required. Many interested groups have suggested that it is their objective to â€Å"cause destruction†, as a changeover from momentous government involvement within the housing and homeownership market takes place. The respondents believed that: * financial experts and policy-makers must let go their political scorn for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, they should pay attention on the significance of the secondary mortgage market and now that this market has played a positive role in allowing Americans to attain bearable house and homeownership and ascending motion in the larger American society. * Regardless of their noticeable mistakes and shortcomings, the GSEs played valuable and positive roles in housing mortgage finance. These positive and valuable elements of the GSEs should be retained and allowed to continue to the future of this finance system. * Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae GSEs are being faced out; but, crucial elements of their functions must be retained to allow the U. S. to attain an affordable and efficient transformed mortgage finance system. * Presented observations proved that the that the government’s involvement in the housing market pulls away capital from various groups, â€Å"higher productive†, institutions impedes the statistic that 15% of the US national GDP is accounted for by housing accounts and 2. million work opportunities are created when there are yearly home sales of $5 million, and it is about each home bought, more than $60,000 is injected into the economy for home improvements, home appliances purchases, and other associated items. * The suggested government plans appear to substitute policy that permits home and house prices to remain to decline because of condensed credit accessibility that is not economically productive. A keen analysis of the outcome indicates that facing out of on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from mortgage market might reduce home and house affordability and admittance for people who manage to own homes and houses, this will make greater profits for influential banks in America, while forcing the majority of medium banks to fail, causing bigger risks to home and house consumers and exposing taxpayers funds to mischief, and in the longer duration hurt the job creation and the general economy. The ultimate twisting up and down of the GSEs has made many experts to see the need for reforming the GSEs and instituting ways of bringing private capital back to the mortgage secondary market. Nevertheless, some people trust that the government involvement is vital in the secondary mortgage market to guarantee the constant stream of mortgage capital to various if not all markets under any economic situations. Closing these GSEs minus mechanism for continuous government involvement in the secondary market in economic recessions and other turbulences will upsurge the probability of a forthcoming housing finance system catastrophes. Suggested rise in down payment quantity, increased down payment necessities a load on individuals and families in numerous markets, however, particularly high cost city dwellers. This saving to meet the down payment been cited by many secondary literature and financial surveys as the main expressed barriers to house and home purchases in America. A 10% down payment is challenging for numerous first time purchases and for others upgrading to bigger cost markets from lower cost markets. The change, joined with the planned fall in FHA support limits and the instillation of FHA personal income limits, implies that first time houses and home buyers in higher cost city market will have to spend significantly more money in private capital costs or postpone their purchases in spite of attaining incomes essential to cover the costs purchasing homes with conventional loan with acceptable PMI or lower down payment FHA. Furthermore, the ultimate QRM inceptions will impose another obstruction when LTV bounds for QRMs are put beyond the reasonable down payment amount and mortgagees are unable or reluctant to offer conventional products that which conforms to QRM set test. The recommended reduction in loan limits, will impact high cost zones negatively when the cost of capital to the house consumers shall rise considerably. Though, the financial experts have specified that the retreating of government ontribution in loans to an amount up to $729,500 shall spike private capital to the mortgage market place, indication to that consequence is actually limited. The present oversize market is nearly fading away because of the severe restrictions put on possible home and house buyers through private capital. Raised guarantee fees, the so called g-fees, for the GSE, similarly as the increased down payments shall raise the acquisition cost of mortgage capital to various credits worthy house and home buyers, ra ising the g-fees shall become an extra load for possible home and house buyers. To counter this effect, the NAR has advocated to FHFA and the GSEs to decrease their risk-layering to inspire more lending. There is a developed recognition that sensible guaranteeing is necessary; but, this over-correction has converted more costly and this prohibiting home and house buyers who can solicit home payments from contributing in the market. The earlier mentioned Winding down the Government Sponsored Enterprises Portfolio, has made various quarters like NAR support decreased portfolios of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; but, full abolition should not be the objective for a fresh secondary market body. The Narrow Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) safe harbor, is a great idea if the regulatory organizations create a QRM, which is meaningfully tauter than the present credit standards, it implies that many creditworthy mortgagors taken as higher risk mortgagors. Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations The government must set the right policies that will empower house and home consumers to circumvent biased practices and practice informed decision making, these sentiments had also been expressed way back in May 2005, in a document that highlighted the NAR’s Responsible Lending Policy. The suggested policies must seek to promote choice and clarity, stop abusive practices, and, as well as, robust guaranteeing standards, which requires mortgagees to authenticate the consumer’s credit worthiness. There must be improvement in the foreclosure processing and mortgage servicing, notably, from the beginning of the last financial crisis, foreclosures and NAR tried to work with administrators and regulators to formulate criteria for decreasing the risk of foreclosure. The good NAR’s determination to offer direction to restructure short duration sales and various insurance tools ave tried to encourage homeownership, through providing worried homeowners alternatives other than the humiliation of eviction from their homes because of foreclosure. There should be increased capital availability to creditworthy borrowers from all communities and states including Michigan. The ways foreword under this is through; safeguarding the vigorous secondary mortgage market thro ugh facilitation of flow of capital into the larger mortgage market, for every type of home or housing including rental in during any market situation as being the main recommendation for this project. Chapter 7: References Arestis, P. , Mooslechner, P. , Wagner, K. (2010). Housing market challenges in Europe and the United States. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Baily, M. N. (2011). The Future of Housing Finance: Restructuring the U. S. Residential Mortgage Market. Brookings Institution Press Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (2. ed. ). Thousand Oaks, California. Sage Publication. Creswell, J. W. , Clark, V. L. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, Calif. SAGE Publications. Creswell, J. W. , Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed. ). Los Angeles: Sage. Duclos, J. , Makdissi, P. (2002). Socially-efficient tax reforms. Sherbrook: University of Sherbrook, Department of Economics. Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (2010). Current Issues in Economics and Finance. Goldfield, D. R. (2007). Encyclopedia of American urba n history. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Gravin, A. (2002). The American city: what works, what doesn’t.. New York: McGraw-Hill. Mitchell, J. P. (1985). Federal housing policy and programs: past and present. New Brunswick, N. J. : Center for Urban Policy Research. Monroe, A. (2002). How the Federal Housing Administration affects homeownership. Cambridge, Mass.? : Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University. NAR Issue Analysis (2011). Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market. Retrieved, 1st April, 2012, from, www. realtor. org/†¦ /government_affairs_GSE_analysis_021211. pdf Swindler, S. (2011). â€Å"Homeownership: yesterday, today and tomorrow. † Journal of Financial Economic Policy. Vol. 3 Issue: 1, pp. 5 – 11. The Department of the Treasury and U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2011). Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market a Report to Congress. Retrieved 1st April, 2012, from, www. michaelcarliner. com/HPD98-OwnershipPolicy. pdf The financial crisis inquiry report: final report of the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States (Official government ed. ). (2011). Washington, DC: Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Virtanen, B. W. (2011). Housing finance reform in America. Hauppauge, N. Y. : Nova Science Publishers. Wallison, P. J. , Pollock, A. J ; Pinto, E. J. (2011). Principles for Reforming the Housing Finance Market. National Mortgage News. Retrieved 4th April, 2012, from, http://www. aei. org/article/economics/financial-services/principles-for-reforming-the-housing-finance-market/ Wilshusen, G. C. (2010). Information security opportunities exist for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to improve controls: report to the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Washington, D. C. : U. S. Govt. Accountability Office. Woodward, S. E. (2008). A study of closing costs for FHA mortgages. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research. Chapter 8: Appendices Appendix 1: CFED Assets ; Opportunity Scorecard 2012, Michigan State: Profile Appendix 2: Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Questionnaire _________________________________________________________________________________ PART 1 AND 2: OPEN AND GLOSED ENDEND QUESTIONNAIRE __________________________________________________________________ Thank you for participating in filling the house and homeownership financial policy changes questionnaire. Please submit the completed questionnaire by 31st March, 2012. __________________________________________________________________ PERSONAL DETAILS (These details are required for communication purposes only and will not be disclosed) NAME:| | POSITION:| | NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION:| | CONTACT DETAILS TELEPHONE:| | EMAIL:| | ————————————————- ————————————————- INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE QUESTIONNAIRE ————————————————- ————————————————- This questionnaire is in electronic format to facilitate its completion and to enable the responses to be automatically prepared for analysis. ————————————————- ————————————————- Question 1. 1 – Please type your response of YES or NO immediately just after the question and the question mark. ————————————————- ————————————————- Questions 1. 2 – Please type your responses in the appropriate columns of each table. Use your TAB key to create additional lines in the tables where necessary. ————————————————- ————————————————- Questions 1. 3 and 1. 6 – Type your responses immediately after the questions and this is limited to 500words per question. ————————————————- __________________________________________________________________________ HOUSE AND HOMEOWNERSHIP FINANCIAL POLICIES Your responses to these questions will provide data relating to the current housing financial policies. It will also provide data that will enable charging of the housing current financial policies. _____________________________________________________________________ 1. 1 Please answer with Yes or No, the following questions: †¢Does the US house and home financing policies need change? †¢Do you support increased regulation in the mortgage sector? †¢Have you been affected negatively by the current the current home financing policies? †¢Have you been following the debate on housing financial reform? 1. 2 Describe the most discouraging process or discouraging thing during each of the three steps in mortgage acquisition. TASK| INFORMATION REQUIRED| Mortgages: The Basics, Part I: Starting out| | Mortgages: The Basics, Part II: Securing your loan| | Mortgages: The Basics, Part III: Closing the deal | | 1. 3 Which is the most influential institution in the provision of house and home financial assistance and why? MSHDA – Michigan State Housing Development Authority NAHB – National Association of Home Builders FHA – Federal Housing Administration FHFA – Federal Housing Finance Agency 1. List and explain the preferred policy changes in the mortgage industry? 1. 5 List and explain any housing financial policy changes that are relevant to encourage house and homeownership in Michigan? 1. 6 How does the information you get on house and homeownership compare with what you need to complete the house or homeownership process? (i. e ideally what would you like to have that is not currently available to you). Use the scale from 1-5 to indicate the importance of the required resource. 1 – not task-specific – of general benefit – to provide indirect or minor support 3 – to contribute directly to the task but not essential 4 – to provide significant benefits or added value 5 – critical Please complete this questionnaire by and SUBMIT. If you have any questions about how to complete it, please contact [person] by phone [phone number] or email [email address]. Thank you [name] [position title] Appendix 3: Housing Financial Policy Changes in Michigan Interview Questions 1. Which Type of Loan is best for buying a house or home? †¢Fixed-rate loans. †¢Adjustable-rate loans. Interest-only loans. †¢Negative-amortization loans. 2. What is the Interest Rate ; Annual Percentage Rate that would not burden the house and home buyers? †¢Many lenders do not compute APR correctly. †¢There is no way to accurately compute an APR rate for an adjustable loan. †¢It does not account for early payoffs. If your interest rate is adjustable, ask about its: †¢Adjustment frequency †¢Maximum annual adjustment †¢Highest rate (Cap) †¢Index †¢Margin 3. What are the Discount Points and Origination Fees that would encourage house and homeownership in Michigan? Sometimes lenders charge origination fees in addition to points. †¢Points â€Å"buy down† the interest rate, meaning the more points you pay, the lower the interest rate. †¢Points are also tax deductible, even if the seller pays some or all of the points. 4. Is There a Prepayment Penalty that discourages house and homeownership? †¢How much is the prepayment penalty? †¢What are the terms of the prepay? Some are in effect only during the first 2 to 5 years of the loan. †¢Would the prepayment penalty apply if I refinanced through you at a later date? How to cite Capstone Project Finance (Final Project), Essay examples

The National Terrorism Advisory System Essay Example

The National Terrorism Advisory System Essay Running head: National Terrorism Advisory System The National Terrorism Advisory System Abstract As part of a series of initiatives to improve coordination and communication among all levels of government and the American public, the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) was created. This advisory system was the foundation for building a comprehensive and effective communications structure to give information regarding the risk of terrorist attacks. This system was revised at a later date and became the Nation Terrorism Advisory System. Homeland Security Advisory System In March of 2002, President George W. Bush signed Presidential Directive3 which created the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS). This advisory system was the foundation for building a comprehensive and effective communications structure to give information regarding the risk of terrorist attacks to those at all levels of government as well as the American public. It was color coordinated with five levels: Blue (low), Green (Guarded), yellow (Elevated), orange (high), and red (Severe). These were meant to identify the risk of a terrorist attack. The different levels triggered pecific actions by federal agencies and state and local governments, and they affected the level of security at some airports and other public facilities. Actions included increasing police and other security presence at landmarks and other high- profile targets, a closer monitoring of international borders and other points of entry, and ensuring that emergency response personnel were ready to respond if needed. We will write a custom essay sample on The National Terrorism Advisory System specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The National Terrorism Advisory System specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The National Terrorism Advisory System specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The published terror alert notices urged American citizens, to be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately. The problem with this color coded system was that the level never went higher than orange and there was no end date or time as to when that threat level would no longer be active. Another problem was that each and every time the threat level was raised, very rarely did the public know the reason, how to proceed, or for how long to be on alert. As a result this left the public feeling more scared than prepared (Staff, 2011). Most of the American public found this system to be very conTuslng. cnanges tnat were mace On April 20, 2011 , Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that here would be an updated version of the advisory system that would be implemented by the Department of Homeland Security. This update would be called the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS). The NTAS is a robust terrorism advisory system that provides timely information to the public about credible terrorist threats and replaces the former color-coded alert system (Chronology of Changes to the Homeland Security Advisory System). The main differences were, they removed the color code system and instead replaced it with two terms; Elevated Threat Alert, and Imminent Threat Alert. An Elevated Threat warns of a credible terrorist threat against the United States whereas an Imminent Threat warns of a credible, specific, and impending terrorist threat against the United States (NTAS Guide April 20 2011, 2011) . Under NTAS, DHS will coordinate with other federal agencies to issue detailed alerts to the public when the federal government receives information about a credible terrorist threat. Depending on the nature of the threat, alerts may be sent to law enforcement, distributed to affected areas of the private ector, or issued more broadly to the public through both official and social media channels. Theses alerts were to include a clear statement using the most up to date information. It may also include specific information, if available, about the nature of the threat, including the geographic region, mode of transportation, or critical infrastructure potentially affected by the threat, thus providing a concise summary of the potential threat and about actions being implemented to ensure public safety, and recommended steps that communities, business and governments can take to espond to the threat (NTAS Guide April 20, 2011). Another change that was implemmented was the Sunset Provision. This meant that an inidviual threat alert would only be issued for a specific time period and then expire. No longer would there be a constant alert or blanket warning that there is a possible threat. Unless new information was learned or the threat evolved, the threat alert would expire on the spcified date. If however there was a change in information and the alert had to be extended, the Secretary of Homeland Security would announce an updated NTAS alert. All other changes, including the cancelation of an alert, would be dispersed the same was as the original alert. The Secretary of Homeland Security will announce the threat alerts publically. Alerts will simultaneously be posted at DHS. gov/alerts and released to the news media for distribution. The Department of Homeland Security will also distribute alerts across its social media channels, including the Departments blog, Twitter stream, Facebook page, and RSS feed ( NTAS Guide April 20 2011, 2011). The NTAS realizes that all Americans help with the responsibility of the nations security. As such, citizens should be aware of the risk of a terrorist attack and thus should report any and all suspicious activity their local law enforcement. In order to properly understand what suspicious activity is, the campaign of If you see something, say something was formed. Factors such as race, ethnicity, national origin, or religious affiliation alone are not suspicious. For that reason, the public should report only suspicious behavior and situations (e. g. , an unattended backpack In a puDllc place or someone trylng to DreaK Into a restrlctea area) ratner tnan eliefs, thoughts, ideas, expressions, associations, or speech unrelated to terrorism or other criminal activity. References NTAS Guide April 20 2011. (2011, April). National Terrorism Advisory System Public Guide. Chronology of Changes to the Homeland Security Advisory System. (n. d. ). Retrieved from Official website of the Department of Homeland Security: https://www. dhs. gov/ homeland-security-advisory-system Staff, C. W. (2011, January 26). CNN Politics. Retrieved from CNN: http://www. cnn. com/ 2011 POLITICS/OI /26/threat. level. system. change/