Essays on Fannie

Attribute Standard 1312 issued by the IIA indicates that Internal Audit Departments purporting to follow IIA Standards must have an external assessment “conducted at least once every five years by a qualified, independent reviewer or review team from outside the organization. Two such organizations include World Com and Fannie Mae. The two organizations were in the news owing to various reporting and internal audit practices that may have resulted in their collapse, as is the case of World Com or hefty financial losses for their shareholders and other stakeholders. Consequent to such observations, the objective of this paper is ...

Mass Media before 1940: The Rosewood Massacre of 1923

American journalism can trace its humble beginnings back in the 1800s as it was initially used as a vehicle for political campaign in gaining the American independence. Journalists were guaranteed freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which helped in advancing the role of the American press in society and the political scene. The American press became a major support element to various political parties in the country, including other organizations and groups such as the religious institutions. American journalism experienced what could be called technological advancements during the 1840s as the telegraph and other fast printing presses ...

Creativity Fails: How To Wreck The Housing Market

On June 5, 1995, at 11:50 A.M., in the East Room at the White House, President Bill Clinton delivered his speech “Remarks on the National Homeownership Strategy”, in which he stated: “The goal of this strategy, to boost home ownership to 67.5 percent by the year 2000, would take us to an all-time high, helping as many as 8 million American families across that threshold” (Peters, G., & Woolley, J. T., 1995). To facilitate such goal, President Clinton eliminated regulatory barriers and stimulated the financial sector to find creative ways of increasing home ownership of low-income Americans (Rajan, 2010, p. ...

Introduction

In 2008, the entire world was rocked by the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The crisis first affected the entire financial system of the United States before then quickly spread globally. The casualties of the crisis included the whole investment banking industry of the US. Other casualties were the US largest insurance company, largest mortgage lender, among other firms in the financial services sector. The US auto industry was severely hit leading to loss of jobs. The US unemployment rate increased by 4.9% points from the third quarter of 2007 to the third quarter of 2009. The ...

The civil rights movement was a succession of political protests in the United States that sought to bring racial equality before the law. In many instances, the protesters used nonviolent acts in enhancing the emancipation of women and the rights of minorities. Despite the fact that many women played a significant role in leading the local civil rights groups and volunteering as lawyers on school segregation suits, their efforts were overshadowed by men who got more attention and credit for the popular historical process in the US. Many women suffered from sexual discrimination and gender-based discrimination within the movement ...

The items I found the most interesting while researching Transnational Corporation (TNC) website are the acquisition of other companies and corporate regulations. While researching Verizon Wireless there was an interesting article about how Verizon has acquired AOL (AOL). This was interesting because these two companies were competitors at one point for internet customers, but now Verizon is overtaking the market. The research into the Wells Fargo Corporate website had an interesting section about corporate regulations on the financial industry, because it seems that the increased regulations cause the company to be less profitable (Wells Fargo). When looking through the ...

Global Financial Crisis in the US

Introduction It was hard for the economists, professional analysts and policymakers among other players in the financial industry to foresee the crisis in the US mortgage lending industry in 2007 that resulted in the world's worst economic recession in two years' time (Sher and Iyanatul 2010). Initially, there was a housing bubble characterized by high house prices, low-interest rates, more support for subprime mortgage and increased speculation by the buyers (Acharya and Schnabl 2010). Eventually, there were decline of house market prices, increased lending rates and increased default and foreclosures by the mortgagors (John 2009). Notably, by mid-2008 the ...

The items I found the most interesting while researching Transnational Corporation (TNC) website are the acquisition of other companies and corporate regulations. While researching Verizon Wireless there was an interesting article about how Verizon has acquired AOL (AOL). This was interesting because these two companies were competitors at one point for internet customers, but now Verizon is overtaking the market. The research into the Wells Fargo Corporate website had an interesting section about corporate regulations on the financial industry, because it seems that the increased regulations cause the company to be less profitable (Wells Fargo). When looking through the ...

In the early years of the 21st century, accounting scandals usually involved major private organizations such as Enron. However, all that changed when Federal Home Mortgage Corporation (also called Freddie Mac), the second largest financer of mortgages, came under the microscope of the authorities including the United States Justice System. The SEC believed that Freddie Mac had irregularities in its accounting procedures, and therefore, decided to investigate the mortgage giant. Freddie Mac was a government sponsored organization that came into being in the year 1970. The organization was set up to promote home-ownership, and, at first, Freddie Mac functioned very ...

Introduction

Financial crises are generally protracted affairs. In most cases, the periods after a severe financial crisis have three similar characteristics. The first characteristic is that there is a deep and prolonged collapse of asset market. This means that the real prices of housing declines at an average of 35 percent. This decline is stretched over a period of more than six years. The price of equity also collapses at an average of 55 percent for over a period of three years. Secondly, there is a decline in the country’s output and employment. In this case, unemployment rate rises at a rate of 7 percent ...

Question 1 (Appendix A):

Government interventions in the financial markets have been and will always be an issue of ethical dilemma (Stiglitz, et.al, 1993). Therefore, it may be worthy to understand beforehand, what an ethical dilemma is. In YourDictionary, ethical dilemma is defined as “situation in which there is a choice to be made between two options, neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable fashion. In such cases, societal and personal ethical guidelines can provide no satisfactory outcome for the chooser. Ethical dilemmas assume that the chooser will abide by societal norms, such as codes of law or religious teachings, in ...

The economic meltdown in the US was, as a result, of the housing bubble burst that brought about a massive economic recession in the US. The film, Inside the Melt Down, depicts a series of large American corporations going bankrupt and their shares dropping down drastically due to the economic recession. For example, Bear Stearns is a one of the multinational investment company that took an economic downturn in that its shares dropped from $171 to only $57 in a single day. Given that the media aired out their concerns regarding the economic drift of the corporation, most investors withdrew from Bear Stearns. Despite ...

Civil Rights Movement by Janice, D. Hamlet

There are quite a number of personalities who left a mark in the lives of many people because of their roles in the fight for equality of all persons. In the history of the Civil Rights Movement, one such woman stands out. Janice D. Hamlet, in the article Fannie, Lou Hamer: The Unquenchable Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement presents one such character. In the article, Hamer is presented as one of the few individuals who merged ethos and their personality in making public addresses that created an outstanding image in the minds of her audience. According to Hamlet, ethos ...

Introduction

The government of the United States of America spends approximately $100 billion per year to subsidize American homeowners. Renters often don’t get breaks, but homeowners get them. The mortgage rates of homeowners are subsidized through the use of government-sponsored enterprises such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This is realized through giving them a tax deduction on federal, local and state income taxes for mortgage interest rates payments. Homeowners are also given favored treatment on their capital gains from the sale of a primary residence. Americans are fond of the idea of houses and white picket fence. The government, therefore, ...

The major financial crisis of 2007-2008 was caused by vending Fannie Mae-backed hypothecation packages, commercial real estates and the misuse of credit default swaps. Under the commercial real estate, the speculative real estate bubble in those years went beyond residential homes to affect all kinds of commercial real estate’s (Conserverpedia, 2013). To the extreme the bubble also affected office buildings, shopping centers, apartment complexes, casinos and hotels. This was characterized by people buying high with expectations of selling even higher. Contrary to their expectation, the market collapsed. The real estate creditors were expecting to get a 20% return but ...

Ever since the beginning of the 20th century, the topic of “passing” has been quite notable in literature and in the film scene. Perhaps, “passing” may have been a topic in life even before that, but literature and the world of films became interested in it much later. There have been many stories an films about class and race “passing,” and Douglas Sirk’s “Imitation of Life” and Nella Larsen’s novella “Passing” are probably two of the most notable examples. Douglas Sirk’s “Imitation of Life,” the second adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s novel raises the issue of “ ...

UNETHICAL AND ABUSIVE FINANCIAL DEALINGS IN THE U.S.

INTRODUCTION In this essay, one unethical and abusive financial dealings' story will be given. The unethical dealings and their effects on national and global economy will be discussed. The unethical financial dealing story is “Subprime Mortgage Crisis in the U.S. And the following global financial crisis”. Adam Smith's teachings indicated us how important to have ethical principles among agents in an economy. Ethical principles are essential for fair transactions and for a efficient working economy. They are like traffic lights, if people follows red and green lights and no accident ...

The social and political changes taken in the course of the Civil Rights Movement were accomplished through dramatic action and powerful organization, using grassroots initiatives and the participation of women in the leadership process (though only at an intermediate level). Women slowly became an increasingly important demographic in the leadership of the Civil Rights Movement. Women chiefly occupied an intermediate leadership role, providing moderate leadership in many local and regional cells of civil rights organizations. These intermediate layers of local leadership became vital to the Civil Rights Movement, as the inclusion of women in the groups also provided needed ...

History of Women in US from 1800

- Definition of the civil rights movement - a force/movement that fought for equal rights before the law - Strategies of the movement- campaigns, non-violent protests, civil unrest and armed rebellion - Fronts of the civil rights movement- abolition of slavery, the rights of the minorities (particularly the African Americans), the rights to vote and women rights - Thesis statement- despite women playing a critical role in the fight for the civil rights, they have often been overlooked - The anti-segregation struggle - Jim Crow system- entrenched racial segregation in public and private establishment, voter disfranchisement ...

Introduction

Leadership refers to the capacity to adapt the surroundings so that every individual feels authorized to contribute inventively to solving the problems. There are various ways and styles through which leadership is exercised. The common styles include the democratic style, autocratic style, visionary style and the lazier fair style (Bracey, 2011). The style a leader chooses to use to give direction to his subordinates largely defines whether the leader is successful or not, whether he is an ethical leader and whether he is a servant leader. Fannie Lou Hamer, an American voting rights activist and civil leader, is one of the ...

Oftentimes people feel more comfortable bearing their personal feelings to friends rather than to relatives because people may choose friends but not family. According to Hays, friendship is a qualitative relationship and defined as a “ voluntary interdependence between two persons that is intended to facilitate socio-emotional goals of the participants, and may involve varying types and degrees of companionship, intimacy, affection and mutual assistance” ( Hays, p. 395). Demir and Özdemir also state that, “ A friend is someone who you enjoy doing things together with, count on to support you when you need it, provide support when he/she needs it, talk about ...

Effects of Domestic Violence on families and Marriages

Domestic violence has got negative consequences to the victim, family and marriage. According to Kaspiew (43), it is evident that domestic violence leaves trauma in lives of the victims. Domestic violence has been established as one of the causes of divorce and family chaos. For instance, if one of the partners chooses to be abusive, the relationship loses its building units and the abused partner starts to tolerate the abuser. However, when the trauma is too much to take, the partner can choose to walk out of the marriage or to look for help from the friends. Sometimes, following ...

Effects of Domestic Violence on families and Marriages

It is evident according to the victims that leaving a marriage that is abusive is not an easy task. It is said to be a very critical and difficult decision that in most cases has to be made with the help of legal advice or counselor so as to ensure the children’s safety and that of the victim also. However, currently there are many available resources which are meant to protect domestic violence victims from cases such as loss of jobs, free counseling, financial aid, and provision of shelter temporarily not comparing to the story of Ruth in the book ...

Root Cause of the 2008-2009 Economic Crisis

As of today, the 2008-2009 Global Economic Crisis has left its mark in the international community as many countries have slowly succumbed into depression and recession. Many experts have argued as to how exactly did the crisis spread out from the United States, into the international economy. Some have noted that it was due to the foreclosure of many US companies due to bankruptcy, while others saw it was due to the wars happening in the Middle East. There were also arguments as to the resolution of the problem, and how countries could recover from the losses accumulated from ...

One of the major causes of the Great Depression had to do with excessive speculation in financial markets, and one of the major tragedies that resulted was a foreclosure epidemic that created the torrent of “Okies,” farmers from Oklahoma (and other parts of the Great Plains) who had been kicked off their land and just headed west, because of the rumors of work in the California fruit fields. Of course, there were many fewer jobs than what was initially advertised (excess supply of labor means rock-bottom wages), and so California was left with a legion of sharecroppers with no other refuge ...

Introduction

There is a risk in companies for the managers to engage in creative accounting. Managers face the temptation to overestimate incomes and understate expenses or costs in order to project high profits. Once they are deemed to have hit their performance targets, they know they will be given great executive bonuses and rewards. Auditors come in to assist shareholders to deal with this principle agency problem. A failure by the managers and auditors to safeguard shareholder’s wealth results to chaos. This is what occurred in the Fannie Mae mortgage investment company.

The Legal History of Fannie Mae

The Federal National Mortgage association was founded in ...