George Washinton essays

George Washinton essays The Success Of George Washingtons Administration George Washington was the first President of the United States, tackling a difficult job in putting the countrys government together. Washington was very successful in running the country, setting a precedent for the future presidents of the United States. He helped to organize the country into a nation with a powerful and organized government that supplied the laws and enforcements that the country needed to survive. He also remained neutral in foreign affairs that may have led to the demise of the young and weak United States if a side had been chosen. The people of the United States had a generally good picture of Washington as a successful President. After he served two terms, he was urged to run a third time, but he declined. Washington filled in the holes left in the Constitution by passing the Bill of Rights, the Judiciary Act, and the Mint Act. The United States became more unified, developing a national currency, a strong central government, and a judicial branch that prevents corruption by having higher courts to appeal to. Washington kept the trust of the people, touring the Northeast in 1789 and the South in 1791. He appealed to the wants and needs of the citizens, moving the capital of the nation to the District of Columbia in 1793 to please the Southerners. Washington ordered troops to stop the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, proving to the nation that the government had more power than during the time of the Articles of Confederation. Even following his presidency, he set a standard for what he viewed to be a good go vernment in his Farewell Address. He urged his countrymen to steer clear of political parties and to remain neutral in times of foreign wars and conflicts. Washington succeeded in protecting the country from outside conflicts and dangers during his presidency. Although many disagreed with his foreign policies, he insisted on being ...

APA Style Research Paper

APA Style Research Paper APA Style Research Paper APA Style Research Paper The most commonly requested format for research paper writing is APA style. APA style is commonly used in the social sciences and is consider as the most influential research paper writing style. Nevertheless, different fields may have some aberration, so consult your advisor on research paper writing requirements. If the teacher asks you to write APA style research paper, you have to follow specific rules which make the presentation of written material more understandable. Research paper APA style covers the following elements: punctuation and abbreviations, construction of tables, selection of headings, citation of references, presentation of statistics as well as many other elements that are a part of every academic essay. Research Paper Help The first thing you should do is to define a research paper topic. You have the possibility to demonstrate your research skills: collect information, examine it and make your own contribution to the existing knowledge. Every research paper topic should be focused on a problem or question which has to be solved or answered. Determine the main aspect of your research paper topic.  Library resources will help you to understand the topic problem and to arrange research paper ideas. Collect information on given phenomenon, inform about experiments that have been already done. Reading a scientific literature will help you to find out the most important and relevant data for your research paper writing. Title page, the text of the research paper and list of references are the basic issues of an APA style research paper. Writing a research paper you have to use other elements such as: abstract, references, appendices, footnotes, tables etc. Let's take a look at some elements. Title page is the separate first page. The title should be in the center about halfway down the page. The information including your name, college, course, professor etc. should be below the title. Make sure that the title is meaningful. It should signal to the reader what your research paper topic is. Bibliography list should be presented at the end of your research paper. The list begins on a new page. The purpose of including a bibliographic reference is to allow your readers to track down your sources. While writing bibliography, you need to include standard bibliographic information: author, title, place of publication, publisher, and year of publication. Custom Written Research Papers If you are not sure how to format your research paper in proper APA style, ask our writers for research paper writing help and the formatting will be done for free!   In addition to custom written research paper you receive free bibliography list, free title page, and free plagiarism report!   Only professional and experienced writers working at are entrusted to work on your research paper writing!

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Leadership and Commitment 16 4.5. Application of Concepts 16 Figure 2: The Concept of TQM 16 16 4.6. Future of TQM 17 Section 5 – Implementation of TQM in the Operational Process of Chevrolet 18 5.1. Process/ Prevention 18 5.2. Training and Education 18 5.3. Empowerment/ Organisation 19 Figure 3: TQM Process of General Motors 19 Section 6 – Conclusion 20 20 References 21 Section 1 – Introduction With the increasing influence of globalisation, the business environment is becoming more complex and wider affecting almost every organisation irrespective of its organisational structure and operations. Consequently, the competition is also at a rise due to which the competitive firms are focussed on developing competitive strategies, such as differentiation strategies, diversification strategies among others. It is in this context that the organisations are also considering the aspect of Total Quality Management (TQM). From the managerial perspective, TQM refers to a p hilosophy and/or a paradigm which is emphasised on continuous improvements of products and/or services. It is often defined as a comprehensive management process which principally focuses on the aspect of continuous quality improvement. To be precise, the TQM approach intends to satisfy the customers’ and/or the owners’ needs with efficiency and is driven by the continuous improvement of the entire operation process (PHCC Educational Foundation, 1996). With this virtue, the objective of the paper is to study the TQM approach adapted by General Motors (GM) in order to provide quality services to the potential customers and/or owners of Chevrolet. Thereby, the discussion of the paper will intend to identify the various attributes of the operational process of GM. It shall also consider reviewing various literatures relevant to the topic in order to contextualise the findings comprehensively. Section 2 – Context: Company XYZ Logistics Chevrolet is a world renowned brand and is owned by GM, an American auto maker which is also recognised as one of the market leaders in the international automotive industry. Besides other brands owned by the company, Chevrolet happens to be one of the most popular and successful brands marketed by GM. It was first introduced in the market during early 1900s and since then it has gained a remarkable growth in the international platform. Notably, it is marketed in 130 different countries including UK and other major countries of the European region with average sales of 3.5 million vehicles annually (Chevrolet Europe, 2010). 2.1. Main Products, Services and Customers Chevrolet is a major brand manufactured and marketed under the policies of GM. There are also various sub-brands under the brand name of Chevrolet which are also marketed by GM. To be mentioned, the sub-brands of Chevrolet are Spark City, Cruze Sedan, Aveo, Captiva SUV, Epica, Corvette and others. Thus, it is quite apparent that the brand and its par ent company offer a wide range of products to its customers (Chevrolet Europe, 2010). The services rendered by the brand are also available at a wide range from marketing to after and before sales services. To be precise, the brand in Europe serves the customers to modify the design of the car according to their convenience as a before sales service. It also includes test drive services in the category of before sales services. On the other hand, as after sales services, the brand offers vehicle inspections by expert professionals and the

Biography of Rovin Jay and Jonathan Larson Research Paper

Biography of Rovin Jay and Jonathan Larson - Research Paper Example He wrote an autobiography, Tick Tick to express his disappointment. Billy Aronson a playwright collaborated with Jonathan on updating la Boh’eme a show that was later named Rent. They also wrote three songs together before separating. The Rent show was relevant to his generation and incorporated gays, those who are straight, battling with AIDS and loneliness. Alongside he also did other things, he wrote a revue about teen issues, produced a video for children called Away We Go. He won Richard Rodgers grant for Rent in 1994 and at the same time the New York theater workshop agreed to mount a studio production for him. He quit his waiter job and worked with his producers, project director Michael Greif, and theater artistic Jim Nicola. Shortly thereafter the show was cast and rehearsals began. Unfortunately, Larson died before his show could pick up. The show gained a lot of publicity and was transferred to Broadway. The show has won many awards including the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Four Tonys (Larson page 59) There is little information provided about Robin jay, however he an American based producer of rent and an Actor at Knotts Berry Farm. After rent moved to Broadway production it won Tony Award but the production closed soon after. The achievement of the show however led to several foreign productions. Later on the show moved to motion picture in which most of the early cast members were included. Among them were Director Rovin Jay, Choregrapher Sonya Randall and Music Director Brian Sherick. He acted as the Samaritan in a Christmas Carol, and Narrator 1 in the Gift of the Magi at the world famous Bird Cage Theatre. For eight years, he was the actor of Disneyland Resort, and in 2009 he performed as Naphtali the calypso singing brother and the Technicolor Dreamcoat (Larson 24). For four months, he

Contract Law Legal Advice Example

Contract Law Legal Advice Example Legal Advice 1. The shop is relying on an exemption clause.   Customer A is likely to have a remedy against the shop under schedule 3 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999) which disallows a business to exclude a consumer’s legal rights.   In this instance, customer A may seek provision under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 s 14 (2) (goods must be of satisfactory quality) as amended by the Sale of Goods Act 1994 if the shop does not assist her. 2.   Customer B may be able to rely on undue influence, the main case being National Westminster Bank v Morgan where it was held the claimant must not suffer from manifest disadvantage.   Undue influence simply means unfair pressure on a party when forming a contract.   The shop may argue there was no special relationship between the parties, in which case it is for customer B to prove this (Williams v Bayley).   Following the decision in Lloyds Bank v Bundy, the question may be whether there was ‘inequality of bargaining strength’ the shop acted as an agency for the HP financers.   In this case, the creditor (financers) may be unable to enforce the contract against customer B (Kingsnorth Trust v Bell) if customer B can successfully plea undue influence then the contract may be rendered voidable (set aside). 3.   In relation to customer C, she may be able to rely on the Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended by the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994, which states under s.13, that the goods must be as described (see: Beale v Taylor).   There must be a reliance on the description of goods as decided in: Grant v Australian Knitting Mills Ltd, but in this instance the customer is entitled to a remedy against the shop. 4.   Customer D is seeking to bring a complaint for fraudulent misrepresentation under the Misrepresentation Act 1967.   Stating that the childminders were qualified is a false statement of fact (Bisset v Wilkinson).   Defined in Derry v Peek, fraudulent misrepresentation is a statement where there are several factors, one of which is a ‘reckless statement made without caring whether it was true or not’.   In this instance, the shop is liable for all damages, including all loss, to the customer (Smith New Court Securities v Scrimgeour Vickers).   5. Neighbours are seeking to complain over a private nuisance. It can be defined as: â€Å"continuous, unlawful and indirect interference with a person’s enjoyment of land†Ã‚   Balance must be stuck between conflicting interests, namely the shop needing its deliveries and the neighbours’ peace in the morning.   Has the duration being continuous? (Bolton v Stone)   The shop being aware of the problem, if it fails to address the issue, then it may be liable for nuisance (Leakey v National Trust). 6.   The shop has a duty of care under the Occupier’s Liability Act 1957, s 2 (1) towards visitors, in this case invitees to the shop (s. 1 (2)).   The shop must take ‘reasonable steps to inform a visitor that an area is out of bounds.   It did so in this case, with the notice on the door.  Ã‚   Under s. 2 (3) (a) of the OLA 1957, the shop must be prepared for children to be less careful than an adult.   However, the shop is entitled to be assured that the behaviour of a young child should be supervised by an adult (Phipps v Rochester Corporation).   Therefore, this part of the claim may fail since the mother did not keep her child under supervision. In relation to her claim for nervous shock, there is a 3 stage test as outlined in Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, namely: a). Was the mother in sufficient proximate time and space to the incident?   b) There must be close ties of love and affection to the victim c) The claimant must have seen or heard the incident or its immediate aftermath.   As all these answers are in the affirmative, then it is likely this part of the claim may be successful against the store. 7.   The shop is liable for injury to F under the Employer’s Liability Act 1969, s1. F is no longer required to pursue the manufacturer as the shop has informed her, although she may do so if she wishes.   F (employee) must show: a) That the defect in the equipment caused the accident and b) That the defect was due to a fault in the manufacture. In this part, the employer is liable directly to F. With F’s claims for bullying, the shop is liable under vicarious liability, since this is a tort by an employee acting in the course of their employment.   A noted case for this was outlined in Jones v Tower Boot Co 8.   An advertisement is an invitation to treat, where the customer makes an offer to buy (Partridge v Crittenden).   There may only be revocation of an offer where response is made to an invitation to treat (Payne v Cave).   In this case the customer accepted the terms of the offer and is entitled to the goods as stated (Lefkowitz v Great Minneapolis Surplus Stores).   9. The shop is liable under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.   The fact that H’s sister did not make the contract is irrelevant as the case of Stennett v Hancock illustrated that a duty of care is owed to a person receiving presents from the original buyer (H). Under s. 2 (1) of the CPA 1987, the supplier (shop) is liable, since the customer cannot identify or contact the manufacturer.   10.   The shop owes K a duty of care as outlined in the ‘neighbour’ principle of Donoghue v Stevenson.   To prove negligence, there must have been a duty, that duty was breached and causation. Therefore, the shop is negligent in this case.   Also, K may have a claim under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 which places strict liability on anyone in the distribution food chain where a consumer suffers harm. 11.   This contract is frustrated.   In the case of Taylor v Caldwell, it was determined that where a contract depends on a given thing (in this case 100 copper saucepans), and there is impossibility of performance of the contract, then the performance should be excused.   Both parties are discharged from further performance in this case as the supplier cannot supply the order requested. 12.   Part payment of a debt can never be satisfaction for the whole payment as outlined in Pinnel’s Case (1602).   This has since been confirmed in Foakes v Beer and Re Selectmove.   Further, if the money is unable to be recovered at a later date, the doctrine of promissory estoppel applies where further rights to recover the remaining sum will be extinguished (High Trees case) 13.   This is a case of pure economic loss.   The negligent driver does not owe a duty of care to the shop as there was no damage to the shop’s property (Spartan Steel v Martin).   Based on policy guidelines, the loss of profit to the shop is ‘non-recoverable’ to avoid the driver from a ‘crushing liability’. 14.   This is a negligent statement on the part of the accountants.   In Hedley Byrne v Heller, the House of Lords held that a ‘high degree of proximity or closeness of relationship is required, and for liability to arise, a special relationship has to be shown between the maker of the statement and the person who relied on it.’   XYZ should be able to sue the accountants. Bibliography Charman, M, (2002), Contract Law, 2nd edn, London, Willan Publishing Giliker, P and Beckwith, S., (2004) Tort, 2nd edn, London, Sweet and Maxwell Martin, J and Turner, C., (2001) Contract Law, London, Hodder Stoughton Martin, J and Turner, C., (2001) Tort Law, London, Hodder Stoughton Richards, P, (2002), Law of Contract, 5th edn, London, Longman Publishing

The Mohawk Indians

For this project, i choose to write about the Mohawk Indians. These native americans are are group of fierce warriors, where both men and women had vital roles. They were orginally apart of Iroquois Confederation, which included various tribes in the north eastern territory of the United States. They are also one of the most famous and surviving native americans. They were unique and had different traditions. The Mohawks were located in the area, which, now we call New York. This in in the North eastren part of the United States. Altough other tribes resisded in the area, they took up most of the territorty. These Native Americans had many ways to live. There homes, were what we call today longhouses. They were extremely long in the back and were made up of berch and elm bark. To travel the Mohawks had two types of canoes, one made of elm bark which was fast and the other a dugout canoe which could carry many people but was much slower. They also relied on dogs as there pack animals, and in the snow they tied them to sleds to help them get around. The women of the tribe were known as â€Å"clan leaders† because they made all the descions about land and resouces. The men who were Mohawk chiefs made the miltary rulings such as engaging in war. They were only allowed to represent the tribe. There clothing was very tradional. The men wore breecloths with leggings, while woman wore wrap around dresses with shorter leggings. There name, is represented in there hairstyle displayed by men. They mostly had shaved heads except for there mohawks dressed up with feathers or roaches. The women only cut there hair when they were in mourning, and their daily hair was long and in a braid. Childrens roles in the tribes is very different then todays. They went hunting and fishing with there fathers and had plenty of chores. But on the other hand, they did have some time for fun. The girls usually played with there cornhusks dolls, while the boys either played the sport lacrosse or tried to throw a dart through a moving hoop. Mohawk music was based around mainly two insturments. The drums and the flute. The Drums were if not all the time filled with water , mostly to give it a different style and sound. The flutes were used to seduce the women in the tribe, while playing it, it would show he was thinking about a girl. There religion, or more so beliefs were of nature and of everyones sprirt. They belived in wind spirts, the three sisters ( corn, squash, and beans) to help with crops, the thunderer, and the creator twins. The Mohawks are also famous for the myth of the orgin of the rabbit dance, where the native americans used there drums and made a certain sound and all the rabbits came and danced around them. They also known also for there mask making and pottery, the masks they make were so important to them that outsiders may not be permitted to look at them. Just like many other native americans they used bow and arrows to hunt, in battle they used bows and arrows, and clubs and spears. To fish the men used spears and fishing poles. They are so skilled in steaming wood that they made knives and even today the survining members create lacrosse sticks. In conclusion, the Mohawks are a name we know them as, and also there enimies. They were belived to be cannibals but it is not certain. Its said they would eat the warriors there were up against if they won. But they called themselves the Kanienkehaka, or people of the flint. They were a truly restless group and by becoming apart of irqouis nation, they were allowed to thrive and continue there traditions.

The Failure Behind American International Group Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2882 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? What happened and Why it happened? AIG and its subsequent failure are one of, if not the most well-known company failures in financial history. Of the more recent bankruptcies filed for companies like Enron and Worldcom, the effects and unforeseeable consequences of the failure of a company like AIG would be much more widespread and felt by many more Americans at the lay person level. AIG is primarily an insurance company that sells Property casualty, life, and travel insurance to customers the world over. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Failure Behind American International Group Finance Essay" essay for you Create order However, there was another arm to the company known as AIG FP or American International Group Financial Products division. This division dealt in the financial markets as more than an intermediary, but actually as a trader. The most publicized and understood version of what happened at AIG is that the federal government bailed them out. The term bailout has come to be understood as a final resort transaction with no official means of repayment or penalty. However, this simply is not what happened. The truth of the matter is that AIG deviated from its core business of insurance and the profit margins that come with the premium to risk spread. A great majority of the equity that had existed in AIG came from the sale of credit default swap contracts through the financial products division. These contracts had implicit assumptions of quality and of financial stability. These stipulations in the contracts warranted that if the credit rating of AIG fell, the risk of the counterparties w ent up significantly and that there must be compensation for this. The basic product underlying all of these contracts was the ever popularized Asset Backed Security, or, to be more specific, the ABS CDO or collateralized debt obligation. As almost any American would be able to tell you, at this time in 2008, these asset backed securities were based on defaulting mortgages. Credit default swaps can be lucrative when defaults are low, however, the agreements can quickly cost a company billions if defaults increase sharply. Some of the most interesting information of the entire financial crisis comes from AIG and more specifically from the Financial Products Division. This division was an almost infinitesimal piece of AIG in terms of real estate occupied and employees present. However, it was out of this small setting that Joseph Cassano and his employees issued credit default swaps on over $441 billion in securities that were originally rated AAA. This refers to the tranches that were created for the asset backed securities and more specifically the senior tranche, or least risky. The problem here is that when the company reorganized its tranches to be able to sell more of the repackaged security, they simply upgraded the Mezzanine tranche to Senior, so as to increase the credit worthiness of the security that they were selling. Of the $441 billion of securities traded by the financial products division, over $57.8 billion were based in subprime loans (Pittman). In 2008, this is exactly what happened to AIG and their Financial Products division. In 2007, AIG FP lost more than $10 billion and by the end of the second quarter of 2008 they had lost an even more impressive $17 billion in that division alone. This investment portfolio was significantly more risk seeking than any of the other investment portfolios of AIG, however, these were the most toxic at the time. Due to the overwhelming losses to AIGs capital reserves, they began to be the subjects of inc reased scrutiny by the SEC as well as credit rating agencies such as Moodys and Standard Poors. The rating agencies quickly downgraded the company and its Credit Rating (SP), causing AIG to have to fulfill the requirements of their Credit Default Swap contracts and costing the company over $13 billion dollars of its capital reserves. After the requirement to pay, the company was seen as almost being insolvent. The limits of their liquidity crisis were fast approaching bankruptcy. This is where the story begins for most people, and where the term Government Bailout comes into play. After the downgrading of their credit and the falling of AIG stock price from a 12 month average of approximately $70/share to $1.25 on September 14, 2008, the federal government attempted to get a private loan for AIG to stay liquid and above water during the financial crisis at one of its worst moments. JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs were called upon to try to finance the deal. This was unsuccessf ul, but the government wanted to find out if there would be widespread effects to the failure of a corporate giant such as AIG. Morgan Stanley was hired to assess the systematic risks associated with failure of such a large company. Not only did AIG effect the lives of more common Americans than companies such as Goldman Sachs, but the counterparties involved in their Credit Default Swap contracts stood to lose upwards of $180 billion dollars if the company was to go under. Below is the highly sought after schedule A, or list of derivative contracts. Schedule A (Derivative and off balance sheet instruments) After all was said and done, the company entered into a 24 month secured credit facility that AIG could access up to $85 billion from. The loan was secured by AIGs assets including the non-regulated Financial Products division. It came at a cost of LIBOR +8.5% to AIG (Gretchen Morgensen). The federal government received stock warrants for 79.9% of the company as a result of this deal and later increased its ownership stake to approximately 91.2% after purchasing a second round of $40 billion with the Troubled Asset Relief Program. This is seen as the government bailout. In the most simplistic sense, the government took action that it had to to keep the financial system from suffering massive losses to AIG and its counterparties in their Credit Default Swaps as well as the millions of other Americans that are affected by AIG and its subsidiaries on a daily basis. This is why AIG was given the attention and capital that it so desperately required and companies such as Goldman Sach s were allowed to fail. Was it Preventable and How? The AIG liquidity crisis and the numerous U.S. market failures can be attributed to the lack of affective government Regulation. Over the past few years regulation of Financial Institutions has been highlighted by the media and congressional action. This highly debated issue has been a major concern for decades as the financial industry continues to change and new financial products become created. The most recent market failure is mostly due to the expanding derivatives market and its role in the failure of numerous financial institutions including AIG. Past regulation legislation has clearly failed in properly regulating the new derivatives market and preventing firms from harming the overall U.S. market. New regulation is now in the process of being created to update the current Regulatory institutions so that they are able to accommodate the new financial products and protect the U.S. market / economy. The financial industry has drastically changed over the past few decades. With the creation of computer trading, complex models and derivatives the job of regulating financial institutions has become far more complex. One of the first government actions to control these institutions from potentially harming the overall economy was the creation of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1932. This legislation was aimed at protecting depositors money and limiting the ways in which banks could invest their deposits. By eliminating full service Universal banking the government believed that it could prevent another financial catastrophe after the great depression. Glass-Steagall however was repealed in 1999 and was followed by many de-regulatory actions. This era of de-regulation is what many think allowed the growth of reckless trading and speculative betting since government agencies were powerless to stop such actions. The failure of AIG is what really brought light towards the problems of government regulatory agencies. After the bailout people began to search for who was to blame for the companies collapse and the adverse affects it had on the economy. Since AIG is such a large corporation it was not clear initially who or what department was responsible for the extreme losses. The sub division called AIG Financial Products was found to be the main culprit for the collapse. This department was engaging in credit default swaps and risky derivatives trading. Since the company operated similar to a thrift the Federal Office of Thrift Supervision was viewed as the primary regulating agency. This agency was also responsible for regulating other failures such as Indymac and Washington Mutual. Once AIG began to fail extreme amount of pressure were put towards reforming the regulation system, Ben Bernake said, AIG exploited a huge gap in the regulatory system. Since the bailout the President and Congress have passed some legislation in hopes of preventing similar failures in the future. The Dodd-Frank act of 2010 is the main piece of regulatory legistation reform that has been passed since the financial collapse. In this act past laws including ones from the Glass-Steagall act are reinstated and combined with new reform in order to better regulate modern day financial companies. Included in Dodd-Frank is a section eliminating the Federal Office of Thrift Supervision, which was powerless to control and monitor large corporations like AIG. Many people compare AIG to their regulators as A super heavyweight boxer against a 13 year old boy. In order to give regulators more power the Dodd-Frank act created two more agencies, The Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Office of Financial Research. These 2 agencies were given the responsibilities from the previous office of thrift supervision along with other failed regulatory offices. The main change in regulation power came from the new ability for the regulators to monitor ANY risks to the U.S. financial system and the power to consult State regulatory offices overseein g insurance companies. Many other proposed laws have been discussed to further the financial security of the U.S. economy. One such rule is called the Volcker Rule which proposes that depository institutions should be prohibited from proprietary trading, much like in Glass-Steagall. As the economy continues to stabilize and grow regulatory legislation such as the Dodd-Frank act will become extremely important in order to prevent another great failure like AIG. The struggle between the free market economy and government regulation will continue to be a major source of debate for many years to come. Risk Management Errors We dont live in a world where conventional risk management textbooks prepare us. Not one firm forecast the true impact of the economic crisis and its consequences. These consequences continue to take business academics and tenured economist by surprise. The banks have multiplied the crisis because of the so-called risk management models, which increased their exposure to risk instead of limiting it and rendered the global economic system more unstable than ever. In the late 2000s many firms learned that instead of trying to anticipate low-probability, high-impact events, they should reduce their vulnerability to them. In August 2007 during a conference call with investors, many high-ranking AIG officials stressed the near zero risk probability of credit-default swaps. This was the first in many risk management errors. AIGs chief risk officer was quoted as saying the risk actually taken is very modest and remote. A credit default swap is a bilateral contract between the buyer and seller of protection. The CDS refers to a reference entity or reference obligor, usually a corporation or government. The reference entity is not a party to the contract. The protection buyer makes quarterly premium payments, the spread, to the protection seller. AIG did not understand the risk involved in these credit default swaps and that misunderstanding was largely in part to CEO Martin Sullivan. He was quoted as saying It is hard for us with, and without being flippant, to even see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing $1 in any of those transactionsÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦. We see no issues at all emerging. We see no dollar of loss associated with any of that business. The lack of knowledge and the massive amount of confidence lead AIG down the path to destruction. In November of 2007, AIG reported a $352 million unrealized loss from its credit-default swap portfolio, but to keep investors happy AIG was quoted as saying its highly unlikely that they would lose any money one the deals. Moving on to December AIG disclosed 1.10 billion in further unrealized losses to its swap portfolio, bring the grad total to 1.5 billion in loses. Throughout a conference call with investors, CEO Martin Sullivan explains that the probability that AIGs credit-default swap portfolio will sustain an economic loss is close to zero. AIGs thought its risk-modeling system had proven very reliable, Sullivan said, and since the transactions were so conservatively structured, AIG had a very high level of comfort with its risk models. Moving on to February, AIG set its 2007 total realized loses to 11.5 billion. AIG also disclosed that I had posed 5.3 billion in collateral as well. This was the first time the company had disclosed the amount of money in collateral. In the late months of 2008, the government pledged 115 billion to AIG in bailout funds to try to hedge the crisis. The US board of Governors and Treasury announced the restruc turing of the governments financial support to AIG. This restructuring included a treasury purchase of AIG preferred shares through the TARP program. This program reduced the 85 billion dollars in AIG revolving credit to 60 billion and created two limited liability companies. In the late months of 2008 to 2010 the powerhouse fell apart. Who was responsible? American International Groups monumental collapse like any other disaster derived at first from ambition. Then, in turn, this same ambition begot greed. In retrospect, looking back on the AIGs collapse, we can say there were many individuals that were responsible for the devastating disaster in the wake of the economic crisis of 2008. First, we must start from the top of the organization and work our way through the corporate hierarchy to lay out the appropriate blame to the responsible parties. Starting in 1987, when the Financial Products division within AIG was created by a joint venture between Howard Sosin and the AIG CEO, Hank Greenberg. The tumultuous relationship built on greed was doomed from the beginning as the ambitious Sosin only needed Greenbergs financial and brand backing whereas Greenbergs leadership style was with an iron fist. Lacking the trust in Sosin, Greenberg eventually did enough micro-managing to get Sosin to leave the company on bad terms and eventuall y replaced him with one of his protà ©gà ©s, Joseph Cassano. Under Sosin, Financial Products was a large profit, no material loss division within AIG that generated millions in profits during his tenure. In contrast, Cassanos tenure was an aggressive and risky operation that he deemed a no lose situation when in fact it eventually led to AIGs collapse and a subsequent bailout by the federal government. Under his control, the Financial Products division indulged in extensive selling of credit default swaps on mortagages which at its height AIG had guaranteed some $440 billion in obligations. In all, Joseph Cassano and the lack of corporate governance within AIG allowed him to single handedly bring a company that was once looked at as one of the safest and secure institutions to place your money in as one the biggest failures in the modern day economy. Ripple effect on the market/economy? In the wake of the financial crisis in 2008, the collapse of such a company with the size and stature of AIG would have been catastrophic to the entire financial world as we know it. Most systematically its downfall would have led to the eventual collapse of other banks with it because subprime issues in the underlying credit default swaps AIG was selling. In theory, every bank would have been able to look at their balance sheets and note that they were suffering from the same type of subprime issues that would have destroyed AIG had there not been a bailout by the federal government. Ultimately, the risky debt obligations that the credit default swaps were based on were being defaulted at a high rate and there was no way possible for AIG at the end of the day to honor all of its obligations to speculators and banks alike who purchased these financial instruments as forms of insurance against default. On another note, another economic industry that suffered was the travel indust ry. In the wake of the government bailout of AIG, executives were spotted relaxing in a luxurious resort in California. Because of this, AIG received bad press from the media and taxpayers, alike. Other companies took note of this bad press and immediately cancelled any type of conferences in exotic and expensive locations in order to avoid that same bad press. Sources Mark Pittman (2008-09-29). Goldman, Merrill Collect Billions After Feds AIG Bailout Loans. Bloomberg News. https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchivesid=aTzTYtlNHSG8. Retrieved 2011-04-08. SP: Ratings on American International Group Lowered and Kept on CreditWatch Negative. Yahoo News. 2008-09-16. https://marketplace.news.yahoo.net/pressrelease.aspx?id=96684. Retrieved 2011-04-08 Gretchen Morgensen; Mary Williams Walsh (2008-09-14). Rush Is On to Prevent AIG From Failing. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/business/15aig.html?hp. Retrieved 2011-04-08