Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Who Got Bailed Out First during the Financial Crisis?

The government took action to address the financial crisis by bailing out large financial institutions such as AIG (American International Group), Bank of America, and Citi Bank. The first bailout was on September 16, 2008 when the Federal Reserve Board authorized the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend $85 billion to AIG.

This bail out was issued because the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System was trying to prevent further damage and fragility to the financial market. Despite the good practices and ethical behavior of many revenue cycle management service companies, financial institutions, and banks who worked hard to do the right thing, government financial assistance was crucial at this time.

Two months later on November 10, 2008, the government decided to restructure the financial support they were giving AIG by allowing the Treasury to purchase $40 billion of AIG preferred shares under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). A portion of this purchase was used to decrease the amount of the loan given to AIG from the Federal Reserve from $85 billion to $60.

This decrease in the price of the loan expanded the life span of the loan from 2 years to 5 years, which was necessary to fully aid AIG (USTreas.gov).  In this particular case, it was the correct decision for the government to interfere and help out AIG because if they did not, AIG may have added even more devastating consequences to the economy if they declared bankruptcy. Essentially, AIG was “too big to fail” so the federal government made an accurate and successful decision by bailing out AIG.

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What Started the 2008 Financial Crisis?


The financial crisis that our economy has experienced over the last years began when the economy started to slow down and many of the large banks and financial institutions found themselves exposed to a huge amount of sub-prime loans that were about to go under. 

Sub-prime loans were a way for banks to advertise the idea of buying a house to lower income families who would not have been able to afford a permanent residence without this new opportunity. Banks lent money to these families, who may or may not have had a history of bad credit so that they could buy a house with a small down payment and a low interest rate in the first few years. As a result families who bad credit scores and already in debt and sought after by medical collections or other debt collections agencies were given loans.

As housing prices started to drop in many regions of the country, all of a sudden many banks found themselves holding mortgages on homes that are worth far less than the value of the mortgage. At the same time, the homeowner did not want to continue making payments on a house that is worth less than what they owe for it. So many homeowners, real estate investors, and speculators decided to stop paying their mortgages and decided to turn the property over to the lending bank.

The bank in most cases did not want the house back because they had no opportunity to resell the house. Each mortgage default incident created a chain reaction. Once other sub-prime homeowners hear about what happened, they too recognized the financial incentive to walk away from their house as well.  All of a sudden, the banks were faced with a shortfall of assets to liability ratio on their books. The banks now had all these real estate assets that were dropping in value and they had no money coming in to counter balance.

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Racial Profiling Is Not Black and White

As cities around the world become more ethnically diverse, we either learn to live peacefully together or to engage in ongoing hostility and tension across communities and ethnic groups. As results, race becomes a major point of attention and conflict. In cities with high crime rates, such as Philadelphia and Baltimore, racial profiling is used to keep our cities safe by targeting individuals and groups that are more likely to engage in criminal activities. African Americans and immigrant Hispanics are often targeted.

While criminal defense attorney Rockville Maryland firms and other specialists that handle crimes need to know these racial stereotypes and how they relate to a crime case, it is important to know that racial profiling is a very sensitive topic and not always black and white.

After hundreds of years, race is still a very controversial topic. As we have questioned and speculated about how human populations are different in their physical appearance and if the differences are more than skin deep, it is important to know that the background of different “racial” groups has a lot to do with our differences.  In fact, genetic studies report very little differences across what we define as different racial groups.

When it comes to targeting that are more likely to get into trouble, environmental factors are more important than skin color.

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Monday, June 18, 2012

Plate Finned Coil Maintenance Is Vital to Performance


There are several types of plate finned coils that have a variety of applications, which include heavy machines and vehicles. The different kinds of coils can be grouped into two main functions:  cooling and warming. Plate finned coils are designed to keep the temperature between a certain range that allows the targeted machinery to work efficiently and safely. Coil piping packaging suppliers can determine which type of plate is appropriate for the desired use. 

Maintenance of these parts is essential to performance as a dirty plate fined coil affects the whole system and its components and as a result cause major failure and costly down time. For example, if the plate finned coil in a vehicle engine is dirtied it can reduce capacity by at least 20% to 30%. In order to prevent performance flaws, the coil needs maintenance and cleaning monthly, or biweekly if heavy demand is placed on the machine. All types of coils must be cleaned a minimum of once per year and if they are located in a corrosive environment several times per year. 

When cleaning coils do not use chemical solvents and avoid contact with sulfur or other harsh chemicals. Water and sulfur are corrosive and should not be used. Instead, only clean the tubes and fins with compressed air or a high powered vacuum.  Control valve suppliers offer complete coil piping kits to facilitate installation and overall maintenance. 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Four Ways Automatic Balancing Valves Can Save You Money

When selecting flow valves for your project, balancing your water system effectively with automatic balancing valves may seem to come at a higher price.  Though it’s true that automatic balancing valves – when compared with manual balancing valves, ball valves, or circuit setters – come at a higher per-unit price, a system equipped with this option can be set up less expensively and can save the owner maintenance costs over time.
  1. Potentially lower purchase cost.  Wait – what?!  Your manual valves may come cheaper, but you’ll have to buy more of them.  Traditional balancing valves may require twice as many valves within the system to balance it effectively.  Buying sets – such as the coil hook-up kits available for your system – can help save you even more money.
  2. Lower cost of installation.  More valves means more time required to install them.  You’ll be paying your crew for longer hours, and don’t forget the cost of calibrating the system by hand should you choose manual balancing valves.  (A system with automatic balancing valves also requires fewer valves in tricky-to-install places, such as in a bypass.  This means less time spent analyzing and problem-solving by your team.)
  3. Less time (and money) spent maintaining the system.  When your system balances itself automatically from the time it starts running, you’ll spend less time and money on maintenance in the long run.  You won’t need to manually balance the coils, only verify the flow – which most contractors estimate at half an hour (versus one-and-a-half hours to calibrate a manual valve).
  4. Better energy usage.  ABV-equipped buildings use less energy due to their ability to adjust water flow to certain parts of a building.  This provides temperature control to areas that need it, while allowing for unused wings or parts of the building that may have different energy needs to be adjusted for.