American General Corporation Essays (1022 words) - Systemic Risk

American General Corporation American General Corporation Evaluating the Risk of the American General Corporation we started from looking at company's market standing from potential investors point of view. First we take a look at the companies profile. American General Corporation is a diversified financial services organization, provides retirement services, life insurance, and consumer loans. The company offers retail financial programs through fifteen thousand merchants. American General Corp. operates in 41 states. Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. Well, first we find out that American General Corporation is a blue chip, multibillion dollar company. This tells us right from the beginning that this financial giant is really worth looking at as a potential candidates to be added in our stock portfolio. Considering that this is a financial company dealing with investments, pension funds and life insurance we have to be very careful because these industries are most sensible to overall economy changes, and we know that at this point US economy is going through the period when recession is most expected. To get a better understanding of how this might affect companies risk we have to know how diversified companies investments are. For that we have to evaluate companies performance compare to market performance. ( for this purpose we use chart on returns for American General Corporation to S&P 500 ). As we can see from the chart behavior of the company is almost identical to the behavior of the market, this observation becomes more obvious when we take a look at company's beta which is .95. Well this is not such a great sign because as I already mentioned recession is expected., and as we know with recession overall market returns go down this is knowing the relationship between market and AGC we can predict that American General Corp. performance will decrease as well. The question is how deep will the market fall, and how long the recession would last, of course, if the recession will occur. There were no recent revelation, as far as, companies financial structure is concern, well, may be the only exception is a slight change in companies management structure which so far did not make any significant impact on companies market value, so the only major aspect in evaluating of how risky the company is how correlated it is with the market. Of course there are other things to be considered. There are couple of good signs that should lower the risk of AGC. For instance, the decrease in the charge off and delinquency ratios compared to prior periods reflect the positive impact of the company's credit quality improvement program, which included an increase in thee proportion of real estate secured loans and higher underwriting standards. The decrease in the allowance reflects the improvement in charge-off experience, partially offset by an increase in the allowance to support the growth in receivables. Also, company's operating expenses as a percentage of average finance receivables decreased to 5.8% for thee first six month of 1998 from 5.98% for the same period of 1997, and to 5.73% from 5.99% for the same comparable second quarter periods, due to the increase in average finance receivables, which more than offset the increase in operating expenses. Company rapidly grows in value. A decrease in interest rates and resulting increases in bond value in second quarter 1998 caused a $555 increase in the fair value adjustment to fixed maturity securities and related $335 million positive adjustment to shareholders' equity from December 31, 1997. So, the interest rate would be a very important fact to consider in evaluating this company. According to the latest news Federal Reserve has no intention to decrease interest rate any further, there is actually a great possibility of increasing it in defensive move against coming recession. Having such prediction for the future and keeping in mind how greatly American General Corp. influenced by the interest rate, AGC becomes more of a risky investment. The company is very careful with it's investments. AGS decreases its investments into the below investment grade securities ( have credit rating below BBB- ) from 5% at June 31 of 1998 to 4% at December 31 of 1997%. The company invests in below investment securities to enhance the overall

Gone With A Wind- review essays

Gone With A Wind- review essays For my movie review I picked, in my opinion, the most sentimental portrait of the Civil War- Gone With The Wind, directed by Victor Fleming and produced by David O. Selznick. Victor Fleming was born on February 23, 1883 in Pasadena, CA. Hed been a racecar driver and in later years was a well-known motorcyclist and airplane pilot. He got into the film industry by accident. First he was an assistant cameraman for director Allan Dwan and by 1915 became a director of photography. He worked under D. W. Griffiths supervision as for Dwen on several films with Douglas Fairbanks. He made his feature debut as a co-director on Fairbanks movie When the clouds roll by(1920). His first solo project was The Mollycoddle(1921). He worked at Paramount and went to MGM in 1932. Fleming was a really skilled at film for young audiences, for example Treasure Island(1934), Captains Courageous(1937) or The Wizard of Oz. He was also a favorite director of actor Clark Gable, and having guided him in Red Dust(1932) and Test Pilot(1938) was brought in to take over the directory of Gone With The Wind(1939), which earned Victor a Best Director Oscar. He was one of MGMs most reliable directors, and his most notable films of the 40s were Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Tortilla Flat, A guy named Joe, Adventure, and his final film Joan of Arc. Although he directed some of Hollywoods most potent weepers, he was known so much as Mr. Macho J. Victor died on January 6, 1949 in Cottonwood, AZ. GWTW considers the dramatic changes, which take place in the American South between the period of 1861 and 1873. It opens in April of 1861, at the palatial southern estate of Tara, where Scarlett OHara (Vivien Leigh) finds out that her belo...

Exam answer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Exam answer - Essay Example Successful construction procurement should result in timely project delivery, proper budgeting and quality in order to meet the required functions. The act of creating a new structure requires objective survey on site, interaction with design team and other consultants, suppliers as well as other stakeholders. An immediate choice in term of the cost and quality should be agreed upon. The procurement of a construction work is often the subject of joint funding with different stakeholders who have varying interests and goals in the outcome of the projects. The following elements are the best drivers in terms of construction management: Global Bank Corporation are the owners of this project whose purpose is to take account of the demise of many European banks during the credit crunch. The success of this project will meet owner’s interest and at the same time meet the needs of their customers (Schwalbe 2009, p. 45). It is very important to first point at the factors that will determine the most suitable procurement strategy before commencing the projects. These factors: In any construction procurement, the objectives and constraints of each building project are interdependent and therefore require concurrent considerations. A competent and industrious team will be necessary to meet these aspects. Risks are events known or unknown that adversely affect the outcome of the project. The nature of the risk is determined by the objective and constraints of the project. For instance, this project is budgeted at  £120m and any activity that may cost more than the amount projected will be a risk. Consequently, it will affect rest processes and the entire project. Similarly, this project has a tight timeframe for completion. Any delay to the construction program will be a risk on the completion of the project. The responsibility of managing a given risk will be allocated to the party that has the capacity to deal with that risk. Level of project complexity

The Godfather Movie Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Godfather Movie - Research Paper Example The plot of the story portrays an Italian American empire that is beginning to fall based on tragic situations in criminal exploits. The opening scene of a wedding pose an appeal to the viewers as family induces a feeling of belonging such that those who lack belief in it are draw in to the depths of such remarkable occasions. That in the making is one significant way to draw the attention of the viewers. This depicts the Corleone family business affairs bringing the viewers to the act, to its world and into the narrative. The epic is actually ruthless in implications as it unfolds and various styles have been used. Suspense is created effectively, and the actors seek to turn off the viewers and pull them in at the same time. Skill and craft is executed bravely with the length and the pacing of the movie aiming to show how themes of betrayal, greed and loyalty shine in life in ways that are both profound and surprising (Puzo 208). It offers a brutal depiction of events and lifestyle such as one of pirates. The story begins plotwise on an attempt to assassinate Don Vito by a rival from a different family due to his refusal to join an illegal business in narcotics trade. With his absence and temporary unavailability as he seeks medical attention, it becomes the role of his sons to run the entire empire. These include a hot tempered Sonny, mildly meek Fredo, an adopted son of Irish ancestry Tom Hagen and a fiercely independent Michael who happens to be the only fortunate son to obtain a college education (Zapala-Kraj 47). Michael is initially uninterested in the family business and lacks the desire to take part in the future take over. However, with continuous deceit and betrayal, it is Michael who comes through as a successor to his... This research paper focuses on the movie The Godfather, that is one of the many action series that provides a captivating entertainment especially for those who love to watch drama and crime. The movie was produced in 1972 and based on the novel by Mario Puzo, The Godfather. The movie provides a captivating scene and popular moving chronicles of American life that are brutal in their nature and the way they are depicted. Within the context of all popular entertainment, this movie provided a higher rating in the mode of the filming. The screen player Francis Ford Coppola brings forth a gangster melodrama that is truly sorrowful but also extremely exciting that lacks the unbelievable piety of the previous productions in the movie industry that strike fear but caution that the crime is not paying. The movie is an illustration of daily life events. Let us face it, to be rich, powerful, feared and influential is a way of life achieved by some people and we cannot deny is one that most wou ld desire and find somewhat compelling. Based on that, drama epics like The Godfather gives the viewer the chance to explore this dark possibility and emotion as well as live through the actors and traits as depicted in the film. There is much people who can borrow from a story that shows how a person can move from normal life of casting out roles to one of taking duty and responsibility towards a fulfilled life. Michael can be used as a turning point to people who lack a sense of direction, and the movies is highly recommended.

Data Storage Technology Options for Business Need Essay

Data Storage Technology Options for Business Need - Essay Example For computer systems technology to cope with these intensifying storage and processing needs, the demand for performance and storage capacity has risen acutely. This has contributed to the manufacture, invention, and uses of a variety of physical storage devices for computer systems. These physical storage mediums in the contemporary computing world range from the familiar usual floppy disk, hard disk, flash drive, DVDs and CD-ROMs, and tapes that are commonly used in Information Communications Technology business and organization sectors. It’s also important to note that these storage devices have different file allocation methods and size allocation. This is therefore what is going to form the discussion basis of this paper. Additionally, this paper will also evaluate the concept of fragmentation of file systems on the storage devices and how best they could be managed (Parsons & Oja, 2009). The computer storage devices are divided into three major classes including Magnetic , Optical, and Semiconductor. Computer storage systems are also widely referred to as secondary storage media or devices. Magnetic storage devices basically record and store information in the form of magnetized spots. These magnetized spots are represented by binary codes with a magnetized head that slightly hangs freely above the surface of the storage device that reads and records information by use of electric charges. The data hence can be retained, erased or replaced by the use of new magnetic spots. Examples of magnetic storage include the Tape, referred to as magnetic tape that is used to read, write and store information up to a terabyte. They are generally used in magnetic tape recorders or machines to record and write data after which the tapes can be connected to gadgets that can read the  information.

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Willa Cathers O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Mr. Peebles

Willa Cather's O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Mr. Peebles' Heart In both Willa Cather’s novel O Pioneers! and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story "Mr. Peebles’ Heart" present the reader with strong, successful female characters. Alexandra Bergson, the heroine of O Pioneers!, becomes the manager and proprietor of a prosperous farm on the Nebraska frontier while Joan R. Bascom of "Mr. Peebles’ Heart" is a successful doctor. Cather and Gilman create competent, independent female characters that do not conform to the perceived societal standards for women in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. Both women must struggle against society’s perception of what they should be and how they should behave, however, Alexandra’s struggle leaves her emotionally distant while Joan’s struggle does not hinder her emotional attachments. Throughout the nineteenth century, gender roles were increasingly characterized by a division of activity into separate spheres for men and women. Men moved freely between home and the outside world, however, women were largely restricted to the home and remained financially dependent upon a man. While this situation offered women more power within the home, that power was very limited in scope. As the twentieth century neared, more and more women began to challenge the societal expectations placed upon them. Many Americans began to fear that the family was disintegrating due to "a declining birth rate, a rising divorce rate, and efforts of a growing number of women to break out of their separate sphere of domesticity by obtaining a higher education, joining women’s organizations, and taking jobs outside the home" (Kellogg and Mintz 1937). As this progressive movement gained momentu... ...ifestyle as the manager of a profitable farm. But while Joan has thrived in her professional and her social life, Alexandra is emotionally stunted as a result of her struggle against societal norms. Works Cited Cather, Willa. O Pioneers! New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Mr. Peebles’ Heart." "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Other Stories. Ed. Paul Negri. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1997. 63-70. Kellogg, Susan and Steven Mintz. "Family Structures." Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. by Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993. 1925-1945. Pleck, Elizabeth H. "Gender Roles and Relation." Encyclopedia of American Social History. Ed. by Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn and Peter W. Williams). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993. 1945-1961.

APPLICATION OF RISK MANAGMENGT TECHNIQUES Essay

In my opinion Windows Vista is a one or the most lack OS when compared to Windows 7. All desktops connect to an industry standard switch via an Ethernet cable. While this can be a risk, it is not a major risk. The two large production facilities are connected to the headquarters via an external ISP. Even with the firewalls in place, there is no accountability if the connection they contract is in use by anyone else. I would advise contacting the ISP and verifying if the connection is shared with other users and take further action depending on their answer. The sales personnel connect via VPN software, but use their individual internet connection, usually out of their home office. This can be very dangerous as they do not fall under the blanket of protection offered by the bigger offices and their terminals are at greater risk to be infected by a malicious user. The core idea of preventing risk is to safeguard the information stored on the database server. The workers and customers of the company have private information stored there and the loss or leak of the data could be disaster to the company. I suggest the changes to be made to mitigate the risk of any unwanted personnel to gaining access to the network. There is not a lot of information given about the entirety of the network, so much of this may not be necessary or already in place. I will use the mitigation risk technique for the Desktops/local LAN. Since the network is maintained via Active Directory, the company should implement workgroups/user groups and control what workers have access to; if a program, file, or other application is not part of a workers job, they have no reason to be able to access that file/application/etc. At the same time the workers should go through annual (if not bi-annual) information security training; that understands how to protect their workstations, understand security policies and why they are in place. The company should also ensure that their switches, routers, and firewalls are always up to date on the latest  patches. Another risk that the company has is the External ISP Line, since the company is relying on an outside source to provide network connection between the production facilities and their headquarters; the best way to approach this risk is also with the mitigation technique. I understand the company is small and if they can’t front the cost of their own line, they should be absolutely sure that no other users are gaining access to the line that is being provided for them. On top of that they should alter the technical environment by adding intrusion detection systems and ensuring all security features are always up to date. If possible I would suggest investing into a private line that they control to ensure security between the three sites, however outside of the initial investment there would also need to be maintenance costs. As long as the company can ensu re the line they’re currently using is secure, I’d recommend continue use as it is the less cost intensive. Another risk to look at is the Remote Users / Home Offices. This risk is critical as they are the most likely to be targeted for an attack. Just like the previous two risks, I’d recommend a mitigation technique to lower this risk. The remote users only use software to connect to the company’s VPN, on their own ISP connection, in their home office. To start I would recommend a two-factor authentication to successfully log on to the VPN; so even if the computer is stolen or infected, it’s still relatively safe. At the same time since these are sales associates, I would recommend using a hard drive lock; just like the previous reason, if the computer is stolen, the ability to glean information would be hampered. If the company can handle the expense they should look into purchasing a secure VPN from each sales associates ISP, this would help ensure that there wouldn’t be any outside eyes gleaning information from the sales associate connecting to the company. Using Active Directory, the sales associates terminal should be scanned to make sure all security implements are current and if not, they should be updated before being allowed to connect to the company network. This can help prevent mal icious code being introduced to the company network. One thing that caught my attention is that there are three servers at Headquarters with very few uses. One thing that worries me is the possibility of no redundancy. If the Active Directory Server went down, no one would be able to access the network. Each server role should have redundancy to fill in if the primary server is to fail, this will help  ensure the company is running efficiently, even during a server problem. This should be kept in mind as the company has sales representatives in all fifty states while the headquarters are in Indiana. So even in a standard eight hour day (9AM – 5PM), there is still three hours of work to people on the west coast. If the servers were to go down, those sales reps would not be able to work effectively. On top of redundancy the company should look into some sort of backup. They have a lot of information and while it’s important to protect it, it’s also important to make sure it’s not lost. For a backup, I’d recommend a transfer technique. There are many backups’ services available at an affordable price. To go with the backup I would recommend backing up the information at least once a week to ensure if work is lost, the company does not fall to o far behind.

The Common Life

The Common Life After reading "The Common Life," and "The Uses of Sidewalks," it is easy to see that the main idea in both essays is security. The question that arises from reading the two essays is: What method is best to provide security in a community? In both essays, though used in different ways; the community is used as a means for security. The types of security provided by both essays are very natural. Though the police are preferred by most people as means of protection, the community looking out for each other is done rather naturally. Thoroughly analyzing both essays can show which security procedure is more efficient compared to the actual police department.Scott Russell Sanders, the author of "The Common Life," has very interesting ideas when it comes to adding better security to the community. Sanders wanted to take the more natural approach in obtaining security. With most people, having a gun, security throughout the home and the police department seem like natural approaches towards security.Sanders Preserve - Glenville, New YorkSanders does not think this is the way to achieve better security. His approach is to get to know the people in the community better. By doing this, as the individual gets to know the people in their neighborhood better, they start to look out for them and make sure they are o.k., without knowing they are doing it. This reflects more of a side-effect rather than the actual intention. It seems as though Sanders analyzed this idea in motion and noticed it was a building block for security. Sanders thought up this idea in hopes that it would spread from community to community, in order to increase security awareness. This was a safe environment could be established.The ideas of Scott Russell Sanders are very interesting yet his ideas have...

Definition of Embodiment in Patents

Definition of Embodiment in Patents Embodiment by definition is a manner in which an invention can be made, used, practiced or expressed. Embodiment in Patent Applications The phrase embodiment will be in your patent application, as part of the legalese used. In a patent application, the specification will include descriptions of the preferred embodiments. If you read a patent you will often see a section headlined DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT. You will often refer to some aspect of your invention as an embodiment in descriptions. Looking at examples of how the word is used should make what it means and how to use the word clearer. Examples The following examples are more fully described in the first link box below. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTFIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of a Halloween mask with a flash device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 1 is a front pictorial perspective view of a wireless telephone constructed in accordance with an embodiment the present invention;

Computer Will the cost and power of personal computers continue on the Essay

Computer Will the cost and power of personal computers continue on the current trend - Essay Example Some experts predict that there will be neural – computers in the future. This interface will transmit information between humans and computers directly. As such, humans will be able to interact with computers and communicate with them (Akass, 2008). The cost of personal computer is much less than what it was in the year 1977. Advancement in computer technology has brought about a corresponding reduction in the cost of computers. Moreover, computer hardware developers are attempting to produce a laptop that would be sold for a mere $100 in the near future. Students at the MIT are developing a basic computer that is to be sold for $12. These students are using the technology that was employed in the manufacture of Apple II (The History of the Computer: First PCs and the Future Computer Timeline, 2008). This simple computer is equipped with video – game controls for performing basic functions. The claim of these students is that they are building the computer with a view to making technology available to everyone. All this transpires, because the technology becomes less costly and consequently affordable. This enables manufacturers to produce computers at much lower prices (The History of the Computer: First PCs and the Future Computer Timeline, 2008). A personal computer runs on electrical power. It requires a stable supply of electrical power without any voltage fluctuations to maintain reliability. As such, power supply to personal computers is an important issue, which should not be overlooked. The stability of the PC is dependent on supply of uninterrupted power at the correct voltage. The power converting units in the PC convert AC power input to DC power output and supply it to the various components of the PC (Laing, 2008). The physicist Richard Feynman had proposed the concept of quantum computing twenty – six years ago. This proved to be a

Strategic Human Resources Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Strategic Human Resources Management - Essay Example This paper declares that the work of human resource department is considered as a distinctive philosophy in organization because of the fact that human resource managers often face a relatively new and unique situational cases related to the proper way of handling employees. When dealing with different scenarios, human resource managers are responsible in conducting a logical reasoning as he/she develop a new strategic solution that will address the main problem within the business organization. Human resource managers should be able to adopt a more flexible scheme and rewards since most of generation Y employees strongly believe in their own worth and has adopted the ‘speak-your-mind’ philosophy. This report makes a concuson that based on the first case scenario presented in this study, we have clearly seen some ways on how the human resource manager could logically address organizational problems related to internal conflicts which may arise due to merger and acquisitions between a medium- and large-scale busineses. As part of the first case, the study shows how the human resource manager could develop and implement a new organizational culture that could promote open commnucation among employees as well as a long-term learning, development, and performance culture. In the second case, proper ways on how to develop a universal motivational scheme for a business organization that is composed of baby boomers and generation Y employees was discussed.