Abstract
The paper examines the potential impact of interest only loans and condominium conversions in Chicago, Miami and San Diego and explains why if housing prices dip, people would not be able to refinance their homes or sell their condominiums. The paper's writer believes it is highly unlikely that over the long term, housing prices in areas that have seen double digit gains over the last decade will be sustained. The paper looks at the difference in opinion, however, on whether developments in the market are harbingers of a crash or merely an easy fall in the real estate market.

From the Paper
"Over the last decade, the housing market has been one of the strongest sectors of the economy, booming at rates that have never been seen before. In some areas of the country, housing prices have been rising at more than twenty percent a year. This unprecedented growth has caused many speculators to enter the real estate market looking to make a fortune. It has also caused many new homeowners to take out non-traditional mortgages in order to buy their homes. Now, nearly everybody agrees that the real estate boom has come to its end. The double-digit growth has shrunk in most areas and in some regions of the country, housing prices actually seem to be falling. Economists disagree about what this means for homeowners."

Tags:interest, loans, condominiums, rent, refinancing, foreclosures, properties

Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts the roles of colleges and universities in the United States and the United Kingdom. According to the paper, colleges and universities in the US are considered undergraduate university studies or schools that provide professional and technical support. Colleges and Universities can be used for self-learning in terms of non-credit courses to obtain certificates and/or licenses or credit courses that are geared towards a step-leveled degree: Bachelors, Masters, and PhD. On the other hand, higher education in the UK refers to learning for qualifications such as Diplomas of Higher Education (Dip HEs), bachelor's degree, Master's degree and PhDs.

From the Paper
"In the United States, colleges and universities are considered undergraduate university studies or schools that provide professional and technical support. Colleges and Universities can be used for self-learning in terms of non-credit courses to obtain certificates and/or licenses or credit courses that are geared towards a step-leveled degree: Bachelors, Masters, and PhD. On the other hand, higher education in the UK refers to learning for qualifications such as Diplomas of Higher Education (Dip HEs), bachelor's degree, Master's degree and PhDs."

Tags:british, college, american

Abstract
The paper discusses and sheds light on how changes in the advertising industry and new creative techniques emerged to make specific advertisements stand out from its competitors. The author examines what media and advertising strategies manufactures would use, where these new ideas came from and how consumers respond. A look at how technology and the emergence of new unexplored mediums altered previous advertising strategies.

From the paper:

"In the 1880s most manufactures were starting to see a huge boom in the economy, which allowed them to expand their area of distribution and dip into new markets previously unattainable. Alongside this enormous economic growth, many technological changes were taking place as well. For example, mechanized farming equipment, sewing machines, and other machinery were invented increasing the production processes of the past. As a direct result of this increase in production, factories expanded and products became available at a lower cost and faster rate than ever before. New inventions began to appear such as the automobile, telephone and light bulb. In 1896 the government and the railroad companies developed the national railroad system and rural free delivery. With this, it was now possible for manufactures to distribute goods to geographic areas previously unreachable."

Tags:advert, technology, ideas, creative, psychology, manipulate, emotion

Abstract
This paper takes a look at sex education programs, in particularly to the abstinence-only program. The author argues that although the Welfare Reform Act which allocated millions of federal funds towards abstinence-only sex education programs had benevolent intentions, the country has not seen a dip in teenage pregnancy and STD contraction rates. This, the author explains, shows the inefficacy of such programs. The paper criticizes abstinence-only programs as flawed and notes that they teach behavior that is in consistent with the highly sexualized American culture. The author advocates that knowledge is power and that smarter sex education programs should be based solely on what is best for our youth and what is most likely to stymie risky behavior instead of being influenced by political pressuring from lobbyist organizations, funding and religious beliefs.

From the Paper
"Accordingly, in 1996, legislators in conjunction with then-President Bill Clinton penned the Welfare Reform Act, a bipartisan bill altering the welfare system and deeming that millions of federal funds be allocated annually towards abstinence-only sex education programs. Although the Welfare Reform Act had benevolent intentions, since that period, our country has seen minimal improvement in the teenage pregnancy and STD contraction rates, which illustrates the inefficacy of such programs. This is not surprising since knowledge is one of the most effective weapons in fighting any problem, and because abstinence-only programs deny teenagers of vital information needed to protect themselves, our government should abandon or at least reform such programs immediately."

Tags:teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases

Abstract
The paper looks at Mark Bowden's ideas in his book, "The Art of Interrogation" where he notes the difference between torture and coercion. The paper then discusses how it is an age of violence in the world and in the entertainment industry and so it is not surprising to hear Washington politicians rationalize, backtrack, dip into semantics and find euphemisms that work well when it comes to issues of torture. The paper contends that when Bush says, "We don't torture," he is drawing a line between the truth and what he wants the public to know.

From the Paper
"Drawing the line between what is torture and what is coercion, on one level, is an exercise in semantics. Mark Bowden, in his book, The Art of Interrogation, explores all the various words and their semantic applications at they apply to torture. There is enough material within the discussion of torture - and the people who torture, who have been tortured, human-rights activists, among others - for Bowden to fill a whole book. He says the public has a simplistic understanding of torture, and that may be true but does lack of knowledge on the part of citizens make it okay to torture captured enemy soldiers in any context? And why would the public - especially in the U.S., a democratic nation that has not hitherto been known to torture prisoners - know much at all about torture in the first place?"

Tags:violence, Anscombe, euphemisms, semantics

Abstract
2002 is the year that McDonald's once dependable blue-chip stock fell to a seven-year low, helping to further sink the Dow Jones average closer to a four-year dip of its own. The paper looks at the reasons behind the slump in McDonald's shares and examines solutions that the company is considering in order to improve its position in the fast-food burger industry.

From the Paper
"During the past decade, McDonald's had expanded extensively, reaching the top of the $46 billion fast-food burger industry within the US. During the past couple of years, however, the company found its market-leading share decreasing to around 43%, while Wendy's, a close competitor and boasting a popular line of premium salads and a strong reputation for freshness, grew its share to 13.2% in 2001, up a point and a half since 1998 (Eisenberg et al., 2001). While McDonald's may have felt a little better in knowing that their number one competitor, Burger King, had watched its share also drop to 18.5% from 20.4%, there was little comfort as the company watched Subway and others offering a dining experience that was slightly more upscale continue to climb."

Tags:Greenberg, Big, Mac, Happy, Meal

Abstract
This paper explains that Pulte Homes is an exceptionally strong Fortune 500 company with a proven track record that stretches back more than fifty years. The author points out that this profile includes background information on the company, its corporate mission, some data on how the company is organized, the way that Pulte Homes has positioned itself in the industry and some of the primary operating strategies of the company. The paper concludes that, even if the demand for housing would dip in the coming years, Pulte Homes' solid strategies and conservative business policies should allow the company to weather such a situation admirably.

From the Paper
"Much of the external success of Pulte Homes can be attributed to its internal organization. Pulte Homes currently employs about 13,000 employees in twenty-six U.S. states. Internally, the company is organized in an entrepreneurial fashion at the division level, with greater autonomy being afforded the lower levels of the organization. In addition, Pulte Homes has internal leadership programs that are designed to help encourage internal advancement. The whole of the corporate culture is one constructed around the value of teamwork."

Tags:operations, organization, mission, statement, employees

From the Paper
"The Savings and Loan Crisis and Double Dipping
This paper will discuss federal tax policy as it affected the savings and loan crisis during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, the paper will examine the problem of "double dipping," whereby savings and loan institutions were allowed to deduct losses which were reimbursed, tax free, by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation ("FSLIC"). The first part of the paper will discuss the origins of the crisis and provide an overview of the tax treatment of the losses. The second part of the paper will examine in more detail the special provisions of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. The third part of the paper will discuss some of the legislative responses to double dipping since the 1981 Act. The fourth part of the paper will examine the issue of the retroactivity of the..."

Abstract
This essay shows that Madame Bovary's entire experience is by way of approaching her own obscurity and, indeed, her own demise and her death as an individual. It discusses how the depiction of Madame Emma Bovary's adulterous behavior, beyond the racy fascination readers dipped into as Emma's desire for "self-obliteration" was carried out, was totally unacceptable for the 19th century, and along with her other foibles, indicates a serious dance with transgressions. It then looks at how Edna, the main character from "The Awakening", certainly transforms the image of the stereotypical female of the 19th century from a modest, obedient wife and mother into a woman having an affair and breaking all the rules.

From the Paper
"Before examining further Edna's breaking away from Darwin's ideas, it is worthy to point out that Darwin saw civilization as evolving largely because "a woman's modesty curbs the male's eagerness to couple", Bender continues (488). But Bender also quotes Ruth Bernard Yeazell as saying, as a critique of Darwin, that "females are at once less lustful and more discriminating than males" [and] the satisfying conclusion to Darwin's story preserves the ideals of motherhood and the modest woman who knows nothing of appetite or sexual desire.
Are we talking about women with no appetite for sexual desire? Not in Chopin's characters. She clearly follows a pattern of both accepting and rejecting Darwin, which Bender only scratches the surface with. Chopin is likely embracing Darwin through the many images of the sea that connect Edna with evolution, if you will. "Edna is a post-Darwinian woman-animal who had evolved from the sea in a world without gods", Bender explains."

Tags:female, transgression, transformation, affair, adultry

Abstract
This paper examines how "Eastern religion," also alluded to as "Eastern mysticism" and "mysticism" and the occult, along with magic and its many off-shoots, have had a considerable influence on American pop culture over the past few decades. It looks at how movies, books, and music all have been touched and enhanced by mysticism and its cousins.

Outline
Introduction to Eastern Religion, Eastern Mysticism and Magic
The Beatles and Transcendental Meditation: Rock Superstars Dipping into an Ancient Mysticism to find Peace in a World Drenched in Chaos and Materialism
Martin Scorsese and Eastern Mysticism
Harry Potter's Magic as a Mystical Force in Pop Culture

From the Paper
"For many people who came of age and got into rock music in the 1960s and 1970s, and perhaps smoked some marijuana and even experimented with LSD, their interest in eastern religion and mysticism began with the Beatles' fascination with "and association with" the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was John Lennon and George Harrison, in particular, who embraced the Maharishi in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in the town of Rishikesh, deep in the Himalayan foothills of northern India. The media clamored for photos of the Beatles hanging out and drinking in the good vibes of this holy man in white robes who preached peace through self-awareness and higher consciousness through meditation."

Tags:harry, potter, beatles, martin, scorsese