Troubled Asset Relief Program Essay Example for Free

Troubled Asset Relief Program Essay When assessing the values of the proposed legislation, lawmakers knew that the bill was going to be very complex in that it is dealing with very difficult issues. The public was assured that much time and effort had gone into assessing these issues such as: â€Å"†¦fairness and equity, banking regulation, executive pay, job losses†¦moral hazard, 401(k) values, and the proper role of the state (Couch, Foster, Malone, Black, 2011). †After all things considered, it was realized that the motivation behind most cast votes was hardly as complicated as expected. In actuality, it was quite simple (Couch, Foster, Malone, Black, 2011). In November 2008, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson indicated that stimulating the market for consumer credit would be a major priority in the second allocation. December 2008, President Bush used executive authority to declare that funds from the TARP program be spent any way Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson deemed necessary to ease the financial burden. Mid January 2009, Paulson issued temporary rules for reporting and record keeping requirements under the executive compensation standards of the Capital Purchase Program. Paulson also announced a new set of guidelines disclosing conflicts of interest with TARP contracts. The Senate accepted the changes to TARP that regulated firms from paying out bonuses with TARP funding. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut proposed this amendment to the economic stimulus act. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was nationalized by the Federal Reserve and Treasury department, the world’s largest insurance company, AIG, was bailed out. This alone extended the insurance deposit to $3. 4 trillion dollars in money market funds for the government. Levinson, 2009) Then Paulson set out for the largest government save in history by buying out $700 billion dollars of contaminated securities from troubled banks. In Paulson’s original 3 page plan, Wall Street would have had uncontrolled access to public revenues at very little cost (Levinson, 2009). The original version was rejected by the House and then modified by the Senate (Levinson, 2009). Banks that were not in desperate need could make loans and supply liquidity was to get TARP funding. OneUnited Bank did not meet the requirement to receive the TARP funds. The bank was in trouble financially but was involved with two major legislators: Congressman Barney Frank from Massachusetts and Congresswoman Maxine Waters from California. These two served on the House Financial Service Committee as chairman and the third highest Democrat in seniority respectively. Waters husband at one point was a director at the bank. Waters had made investments with the bank and her husband had owned stock in the firm (Schmidt, 2009). Waters called the Treasury Department on behalf of OneUnited and the bank received $ 12 million in funds from TARP. This was made possible by a special provision written into the bailout. Wall Street Journal reporter Susan Schmidt explained, A provision designed to aid OneUnited was written into the federal bailout legislation by Mr. Frank, who is chairman of the financial services panel. Mr. Frank said he inserted the provision to help the only African-American owned bank in his home state (Schmidt 2009). The American financial system had changed over the last decade. Wall Street, an independent investment bank that relied on high leverage, is no more. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, what used to be the fourth largest investment bank in the United States has went bankrupt. On September 15, 2008 Lehman Brothers filed Chapter 11. This was caused by a massive exit of a large portion of its clients, major loss in stock, and depreciation of assets by credit rating agencies. Barclay agreed to purchase Lehman’s North American banking and trading divisions, along with the headquarters building in New York. All other Lehman Brothers franchise’s was bought out as well by Nomura Holdings (Levinson, 2009). An automobile task force was formed by President Obama that was chaired by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Larry Summers. Members of this newly created task force included: Secretaries of Transportation, Commerce, Labor, Energy, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the administrator of the EPA, the director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change and lastly the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. Stephen Rattner was selected to head the team (Shepardson and Trowbridge, 2009). Chrysler and GM were instructed to submit plans of restructuring to the group for approval. Rattner recognized the complication of the task and also that his team was inexperienced in the automobile industry. He said, â€Å"We’ve learned a lot about how car dealers work, and how companies get paid when they sell a car to a dealer, and why there are a certain number of dealers more than are optimal† (qtd. in King and Stoll 2009). Obama seemed pleased with the progress the group he created was making. In a radio interview Obama criticized Bush and his actions but praised his own efforts. Obama made reference to not just writing GM and Chrysler a blank check but holding these companies accountable for the funds they received. The task force had rejected the initial plan that Chrysler had submitted but accepted its revised plan. Chrysler filed Chapter 11 and as a condition closed 789 of its dealerships. A list of dealers that was subject to closure was sent out to all dealerships with a messaging stating: â€Å"With regret, this letter is to inform you that on May 14, 2009, we are filing a motion in bankruptcy court rejecting the Sales and Service Agreement (s) between Chrysler Motors LLC and the dealerships listed above† (qtd. n Valdez-Dapena 2009). Company officials realized that the decision to close dealerships, in particular those with franchises, was difficult but needed. The vice chair said at the time it was the most difficult decision in business that he had ever made. The criteria used to determine which dealerships was to be closed was never made clea r. The process was suppose to be a function of the numbers, data driven matrix assessed with a number of key metrics is the terminology used by Steven Landry, executive vice president (Shepardson and Trowbridge 2009). Dealerships owned by McLarty-Landers-Johnson were not closed even though they did not meet Chrysler’s performance data. Robert Johnson, former owner of Black Entertainment Television, is one of the firms owners and a major contributor to the Democratic Party. Mack McLarty, a former aide to Bill Clinton, is another owner. After this was brought to the public eye, accusations were being made that dealerships owned by individuals with ties to the Republican Party was becoming targets and would be closed (Shepardson and Trowbridge 2009). The Treasury Department made statements that the federal government had not played a role in which dealerships were set for closure. Chrysler officials made claim that it became clear that there was no wisdom in closing twenty five percent of its dealers and that it really was not their decision. Officials made reference that they were under pressure from the Obama task force (Shepardson and Trowbridge 2009). It is well known that most everything surrenders to pressure or political pressure to be more specific. Bureaus and agencies are no exception. Examples of such surrender have been noticed in IRS audits and enforcement activity, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and by antitrust authorities. The noted influence of politics dates back to the Vietnam War (Couch, 2011). â€Å"Public-choice theory asserts that politicians are motivated by a desire for reelection and that this desire shapes which policies are pursued and how they are implemented (Couch, 2011). As a result of this desire to please voters, governmental policy goals are misguided. Their purpose is not to find a solution but instead to build a forum in which to base their next winning election. Other examples of political pressure include things such as Obama’s automobile task force, and governmental branches. â€Å"In short, politics trumps economics† (Couch, 2011). An investigation of the Chrysler dealership closing was done for the percentage of votes cast for Obama in each state. Electoral votes at state level and the number of congress persons in the House of Representatives for the dealerships district was used as additional measures for political influence (Couch, 2011). Also factored are the individual dealership characteristics, like profitability and level of customer service. If a dealership was located in a highly depressed area with high unemployment rates it would more than likely be closed (Couch, 2011). When all the facts had been put together it was evident that dealerships offering political support for Obama would remain open. This evidence was gathered at both state-level and dealership-lever. This would suggest that the Obama administration was more than just concerned with the long-term success of Chrysler, but was most concerned with protecting the Obama supporters from negative consequences (Couch, 2011). The US Treasury Department to buy preferred stock with funds from TARP within approved institutions earning a 5% dividend for the government. The plan was to stimulate the economy by making the right hand side of the balance sheet of the institution be matched with increased bank business loans. The institutions were being pressured by regulators to not increase or to reduce the liabilities of the assets. The economy in the United States has improved since the TARP was employed. The 2010 fourth quarter GDP had a 2. 8% growth (Gabby, 2011). The financial markets are signaling progress in the economy: â€Å"Between March 31, 2009 and March 31, 2011, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose approximately 62% from 7,609 to 12,320 and for the four largest banks JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup their March 31, 2011 vs. March 30, 2009 share prices were: $46. 10 vs. 24. 85 (+86%); $13. 33 vs. $6. 03 (+121%); $31. 71 vs. $13. 37 (+137%); and $4. 42 vs. $2. 31(+91%); respectively† (Gaby, 2011). The United States four largest banks had a combined total of $4. 8 trillion in assets as of March 31, 2009. If these four had failed the loss to tax payers would have been in excess of $2 trillion. TARP injected $239. 5 billion into roughly 35 financial institu tions and 23 of the institutions earned a 5% dividend. By the end of the October 2010 78% of the TARP funds had been repaid. If interest and dividends are included the percentage rises to 102% (Gabby, 2010). If the smallest of the four largest banks had failed there could have been theatrical to the US banking system and could have had global impacts as well. A modest benefit of the program was that CIT was able to continue lending to small firms during the bankruptcy filing and reorganization. The TARP provided brief support the US banking system and the global financial system. The modern administration has veered from the Constitution. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 created the Troubled Asset Relief Program. This was going to strip 200 pages of pork, tax preferences, and various oversights. Section 101 authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase troubled assets from any financial institution, on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Secretary† (Lawson, 2010). Troubled Asset Relief Program is a constitutional mess; many of the issues with it are common with the current administrative state. Congress did not have the power to enact the program. It violated the non-delegation doctrine. Both the President and Congress may have violated the Appointment Clause during the enactment of the program. Bush also exceeded his constitutional executive power when he implemented TARP (Lawson, 2010). The major issue with TARP is that there is no Troubled Assets clause in the Constitution. There are other clauses like the Bankruptcy Clause, Copyright Clause but not a clause authorizing the Congress to give power to the government to become a mortgage broker. Government buying mortgages and securities backed by mortgages in not a guideline of commerce with foreign countries (Lawson, 2010) The ability to spend in the Constitution comes from the Necessary and Proper Clause: appropriations of funds are laws necessary and proper for carrying into Execution other federal powers. But in the context of Troubled Asset Relief Program, one has to find some detailed power that is suitable to buy mortgages that can necessarily and properly carry into execution. The entire TARP venture was unconstitutional from the start (Lawson, 2010). We can look back on the financial situation and try to determine the central problem; global imbalances of savings or imports and exports, the Fed’s low rates, a housing bubble, subprime mortgages was not really the issue. In September 2008, the signature event of this financial crisis came to light. Short-term credit became frozen, inter-banking lending was froze as well as commercial paper markets. If panic had not occurred it is likely that economic contraction after the housing burst would have been no worse than a mild recession (Cochrane, 2009). The most current recession comes from the banking system not lending money and the normal way of doing business is almost extinct. The short-term credit crunch has ended. The recession now seems to be moving into recovery (Cochrane, 2009). Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for TARP, told the Center for Public Integrity that his office conducted 142 ongoing criminal and civil investigations. Over the past 2 years the SIGTARP has recovered approximately $152 million in stolen assets. The agency has also saved another $555 million through prevention of fraud. The office investigated the potential of fraudulent use of TARP funds at 64 financial institutes, from small banks to large banks (Hallman, 2011). Barofsky’s most prominent investigation has led to civil securities fraud charges last year against Bank of America Corp. ormer chief executive officer Ken Lewis. The charges were for not disclosing major losses at Merrill Lynch to shareholders. The complaints allege that the bank and its officers hid losses at Merrill in order to complete the 2008 merger of the two institutions, and that the defendants also lied to the government to obtain tens of millions of dollars in TARP funds (Hallman, 2011). From a business manager’s view a program like TARP allows for a company to be ran as poorly as possible and still stay in business. Programs like TARP allow for companies to be irresponsible and very loose with their money. In some cases TARP would allow a company to file Chapter 11 but still continue to function on a daily basis. To a business manager this would benefit him under many circumstances and allow for big bonus money to be paid out to upper management even if the company is not as profitable as it once was. Bailouts like the TARP allows for bad business practices to continue and managers to continue allow it. References Couch, J. F. , Burton, P. A. , Malone, K. D. , amp; Black, D. L. (2011). Government behind the wheel more a Matter of politics than of economics.

Abouts On The Great Depression :: essays research papers

Abouts On The Great Depression To my amazement the Great Depression serves as a natural debating point that "justifies" or "refutes" various economic policies. The Great Depression and the New Deal are complex topics that are open to many interpretations. The Great Depression was the worst economic slump ever in U.S. history, and one which spread to virtually all of the industrialized world. Seeing the order in which events actually occurred dispels many myths about the Great Depression. One of the greatest of these myths is that government intervention was responsible for its onset. Truly massive intervention began only under the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, who was sworn in after the worst had already hit. Although his New Deal did not cure it, all the leading economic indicators improved during his tenure. To understand the Great Depression, it is important to know the theories of John Maynard Keynes. Keynes is known as the "father of modern economics" because he was the first to accurately describe some of the causes and cures for recessions and depressions. In a normal economy, Keynes said, there is a circular flow of money. My spending becomes part of your earnings, and your spending becomes part of my earnings. For various reasons, however, this circular flow can falter. People start hoarding money when times become tough; but times become tougher when everyone starts hoarding money. This breakdown results in a recession. To get the circular flow of money started again, Keynes suggested that the central bank, the Federal Reserve System, should expand the money supply. This would put more money in people's hands (through the multiplier effect), inspire consumer confidence, and compel them to start spending again. A depression, Keynes believed, is an especially severe recession in which people hoard money no matter how much the central bank tries to expand the money supply. In that case, he suggested that government should do what the people were not: start spending money. He called this "priming the pump" of the economy. I think that most economists believe that only massive U.S. defense spending in preparation for World War II cured the Great Depression. After the success of Keyne's economic beliefs were proven, almost all free governments around the world became Keynesian. These policies have dramatically reduced the severity of recessions since then, and appear to have completely eliminated the depression from those who follow such economic beliefs throughout the world. Events of the 1920s The Roaring Twenties were an era dominated by Republican presidents: Warren Harding (1920-1923), Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) and Herbert Hoover (1929-1933). Under their conservative economic philosophy of laissez-faire

The Return: Midnight Chapter 34

â€Å"You've been fed and taken care of as best as we can manage,†Meredith said, looking at allthe taut, frightened young faces turned toward her in the basement. â€Å"And now there's just one thing I want to ask of you in return.†She made an effort and steadied her voice. â€Å"I want to know if anybody knows of a mobile phone that connects to the Internet, or a computer that is Stillworking. Please, please – if you even think you know where one might be, tel me.† The tension was like a thick rubber cord, dragging Meredith toward each of the pale, strained faces, dragging them to her. It was just as well that Meredith was essential y well – balanced. About twelve hands went up immediately, and their lone five-year-old whispered, â€Å"My mommy has one. And my daddy.† There was a pause before Meredith could say, â€Å"Does anybody know this kid?†and an older girl spoke up before she could. â€Å"She just means they had them before the Burning Man.† â€Å"Is the Burning Man cal ed Shinichi?†Meredith asked. â€Å"‘Course. Sometimes he would make the red parts of his hair burn up way over his head.† Meredith filed that little fact away under Things I do not want to see, honest, cross my heart, ever. Then she shook herself free from the image. â€Å"You guys and girls, please, please think. I only need one, one mobile phone with Internet access that Stillhas power right now. One laptop or computer that is Stillworking now, maybe because of a generator Stillmaking electricity. Just one family with a home generator Stillworking. Anybody?† The hands were down now. A boy she thought she recognized as being one of the Loring siblings, maybe age ten or eleven, said, â€Å"The Burning Man told us that mobile phones and computers were bad. That was why my brother got in a fistfight with my dad. He threw al the mobiles at home in the toilet.† â€Å"Okay. Okay, thanks. But anybody who's seen a working mobile or computer? Or a home generator – â€Å" â€Å"Why, yes, my dear, I've got one.†The voice came from the top of the stairs. Mrs. Flowers was standing there, dressed in a fresh sweat suit. Strangely, she had her voluminous purse in her hand. â€Å"You had – have a generator?†Meredith asked, her heart sinking. What a waste! And if disaster came al because she, Meredith, hadn't finished reading over her own research! The minutes were ticking away, and if everyone in Fel ‘s Church died, it would be her fault. Her fault. She didn't think she could live with that. Meredith had tried, al her life, to reach the state of calm, concentration, and balance that was the other side of the coin from the fighting skil s her various disciplines had taught her. And she had become good at it, a good observer, a good daughter, even a good student for al that she was in Elena's fast-paced, high-flying clique. The four of them: Elena, Meredith, Caroline, and Bonnie had fit together like four pieces of a puzzle, and Meredith Stillsometimes missed the old days and their daring, dominating pseudo-sophisticated capers that never real y hurt anyone – except the sil y boys who had mil ed around them like ants at a picnic. But now, looking at herself, she was puzzled. Who was she? A Hispanic girl named for her mother's Welsh best friend in col ege. A hunter-slayer of vampires who had kitten canines, a vampire twin, and whose group of friends included Stefan, a vampire; Elena, an ex-vampire – and possibly another vampire, although she was extremely hesitant to cal Damon a â€Å"friend.† What did that alladd up to? A girl trying to do her best to keep her balance and concentration, in a world that had gone insane. A girl Stillreeling from what she'd learned about her own family, and now tottering from the need to confirm a dreadful suspicion. Stop thinking. Stop! You have to tel Mrs. Flowers that her boardinghouse has been destroyed. â€Å"Mrs. Flowers – about the boardinghouse – I have to talk to you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Why don't you use my BlackBerry first?†Mrs. Flowers came down the basement stairs careful y, watching her feet, and then the children parted before her like waves on the Red Sea. â€Å"Your†¦?†Meredith stared, choked up. Mrs. Flowers had opened her enormous purse and was now proffering a rather thick al -black object to her. â€Å"It Stillhas power,†the old lady explained as Meredith took the thing in two shaking hands, as if receiving a holy object. â€Å"I just turned it on and it was working. And now I'm on the Internet!† – proudly. Meredith's world had been swal owed up by the smal , grayish, antiquated screen. She was so amazed and excited at seeing this that she almost forgot why she needed it. But her body knew. Her fingers clutched; her thumbs danced over the mini-keyboard. She went to her favorite search page and entered the word â€Å"Orime.†She got pages of hits – most in Japanese. Then feeling a trembling in her knees, she typed in â€Å"Inari.† 6,530,298 results. She went to the very first hit and saw a web page with a definition. Key words seemed to rush out at her like vultures. Inari is the Japanese Shinto deity of rice†¦and†¦foxes. At the entrance to an Inari shrine are†¦statues of two kitsune†¦one male and one female†¦each with a key or jewel carried in mouth or paw†¦These fox-spirits are the servants and messengers of Inari. They carry out Inari's orders†¦. There was also a picture of a pair of kitsune statues, in their fox forms. Each had a front paw resting on a star bal . Three years ago, Meredith had fractured her leg when she was on a skiing trip with her cousins in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She had run straight into a smal tree. No martial arts skil s could save her at the last minute; she knew she was skiing off the groomed areas, where she could run into anything: powder, crud, or iced-over ruts. And, of course, trees. Lots of trees. She was an advanced skier, but she had been going too fast, looking in the wrong direction, and the next thing she knew, she was skiing into the tree instead of around it. Now she had the same sensation of waking up after a head-on into wood. The shock, the dizziness and nausea that were, initial y, worse than the pain. Meredith could take pain. But the pounding in her head, the sickening awareness that she had made a big mistake and that she was going to have to pay for it were unbearable. Plus there was a curious horror about the knowledge that her own legs wouldn't hold her up. Even the same useless questions ran through her subconscious, like: How could I be so stupid? Is this possibly a dream? and, Please, God, can I hit the Undo button? Meredith suddenly realized that she was being supported on either side by Mrs. Flowers and their sixteen-year-old, Ava Wakefield. The mobile was on the cement floor of the basement. She must have actual y started to black out. Several of the younger kids were screaming Matt's name. â€Å"No – I – I can stand up alone†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Al she wanted in the world was to go into the darkness and get away from this horror. She wanted to let her legs go slack and her mind go blank, to flee†¦ But she couldn't run away. She had taken the stave; she had taken the Duty from her grandfather. Anything supernatural that was out to harm Fel ‘s Church on her watch was her problem. And the problem was that her watch never ended. Matt came clattering down the stairs, carrying their seven-year-old, Hailey, who continual y shook with petit mal seizures. â€Å"Meredith!†She could hear the incredulity in his voice. â€Å"What is it? What did you find, for God's sake?† â€Å"Come†¦look.†Meredith was remembering detail after detail that should have set off warning bel s in her mind. Matt was somehow already beside her, even as she remembered Bonnie's very first description of Isobel Saitou. â€Å"The quiet type. Hard to get to know. Shy. And†¦nice.† And that first visit to the Saitou house. The horror that quiet, shy, nice Isobel Saitou had become: the Goddess of Piercing, blood and pus oozing from every hole. And when they had tried to carry dinner to her old, old grandmother, Meredith had noticed absently that Isobel's room was right under the dol -like old lady's. After seeing Isobel pierced and clearly unbalanced, Meredith had assumed that any evil influence must be trying to travel up, and had worried in the back of her mind about the poor, old, dol -sized grandmother. But the evil could just as easily have traveled down. Maybe Jim Bryce hadn't given Isobel the malach madness after al . Maybe she had given it to him, and he had given it to Caroline and to his sister. And that children's game! The cruel, cruel song that Obaasan – that Inari-Obaasan had crooned. â€Å"Fox and turtle had a race†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And her words: â€Å"There's a kitsune involved in this somewhere.† She'd been laughing at them, amusing herself! Come to that, it was from Inari-Obaasan that Meredith had first heard the word â€Å"kitsune.† And one more additional cruelty, that Meredith had only been able to excuse before by assuming Obaasan had very poor sight. That night, Meredith had had her back to the door and so had Bonnie – they had both been concentrating on â€Å"poor decrepit old Grandma.†But Obaasan had been facing the door, and she was the only one who could have seen – must have seen – Isobel sneaking up behind Bonnie. And then, just as the cruel game song told Bonnie to look behind her†¦ Isobel had been crouching there, ready to lick Bonnie's forehead with a forked pink tongue†¦ â€Å"Why?†Meredith could hear her own voice saying. â€Å"Why was I so stupid? How could I not have seen from the beginning?† Matt had retrieved the BlackBerry and read the web page. Then he just stood, fixed, his blue eyes wide. â€Å"You were right,†he said, after a long moment. â€Å"I want so much to be wrong†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Meredith – Shinichi and Misao are Inari's servants†¦If that old lady is Inari we've been running around like crazy after the wrong people, the hired muscle†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"The damn note cards,†Meredith choked out. â€Å"The ones done by Obaasan. They're useless, flawed. Al those bul ets she blessed should have been no good – but maybe she did bless them – as a game. Isobel even came to me and changed al the characters the old lady had done for the jars to hold Shinichi and Misao. She said that Obaasan was almost blind. She left a tear on my car seat. I couldn't understand why she should be crying.† â€Å"I Stillcan't. She's the granddaughter – probably the third generation of a monster!†Matt exploded. â€Å"Why should she cry? And why do the Post-it Notes work?† â€Å"Because they're done by Isobel's mother,†Mrs. Flowers said quietly. â€Å"Dear Matt, I truly doubt that the old woman is related to the Saitous at all. As a deity – or even a powerful magic-user named after a deity – and undoubtedly a kitsune herself, she surely just moved in with them and used them. Isobel's mother and Isobel had no choice but to carry on the charade for fear of what she'd do to them if they didn't.† â€Å"But Mrs. Flowers, when Tyrone and I pul ed that leg bone out of the thicket, didn't you say that the Saitou women made such excel ent amulets? And didn't you say that we could get the Saitou women to help translate the words on the clay jars when Alaric sent the pictures of them from that Japanese Island?† As for my belief in the Saitou women, Well, I'l have to quibble a little here,†Mrs. Flowers said. â€Å"I couldn't know that this Obaasan was evil, and there are Stilltwo of them who are gentle and good, and who have helped us tremendously – and at great risk to themselves.† Meredith could taste the bitterness of bile in her mouth. â€Å"Isobel could have saved us. She could have said ‘My fake grandmother is real y a demon.'† â€Å"Oh, my dear Meredith, the young are so unforgiving. This Inari was probably instal ed in her house when she was a child. Al she knows at first is that the old woman is a tyrant, with a god's name. Then perhaps some demonstration of power – what happened to Orime's husband, I wonder, to make him go back to Japan – if indeed he went there? He may well be dead. And then Isobel is growing up: shy, quiet, introverted – frightened. This is not Japan; there are no other priestesses here to confide in. And you saw the consequences when Isobel reached out to someone outside of the family – to her boyfriend, Jim Bryce.† â€Å"And to us – Well, to you and Bonnie,†Matt said to Meredith. â€Å"She sicced Caroline on you.† Scarcely knowing what they were doing, they were talking faster and faster. â€Å"We have to go there right now,†said Meredith. â€Å"Shinichi and Misao may be the ones bringing on the Last Midnight, but it's Inari who gives the orders. And who knows? She may dole out the punishments as well. We don't know how big her star bal is.† â€Å"Or where,†said the old woman. â€Å"Mrs. Flowers,†Matt said hastily, â€Å"you'd better stay here with the kids. Ava, here, is reliable, and where's Jacob Lagherty?† â€Å"Here,†said a boy who looked older than fifteen. He was as tal as Matt was, but gangly. â€Å"Okay. Ava, Jake, you're in charge under Mrs. Flowers. We'l leave Saber with you too.†The dog was a big hit among the kids, on his best behavior, even when the younger ones chewed his tail. â€Å"You two just listen to Mrs. Flowers, and – â€Å" â€Å"Matt, dear, I won't be here. But the animals wil surely help to protect them.† Matt stared at her. Meredith knew what he was thinking. Was Mrs. Flowers, so reliable up until now, going somewhere to hide alone? Was she abandoning them? â€Å"And I'l need one of you to drive me to the Saitou house – quickly! – but the other can stay and protect the children as well.† Meredith was both relieved and worried, and clearly Matt was too. â€Å"Mrs. Flowers, this is going to be a battle. You could get hurt or be taken hostage so easily – â€Å" â€Å"Dear Matt, this is my battle. My family has lived in Fel ‘s Church for generations, al the way back to the pioneering times. I believe this is the battle for which I was born. Certainly the last of my old age.† Meredith stared. In the dim light of the basement, Mrs. Flowers seemed suddenly different somehow. Her voice was changing. Even her smal body seemed to be changing, steadying, standing tal . â€Å"But how wil you fight?†Matt asked, sounding dazed. â€Å"With this. That nice young man, Sage, left it for me with a note apologizing for using Misao's star bal . I used to be quite good with these when I was young.†From her capacious purse, Mrs. Flowers pul ed out something pale and long and thin as it unwound and Mrs. Flowers whirled it and snapped it with a loud crack at the empty half of the basement. It hit a Ping-Pong bal , curled around it, and brought it back to Mrs. Flowers's open hand. A bul whip. Made of some silvery material. Undoubtedly magical. Even Matt looked scared of it. â€Å"Why don't Ava and Jake teach the children to play Ping-Pong while we're gone – and we real y must go, my dears. There's not a minute to waste. A terrible tragedy is coming, Ma ma says.† Meredith had been watching – feeling as dazed as Matt looked. But now she said, â€Å"I have a weapon too.†She picked up the stave and said, â€Å"I'm fighting, Matt. Ava, the children are yours to care for.† â€Å"And mine,†Jacob said, and immediately proved his usefulness by adding, â€Å"Isn't that an axe hanging back there near the furnace?† Matt ran and snatched it up. Meredith could see from his expression what he was thinking: Yes! One heavy axe, a tiny bit rusty, but Stillplenty sharp enough. Now if the kitsune sent plants or wood against them, he was armed. Mrs. Flowers was already going up the basement stairs. Meredith and Matt exchanged one quick glance and then they were running to catch up with her. â€Å"You drive your mom's SUV. I'l sit in back. I'm Stilla little bit†¦Well, dizzy, I guess.†Meredith didn't like to admit to a personal weakness, but better that than crashing the vehicle. Matt nodded and was good enough not to comment on why she felt so dizzy. She Stillcouldn't believe her own stupidity. Mrs. Flowers said only one thing. â€Å"Matt, dear, break traffic laws.†

Hassium Facts - Hs or Element 108

Element atomic number 108 is hassium, which has the element symbol Hs. Hassium is one of the manmade or synthetic radioactive elements. Only about 100 atoms of this element have been produced so there is not a lot of experimental data for it. Properties are predicted based on the behavior of other elements in the same element group. Hassium is expected to be a metallic silver or gray metal at room temperature, much like the element osmium. All of the isotopes of hassium are radioactive. Martin Diebel / Getty Images Here are interesting facts about this rare metal: Discovery:  Peter Armbruster, Gottfried Munzenber and co-workers produced hassium at GSI in Darmstadt, Germany in 1984. The GSI team bombarded a lead-208 target with iron-58 nuclei. However, Russian scientists had attempted to synthesize hassium in 1978 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna. Their initial data was inconclusive, so they repeated the experiments five years later, producing Hs-270, Hs-264, and Hs-263. Element Name:  Before its official discovery, hassium was referred to as element 108, eka-osmium or unniloctium. Hassium was the subject of a naming controversy over which team should be given official credit for discovering element 108. The 1992 IUPAC/IUPAP Transfermium Working Group (TWG) recognized the GSI team, stating that their work was more detailed. Peter Armbruster and his colleagues proposed the name hassium from the Latin  Hassias  meaning Hess or Hesse, the German state, where this element was first produced. In 1994, an IUPAC committee recommended making the elements name hahnium (Hn) in honor of the German physicist Otto Hahn. This was despite the convention of allowing the discovering team the right to suggest a name. The German discoverers and the American Chemical Society (ACS) protested the name change and the IUPAC finally allowed element 108 to be officially named hassium (Hs) in 1997. Atomic Number:  108 Symbol:  Hs Atomic Weight:  [269] Group: Group 8, d-block element, transition metal Electron Configuration:  [Rn] 7s2  5f14  6d6 Appearance:  Hassium is believed to be a dense solid metal at room temperature and pressure. If enough of the element were produced, it is expected it would have a shiny, metallic appearance. Its possible hassium could be even more dense than the heaviest known element, osmium. The predicted density of hassium is  41  g/cm3. Properties: Its likely hassium reacts with oxygen in air to form a volatile tetraoxide. Following periodic law, hassium should be the heaviest element in group 8 of the periodic table. It is predicted that hassium has a high melting point, crystallizes in the hexagonal close-packed structure (hcp), and has a bulk modulus (resistance to compression) on par with diamond (442 GPa). Differences between hassium and its homologue osmium would likely be due to relativistic effects. Sources:  Hassium was first synthesized by bombarding lead-208 with iron-58 nuclei. Only 3 atoms of hassium were produced at this time. In 1968, Russian scientist Victor Cherdyntsev claimed to have discovered naturally-occurring hassium in a sample of  molybdenite, but this was not verified. To date, hassium has not been found in nature. The short half-lives of the known isotopes of hassium mean no primordial hassium could have survived to the present day. However, its still possible nuclear isomers or isotopes with longer half-lives might be found in trace quantities. Element Classification:  Hassium is a transition metal that  is expected to have properties similar to those of the platinum group of transition metals. Like the other elements in this group, hassium is expected to have oxidation states of 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The 8, 6, 4, and 2 states will likely be the most stable, based on the elements electron configuration. Isotopes:  12 isotopes of hassium are known, from masses  263 to 277. All of them are radioactive. The most stable isotope is  Hs-269, which has a half-life of 9.7 seconds. Hs-270 is of particular interest because it possesses magic number of nuclear stability. The atomic number 108 is a proton magic number for deformed (nonspherical) nuclei, while 162 is a neutron magic number for deformed nuclei. This doubly magic nucleus has a low decay energy compared with other hassium isotopes. More research is needed to determine whether or not Hs-270 is an isotope in the proposed island of stability. Health Effects:  While the platinum group metals tend not to be particularly toxic, hassium presents a health risk because of its significant radioactivity. Uses:  At present, hassium is only used for research. Sources Emsley, John (2011). Natures Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements (New ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 215–7. ISBN 978-0-19-960563-7.Hoffman, Darleane C.; Lee, Diana M.; Pershina, Valeria (2006). Transactinides and the future elements. In Morss; Edelstein, Norman M.; Fuger, Jean. The Chemistry of the Actinide and Transactinide Elements (3rd ed.). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer ScienceBusiness Media. ISBN 1-4020-3555-1.Names and symbols of transfermium elements (IUPAC Recommendations 1994).  Pure and Applied Chemistry  66  (12): 2419. 1994.Mà ¼nzenberg, G.; Armbruster, P.; Folger, H.; et al. (1984). The identification of element 108 (PDF). Zeitschrift fà ¼r Physik A. 317 (2): 235–236. doi:10.1007/BF01421260Oganessian, Yu. Ts.; Ter-Akopian, G. M.; Pleve, A. A.; et al. (1978). ОÐ ¿Ã'‹Ã'‚Ã'‹ Ð ¿Ã ¾ Ã' Ã ¸Ã ½Ã'‚Ð µÃ ·Ã'Æ' 108 Ã' Ã »Ã µÃ ¼Ã µÃ ½Ã'‚Ð ° Ð ² Ã'€Ð µÃ °Ã ºÃ'†Ð ¸Ã ¸ [Experiments on the sy nthesis of element 108 in the 226Ra48Ca reaction] (in Russian). Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.