Tài liệu THE PANAMA CANAL CONFLICT BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA pdf

... refunding, on the part of the United States, of tolls paid by vessels of the Republic of Panama for the use of the Canal. Whether these vessels are exempt from the payment of tolls or can demand to ... in the American Journal of International Law, Vol. I (1908), pp. 856-861. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Panama Canal Conflict between Great Britain and the United States of America, ... treaty. Great Britain has the right to demand from the United States, which owns and controls the Canal, that she shall keep the Canal open for the use of the vessels of all nations on terms of...

... UrbanAffairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives.Speaker of the House of Representatives.Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate.S. ... Hundred Ninth Congress of the United States of America AT THE SECOND SESSIONBegun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, the third day of January, two thousand and sixAn ActTo improve ... 15E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as added by this Act;(2) specifies the number of and actions taken on suchapplications; and (3) specifies the views of the Commission on the stateof...

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... showing the Increase of Expense in the British Post Office, consequent upon the Increase of the Number of Letters under the new System; the Rate per Letter of the Cost of additional Letters, and the ... individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do ... wishes of the people, or the wants of the public interest, or the duty of the government in discharging the trust imposed by the constitution. Indeed, there ought not to be a great deal of labor...

... inaworst‐casescenario, the contagioncouldshutdown the entirebankingsystem.Thisfearisnottotallyunjustified.Banking and relatedpanicshaveoccurredbefore—notonlyinpriorerasbutalsoinmorerecenttimes.InJanuary1991,forexample,duetoaflood of withdrawalsbypanickeddepositors,RhodeIslandGovernorBruceSundlundeclaredabankingemergency and shutdownall45state‐charteredsavingsbanks and creditunionsinhisstate.Shortlythereafter,wewitnessedasimilarsituationinMaryland. The lessonwasthatpanic and contagionwasnotstrictlyaphenomenonthatendedin the 1930s.AnInstructiveCaseStudy: The Role of RegulatorsinaMajorDisintermediationCrisisAmongLifeInsurersEvenmorepertinentlessonscanbelearnedfrom the disintermediationthatstruckseverallargeU.S.life and healthinsurersin the early1990s.Theirproblemscanbetracedto the early1980swhenmanyinsurershadguaranteedtopayhigh,fixedyieldstoinvestors,butfoundthemselvesunabletomeetthosepromisesasinterestratesdeclined.Tobridge the gap,severalreachedouttolowerrated,higher‐yieldingsecurities,includingjunkbonds and unratedbonds.Untilthisjuncture,higherriskbondportfoliosin the industrycouldbeexplainedasastopgapsolutiontofallinginterestrates.Butafewinsurers—especiallyExecutiveLife of California,FidelityBankersLife, and FirstCapitalLife—saw the potential of high‐riskbondportfoliosasamajorbusinessopportunity.Thesecompaniesweren’tsimplyreluctantbuyers of junk and unratedbondstofulfillpriorcommitments.Theirentirebusinessplanwaslargelypredicatedon the concept of junkbondsfrom the outset. The keywastokeep the junkbondaspectlargelyhiddenfrompublicview,whileexploiting the faith the publicstillhadin the inherentsafety of insurance.Tomake the modelasuccess,however,theyneededtwoadditionalelements: the cooperation of the WallStreetratingsagencies and the blessing of the stateinsurancecommissioners. The cooperation of the ratingagencieswasrelativelyeasy.Formanyyears, the standardoperatingprocedure of the leadinginsurancecompanyratingagency,A.M.Best&Co.,wastoworkcloselywith the insurers:If the companydidnotlike the rating and requesteditnotbepublished,Bestcomplied.If the companywassatisfiedwith the rating,Bestwouldcharge the companytoprintitsratingreports,whichcouldbeusedby the insurer’ssalesforcetomarketitsproducts.25Threenewerentrantsto the business of ratinginsurancecompanies—Moody’s,S&P, and Duff&Phelps(nowFitch)—offeredessentially the sameservice.Butinstead of earningtheirmoneyfromreprints of ratingsreports,theycharged the insurancecompaniesaflatfeeforeachrating,rangingfrom$10,000to$50,000perinsurancecompanysubsidiary,peryear.Later,A.M.Bestdecidedtochangeitspricestructuretomatch the otherthree,charging the ratedcompaniessimilarup‐frontfees.Asawhole, the ratingsprocesswasstackedinfavor of the companiesfromstarttofinish. The companieswereempoweredtodecideif and when and bywhomtheyweretoberated.Theyweregivenapreview of theirratingbeforeitwasrevealedto the public.Theyhad the righttoappealanadverserating and delayitspublication. And, asmentionedabove,iftheywerestillunhappywith the rating,most of the ratingagenciesallowedthemtosuppressitspublication.Notsurprisingly, the ratingagenciesgaveoutgoodgradeslikecandy.AtA.M.Best, the gradeinflationwassoseverethatindustryinsiderswidelyrecognizedthata“good”Bestratingwasactuallybad.Ithadtobe“excellent”toreallybegood.Thus,inthisfriendlyratingsenvironment,itwasnotdifficultfor the insurerswithlargejunkbondportfoliostogetexcellentgradesfrommost of the ratingagencies.Gettingsimilarcooperationfrom the insuranceregulatorswasnotquiteaseasy.Infact,stateinsurancecommissionersweregettingsoconcernedabout the industry’sbulginginvestmentsinjunk and unratedbonds,theydecidedtosetupaspecialofficeinNewYork— the SecuritiesValuationOffice—tomonitor the situation.Akeyquestionhotlydebated between the industry and regulatorswas:What’sajunkbond? The standardWallStreetanswerwasundisputed:anybondwitharatingfromS&PorMoody’s of double‐Borlower.However,insurerswithsubstantialholdings of junkbondswerenotsatisfiedwiththatdefinition.Theyknewitwouldexpose the truesize of theirjunkbondholdingsto the public.Sotheylobbied the insurancecommissionerstoredefine the definition of ajunkbond. The commissionersinitiallystruggledwiththisrequest,buttheyultimatelyobliged.Instead of the standardWallStreetdefinition of junk, the SecuritiesValuationOfficeestablished the followingfourbondclasses“yes,”“no*,”“no**,” and “no.” The firstcategorywasconsideredinvestmentgrade,while the three“no”categorieswereconsideredjunkbonds.However, the “yes”categoryactuallyincludedbillions of dollars of bondsratedBBorlower (the standarddefinition of junk)by the leadingratingagencies.Thiscontinuedforseveralyears.Finally,however,afterprotestsfromindustrywatchdogs, the insurancecommissionersrealizedthisamountedtoajunkbondcover‐up and made the decisiontoend the charade,adopting the standarddouble‐Bdefinition, and reclassifyingover$30billionin“secure”bondsasjunkbonds.Basedon the faultydefinition of junkbondsuseduntil1989, the insurancecommissionershadreportedthatFirstCapitalLifehad$842million,or20.2percent of itsinvestedassetsinjunkbondsatyear‐end1989.However,basedon the correct,standarddefinition of junkbonds,which the commissionersfinallybeganusingin1990,itturnedoutthatFirstCapitalactuallyhad$1.6billioninjunkbonds,or40.7percent of itsinvestedassets.FidelityBankersLife’sjunkbondholdings,previouslyreportedat$639million,or18.3percent of investedassets,jumpedto$1.5billion,or37.6percent of investedassets.Alltold, the industry’sjunkbond26holdingsreportedby the regulatorssurgedfrom$51billiononDecember31,1988to$84billiononDecember31,1990,withvirtually the entireincreaseattributableto the changeindefinition.20Large,institutionalinvestorsholdingguaranteedinvestmentcontracts(GICs)were the firsttorushfor the exits,creatingasilentrunon the companies’assets; and inresponse,company and stateofficialsdeclaredthattheywere“safe.”But the presspublicized the newofficialjunkbonddata,triggeringmasswithdrawalsby the public.Tostem the tide of disintermediation,allfourweretakenoverby the stateinsurancecommissioners. And thisaction,inturn,was the preludetoanevenlargerfailure—MutualBenefitLife of NewJersey,whichfellunder the weight of lossesinspeculativerealestate.Meanwhile, the stateguaranteemechanismalsofailed.Mostinsurancepolicyholdershadbeengiven the impressionthat,in the event of afailure,theirstateguaranteeassociationswouldpromptlyreimbursethem,muchlike the FDICdoesfordepositorsinfailedbanks.However,asarule, the insuranceguaranteefundshadlittleornofunds;theirstandardoperatingprocedurewastoraise the moneywithnewpremiumassessmentsafter the fact.Thatapproachtendstoworkefficientlywhenjustafewsmallcompaniesfail.Butwhen the failuresarelarge,thereisinsufficienttime and resourcestoraise the neededpremiumsfrom the survivinginsurers,most of whicharesmallerthan the largefailedcompanies.Asaresult,inadditiontotakingover the operations of the failedinsurers, the stateinsurancecommissionershadnochoicebuttodeclarealong‐termblanketmoratoriumonallcashwithdrawalsbypolicyholders.Wereviewed the statutoryfilings of each of the failedinsurers and determinedthattheyhad5.95millionindividual and grouppolicyholders,amongwhich1.9millionheldfixedannuities and otherpolicieswithcashvalue.Consumersinthislattergroupweredeniedaccesstotheirfundsformanymonths.Moreover,asadevicetolegallyavoidinvoking the stateguaranteemechanism,ratherthandeclaring the companiesbankrupt,theypronounced the firms“financiallyimpaired,”or“inrehabilitation.”Aftermanymonths, the authoritiesthencreatednewcompanieswithnew,reformedannuitiesyieldingfarlessthan the originalpolicies,whilegivingpolicyholderstwochoices.Either ... areatalossregardingwheretogoforfurtherinformation.Insum,wehaveadangerouscombination of (a)officialstatements the publiccannottrust and (b)criticalinformation the publiccannotfind,leaving the fieldwideopentorumor and contagion.Ratherthanmakingitpossibleforconsumerstorationallyshifttheirfundsfromweakertostrongerinstitutions,bankingregulatorshavecreatedanenvironmentthat,inadeepeningdepression,maydriveconsumerstowithdrawtheirfundsfrom the bankingsystemasawhole.Initseffortstoprotectallbanks and depositors, the governmentisultimatelyprotectingnone.Initszealtoavertpanicatallcosts,itmayactuallyberendering the systemmorevulnerabletoafarmorecostlypanic.31PartVGovernmentRescuesHaveBothFailedtoResolve the DebtCrisis AND Weakened the BankingSystemWith the exception of LehmanBrothers, the federalgovernment’sresponseto the debtcrisishasbeentoavoidlargefinancialfailuresatallcosts.Moreover, the consensusviewisthat the Lehmanfailurewasresponsiblefor the implosion of globalcreditmarketsin the fall of 2008,reinforcing the “toobigtofail”doctrine.Inlinewiththisdoctrine,multiplenovelstrategieshavebeenimplemented and manymoreproposed.However,mosttendtofallunderone of the threefollowinggeneralapproaches:(1)government‐backedmergersorbuyouts,(2)governmentpurchases of toxicpaper, and (3)nationalization.Beloware the irgeneralgoals,alongwithourcommentsontheirlikelyconsequences.Approach#1.Government‐BackedMergers and BuyoutsTraditionally,whenafinancialinstitutionfails, the applicableregulatoryauthoritiesstepin,takeover the operation, and fire the seniormanagement.Theythenseektofindabuyerfor the company,rehabilitate the institutionunderreceivership,orsell the assets.However,under the too‐big‐to‐faildoctrine, the authoritiesbypassstandardbankruptcyprocedures:Theybrokerashotgunmergerorbuy‐out,typicallyassumingsomeresponsibilityforfuturelossesif the assetssinkfurtheror the dealturnssour.Allpartiesinvolvedin the transaction— the seller, the buyer and the regulators—recognizethat the institutionhasfailed.Buttheytacitlyagreetomaintain the fictionithasnot.Accordingly,inrecentmonths,federalauthoritieshavearm‐twistedlargefinancialconglomeratestoacquirefailingcompaniesin the midst of the debtcrisis,turningablindeyeto the enormousrisks,whileoffering the carrot of muchlargermarketshares.Threemegabanks—Bank of America, JPMorganChase and WellsFargo—standoutasprimeexamples and serveasimmediatelyrelevantcasestudies.CaseStudy#1.Bank of America In2007,as the realestatebubblewasbursting,Bank of America steppeduptoassistCountrywideFinancial,makinga$2billioninvestmentinwhatwasthen the nation’slargestresidentialmortgagelenderbyvolume.However,asCountrywide’slossesmountedthrough the secondhalf of 2007,itbecameclearthatBank of America wouldhavetopourinmorecapitaltoprotectitsinvestment.InJanuary2008, the Charlotte,N.C.bankinggiantagreedtopurchaseCountrywideforanadditional$4billion,transformingBank of America into the largesthomemortgagelender and mortgageservicerin the world.CompletedonJuly1,itwas the largestmergerin the history of the mortgageindustry.Justtenweekslater,onSeptember15,2008,in the wake of the collapse of LehmanBrothersHoldings,Bank of America embarkedonafarlargerdeal,agreeingtoacquireMerrillLynch&Co.inanall‐stocktransactionvaluedat$50billionwhen the agreementwassigned,withBank of America receivinga$15billionTARPinfusiononOctober28. ... As the GAOclearlyimpliedinitsreport, the rapidgrowth of unregulatedOTCderivativesnowposesaseriousthreatto the globalfinancialsystem.2. As the GAOwarned, the concentration of tradingamongasmallnumber of largeplayershaspinned the future of the financialsystemonahandful of high‐rollers.3....

... and escaped all hurt, though he staggered with the violence of the blow. And thus they continued attacking each other, parrying and replying, till their breath failed them and their hands and ... into the depths of the wood he again marked the place where the entrance lay and carefully replaced the bunch of grass. Hardly had Raja Randhir returned to the palace, and removed the traces of ... gates, and made him stand near the cross. Then the messengers of death arrived from the palace, and the executioners began to nail his limbs. He bore the agony with the fortitude of the brave;...

... (ii) remain in possession of the leasehold interest for the balance of the term of the lease, unless the lessee defaults under the terms of the lease after the date of such repudiation. (B) ... by the charter or as an incident thereto; and (ii) provide for, and establish the terms and condi-tions governing, the management (including the bylaws and the number of directors of the ... expenses of the receiver under para-graph (1)(A). (3) CLAIMS OF THE UNITED STATES .—Unsecured claims of the United States shall, at a minimum, have a higher priority than liabilities of the covered...

... 158(21) and 296(154) [14–17]. The high specific activity of theseFVIIa variants is presumably linked to a more stableburial of the N-terminus of the protease domain in the activation pocket of the ... included in the pub-lished alanine scanning mutagenesis study of FVIIa[13], and investigated the effects of the mutation on the enzymatic maturation of FVIIa and on the response of FVIIa to ... cleavage of the scissile bond. This would affect FX and peptidehydrolysis similarly, supported by the similar decreasein the rate of cleavage of both types of substrates. The effect of the G372(223)A...

... cyclization between the anomericC1 of this ribose moiety (commonly termed ‘northernribose’ while the ribose linked to N9 of adenine iscalled the ‘southern’ ribose; Fig. 1) and the N1 of the adenine ... northern and southern riboses are pri-marily necessary as linkers between the base adenine(or hypoxanthine) and the diphospho-bridge, as theycan be replaced by much simpler ether strands. Theseether ... ether strands. Theseether strands mimic the distance between the nucleo-base and the diphospho-bridge, but on the other handlikely are involved in polar interactions with the cADPR receptor protein....

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