The Islamic Concept Of Charity And Security Religion Essay

The Islamic Concept Of Charity And Security Religion Essay The contemporary debate of the charity has been long in the literature Melvin 2009, Ferrari and Khan 2010, Shirazi 1996, Scott 1987 and Waldron 1986. Specifically, the religious zeal and zest revolves around the notion of charity (Iwobi 2009). Islamic concept of charity is not exception for that debate of social welfare and the security (Scott 1987). It emphasizes on the moral values and the contribution to the neglected segment o f the society. However, Islamic concept of charity and social security has never been debated in the light of the moral economy. This paper is intended to give a comparative view about the different notions of the Islamic charity (zakat, sadqah and donation). The concept of charity, in general, is not new because every religion of the world preached that charity. However, the focus of this paper is to highlight the forms of charity in Islam, their differences and their impact on the multiculturalism and the formation of the moral economy. The definition of charity in Islamic tradition differs and it is context specific. However, its aim and goals remain the same. The Quran states: And be steadfast in your prayer and pay charity; whatever good you send forth for your future, you shall find it with Allah, for Allah is well aware of what you do (Al-Quran: Al-Baqara 2:110). Similarly, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: No wealth (of a servant of Allah) is decreased because of charity (Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 2247). Charity is the fifth pillar of Islam and its reward will be given in the after world. The charity is not reciprocity for this world, but the world after. The Quran declare the five basic concept of the zakat. These concepts included: infaq (spending benevolently), ihsan (kindness), zakah (purification), sadqah (charitable deed) and khayrat (good deeds). However, Islam does not force anyone to give charity. It is obligatory in the form of zakat and voluntary in the shape of sadqah (charity) and donation. 2. Basic concepts of charity in Islam Islamic charity has three basic concepts: zakat, sadaqah and donation. 2.1 Zakat (alms giving) The zakat (Ø ²Ãƒâ„¢Ã†â€™ÃƒËœÃƒËœÃ‚ ©Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ½) is extracted from the word zaka to be pure that denotes purification. The Quran highlights to the purification of wealth and states: Of their wealth take alms to purify and sanctify them (Al-Quran, Al-Tawbah 9:103). The zakat is obligation on a Muslim. It is moral duty of a Muslim to pay zakat at the rate of 2.5% per year. A Muslim cannot deny the zakat. The Quran lists recipients of Zakat: Zakat is for the poor and the needy and those who are employed to administer and collect it, and for those whose hearts are to be won over, and for the freeing of human beings from bondage, and for those who are overburdened with debts and for every struggle in Gods cause, and for the wayfarers: this is a duty ordained by God, and God is the All-Knowing, the Wise. (Al-Quran 9:60). The zakat is given individually to the relatives, neighbors and vulnerable communities. It is also administered collectively: Muslim charity organization, some of the Muslim states regulates the departments which are responsible of the charity (for instance Ministry of Religious Affairs, Zakat and Ushr in Pakistan) and Muslim associations. Nevertheless, zakat is mandatory to every Muslim (who can pay), but it is willful to pay individually or collectively. 2.2 Sadaqah (charity) The word sadaqah (Ø µÃƒËœÃ‚ ¯Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ÃƒËœÃ‚ ©Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ½) is derived from the Arabic root sadaqah which means to be truthful and hence sadaqah implies engaging in any virtuous and moral act in order to earn happiness of God. The sadaqah has certain principals which a Muslim must follow. One, sadaqah is given in the name of God. Second, the money or the donation should be from the legal sources. Islam discourages the illegitimate (stolen or unethically gained) money or resources. Third, surplus money (beyond the need of a person) is the money of God and Muslims are custodian of it. Therefore, they should spend and return the money to the needy, poor and spend on the ways of God  [4]  . The Quran outlines the charity: Those who (in charity) spend of their goods by night and by day, in secret and in public, have their reward with their Lord: on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Al-Quran, Al-Baqarah 2:274). The Quran further highlights: And spend something (in charity) out of the substance which We have bestowed on you, before Death should come to any of you and he should say, O my Lord! Why didst Thou not give me respite for a little while? I should then have given (largely) in charity, and I should have been one of the doers of good. But to no soul will Allah grant respite when the time appointed (for it) has come; and Allah is well acquainted with (all) that ye do. (Al-Quran, Al-Munafiqun 63: 10-11). Further, the Quran states: And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive. We feed you for the sake of Allah alone: no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks. (Al-Quran, Al Insà ¢n 76:8-9). In another statement, the Quran states: For those who give in Charity, men and women, and loan to Allah a Beautiful Loan, it shall be increased manifold (to their credit), and they shall have (besides) a liberal reward (Al-Quran, Al Hadà ®d 57:18). Sadaqah is important for a number of purposes. It reduces the sins and increases the virtue of a Muslim. It compensates for shortcoming in any negligence in the payment of zakat. For instance, if a person forgets to pay zakat in the past or was guilty to pay the zakat, the sadaqah reduces the burden of the past. Sadaqah give a sense of protection not only the giver but also to the receiver of falling victim of disaster. God pleasure is received through the sadaqah. It is pleasure of the giver of the charity. The person feels happiness and fulfills his/ her obligation to the betterment of the humanity. Model of Islamic Charity Sadqah and donation: Volunteer charity No specification of rate or time Depends upon the capacity of an individual capacity Zakat: Obligatory charity Wealth: (income, earnings and savings) at the rate of 2.5% per anum Agriculture product: Crops (around 10%). Islamic Tresury (Fund): Bait-ul-Mal Spending: Needy, poor (orphans, widows), employees to administer and collect zakat, for those whose hearts are to be won over, captive (prisoners), in debts and scholars, and for the wayfarers. Social Security: Marginalized persons, communities Moral Economy: Good faith, fairness, justice, equality Fig 1.1 Fig 1.1 indicates that Islamic notion of charity is mainly based on the zakat, sadaqah and donation. These donations are collected at the Islamic funds. The fund is used to look after the marginalized community. This welfare is a form of social security. Everything related to the Islamic charity is based on the moral economy. The notion of moral economy is main crux of the charity. 2.3 Donation Third term which is often used is the donation. The donation refers to give money, gift or compensate the person, organization who is in need. A donation is typical a charity and it serves the purpose of humanity. Different words are used for the donation: khairat (Ø ®Ãƒâ€ºÃ…’Ø ± Ø Ø ª) or attya (Ø ¹ÃƒËœÃ‚ ·Ãƒâ€ºÃ…’Û ). These words denote the charity collectively and individually. Islam appreciates the donation to the cause of the humanity. It is normally given at the time of disaster, emergency, people in need, to save a human being, construct an educational institution and to feed the hungry people. 3. Difference between zakat, sadaqah and donation Zakat, sadaqah and donations are different kinds of charities in Islamic ideology. Zakat is the obligatory annual alms-giving which is determined on the basis of the value of ones own wealth. It is calculated 2.5% as per Islamic traditions in an year. The zakat is calculated at the beginning of the Islamic month Ramadan. According to the Islamic scholars, the zakat must be collected from the Muslims. This principal does not apply to the non- Muslims living in a Muslim state. It is mandatory and has strict verdict to pay the zakat, however, without any penalty for it. Zakat is responsibility of the only person who owns wealth. It is liable on the individual and the family. However, the sadaqah is a charity that is given beside the zakat contribution over the surplus wealth. It is volunteer act and without any percentage. Sadaqah is not specified as only monetary terms (feeding the poor and the needy), but also given support to the orphans, widows in the form of advising or counseling. It also includes the volunteer activities for the befit of the community at larger: teaching to the poor, giving sense of good faith and advising them to excel on the right path, the path of God. Similarly, some of the Islamic scholars believe that to form charity organization, construct educational institutions (mosque, school, college, universities) and construction of well (to clean water supply to the community) are the different forms of sadaqah. It can be given on the name of any relative (parents or children), if a person wishes to do so. Nevertheless, the sadaqah is volunteer act of the person and depend upon the capacity and surplus wealth of the person. On the other hand, the donation is neither time specific nor it is mandatory or obligatory. It is volunteer activity of a person. It significantly differs from the zakat, but close to the sadaqah. Nevertheless, these three types of the charity contribute to the welfare of the humanity altogether. 4. Comparative view of charity: Development of moral economy Islamic notion of charity (in its different forms) generates a moral economy. This is the economy which is based on the good faith and welfare of the humanity. In line with Bollig (1998) and Thompsons (1971, 1993) notion of moral economy. Islamic charity gives the following notion of charity. 4.1 Islamic charity: Moral injection Benthall (1999) highlights the Quranic injection of charity. According to Benthall the Islamic system of almsgiving (zakat) is more organized than other societies. For him, the zakat is closely associated with the prayers and the worship of God, therefore, the Muslim are morally obliged to pay the zakat to the poor, to the needy as per Islamic conception. He argued that Zakat can be distributed in poor, needy, orphans, widows, divorcees, prisoners and their families, unemployed and homeless people, students, those who cannot afford to marry. It is also for the disasters victims and those in need of free medicine or dignified funerals of a person who need it (Benthall 1999:31). Therefore, the Islamic charity is a moral injection to work for the betterment of the humanity. 4.2 Zakat: Powerful instrument to poverty eradication Zakat denotes growth, extension and purification and it is a donation on wealth and agriculture product. The zakat is collected as per nature of the wealth. It is collected to fulfill the tire needs of the marginalized segment of the society. The zakat is fundamental creed of Islam: It obligatory act of worship (Mohammad 1991). According to Mohammad (1996), the zakat is a system that has potential to eradicate poverty and inequalities (1991:1119). The zakat system is well organized system for the development of a country but it can be more organized for poverty eradication and for the maintenance of a society like Pakistan (Mohammad 1991). Similarly, a survey was conducted in 1990/91 of the household Integrated Economic Survey in Pakistan and findings revealed that the zakat and usher were the significant to contribute the lives of the people (Shirazi 1996). According to the survey, 39000 zakat committees were working with 250 thousand volunteers (Shirazi 1996:166). The zakat contribution on 1981/1982 from 845.85 million Pakistani rupees to 4655.9 million in 1993/94 (Shirazi 1996:170). The money was spending to substance allowance for poor (708.622 million), rehabilitation (245.669 million Pakistani rupees) and 1738234 people benefited from the zakat contribution (Shirazi 1996:185). However, the latest figures on the issue are not available. The development of the Islamic charity and its faire distribution could lead to alleviate and then eradicate poverty in the Muslim countries. However, the institution either do not exist or unable to deliver the services effectively. At some places, this institution was suppressed due to the fear of the dominance and power politics. Nevertheless, the Islamic charity has potential to contribute to the welfare of the humanity. 4.3 Charity: Road towards the social justice According to Bremer (2004:1) the development of any society local resources are necessary. Islamic societies developed over a range of charity organizations to in order to address the needs of the needy and poor. These organizations are zakat boards, wakf (endowment) and diverse local structures reflecting the richness of Islamic culture from Dakar to Davao (Ibid). For her, a strong civil society is now widely recognized as an important pillar supporting democratic institutions in the West (Bremer 2004:2). The strength of the civil society leads towards the development of the democratic institutions. According to her, foreign aid and a government is not enough for development in Muslim societies. Bremer outlines that in recent years USAID has funded the creation of an NGO service center that provides technical assistance and training to civil society organizations, and has granted financial support directly to NGOs ranging from business associations to community development groups (B remer 2004:3). For her, this development contribution can be significantly increased with the assistance of Islamic charity in Muslim societies. Ultimately, this charity leads towards the establishment of the social justice system (Bremer 2004). The whole notion of charity revolves around the notion of social justice in the Muslim world. The charity is the strong instrument to bring in the social justice. It helps the marginalized population within the society and tries to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich. 4.4 Charity: Funding for free education According to Blanchard (2007) religious school work as a charity organization in Muslim countries. They are source of providing education to the vulnerable groups, especially to the madrasas (religious schools). Madrasas offer a free education, room, and board to their students, and thus they appeal to impoverished families and individuals. On the whole these religious schools are supported by private donations from Muslim believers through a process of alms-giving known in Arabic as zakat. The practice of zakatone of the five pillars of the Islamic faithprescribed that a fixed proportion of ones income be given to specified charitable causes, and traditionally a portion of zakat has endowed religious education (2007:4). Blanchard (2007) provides information that in Pakistan Madrasas are being observed by the government regarding their finance sources after 9/11 attack in the United States. He reveals that the madrasas are contributing to provide the education to the poorest. He found that madrasas are registered in Pakistan and their financial assistance is observed by the Government of Pakistan since August 2006 (Blanchard 2007:5). Nonetheless, the charity could fill the gap of the education. 4.5 Charity: Belief and health seeking behaviour A study highlights the importance of the sadaqah in health seeking behaviour in Pakistan (see Midway, Tabasco, Hani, and Khan 2010). This study revealed those patients who strongly belief and practice sadaqah (charity) feel better and believe that they can recover their health after giving charity to the poor. According to this research, almost 85% of the respondent thought and gave charity. The study reveals that the sadaqah is usually giving in the form of money (85.2%) clothes (49.2%) and sacrificing an animal (65.5%). Almost 92% of the respondents relate the belief and practice of sadaqah giving in the hope of recovery from illness. Nevertheless, charity gives internal strength to the patients and they believe that they can have better health recovery after giving the charity. 4.6 Islamic charity is universal or specific notion of welfare: There are two views about the Islamic charity. One, it is localized notion of welfare and limited to the only Muslims and the Muslim societies. The Muslims are contributors as well as consumer of the charity. This perspective is under criticism among a large segment of the Muslim scholars (see Benthall 1999). However, the second point of view is that Islamic charity is universal and every human being without border, creed and dogma can benefit from the charity. However, the charity contribution is applied only on Muslims. The Muslim contributes to the charity and gives equal importance to the whole human being in order to disburse the charity (Benthall 1999). However, they do not impose on the non- Muslims. Nevertheless, only Muslims are contributor of the Islamic charity. However, it is equally important to give the charity to the non-Muslims. There is no specification of creed or dogma in the Islamic charity (except zakat). The zakat is limited to the Muslim societies. The donation are without any religious affiliation or association. 5. Discussion There is wide spread opportunity to get resources in order to feed the marginalized segment of the society, as per the notion of Islamic charity, then why the Muslim countries are dependent upon foreign aid is a question which is often raised. In fact, there are two major reasons of the dependency of the Muslim societies on the foreign aid and remain in the vicious cycle of poverty and under development. 5.1 Collapse of the charity institution: Change in the charity institutions Muslim countries depend upon the foreign aid because they were unable to maintain their institutions. Such institutions were collapsed during the colonization or soon after (Bremer 2004). In the eyes of the colonial masters, the Muslim charity institutions were the symbol of Muslim legacy and they were a source of the rise of the Muslim power. Therefore, it was necessary to abolish such institution from the Muslims societies (Bremer 2004). Especially, the zakat institution was under strong scrutiny during the colonial era because it was believed that this institution supports the freedom struggle. The colonial powers developed the institution of welfare instead of the zakat institution. However, this welfare institution, developed by the colonial powers, was perceived as not ones own. It was considered as a symbol to get money, but without any legacy (Bremer 2004). It was just perceived as the symbol of the colony and soon after become the source to collect the money by hook or by crook. People wanted to get benefited from the social welfare but not were ready to pay it back. Therefore, it was not much institutionalized as the zakat was spread during the Muslim era in the Middle East and in the Muslim countries before the 19th century. However, the Islamic charity institutions are believed as part of the worship of the God. Therefore, there were rare cases of the unfairness or corruption. They have strong check and balance to maintain the charity among the Muslim charity organizations. Nonetheless, the change in the charity institution brought mistrust and unfairness in the charity. Many of the Muslims societies became the prey of it and remain in the vicious cycle of poverty and under development. 5.2 Collapse of morality: Change to develop a new morality based on materialism Islam appreciates the giving hands (charity giver) and discourages the charity recipient. According to Islam, giving hand is better than the receiving hand. However, current scenario does not reflect the basic ideology of the charity of Islam. Despite of the fact that the zakat remain as an institution among the Muslim societies at individual level. However, it was not developed at the state level after the colonial era. It was perceived that state is in the hands of someone else (colonial masters or their local representatives) and there was not any institutionalized method of the zakat collection and its distribution. This mistrust or non-confidence led to collapse the real notion of the moral economy among the Muslims. In Islamic morality, there are two sets of rights and obligation for a Muslim: the rights to worship God and the right to serve the humanity. In Islam, the right of God may be put aside by the God, if He wants to do so. However, the right to serve the humanity cannot be neglected until unless the fellow human beings do not forgive it. It is exclusive related with the people and their rights. They (people, especially poor and the needy) have to forgive their rights to the fellow Muslims. So the Islamic moral values exclusive emphasize on the welfare and social security of the humanity and the marginalized group of the society. However, the collapse of the Islamic morality of charity is dominated phenomenon in the current era. It does contradict on the basic philosophy of the Islam that spends everything to the humanity which is surplus. However, the materialism and greed for wealth is dominant in the current culture of the Muslim societies. It is depicted in the life style and in the emerging value system. Consequently, it is affecting the basic notion of the Islamic charity and changing the moral economy of the Muslim in the contemporary era. 7. Conclusion Islamic concept of charity is much associated with the Muslim societies. It forms a moral economy and moral value systems (give charity and worship to the God). It also strengthens the notion of close social networking of the Muslims. However, it does not neglect the humanity at large. It gives a due share to provide the help to the people of the world. The charity is given to the needy, poor, scholars, charity organizations and welfare of the society at large. However, criticism to retain the Muslim charity among Muslim is not exclusive from the discussion of the charity. Dominant point of view, however, is in favour of the humanity rather than the welfare of the any specific community. Islamic charity begins from the individual level. It creates the space for the state. However, it does not exclusive involve the state to regulate the charity. The charity in Islam is equally important to the worship of God. Islam emphasize the worship of God (right to obey the God) and the service for the humanity (the rights of the poor and the needy). The charity is the right of the fellow human beings who are in need and it cannot be neglected as per Islamic moral economy. The Islamic charity is grounded in the concept of the moral economy.

Middle East Recovery Strategies after the Financial Crisis

Middle East Recovery Strategies after the Financial Crisis The global business crisis 2007 that started in USA has spread its impacts over the world and no countries economy is spared from its impact. We are aiming to test the willingness of five countries as a case study (Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom Saudi Arabia, State of Kuwait, Islamic Republic of Iran, and Republic Turkey) top overcomes the impact of this crisis. We an extensive research study about the economy status before, during and through the process of the recovery from the impacts of the crisis, and conducted two types of questionnaires to gather more information. As a result of our analysis, we found whose countries are actually willing enough to overcome the crisis and who arent. The countries we listed as unwilling to overcome the crisis should apply new strategies if they want to recover it. 1. Introduction Everyone nowadays, no matter what are their background, position or level of education have heard about the global business crisis (in which it includes financial and economic crisis), and felt its impacts in different aspects and on different levels.   It became the talk of the day.   The financial and economic crisis that was initiated in the USAs financial market in 2007 has casted its dark shadows all over the world through the international trade channels. This is because the national systems of almost all countries in the world are interlinked to the USAs market. What made this crisis to become a global phenomenon that is, rapidly and continuously spread from the USA to hit the economy of most countries is the direct link between many currencies to the US dollar. As the US dollar collapsed and hit the rock bottom, it ruthlessly dragged them down along with it.   By observing the US economy, we can see that there are many reasons that are the causes of this crisis. Most of them are related to their strategy; the mistakes in the monetary policy that came from the lack of the global balances and failure of financial regulations (subprime mortgages crisis, where banks encouraged irrational public support for housing investment giving estate loans without pledge).When loaners couldnt fulfill installments due to high interest rates, bankers took over those real estates and attempted to sell them. As this occurred a lot, supply exceeded demand causing huge decreases of prices of estates where the lack of liquidity creating financial crisis led to economic crisis. The global crisis has different levels of effects due to several aspects such as social, educational, financial, economical, political, health and so on. Some of these effects included low economic growth, high unemployment, disrupted international monetary systems, inflation, migration as governments tried to export unemployment elsewhere, etc.   Financial analysts suggested many solutions to o vercome this problem, such as: applying real democracy or thorough reform to existing democratic system,   democratize public service and local government, restructure of finance, extend the scope of financial market, create retail financial instruments to provide greater security to customers, re-specialize economies, reduce global imbalances, reduce income concentration, global governance reform and reeducate economists. A global downturn needs a global response. However, what actually is happening is that suggested and applied individual solutions came from decision makers of the developed countries which are focusing only on their own economics, leaving behind developing countries as victims to this crisis. It is easier for the developed countries to stand back on their feet due to the availability of liquidity, whereas, this is not the case with the developing countries. Our paper focuses on the willingness of five selected countries: Kingdom Of Bahrain, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, State of Kuwait, Republic Islamic of Iran, and Republic of Turkey to overcome this crisis. Well discuss the real steps taken by the governments and decision makers in these countries to conclude how effective these steps are. As a result, we will determine whether each of the selected countries have the ability and willingness to overcome this crisis. The aim of this paper is to point out to decision makers whether the mea surements applied in these five countries will help them to recover from this crisis or not and whether the decision makers adapt the right strategies or have to reconsider appropriate solutions. 2. Literature Overview Starting with a general overview of the Middle East impact, we see that the global financial and economic crisis has different levels of negative effects over some specific regions; the Arab region probably is one of the most badly exposed to its negative impacts. Even among this region itself, this can be divided into several groups according to their economic and financial situations. We can say that there is the oil producing countries group; its the group that has the highest GDP and the lowest unemployment rate, in which Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia belong to. Such countries got strongly hit by the crisis since they rely on the overseas investments, especially with the US and Europe (Drine, 2009).   The fall was severe for such countries since OPECs price of oil dropped down from $130 per barrel to $40 per barrel (Rivlin, 2009). This is one of the factors that had led to huge damages that we are going to discuss through this chapter; discussing the impact and reaction of t he Global Crisis 2008 over Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia from the GCC. In addition to that, we are going to discuss the impacts and reactions of Turkey and Iran, in which Iran belong to the Middle East countries, but Turkey doesnt, but geographically, its located so close to it. For each country, we cover the situation before, as the occurrence of the crisis and then their attempts to overcome it according to points of view of different economists. Beginning with our own, the Kingdom Of Bahrain, we see that in the past 30 years, it has built its reputation as a financial services region hub (Ford, 2009). It proved to be more liable to the global banking finance in the region, about  ¼ of its GDP comes from the financial sector. 124 banks are established in Bahrain; 24 retail banks, 64 wholesale banks and 26 Islamic banks predominately investment banks. The blooming of Islamic banking is due to CBBs Central Bank of Bahrain which it placed much time and effort to attract new banks and firms, especially the Islamic banks (Matthew, 2009). Like most countries of the world, if not all, situations differed after it got struck by the crisis. As in October 9th 2008, the Prime Minister of Bahrain assured his highness King Hamad Bin Essa Al-Khalifa that the economy of Bahrain was safe because of the sound and clean financial and economic policies adopted by the government of Bahrain (IANS, 2008). However, this is not really the case as it showed later; some problems began to emerge as the result of getting hit by the crisis. Back in October 2008, about $2 billion loss was announced by GIB and ABC banks combined losses from investment that hit the subprime, which meant that Bahrain is one of the most exposed to the subprime assets (Matthew, 2009). In addition to that, Bahrains stock exchange closed down 2.70%, even though it is the least affected percentage among the key Gulf bourses. Some of Bahrains leading banks ( such as Investcorp that is listed by both London and Bahrain- got badly hit, it suffered a net loss of %511 million for 6 months at the end of Dec 2008). Lack of confidence was another problem; Rasheed Al-Maaraj (the governor of CBB Central bank of Bahrain-) stated that a lot of Banks have reported their results and we are confident about the quality of the banks, we do not see any problems yet on their loan profiles. Things have changed dramatically and one of the biggest changes, not only in Bah rain, but in the GCC and across global lack of confidence. Also, Bahrain got hit by the credit crisis not just in the banking sector, huge projects were delayed, such as Al Dur Power and Water project which was by GIS and KFH due to lack of finance, resulting in $2 billion losses (Ford, 2009).   As a natural response of any healthy business environment, the right thing to do is to find resolve those problems and overcome such obstacles. The government of Bahrain and CBB has introduced many measurements to minimize the downturn impact of the crisis. CBB has established a reform plan; it acted like a regulator to make series changes, and it seek to promote the country as an investment destination. Islamic Banking sector is a proposed key solution; this was highlighted by the Banker Magazine survey, which found that Bahrain has the biggest Islamic institutions in the world after the investment Dar of Kuwait (Ithmaar Bank, Arcapita Bank, Gulf Finance House and Islamic Company of the G ulf). (Ford, 2009).   In order to solve the lack of Confidence issue, the CBB aimed to offset the impact of capital outflows on liquidity by setting a scheme to allow banks to exchange their currency from US$ to Bahraini Dinars. However, this is not fully resolved since the Bahraini Dinar is linked to the US$. Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa (CEO of the Economic Developed funds) stated that The Major real estate development in Bahrain has been largely backed by Islamic banks and have not suffered from the most part of the credit crunch. In order to improve the credit flows, the banking sector was reformed and redesigned. CBB got involved with many investments and the creation of Islamic banks has increased their economical strength and power regarding their sustainability in long terms. (Matthew, 2009). So far, economists seem to be satisfied by the current economic situation in Bahrain. Moving to the west; to Bahrains good neighbor, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia. In general, the Arab countries have 20% of the whole worlds gas and oil, however, they are accounted for less than 5% of the worlds total exports of fuel (Rivlin, 2009).   The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the key oil producing Arab countries; it got blessed by and the economy bloomed after the discovery and production of oil, in which it started to have many huge investment and cash rich companies. As the crisis occurred and hit KSA in its way along with everyone else, the world witnessed a significant dropdown of oil prices, KSA had reduced their productions which led to affecting its oil revenue. This could mean the end of the current surpluses during the recent years. It also affected doing businesses with foreign companies that started to cost more and are no longer easily available as they used to be before the crisis. This had slowed down Saudi Arabias economic growth; caused delaying projects, and r esulted in the lack of confidence. In addition to that, long term policy issues in banking sector appeared; interbank rates had moved up sharply. Also, the stock markets have lost their attraction. Their %GDP had dropped from 28.4 in 2006 down to 24.9 in 2007. Their governments budget went under pressure, and noticeable inflation has appeared (Bourland, 2008). Apparently Saudi Arabias economy is relatively in a good shape, even after it got hit by the crisis and could easily adapt to the situation since they know what they should do, and   what are they going to apply. Mohammed Al-Jasser SAMAs governor- stated that: Our stimulus is mostly for oil production capacity enhancement and also large development projects were implementing. When the projects are finished, then we will reassess the need for additional spending. (Kuwait Times, 2009). SAMA- Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency- had lowered the repo rate and injected liquidity into the banks. One of the Saudi Arabias economical goals is based on completely shifting its focus of economic policy from controlling inflation to restoring confidence in the financial sector. Many companies in KSA are cash rich; thanks to their huge stock of assets, the government of KSA has an advantage over most countries in alleviating the impacts of extreme financial pressures caused by the crisis. The non-oil sector still has a chance for momentum growing, and thus, many projects can be carried out in spite of the existence of some obstacles. That caused, mainly, the limitation of access to higher costs that somewhat slows down the growth of private sectors than it was expected to be (Bourland, 2008). Also, KSA smartly had invested in large numbers in some upstream hydrocarbon projects to get more value from their oil. However, rather than completely relying their energy demands over oil and gas, they had investments in alternative energies so they can export more fuel (Rivlin, 2009).   Thus, based on that, we may assume that KS As economy is in pretty good shape. Going up to the north, there resides the State of Kuwait that once announced a five years $130 billion in an ambitious plan to grow its banking sector to be one of the financial centers in the GCC region before the business tragedy. However, lack of lucidity due to the global crisis, dramatic decrease of oil prices and having a rather poor business environment keeps Kuwait behind its rivals (which Bahrain is one of them). The banking sector in Kuwait has grown largely over the recent years, in which it increased from 2.3% of their nominal GDP in the late 80s to 11.8% GDP in 2007 (which is small compared to Bahrain). Kuwait relied on the high prices of Oil before the crisis occurred to rebus the private and public sector growth (BMI, 2008). The situation started to get bad once the crisis occurred. In 2008, as the global crisis occurred, Kuwaits banking sector fell down to 8.2%. The economy of Kuwait suffered and became under pressure, and the crisis raised interbank interest rates, w here the Central Bank of Kuwait considered this as a liquidity injection into a system. There have also been real estate curbs. (BMI, 2008). Kuwaits Gulf Bank suffered a total loss of $1.54 Billion during the same year. This forced the governments in the gulf to pump money into banks to salvage them (Drine, 2009). In addition to that, inflation reached 11% on June 2008, which was probably the result of the drop down of oil and commodity prices (EIU, 2008). Unlike the GCC currencies, the Kuwaiti Dinar is not paged to the US Dollar; therefore, due to its quasi-independence monetary policy, it shouldnt be dragged down by the US dollar. Sadly however, this flexibility only exists in theory.   Inflammation remained the same in Kuwait as the rest of the GCC. On Sept 23rd 2008, CBK Central Bank of Kuwait- stated to the press that theyll undertake the appropriate measures without hesitation. Itll provide necessary liquidity to any local banking institution. However, it didnt boost it muc h since there was low confidence in economy. It has also raised reserved requirements. The new suggested rule of limiting monthly loan installments from the previous 50% of borrowers salaries to 40% has controlled inflation. Kuwaiti Authorities tried to deal with inflation by active attempts to cut down the loan growth of late. It also has tried to urge lenders to restrict credit growth. (BMI, 2008). Also, the government institutions such as KIA -Kuwait Investment Agency- and the KPC -Kuwait Petroleum Corporation- in addition to the public Authority for Social security deposited their funds in some local commercial banks rather than holding them at the CBK. (EIU, 2008).   Yet, Is Kuwait going to be successful in overcoming the impact of the crisis? By November 2008, NBK National Bank of Kuwait announced a stunning 10.5% raise in 9 months profit, while the KFH (Kuwait Finance House) which is an Islamic Bank   has a 25% increase in profits for the same period of time (EIU, 2008) . Although Kuwait seems to have an opportunity in the banking sector and general business environment in the GCC, its three rivals are still ahead of it. It still has to make changes. However, Manaf Al-Hajeri General Manager of Kuwaits Financial Center Markaz- has a different point of view. He sees that within the next 10 years, the Middle East will still be highly attractive to banking investments, direct investments and asset management, thanks to its high sovereign reserves, favorable demographics and high house formations (MARKAZ, 2009). With such a contradiction in different point of views, the best way to get the accurate answer, to whether Kuwait is going to be successful in overcoming the impact of the global crisis is through an intensive field study. Our next stop resides to the east, The Islamic Republic Iran. Iran is economically isolated from the rest of the world, and thus, many people thought that Iran was secured from the global economic and financial crisis. But thats clearly not the case. The most critical issues that influenced Irans economy is that it heavily depended on the Oil revenues. As the oil prices searched the peak, Irans government was supposed to save a part of its income. However, it spent it all on subsidized lending, massive bank credits, imprudent social spending and substation imports. This phenomenon is known as the Dutch Disease. When the oil prices dropped badly due to the global crisis, Iran suddenly found itself facing a financial crunch. Also, the government of Iran controls more than 80% of its economy due to political reasons after the election of Ahmady Nijad which weakens its economy. In addition to that, the pressures of USAs government and its banks over Irans and the U.N. Security Council sa nctions made the situation even worse. In a healthy economy, the central bank should be independent from the government. However, this is not the current case in Iran, where Nijads government continues its interference in central bank affairs. (Amir, 2008).   As the crisis occurred, Irans economy had already suffered from many problems before the global crisis which made it more vulnerable to impacts of the crisis. Irans banks faced the same problems as its US rivals; they were severely hit by the crisis due to the non-repayment of house loans and that was caused by the decrease of the house prices which turned into the creation of the economic crisis. One of the signs of the impact in Iran is the 60% decrease in applying for constructing license and the complete stagnation in house trading. Abdoh Tabraizi, in a professional conference in Tehran University The Influence of Global Financial Crisis on Iran Economy stated that: the problem of the global economy accrued in Iran was du e to the decrease in house pricing. So, the people who bought the houses will not make their repayments and this happened because of the increase in food and petroleum prices (BBC, 2009). Due to the high dependency of Irans economy on oil revenue, it faced lack of liquidity as the oil prices dropped down, and its currency (the Toman) is facing a devaluation against the other currencies (Amir, 2008). The Republic of Iran denied the Global Crisis impacts over its economy and ignored all the economists warnings regarding its situation. It has no attempts in finding solutions to its current financial and economical situation (Amir, 2009). Leaving west to Europe, to the Republic of Turkey, where it actually faced an interesting event before the global crisis. In the years between 1990 and 2002, Turkey had experienced some very series crisiss that it had to confirm the Global crisis in 2007 through the stability of macroeconomic policies, structural reforms, social security reforms and employment packages that strengthen the financial sector giving it nowadays a strong economic structure compared to the past that could easily resist the impacts of the current global crisis. It had taken its lessons from the past and enabled them to be prepared for the global crisis. Therefore, since the first moment for the global crisis 2008 begins, it didnt touch Turkey very seriously. Turkeys banks didnt fail; all of the banks in Turkey could sustain themselves without any external support (Erdogan, 2009). As it got hit by the crisis from the day of 10 July 2007, in which it is the exact moment of the beginning of the crisis had affe cted Turkey seriously and until now it is still affecting it. Turkish currency showed the most resistance to the falling values comparing to the other currencies. It decreased only by 28% compared to the other currencies (e.g. 31%   Mexican Peso    Russian Ruble, 45% South Korean Won, 34% South African Rand, 40% UK à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤ ). (Erdogan, 2009). In other words, as Ayse Yuksel stated in an interview, Turkey is in a rather great shape compared to the USA, Europe and England itself, also had way less damage in funds and mortgages compared to the USA (Sakar, 2009).   As for the banking sector, instead of becoming a problem like other countries, it became a security value due to its previous experience (Erdogan, 2009).   Turkey had taken many steps to overcome the global crisis; mainly to prevent the liquidity problem. For example, the Turkish Central bank had taken decisions in order to support the markets and the internal demand through the implementation of the monetary p olicy; they took measurements to re-function the credit change in the economy. In addition to implementing temporarily tax reductions in certain sectors such as housing, automotive, electronics, etc, Turkey was able to successfully protect its employees. (Erdogan, 2009). Turkey had announced that there were no problems existed and no actions are warranted; and if were needed, it can inject liquidity into the market and attract the funds held by its citizens overseas account back to Turkey, that is, providing forging currency liquidity (Hurriyet Daily News, 2009). 3. Methodology The purpose of our paper is to determine the willingness and ability of decision makers in our selected five developing Middle Eastern countries to overcome the ongoing economic crisis. According to the nature of our research, we will follow two approaches for collecting the information needed for this research paper. We are going to distribute two types of questionnaires, one for decision makers (type 1) and the other for the public (type 2). Our target population will be selected from Bahrain and we will use quota sampling method of size 170 (70 for type 1 and 100 for type 2). The period for the distribution of the questionnaire will start from the month of November to December 2009. Also we will do an interview with a Bahraini decision maker. Secondly, We will gather information by conducting extensive studying of existing papers, journals and articles regarding our topic; analyzing and comparing all together to reach proper conclusions based on facts and numbers In Type 1 questionnaire, we will include questions in which we can extract from how the decision makers feel about the crisis and what are they going to do to overcome the crisis. And as for Type 2, we will include questions in which we can extract from how the public feel about the crisis and how they are affected by it; how they are going to measure the steps followed by the decision makers in their countries to overcome the crisis. In the two types, we will use quantitative and qualitative questions (from both types distributed) to get needed information to meet our goal. After distributing the questionnaire and analyzing the results using MS-Excel in addition to SPSS software, we will measure how the decision makers reacted towards the global economic crisis are. We have also collected further information by conducting an interview with one of the decision makers in Bahrain who works for a financial sector. 4. Challenges The most significant event in this decade is the Global Economic and Financial Crisis 2008, where no country was spared from its brutal hits and negative effects. After this crisis, economists categorized the countries into two main divisions: the rich countries that have the power to withstand the crisis due to having a huge amount of assets that plays the key role in the process of recovering the impacts of the crisis, whereas the other countries which are not rich, thereby considered poor or average countries are the main victims of the crisis in two aspects; firstly they dont have enough assets for their economy to get back to track. Secondly, the solution strategies taken by rich countries to overcome the crisis do not put them in consideration, keeping them the weakest link (Wade,2009), (Meyn et al, 2009).  Ã‚   This catastrophe, adaption to it and the attempts to recover from it, illustrated to the world the true essence of the health of each countrys economy. In addition to that, it showed how clever and serious the decision makers and governments are in dealing with it. On the other hand, it also points to intentions of decision makers.   We focused on the willingness of five selected Middle Eastern countries (The Kingdom Of Bahrain, Kingdom Saudi Arabia, State Of Kuwait, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Turkey) how decision makers of these countries and governments are willing to recover from the impact of this economical crisis. What procedures have they taken and how successful will they are. Our selection is based on the different nature and situations of the economy of each of the selected countries, and their different political strategies and views. We spotlighted on the Kingdom of Bahrain in our paper by gathering data from the public and decision makes in Bahrain and conducting an interview with a chosen decision maker in order to obtain most accurate result as possible. In addition to analyzing and comparing the published articles an d journals .On the other hand when we consider other countries, we limit our data resources to the existing articles, papers and journals from different  Ã‚  Ã‚   sources to discover the most accurate data that we will build our result on. Thats due to time and geographical constraints.   As a result of this paper, we will categorize the selected countries into those who are willing to recover from the crisis and those who are not. Our main audience is the decision makers, who can take benefits of this paper in evaluating their decisions, adapt it, and change it to make better solutions. Also the public can use the result of this paper to know the correct economic situation of their country, and how their governments are honest in announcing the economic state and whether they are serious to recover from this crisis, as a result they may press on their government to make major steps toward making better solutions. Unfortunately, we have a very limited time to complete the paper while such a research requires much longer time for more accurate data collection. We are enforced to submit the paper by the end of December 2009. Also, we cant reach decision makers because they are hard to find in such a short notice. In addition to that, we are limited to do our questionnaire in Bahrain only due to the geographical limitation. We will try to expand the scope of the questionnaire to include the concerned countries using emails, internet and online technology. 5. Proposed Solution According to the nature of our paper, and the geographical and time constraints, in order to achieve our goal, we will apply two approaches for gathering and analyzing information. The first one will apply to all our selected countries in which it highly depends on comparing and analyzing each countries economists and decision makers statements to sold facts and numbers, including (GDP growth, Oil GDP growth, PCI inflation) which considered to be the most significant signs of the country economical situation,  Ã‚   from neutral international organizations -including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -. As for the second approach that involves Bahrain only in which we contacted two types of questionnaires and an interview with a decision maker as an add up to the previous approach.   In order to identify whether the financial and economical situation in a country is recovering from the crisis, there are indicators (are known as Economy Indicators) that show whether its improvi ng, stable or turning down. Thus, our questionnaire and interview must be based on it. There are many indicators, but we will consider only on the important ones that are applicable to the business and economy to the countries that we elected. Some of the major indicators (Barnes, 2007, Investopedia ULC) include the following: Consumer Confidence Index (CCI): it shows how healthy the financial situation and determines the expenditures of economy by illustrating the spending power and confidences of consumers. Consumer Credit Report: it indicates the future spending over personal levels and it shows the changing amounts of outstanding loans on individuals. This includes (total debts, current annual rate of growth or decline, and total percentage of credit card delinquencies). It is considered as a major factor that helps to make more than the half of the total GDP. Consumer Price Index (CPI): is seen as a guide for inflation. It focuses on products that consumers buy and use on daily basis. CPI reflects the prices of goods in the markets, and its an important indicator in terms of moving the market and setting the monetary policy. Durable Goods: this involves high priced goods that last for three years, such as machinery, technology manufacturing, cars and other vehicles which indicates general economic expansions.   Employee Cost Index (ECI): it indicates the percentage of changes in employees salaries, bounces, and benefits in terms of wages per hours. It calculates the total cost of employees for a business. Employment Situation:   this indicates employment and unemployment rate. Its useful to understand the state of labor force.   This indicator could move the market dramatically. Gross Domestic Product (GDP): its an aggregate measure of the total economic production for a country. It is one of the most important indicators that illustrates the health of economy and, depending on it, prices of good and services are set in a certain country. It involve s personal consumption, investments, government expenditures, and the exports in a particular country. Existing Home Sales and Housing Starts: are two indicators that come in conjunctions, and this, illustrates the housing market in general. Those are long term indictors that show how many houses are sold. It deals with construction level, which means it shows also supply needed for it, and it shows the demand of consumers and comes in pretty handy in real estate markets. Money Supply: it is the amount of money floating around the economy and it is available for spending. It is controlled by the Central Bank of the country. Money Supply is based on how liquid the money is, which can directly affect economic growth and inflation. Mutual Funds Flows: this is an important concept in which to understand stocks and bond marketing. Non-Manufacturing activities: they involve service industries, such as telecommunications, in which they provide insight into the business area that may not be covered by other indicators. Product Price Index (PPI): its an index to the prices measured by the wholesalers, producers, and retailers that are considered the most powerful contributors to the consumer markets. The index comes in three levels: PPI Commodity Index that involves certain commodities such as crude oil; PPI stage of processing (SOP) Index where products are in an intermediate stage; and PPI Industry Index that involves the final stage and finished manufacturing of the products. And finally, theres the Trade Balance Report: it indicates the health of the economy of a country and its relationships with the rest of the world (Barnes, 2007). Our goal is to get a clear full view of the economy in a country. So, we designed two types of questionnaires, one for aimed for decision makers (type 1) and the other is aimed for the public (type 2), in which both questionnaires are based on economic indicators that we mentioned earlier. For both questionnaires, the methodology is CATI -Computer Aided Telephone Interview-, online form, paper forms, the framework timing is 2 21 December 2009, regarding samples, our goal is at least 69 for each type, our sampling method is quota, and our geographical coverage: Kingdom of Bahrain. In Type 1 questionnaire, we Middle East Recovery Strategies after the Financial Crisis Middle East Recovery Strategies after the Financial Crisis The global business crisis 2007 that started in USA has spread its impacts over the world and no countries economy is spared from its impact. We are aiming to test the willingness of five countries as a case study (Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom Saudi Arabia, State of Kuwait, Islamic Republic of Iran, and Republic Turkey) top overcomes the impact of this crisis. We an extensive research study about the economy status before, during and through the process of the recovery from the impacts of the crisis, and conducted two types of questionnaires to gather more information. As a result of our analysis, we found whose countries are actually willing enough to overcome the crisis and who arent. The countries we listed as unwilling to overcome the crisis should apply new strategies if they want to recover it. 1. Introduction Everyone nowadays, no matter what are their background, position or level of education have heard about the global business crisis (in which it includes financial and economic crisis), and felt its impacts in different aspects and on different levels.   It became the talk of the day.   The financial and economic crisis that was initiated in the USAs financial market in 2007 has casted its dark shadows all over the world through the international trade channels. This is because the national systems of almost all countries in the world are interlinked to the USAs market. What made this crisis to become a global phenomenon that is, rapidly and continuously spread from the USA to hit the economy of most countries is the direct link between many currencies to the US dollar. As the US dollar collapsed and hit the rock bottom, it ruthlessly dragged them down along with it.   By observing the US economy, we can see that there are many reasons that are the causes of this crisis. Most of them are related to their strategy; the mistakes in the monetary policy that came from the lack of the global balances and failure of financial regulations (subprime mortgages crisis, where banks encouraged irrational public support for housing investment giving estate loans without pledge).When loaners couldnt fulfill installments due to high interest rates, bankers took over those real estates and attempted to sell them. As this occurred a lot, supply exceeded demand causing huge decreases of prices of estates where the lack of liquidity creating financial crisis led to economic crisis. The global crisis has different levels of effects due to several aspects such as social, educational, financial, economical, political, health and so on. Some of these effects included low economic growth, high unemployment, disrupted international monetary systems, inflation, migration as governments tried to export unemployment elsewhere, etc.   Financial analysts suggested many solutions to o vercome this problem, such as: applying real democracy or thorough reform to existing democratic system,   democratize public service and local government, restructure of finance, extend the scope of financial market, create retail financial instruments to provide greater security to customers, re-specialize economies, reduce global imbalances, reduce income concentration, global governance reform and reeducate economists. A global downturn needs a global response. However, what actually is happening is that suggested and applied individual solutions came from decision makers of the developed countries which are focusing only on their own economics, leaving behind developing countries as victims to this crisis. It is easier for the developed countries to stand back on their feet due to the availability of liquidity, whereas, this is not the case with the developing countries. Our paper focuses on the willingness of five selected countries: Kingdom Of Bahrain, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, State of Kuwait, Republic Islamic of Iran, and Republic of Turkey to overcome this crisis. Well discuss the real steps taken by the governments and decision makers in these countries to conclude how effective these steps are. As a result, we will determine whether each of the selected countries have the ability and willingness to overcome this crisis. The aim of this paper is to point out to decision makers whether the mea surements applied in these five countries will help them to recover from this crisis or not and whether the decision makers adapt the right strategies or have to reconsider appropriate solutions. 2. Literature Overview Starting with a general overview of the Middle East impact, we see that the global financial and economic crisis has different levels of negative effects over some specific regions; the Arab region probably is one of the most badly exposed to its negative impacts. Even among this region itself, this can be divided into several groups according to their economic and financial situations. We can say that there is the oil producing countries group; its the group that has the highest GDP and the lowest unemployment rate, in which Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia belong to. Such countries got strongly hit by the crisis since they rely on the overseas investments, especially with the US and Europe (Drine, 2009).   The fall was severe for such countries since OPECs price of oil dropped down from $130 per barrel to $40 per barrel (Rivlin, 2009). This is one of the factors that had led to huge damages that we are going to discuss through this chapter; discussing the impact and reaction of t he Global Crisis 2008 over Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia from the GCC. In addition to that, we are going to discuss the impacts and reactions of Turkey and Iran, in which Iran belong to the Middle East countries, but Turkey doesnt, but geographically, its located so close to it. For each country, we cover the situation before, as the occurrence of the crisis and then their attempts to overcome it according to points of view of different economists. Beginning with our own, the Kingdom Of Bahrain, we see that in the past 30 years, it has built its reputation as a financial services region hub (Ford, 2009). It proved to be more liable to the global banking finance in the region, about  ¼ of its GDP comes from the financial sector. 124 banks are established in Bahrain; 24 retail banks, 64 wholesale banks and 26 Islamic banks predominately investment banks. The blooming of Islamic banking is due to CBBs Central Bank of Bahrain which it placed much time and effort to attract new banks and firms, especially the Islamic banks (Matthew, 2009). Like most countries of the world, if not all, situations differed after it got struck by the crisis. As in October 9th 2008, the Prime Minister of Bahrain assured his highness King Hamad Bin Essa Al-Khalifa that the economy of Bahrain was safe because of the sound and clean financial and economic policies adopted by the government of Bahrain (IANS, 2008). However, this is not really the case as it showed later; some problems began to emerge as the result of getting hit by the crisis. Back in October 2008, about $2 billion loss was announced by GIB and ABC banks combined losses from investment that hit the subprime, which meant that Bahrain is one of the most exposed to the subprime assets (Matthew, 2009). In addition to that, Bahrains stock exchange closed down 2.70%, even though it is the least affected percentage among the key Gulf bourses. Some of Bahrains leading banks ( such as Investcorp that is listed by both London and Bahrain- got badly hit, it suffered a net loss of %511 million for 6 months at the end of Dec 2008). Lack of confidence was another problem; Rasheed Al-Maaraj (the governor of CBB Central bank of Bahrain-) stated that a lot of Banks have reported their results and we are confident about the quality of the banks, we do not see any problems yet on their loan profiles. Things have changed dramatically and one of the biggest changes, not only in Bah rain, but in the GCC and across global lack of confidence. Also, Bahrain got hit by the credit crisis not just in the banking sector, huge projects were delayed, such as Al Dur Power and Water project which was by GIS and KFH due to lack of finance, resulting in $2 billion losses (Ford, 2009).   As a natural response of any healthy business environment, the right thing to do is to find resolve those problems and overcome such obstacles. The government of Bahrain and CBB has introduced many measurements to minimize the downturn impact of the crisis. CBB has established a reform plan; it acted like a regulator to make series changes, and it seek to promote the country as an investment destination. Islamic Banking sector is a proposed key solution; this was highlighted by the Banker Magazine survey, which found that Bahrain has the biggest Islamic institutions in the world after the investment Dar of Kuwait (Ithmaar Bank, Arcapita Bank, Gulf Finance House and Islamic Company of the G ulf). (Ford, 2009).   In order to solve the lack of Confidence issue, the CBB aimed to offset the impact of capital outflows on liquidity by setting a scheme to allow banks to exchange their currency from US$ to Bahraini Dinars. However, this is not fully resolved since the Bahraini Dinar is linked to the US$. Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa (CEO of the Economic Developed funds) stated that The Major real estate development in Bahrain has been largely backed by Islamic banks and have not suffered from the most part of the credit crunch. In order to improve the credit flows, the banking sector was reformed and redesigned. CBB got involved with many investments and the creation of Islamic banks has increased their economical strength and power regarding their sustainability in long terms. (Matthew, 2009). So far, economists seem to be satisfied by the current economic situation in Bahrain. Moving to the west; to Bahrains good neighbor, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia. In general, the Arab countries have 20% of the whole worlds gas and oil, however, they are accounted for less than 5% of the worlds total exports of fuel (Rivlin, 2009).   The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the key oil producing Arab countries; it got blessed by and the economy bloomed after the discovery and production of oil, in which it started to have many huge investment and cash rich companies. As the crisis occurred and hit KSA in its way along with everyone else, the world witnessed a significant dropdown of oil prices, KSA had reduced their productions which led to affecting its oil revenue. This could mean the end of the current surpluses during the recent years. It also affected doing businesses with foreign companies that started to cost more and are no longer easily available as they used to be before the crisis. This had slowed down Saudi Arabias economic growth; caused delaying projects, and r esulted in the lack of confidence. In addition to that, long term policy issues in banking sector appeared; interbank rates had moved up sharply. Also, the stock markets have lost their attraction. Their %GDP had dropped from 28.4 in 2006 down to 24.9 in 2007. Their governments budget went under pressure, and noticeable inflation has appeared (Bourland, 2008). Apparently Saudi Arabias economy is relatively in a good shape, even after it got hit by the crisis and could easily adapt to the situation since they know what they should do, and   what are they going to apply. Mohammed Al-Jasser SAMAs governor- stated that: Our stimulus is mostly for oil production capacity enhancement and also large development projects were implementing. When the projects are finished, then we will reassess the need for additional spending. (Kuwait Times, 2009). SAMA- Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency- had lowered the repo rate and injected liquidity into the banks. One of the Saudi Arabias economical goals is based on completely shifting its focus of economic policy from controlling inflation to restoring confidence in the financial sector. Many companies in KSA are cash rich; thanks to their huge stock of assets, the government of KSA has an advantage over most countries in alleviating the impacts of extreme financial pressures caused by the crisis. The non-oil sector still has a chance for momentum growing, and thus, many projects can be carried out in spite of the existence of some obstacles. That caused, mainly, the limitation of access to higher costs that somewhat slows down the growth of private sectors than it was expected to be (Bourland, 2008). Also, KSA smartly had invested in large numbers in some upstream hydrocarbon projects to get more value from their oil. However, rather than completely relying their energy demands over oil and gas, they had investments in alternative energies so they can export more fuel (Rivlin, 2009).   Thus, based on that, we may assume that KS As economy is in pretty good shape. Going up to the north, there resides the State of Kuwait that once announced a five years $130 billion in an ambitious plan to grow its banking sector to be one of the financial centers in the GCC region before the business tragedy. However, lack of lucidity due to the global crisis, dramatic decrease of oil prices and having a rather poor business environment keeps Kuwait behind its rivals (which Bahrain is one of them). The banking sector in Kuwait has grown largely over the recent years, in which it increased from 2.3% of their nominal GDP in the late 80s to 11.8% GDP in 2007 (which is small compared to Bahrain). Kuwait relied on the high prices of Oil before the crisis occurred to rebus the private and public sector growth (BMI, 2008). The situation started to get bad once the crisis occurred. In 2008, as the global crisis occurred, Kuwaits banking sector fell down to 8.2%. The economy of Kuwait suffered and became under pressure, and the crisis raised interbank interest rates, w here the Central Bank of Kuwait considered this as a liquidity injection into a system. There have also been real estate curbs. (BMI, 2008). Kuwaits Gulf Bank suffered a total loss of $1.54 Billion during the same year. This forced the governments in the gulf to pump money into banks to salvage them (Drine, 2009). In addition to that, inflation reached 11% on June 2008, which was probably the result of the drop down of oil and commodity prices (EIU, 2008). Unlike the GCC currencies, the Kuwaiti Dinar is not paged to the US Dollar; therefore, due to its quasi-independence monetary policy, it shouldnt be dragged down by the US dollar. Sadly however, this flexibility only exists in theory.   Inflammation remained the same in Kuwait as the rest of the GCC. On Sept 23rd 2008, CBK Central Bank of Kuwait- stated to the press that theyll undertake the appropriate measures without hesitation. Itll provide necessary liquidity to any local banking institution. However, it didnt boost it muc h since there was low confidence in economy. It has also raised reserved requirements. The new suggested rule of limiting monthly loan installments from the previous 50% of borrowers salaries to 40% has controlled inflation. Kuwaiti Authorities tried to deal with inflation by active attempts to cut down the loan growth of late. It also has tried to urge lenders to restrict credit growth. (BMI, 2008). Also, the government institutions such as KIA -Kuwait Investment Agency- and the KPC -Kuwait Petroleum Corporation- in addition to the public Authority for Social security deposited their funds in some local commercial banks rather than holding them at the CBK. (EIU, 2008).   Yet, Is Kuwait going to be successful in overcoming the impact of the crisis? By November 2008, NBK National Bank of Kuwait announced a stunning 10.5% raise in 9 months profit, while the KFH (Kuwait Finance House) which is an Islamic Bank   has a 25% increase in profits for the same period of time (EIU, 2008) . Although Kuwait seems to have an opportunity in the banking sector and general business environment in the GCC, its three rivals are still ahead of it. It still has to make changes. However, Manaf Al-Hajeri General Manager of Kuwaits Financial Center Markaz- has a different point of view. He sees that within the next 10 years, the Middle East will still be highly attractive to banking investments, direct investments and asset management, thanks to its high sovereign reserves, favorable demographics and high house formations (MARKAZ, 2009). With such a contradiction in different point of views, the best way to get the accurate answer, to whether Kuwait is going to be successful in overcoming the impact of the global crisis is through an intensive field study. Our next stop resides to the east, The Islamic Republic Iran. Iran is economically isolated from the rest of the world, and thus, many people thought that Iran was secured from the global economic and financial crisis. But thats clearly not the case. The most critical issues that influenced Irans economy is that it heavily depended on the Oil revenues. As the oil prices searched the peak, Irans government was supposed to save a part of its income. However, it spent it all on subsidized lending, massive bank credits, imprudent social spending and substation imports. This phenomenon is known as the Dutch Disease. When the oil prices dropped badly due to the global crisis, Iran suddenly found itself facing a financial crunch. Also, the government of Iran controls more than 80% of its economy due to political reasons after the election of Ahmady Nijad which weakens its economy. In addition to that, the pressures of USAs government and its banks over Irans and the U.N. Security Council sa nctions made the situation even worse. In a healthy economy, the central bank should be independent from the government. However, this is not the current case in Iran, where Nijads government continues its interference in central bank affairs. (Amir, 2008).   As the crisis occurred, Irans economy had already suffered from many problems before the global crisis which made it more vulnerable to impacts of the crisis. Irans banks faced the same problems as its US rivals; they were severely hit by the crisis due to the non-repayment of house loans and that was caused by the decrease of the house prices which turned into the creation of the economic crisis. One of the signs of the impact in Iran is the 60% decrease in applying for constructing license and the complete stagnation in house trading. Abdoh Tabraizi, in a professional conference in Tehran University The Influence of Global Financial Crisis on Iran Economy stated that: the problem of the global economy accrued in Iran was du e to the decrease in house pricing. So, the people who bought the houses will not make their repayments and this happened because of the increase in food and petroleum prices (BBC, 2009). Due to the high dependency of Irans economy on oil revenue, it faced lack of liquidity as the oil prices dropped down, and its currency (the Toman) is facing a devaluation against the other currencies (Amir, 2008). The Republic of Iran denied the Global Crisis impacts over its economy and ignored all the economists warnings regarding its situation. It has no attempts in finding solutions to its current financial and economical situation (Amir, 2009). Leaving west to Europe, to the Republic of Turkey, where it actually faced an interesting event before the global crisis. In the years between 1990 and 2002, Turkey had experienced some very series crisiss that it had to confirm the Global crisis in 2007 through the stability of macroeconomic policies, structural reforms, social security reforms and employment packages that strengthen the financial sector giving it nowadays a strong economic structure compared to the past that could easily resist the impacts of the current global crisis. It had taken its lessons from the past and enabled them to be prepared for the global crisis. Therefore, since the first moment for the global crisis 2008 begins, it didnt touch Turkey very seriously. Turkeys banks didnt fail; all of the banks in Turkey could sustain themselves without any external support (Erdogan, 2009). As it got hit by the crisis from the day of 10 July 2007, in which it is the exact moment of the beginning of the crisis had affe cted Turkey seriously and until now it is still affecting it. Turkish currency showed the most resistance to the falling values comparing to the other currencies. It decreased only by 28% compared to the other currencies (e.g. 31%   Mexican Peso    Russian Ruble, 45% South Korean Won, 34% South African Rand, 40% UK à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¤ ). (Erdogan, 2009). In other words, as Ayse Yuksel stated in an interview, Turkey is in a rather great shape compared to the USA, Europe and England itself, also had way less damage in funds and mortgages compared to the USA (Sakar, 2009).   As for the banking sector, instead of becoming a problem like other countries, it became a security value due to its previous experience (Erdogan, 2009).   Turkey had taken many steps to overcome the global crisis; mainly to prevent the liquidity problem. For example, the Turkish Central bank had taken decisions in order to support the markets and the internal demand through the implementation of the monetary p olicy; they took measurements to re-function the credit change in the economy. In addition to implementing temporarily tax reductions in certain sectors such as housing, automotive, electronics, etc, Turkey was able to successfully protect its employees. (Erdogan, 2009). Turkey had announced that there were no problems existed and no actions are warranted; and if were needed, it can inject liquidity into the market and attract the funds held by its citizens overseas account back to Turkey, that is, providing forging currency liquidity (Hurriyet Daily News, 2009). 3. Methodology The purpose of our paper is to determine the willingness and ability of decision makers in our selected five developing Middle Eastern countries to overcome the ongoing economic crisis. According to the nature of our research, we will follow two approaches for collecting the information needed for this research paper. We are going to distribute two types of questionnaires, one for decision makers (type 1) and the other for the public (type 2). Our target population will be selected from Bahrain and we will use quota sampling method of size 170 (70 for type 1 and 100 for type 2). The period for the distribution of the questionnaire will start from the month of November to December 2009. Also we will do an interview with a Bahraini decision maker. Secondly, We will gather information by conducting extensive studying of existing papers, journals and articles regarding our topic; analyzing and comparing all together to reach proper conclusions based on facts and numbers In Type 1 questionnaire, we will include questions in which we can extract from how the decision makers feel about the crisis and what are they going to do to overcome the crisis. And as for Type 2, we will include questions in which we can extract from how the public feel about the crisis and how they are affected by it; how they are going to measure the steps followed by the decision makers in their countries to overcome the crisis. In the two types, we will use quantitative and qualitative questions (from both types distributed) to get needed information to meet our goal. After distributing the questionnaire and analyzing the results using MS-Excel in addition to SPSS software, we will measure how the decision makers reacted towards the global economic crisis are. We have also collected further information by conducting an interview with one of the decision makers in Bahrain who works for a financial sector. 4. Challenges The most significant event in this decade is the Global Economic and Financial Crisis 2008, where no country was spared from its brutal hits and negative effects. After this crisis, economists categorized the countries into two main divisions: the rich countries that have the power to withstand the crisis due to having a huge amount of assets that plays the key role in the process of recovering the impacts of the crisis, whereas the other countries which are not rich, thereby considered poor or average countries are the main victims of the crisis in two aspects; firstly they dont have enough assets for their economy to get back to track. Secondly, the solution strategies taken by rich countries to overcome the crisis do not put them in consideration, keeping them the weakest link (Wade,2009), (Meyn et al, 2009).  Ã‚   This catastrophe, adaption to it and the attempts to recover from it, illustrated to the world the true essence of the health of each countrys economy. In addition to that, it showed how clever and serious the decision makers and governments are in dealing with it. On the other hand, it also points to intentions of decision makers.   We focused on the willingness of five selected Middle Eastern countries (The Kingdom Of Bahrain, Kingdom Saudi Arabia, State Of Kuwait, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Turkey) how decision makers of these countries and governments are willing to recover from the impact of this economical crisis. What procedures have they taken and how successful will they are. Our selection is based on the different nature and situations of the economy of each of the selected countries, and their different political strategies and views. We spotlighted on the Kingdom of Bahrain in our paper by gathering data from the public and decision makes in Bahrain and conducting an interview with a chosen decision maker in order to obtain most accurate result as possible. In addition to analyzing and comparing the published articles an d journals .On the other hand when we consider other countries, we limit our data resources to the existing articles, papers and journals from different  Ã‚  Ã‚   sources to discover the most accurate data that we will build our result on. Thats due to time and geographical constraints.   As a result of this paper, we will categorize the selected countries into those who are willing to recover from the crisis and those who are not. Our main audience is the decision makers, who can take benefits of this paper in evaluating their decisions, adapt it, and change it to make better solutions. Also the public can use the result of this paper to know the correct economic situation of their country, and how their governments are honest in announcing the economic state and whether they are serious to recover from this crisis, as a result they may press on their government to make major steps toward making better solutions. Unfortunately, we have a very limited time to complete the paper while such a research requires much longer time for more accurate data collection. We are enforced to submit the paper by the end of December 2009. Also, we cant reach decision makers because they are hard to find in such a short notice. In addition to that, we are limited to do our questionnaire in Bahrain only due to the geographical limitation. We will try to expand the scope of the questionnaire to include the concerned countries using emails, internet and online technology. 5. Proposed Solution According to the nature of our paper, and the geographical and time constraints, in order to achieve our goal, we will apply two approaches for gathering and analyzing information. The first one will apply to all our selected countries in which it highly depends on comparing and analyzing each countries economists and decision makers statements to sold facts and numbers, including (GDP growth, Oil GDP growth, PCI inflation) which considered to be the most significant signs of the country economical situation,  Ã‚   from neutral international organizations -including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -. As for the second approach that involves Bahrain only in which we contacted two types of questionnaires and an interview with a decision maker as an add up to the previous approach.   In order to identify whether the financial and economical situation in a country is recovering from the crisis, there are indicators (are known as Economy Indicators) that show whether its improvi ng, stable or turning down. Thus, our questionnaire and interview must be based on it. There are many indicators, but we will consider only on the important ones that are applicable to the business and economy to the countries that we elected. Some of the major indicators (Barnes, 2007, Investopedia ULC) include the following: Consumer Confidence Index (CCI): it shows how healthy the financial situation and determines the expenditures of economy by illustrating the spending power and confidences of consumers. Consumer Credit Report: it indicates the future spending over personal levels and it shows the changing amounts of outstanding loans on individuals. This includes (total debts, current annual rate of growth or decline, and total percentage of credit card delinquencies). It is considered as a major factor that helps to make more than the half of the total GDP. Consumer Price Index (CPI): is seen as a guide for inflation. It focuses on products that consumers buy and use on daily basis. CPI reflects the prices of goods in the markets, and its an important indicator in terms of moving the market and setting the monetary policy. Durable Goods: this involves high priced goods that last for three years, such as machinery, technology manufacturing, cars and other vehicles which indicates general economic expansions.   Employee Cost Index (ECI): it indicates the percentage of changes in employees salaries, bounces, and benefits in terms of wages per hours. It calculates the total cost of employees for a business. Employment Situation:   this indicates employment and unemployment rate. Its useful to understand the state of labor force.   This indicator could move the market dramatically. Gross Domestic Product (GDP): its an aggregate measure of the total economic production for a country. It is one of the most important indicators that illustrates the health of economy and, depending on it, prices of good and services are set in a certain country. It involve s personal consumption, investments, government expenditures, and the exports in a particular country. Existing Home Sales and Housing Starts: are two indicators that come in conjunctions, and this, illustrates the housing market in general. Those are long term indictors that show how many houses are sold. It deals with construction level, which means it shows also supply needed for it, and it shows the demand of consumers and comes in pretty handy in real estate markets. Money Supply: it is the amount of money floating around the economy and it is available for spending. It is controlled by the Central Bank of the country. Money Supply is based on how liquid the money is, which can directly affect economic growth and inflation. Mutual Funds Flows: this is an important concept in which to understand stocks and bond marketing. Non-Manufacturing activities: they involve service industries, such as telecommunications, in which they provide insight into the business area that may not be covered by other indicators. Product Price Index (PPI): its an index to the prices measured by the wholesalers, producers, and retailers that are considered the most powerful contributors to the consumer markets. The index comes in three levels: PPI Commodity Index that involves certain commodities such as crude oil; PPI stage of processing (SOP) Index where products are in an intermediate stage; and PPI Industry Index that involves the final stage and finished manufacturing of the products. And finally, theres the Trade Balance Report: it indicates the health of the economy of a country and its relationships with the rest of the world (Barnes, 2007). Our goal is to get a clear full view of the economy in a country. So, we designed two types of questionnaires, one for aimed for decision makers (type 1) and the other is aimed for the public (type 2), in which both questionnaires are based on economic indicators that we mentioned earlier. For both questionnaires, the methodology is CATI -Computer Aided Telephone Interview-, online form, paper forms, the framework timing is 2 21 December 2009, regarding samples, our goal is at least 69 for each type, our sampling method is quota, and our geographical coverage: Kingdom of Bahrain. In Type 1 questionnaire, we

Gatsby :: essays research papers

The American Dream I have just read a novel called "The Great Gatsby" this novel was based in the 1920's. In this novel there are lots of drinking, and parting. In this essay I'll be writing about how the novel condemns the belief of "The American Dream", this belief states that, hard working people are successful and live happy lives. And in this novel "The American Dream" was just a mirage. One of the characters in the novel that represents the American Dream is Wilson he was one of the character that was a hard worker and own his own mechanic shop, he was one of the characters that worked every day and every night to support his family. For all he did for his family he was rewarded by his wife leaving him for another man and for a friend to have power over him with words and to get a loved one killed by a car that she was walking toward("When he came outside again a little after seven he was reminded of the conversation because he heard Mrs. Wilson's voice, load and scolding, down stairs in the garage "Beat me!" he heard her cry. "Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!" A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting; before he could move from his door the business was over. The "death car" as the newspapers called it, didn't stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically f or a moment and then disappeared around the next bend."Pg.144-145). For all this he got for all his hard work he went and killed Gatsby and killed himself("The chauffeur--he was one of Wolfshiem's proteges heard the shots--afterward he could only say that he hadn't thought anything much about them. I drove from the station directly to Gatsby's house and my rushing anxiously up the front steps was the first thing that alarmed anyone. But they knew then, I firmly believed. With scarcely a word said, four of us, the chauffeur, butler, gardener and I, hurried down to the pool. There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of the water as the fresh flow from one end urged its way toward the drain at the other. The touch of a compass, a thin red circle in the water. IT was after we started with toward the house that the gardener was Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and holocaust was complete"Pg.

Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History by Romila Thapar Essay

It was during the year 1026 that Mahmud of Ghazni raided the Somanatha temple for its wealth, leading to the destruction of its many idols. In Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History, Romila Thapar explores the distinct narratives that were written at the time by placing them into the historical context of the period. Her goal, through this monograph, was not to reestablish how we perceive the history of the raid, but to instead study the diverse perspectives and views represented in the various sources collected on the topic. Historical interpretations range from the Turko-Persian narratives of the period to the Colonial writings long after the raid. Through the investigation of the sources one would hope to point out the variations in the texts, and then analyze why these deviations in the story came to be. Thapar’s findings would assist any historian in determining the nature of these sources and the way they are currently used. One must remember that any and all sources co uld be of significant importance when looking at the attitudes of the individuals of the time. The Turko-Persian narratives contain a multitude of different versions of the raid on the Somanatha temple by Mahmud of Ghazni. Persian scholar Al-Biruni provides historians with the most realistic version of the events surrounding the raid. He believed that because the Somanatha temple was constructed of stone and placed in an area surrounded by sea on three sides it had to be guarding wealth. Mahmud was in fact able to conquer the Somanatha temple for its wealth, subsequently taking pieces back to Ghazni. Turkish raids to India were originally focused on obtaining animal herds, but the reason for them now was to loot urban treasuries and capture prisoners of war... ...itish Colonials’ short term goals, but this course of action would leave long lasting effects on the people of these two cultures. All in all, Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History hopes to study the diverse perspectives and views represented in the various sources collected on the topic. The hope is that this will allow historians to better understand the various perspectives on the period. In order to get the true picture of an event one will need to analyze all of the possible views of what actually occurred. Historical interpretations range from the Turko-Persian narratives of the period to the Colonial writings long after the raid. Any event, such as the raid on the Somanatha temple, can prove to be more complicated then one would ever believe at first sight. Works Cited Thapar, Romila. Somanatha: The Many Voices of a History. London: Verso, 2005. Print.

Development across the lifespan

Growing old is another phase of our lives that is often perceived negatively and with apprehension. American society values youth and vitality and strength which to the elderly have become diminished and with it the sense of self-esteem and importance (Berger, 2001). Everyone dreads becoming old, especially if it is equated with sickness, memory loss and helplessness. To ease the anxiety of becoming one of the elderly, it is important that one is aware of the possible changes that would happen as you age.Knowledge of the changes that you will experience as the natural course of ageing will help you better deal with it and probably actively take an active role in growing old gracefully. At present much has been discovered about the developmental challenges of the elderly but this was not the case in the early years of developmental psychology. Developmentally speaking, old age was not given the attention it deserved in the past. Psychologists were more concerned with the development o f human beings from birth to adulthood (Shaffer, 1999).It was assumed by many that old age is a period wherein the physical strength and will decrease, mental functioning will become slower and ultimately will affect one’s psychological well-being. However, it was also evident that the ability at which an individual can age gracefully depends on the quality of his/her younger life. But for those who are past their prime and whose youth have been less than ideal, it is not too late to change how we perceive becoming old.As we age, it is normal for our body to change and lose its strength and vitality and healthy bodily functioning (Petersen, 1996). This is brought about by the daily wear and tear that our bodies have been subjected to and just like any other antique piece of furniture it becomes frail and needs extra care and attention. For females, menopause can signal old age and for some it is the most difficult stage in ones life. Males usually have to contend with lost vi gor and physical strength.Coupled with this is the onset of several illnesses and physical discomforts like arthritis, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, diabetes and the more common failing eyesight, hearing loss and diminished taste buds. Likewise, endurance and physical strength continue to decrease and chores like mowing the lawn, gardening, cleaning the house, going to the grocery and other strenuous activities have to be sacrificed simply because your body cannot take it anymore.This does not mean that you should altogether stop doing any physical activity, exercise is still important as it keeps your body functioning well, the key is moderation. The elderly also tend to have sensitive digestive systems and some diseases require special diets, thus the elderly need to monitor their food intake and dealing with food restrictions can be frustrating for some. Others experience bowel difficulties, problems with digestion and metabolism disorders. As you age, the wor st physical change you could face is the lost of control over your bladder and bowels.It is almost frightening to think of but this is a reality that many of us experience when we get to a certain age. How we deal with these changes depends on our resiliency and attitude. If we anticipate these changes, then we become more prepared for it and accepting it as a natural course of ageing will help us effectively adjust in this stage. With old age, one’s mental ability also suffers, forgetfulness is common, attention span becomes shorter, concentration is limited and problem solving ability wanes (Berger, 2001).However, recent research shows that mental functioning is physiologically based on our brain cells and mental activities like reading, writing, solving puzzles and artwork can keep our brain cells healthy and then stave off the deterioration of our mental functioning. Because the elderly often feel tired after doing some activity they do not have the energy to pursue menta l activities like reading and crossword puzzles. Moreover, most of the elderly face the television set day in and day out which does not help our brain cells at all.Mental ability can also be enhanced with social interaction and discourse, which means that the elderly need someone that they can relate with on a regular basis so as to keep their brains from withering. Brain cells can also benefit from vitamins and minerals that would keep the brain healthy however, one should be cautious of taking supplements because it also inadvertently affects the kidney and liver. One of the most common illnesses of the elderly that affects mental functioning is Alzheimer’s disease; it is both a painful and difficult condition that puts a strain in their family and their lives.There is no way of telling that one will not become afflicted with Alzheimer’s but to make a conscious effort to keep our mental ability working will keep it from deteriorating. Old age can also significantly affect psychological well-being. In this culture being old is frowned upon and is not treated with the respect and deference that other cultures have for their elders (Petersen, 1996). Being old is synonymous with helplessness, dumbness and even craziness for some; the elderly is often emotionally abused or bullied by others through name calling and ignoring their opinions and ideas.For those who are better off economically can afford to pay someone to take care of them and then spend time by themselves or with a support group. But just the same, they have to deal with diminished self-esteem, self-worth, loneliness and the inability to have control over their lives. The quality of life of the elderly can be improved by adopting a positive attitude about being old, accepting that all people grow old and if one is old, then that means that one is still alive.The quality of relationships of the elderly could either suffer or become better as one ages, some people find it difficult to r elate to the elderly while strained relationships are often resolved when a persons ages due to the realization that family and relationships are more important. In the past, old age have been associated with wisdom as it is something that comes with age and this is what our young people should appreciate and what yourselves should claim to have. Erik Erikson (Murray, 1990) says old age is associated with the crisis of wisdom versus despair.That is, if one has lived a full life and then gains wisdom in old age, while those who have failed to accomplish something in their life suffer from despair or regretting not being able to do what they wanted to do in their lives. Being old is not such a bad thing, one gets special attention in one’s family, one gets to indulge their grandchildren, one does not have to discipline children, one gets away with mistakes and blunders, one can laugh at one’s self and finally, one can do the things that younger, more rational and self-co nscious adults would not dare to do like shimmy while waiting in line.

Kraske or jackknife position

IntroductionIn this variation of the prone position, the patient’s head and feet are both lower than the hips. The jackknife position is used most frequently for proctologic procedures. It is also the gold standard in anorectal surgical procedures (Kneedler & Dodge, 1994).PositioningThe patient is either anesthetized supine and turned prone, or is placed in position before spinal anesthetic is administered. The hips are on a pillow or towel directly over the table break and the table is flexed 90Â º, with the head and legs down. The patient’s arms are on arm boards with hands toward the head. The buttocks may be separated by wide tape placed at the level of the anus on both sides and secured to the table. The patient is taken out of the position by first flattening the table and then reversing the order of movements into the prone position. Arms are usually positioned over the head for turning (Bailey & Snyder, 2000).Anesthesia FactorsOne of the most common concerns ab out the prone jack knife position is the safety of the airway during anesthesia. Patients are occasionally placed in lithotomy position rather than the preferred prone jack knife position because of the concern for the airway. While patient safety is a prime concern, there are no reports of the loss of control of airway during repositioning. Although this lack of evidence does not exclude individual episodes, it does indicate that the heightened awareness has probably minimized the risk to the patient to an acceptable level (Jaffe & Samuels, 2004).Patient FactorsIndividual physical limitations of the patients occasionally prevent the use of the jack knife position. Physical factors that would prevent a patient from lying prone on the operating table, such as obesity, pregnancy, and tense ascites, may require the use of a different position. Orthopedic considerations, such as hip and knee joint problems, long leg casts, and kyphosis may be contraindications to this position. In these relatively rare circumstances, consideration should be given to the lateral position.Perhaps the single most important patient factor is the shape of the buttocks (or depth of the gluteal cleft). It was found to be an important factor in determining the patient position and type of anesthesia to be used in the procedure (Spry, 1997).Surgeon FactorsThe primary reason that many surgeons prefer the prone jack knife position is the excellent visibility provided during anorectal procedures. The exposure provided for office procedures, such as excision of thrombosed external hemorrhoids or drainage of abscesses is not equaled by other positions. In the operating room, whether the surgeon is dissecting the rectum off of the prostate or vagina in an abdominoperineal resection or preserving the internal sphincter during a mucosectomy for ulcerative colitis, visibility and lighting are key factors. Since the gluteal cleft is in horizontal rather than a vertical orientation in the prone jack knife position, illumination can be provided with overhead lights rather than headlamps. Similarly, more than one person can visualize the operating field without crowding or being in an awkward body position (Bailey & Snyder, 2000).Physiologic FactorsThe jack knife position has been described as the most precarious of surgical positions. Both respiration and circulation can be most adversely affected. Vital capacity is reduced due to restricted diaphragmatic movement and increased blood volume in the lungs, reducing lung compliance (Kneedler & Dodge, 1994).Careful positioning of patients when they are under anesthesia is crucial. Most surgeons focus on the avoiding damage to peripheral nerves from prolonged pressure when positioning patients. However, an even more significant risk to overall patient well-being can result from the unintended consequences of anesthesia that may affect patient physiology. They include compression of arteries, impairment of venous return, limitation of ventilation, and blood pooling. Many authors have examined the prone jack knife position to assess the potential physiologic impact.There are mixed reports about the cardiac effects of the prone jack knife position. If the patient is improperly positioned, transmitted pressure on the vena cava may cause blood pooling in the lower extremities and result in decreased venous return. In one study, when patients were turned from the supine to the prone position there was a temporary decrease in cardiac index; however, when the patients were placed in the prone jack knife position the cardiac index returned to the level seen in the supine position.There was no change in heart rate, mean arterial pressure, and systemic vascular resistance with change from the supine position to the prone jack-knife position, but there was a decrease in the left ventricular stroke work index and a significant increase in the pulmonary capillary wedge pressure. Overall, the effects of the jack knife positio n were comparable to other surgical positions and were believed to be manageable by experienced anesthesiologists.The effect of posture on pulmonary physiology in general and the specific effect of the prone jack knife position on vital capacity have been examined. When patients in the sitting positing are considered to be baseline, there is a 9% decrease in vital capacity in the supine position, a 12.5% decrease in the jack knife position, and an 18% decrease in the lithotomy position. The reduction in vital capacity is due to obstruction of the movement of the diaphragm and to a lesser extent to the restriction of the anteroposterior movement of the ribs. This modest decrease is tolerated by most patients but merits careful monitoring during conscious sedation and general anesthesia (Bailey & Snyder, 2000).References:Bailey, H. R., & Snyder, M. J. (2000). Ambulatory Anorectal Surgery. New York: Springer.Jaffe, R. A., & Samuels, S. I. (2004). Anesthesiologist's Manual of Surgical P rocedures (3rd ed.). New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.Kneedler, J. A., & Dodge, G. H. (1994). Perioperative Patient Care: The Nursing Perspective (3rd ed.). Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.Spry, C. (1997). Essentials of Perioperative Nursing (2nd ed.). Gaithersburg, Maryland: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.