Friday, July 24, 2020

How to Organize Supplemental Essay Prompts for Maximum Efficiency

How to Organize Supplemental Essay Prompts for Maximum Efficiency How to Organize Supplemental Essay Prompts for Maximum Efficiency How to Organize Supplemental Essay Prompts for Maximum Efficiency Let’s do a quick pulse check. Is your heart racing? Is your head spinning? Are you already drowning in an ocean of your own sweat? DON’T WORRY. We swear. It’s really not that bad. You just havent gotten organized yet! We’re here to introduce you to your friend, OVERLAP. Even outside of the Why Essay, Activity Essay, Oddball Essay and Community Essay, you are going to find a lot of overlap between your supplemental essay prompts. In order to tackle these essays as efficiently and effectively as possible, we suggest that before you brainstorm a single word, you collect every single supplement required of you and ORGANIZE. For example, it’s likely you have to write three separate why essays for three different schools. Which one is the longest? Start there. When you’re done can you edit the essay to suit the next school in line and cut the essay based on the shorter word count. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. But, if you’re using the same essay as a base for various supplements, make sure you change out your references appropriately. There is nothing like a beautifully written essay that ends with “and that is why I belong at Vassar” to get the Bates admissions officer shaking her head and tossing you into the rejection pile. Once you finish attacking your Why Essays, round up your activity essays and again, tackle the longest one first. By the time you make your way to your community essays, oddballs and schools off the Common App, you will be warm and ready for your most creative brainstorming. Keep a running list of your ideas and again, gun for your longest remaining supplements early in the process. By the time you reach your final handful of oddball questions, you will likely have a stack of ideas to comb through (since you never throw anything out) and a ton of drafts to mine for fully polished content. Subjects from finished essays may even be usable if you simply look at them through a different lens. Maybe apply a metaphor or a mechanism? The trick is staying organized and approaching theses essays without fear. About CEA HQView all posts by CEA HQ » Are you organized and ready to write? We can help you choose a great topic! WORK WITH US »

Friday, May 22, 2020

Compare and contrast Helena and Hermia in A Midsummer...

` Ms. Shanthasoruban ENG2D1-04 28 November 2013 How do Hermia and Helena alter and connect in their approach to love and courtship? â€Å"Two lovely berries moulded on to one stem/ so with two seeming bodies but one heart†¦..† In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Helena confronts Hermia to remind her once again of their relationship. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play about the two Athenian couples who constantly run through the course of true love. In this play Helena and Hermia are the two characters that have found their true lovers but are running through obstacles that prevent them to be with their loves. Hermia who is in love with Lysander has to go against the will of her Father Eugeus, while Helena has yet†¦show more content†¦Separation before marriage is a right thing for Hermia to do and she has the confidence to express herself to Lysander. When Hermia tells Lysander to lie further off in human modesty she says it without hesitation. In this case Helena lacks the confidence that Hermia has in her approach to love. Helena is insecure about her identity and often compares her body image to Hermia’s as she does in the following passage. Call you me â€Å"fair†? That â€Å"fair† again unsay. Demetrius loves your fair. O happy fair! Your eyes are lodestars, and your tongue’s sweet air More tunable than lark to shepherd’s ear When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear. Sickness is catching. Oh, were favor so, Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go. My ear should catch your voice. My eye, your eye. My tongue should catch your tongue’s sweet melody†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (1.1. 181-189) This passage describes that Helena is insecure about her body image as well as her personality. Helena thinks that Demetrius loves Hermia because of her beauty which makes Helena think that she is inferior to Hermia. Even though both Helena and Hermia are both known to have the same beauty; Helena finds herself uglier because she doesn’t have the love of Demetrius. Helena’s approach to her love is weaker than that of Hermia’s because of her insecurity and a low self-esteem. Helena wants Hermia’s beauty to be a sickness that she can contract. Hermia’s sweet strain, her lodestar eyes, andShow MoreRelatedCompare and Contrast of Hermia and Helena in a Midsummer Nights Dream1039 Words   |  5 Pagesreal life. The aspect of this competition provides parallels between two characters, entailing drama, humor, and interesting themes to the story. A perfect example of this element is within William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Th e two main women of the story, Hermia and Helena, compete over boys in the story, and that, as well as their different personalities makes the story quite interesting. The relationships between the two women changes constantly, as they are competing over boysRead MoreWomen s Portrayals Of Women During Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream 1864 Words   |  8 Pages332-Spring May 20, 2017 Women’s Portrayals in MND The topic of women and their roles in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream appears to be controversial and of great significance. Shakespeare’s views on women are shown in this play through Helena’s despair, Hermia’s carelessness, and Hippolyta’s hypocritical behavior as they rebel against the Athenian laws and its society. Helena chases after men, which goes against how women were supposed to act. She breaks society’s norms of the women obeyingRead MoreMidsummer Night’s Dream: The Power of Love1260 Words   |  6 Pagesbe devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between l overs is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasizeRead More The Nature of Love Explored in A Midsummer Nights Dream1563 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"The course of true love never did run smooth,† comments Lysander of love’s complications in an exchange with Hermia (Shakespeare I.i.136). Although the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream certainly deals with the difficulty of romance, it is not considered a true love story like Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, as he unfolds the story, intentionally distances the audience from the emotions of the characters so he can caricature the anguish and burdens endured by the lovers. Through his masterful useRead MoreA Midsummer Night s Dream And Measure For Measure1341 Words   |  6 PagesTwo of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies are A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Measure for Measure. Both plays highlight the importance of marriage in societ y, even if they do so in different ways. Written sometime in the late 1500s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows the story of a complex love triangle in which a forbidden relationship exists. The play reveals the importance of familial relationships in creating marriage, and shows that marriage serves a specific social function. In some ways, ShakespeareRead MoreWaning Of Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1465 Words   |  6 PagesWaning of the Moon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Before the birth of William Shakespeare as a playwright, no craftsman could skillfully create a world composed of contradictions so shocking, yet profoundly insightful to the human condition. Shakespeare accomplishes the impossible by bringing many contradictory elements into his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy on the verge of tragedy. In this play, many of his characters allude to the moon through the use of repetitive metaphors. ShakespeareRead MoreRealistic Vs Romantic Love In A Midsummer Night’S Dream.1573 Words   |  7 PagesRealistic vs Romantic Love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare’s writing has stayed very applicable through the years. It was applicable to the times when he wrote his works and is applicable today in similar and different ways. A key theme throughout Shakespeare’s work is love, one of the most fundamental human experiences and emotions. Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the theme of love is built up and dissected. The characters are passionate about love from the beginning. TheRead MoreWilliam Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay1284 Words   |  6 Pagesdifferent ways, literary techniques and elements are key to a good piece of writing, a perfect example that shows us just this is in, A Midsummer Nights Dream, where we will further explore the different literary elements that were used most notably the plot. The plot of a story lays out the foundation and the background for the entire play to come, well compare and contrast this element and look at the different sub elements which are produ ced. We will define similarities and difference in these elementsRead MoreA Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare1456 Words   |  6 Pagesshocking, yet profoundly insightful to the human condition. Shakespeare accomplishes the impossible by bringing many contradictory elements into his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy on the verge of tragedy. In this play, many of his characters allude to the moon through the use of repetitive metaphors. Shakespeare specifically compares the moon to time as a means to juxtapose various elements of his play: eagerness and reluctance, chastity and fertility, as well as tragedy and comedy. InRead MoreMaking Shakespeare Relevant : Hoffman s A Midsummer Night s Dream2010 Words   |  9 PagesMaking Shakespeare Relevant: Hoffman’s â€Å"A Midsummer Night’s Dream† It is often argued that adaptions do not fare with the worth of an original work of writing. Specifically, film remakes of classic pieces of literature are rarely received with accepting minds. Why is that? As connoisseurs of English, we tend to feel remakes or a creative spin on a classic could never live up to the original. In some respects this is very true, but remakes are important in keeping works of art and literature current

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Intellectual Ethics And Mental Health - 1019 Words

Intellectual health is as essential as bodily fitness. Still, millions of usa citizens suffer with various types of intellectual contamination and mental health troubles, consisting of social tension, obsessive compulsive disorder, addiction to capsules and alcohol, and persona issues. Intellectual contamination and psychological issues have correct treatment options with medicines, psychotherapy, or different remedies. Intellectual fitness issues all of us. It impacts our ability to address and manage alternate, existence activities and transitions such as bereavement or retirement. All human beings have intellectual health wishes, no matter what the country of their psyche. This book is written in particular for folks that need to have an creation to mental fitness, intellectual infection and mental fitness troubles. It s miles written in easy language from a person this is curious about the situation and wants to percentage with you his research. My interest approximately what makes sure human beings successful, drove me into the street of mental fitness. I m now not an professional inside the difficulty of mental contamination ad remedies, consequently before any movements to self-treat or self-diagnose your intellectual health repute you need to discuss with a certified doctor who can nicely diagnose and treat any potential intellectual illnesses. What became clear to me is that there may be greater to desirable fitness than just a physically healthy body: aShow MoreRelatedEthical Principles And Virtues : Mental Health Professions Guidelines813 Words   |  4 PagesShort Paper 1 Incompetence Psy-570 Teresa Collins Dr. Hill October 4, 2015 Ethical principles and virtues give mental health professions guidelines to follow to police their behaviors. Do no harm, respect autonomy, be just and pure excellences are some of the principles and virtues. Purse excellence is described in my textbook, Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Standards and Cases, as maintaining competence, doing your best, and taking pride in your work. (Koocher Read MoreThe Principle Of Autonomy, Counseling, Supervision, And / Or Practice As A Counselor1378 Words   |  6 Pagesof the counseling sessions (p.75). Clients for whom autonomy is restricted because they do not have the ability to make competent and rational decisions or act on those decisions are: 1.Children infants to 10 years of age and individuals with intellectual disorders have limited competence 2.Adults with dementia or Alzheimer’s has intermittent competence 3.Clients who are incarcerated cannot act upon the irrational and competent decisions due to their status Exception to Autonomy – If a counselorRead MoreCode Of Conduct For A Behavioral Health Center1586 Words   |  7 PagesCode of Conduct for a Behavioral Health Center Shaquita Jefferson MHA622: Health Care Ethics Law Judy Roberts Ethical Code of Conduct for a Behavioral Health Center Clear Mind behavioral health center provides a wide range of excellent counseling and mental health services by well trained, qualified and licensed professionals. Clear Mind has been in operation since 1988. We serve over 20,000 children, adolescents, adults, seniors and their families annually. Ethical issues are prevalentRead MoreNew Zealand Cultural And Ethical Consideration Essay784 Words   |  4 Pagesalternatives with a decent opportunity to ask questions. For the ones with diminished authority or those with either their mental or physical faculties are limited. They should not be forced to participate in the research. For the beneficence the researcher should maximize the benefits of the study while limiting the negative effects on the participants. For the justice part of ethics there should be fairness in the distribution of participants and there should be equitable selection off participantsRead MoreEthics Is The Science Of Human Duty1134 Words   |  5 PagesAccor ding to the Webster’s dictionary (1913) ethics is the science of human duty; the body of rules of duty drawn from this science; a particular system of principles and rules concerting duty, whether true or false; rules of practice in respect to a single class of human actions. When we think about ethics in the normal context we think of right or wrong actions directed on humans or animals. More specifically, in educational research when we think about ethics we have to consider five main principalsRead MoreOut Patient Mental Health Facility Essay986 Words   |  4 PagesOut-patient mental health facility Resources for Human Development (RHD) is a national human services nonprofit founded in 1970. The company currently oversees and supports more than 160 programs in 14 states. The programs fall under the following categories: Intellectual Disabilities, Behavioral Health, Addiction Recovery, Homelessness, Women Children, Family Health Counseling, Youth Development, Returning Citizens, Economic Development, Employment Training, Veterans, Nonprofit Incubator,Read MoreAristotles Happiness1045 Words   |  5 PagesHe dedicated most of his work to the topic of happiness, more than any philosopher prior to the modern era. Aristotle was convinced that a genuinely happy life required the fulfillment of a broad range of conditions, including physical as well as mental well-being. In this way he introduced the idea of a science of happiness in the classical sense, in terms of a new field of knowledge. Aristotle argues that virtue is achieved by maintaining the Mean, which is the balance between two excesses. ThusRead MoreThe Death Penalty Is An Effective Deterrent1359 Words   |  6 Pages and so on. In fact, he asserted that almost all of those who received capital punishment are poor, and half of them were people of color. Many of them also have intellectual disability, mental health disorders, child-abuse victims, and so on. He cited an example of a case in Georgia where an African American man who had an intellectual disability were executed (Bright, 2014). In another article, Bright talked more in details about the linkage between poverty and the death penalty. He claimed thatRead MoreClients Rights and Counselors Responsibilities1254 Words   |  5 Pagessuitably; within the mental health profession. It should never become a plague to treat an individual who is from the LGBTQ community. The counseling profession attaches such importance to this principle that it is the ver y first ethical standard in the American Counseling Associations (ACA) Code of Ethics (2005) (pg 80) A.1a states that the primary responsibility of counselors is to respect the dignity and to promote the welfare of the clients. My view as a future Mental Health Therapist is to advocateRead MoreAnnual Productivity Enhancement : Challenges And Resolutions Training Package1555 Words   |  7 PagesDual Diagnosis? Broadly used dual diagnosis can said to be a person who experiences, simultaneously, two or more medical disorders. Moreover it is generally thought of as a person who has a form of addiction (predominantly drug addiction) and mental health disorder. †¢ Dual Diagnosis (ACTIVITY) Please take a minute and click on the hyperlink below to watch the following short clip: Dual Diagnosis Treatment: What Works Best? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0hw-XiSsDQ †¢ Dual Diagnosis with the intellectually

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Evaluation of Spirited Away Free Essays

Evaluation of Spirited Away Spirited Away is an anime movie from Hayao Miyazaki, one of the greatest Japanese animation directors. His movies are full of imaginations, thoughtful messages, and they always have a happy ending. Spirited Away is not an exception. We will write a custom essay sample on Evaluation of Spirited Away or any similar topic only for you Order Now It is a great anime movie that will take viewers on a journey beyond their imagination with a very beautiful ending, and it also contains a meaningful message about the relationship between human and the nature. Spirited Away is about the journey to the land of spirits of a ten-year-old girl named Chihiro. Chihiro and her parents are driving to their new home in a strange town. Her dad takes a shortcut through the woods and ends up in front of a tunnel. Her parents decide to see what lies through it despite of her protest. On the other side, they find a â€Å"theme park† and a food counter filled with fresh food inside. Her parents start to wolf it down, but she senses danger and refuses to eat. As the night falls, she is terrified to see the area filled with spirits. She runs to her parents and discovers that they have been turned into pigs. A mysterious boy named Haku finds her and helps her to hide from the spirits. The area turns into a hot bath house for the gods and spirits to replenish themselves. Haku helps her to find a job in the bath house in order for her to stay and finds a way to save her parents. Though the work is hard, and she has to work with monsters in the bath house, she does as well as she can and finally saves her parents. Movies in general must have some elements to be successful. The main purpose of a movie is to make the audience interested. The audience is always looking for bizarre beyond their own lives, so a great movie is the movie that can amaze the audience by taking them to the world beyond their imagination. A great movie is also a movie that the audience will remember after watching it. To make the audience remember a movie, it must have something to think about. That is why a great movie must convey meaningful messages that will make the audience think about and stay in their hearts. Movie is a form of entertainment, so it is undoubtedly that a great movie must succeed in entertaining its audience. A great movie needs to make the audience feels ease in mind and happy after watching it instead of filling audience’s mind with sadness. That is the reason why a happy ending is mandatory. Spirited Away is a great movie with full of imagination. If the audience read a lot of fairy tales, they will feel they are at home while watching Spirited Away. A human is turned into animal because he did something wrong is a familiar motive in fairy tales. In the movie, Chihiro’s parents are turned into pigs because they ate the food without permission. Usually, kids are punished because of their bad behaviors in fairy tales, but this time, in Miyazaki’s movie, adults are punished instead of kids, and the savior is a girl. This is where the imagination of Hayao Miyazaki turns on. The viewers will see the spiritual appears on the screen under the eyes of a girl. Some gods look like animals, and there is a god looks like a blob with a red bowl on his head. The spirits and gods are not scary but very familiar. They look weird, and the viewer might see some of them somewhere in their dreams when they were kids. The bath house is used by gods and spirits, so the employees of the bath house can’t be human. The employees are talking animals. They are working for a cruel witch, who has very big head and body. All those things are somewhere in the viewers’ childhood memory, and Hayao Miyazaki brings them all up onto the screen. Spirited Away also conveys a meaningful message. It is the environmental message. Chihiro’s encounter with a river god early in her bath house career is a good evidence of this. In the movie, Yubaba senses the stink spirit. She immediately evacuates the bath house and then assigns Chihiro to be the stink spirit attendant. Though this is a very difficult job, Chihiro manages to get the stink spirit cleaned. While she is cleaning the stink spirit, she sees a thorn on the stink spirit. She pulls the thorn. It turns out that the thorn is the handle of a bicycle, and there are tons of garbage are coming out of the stink spirit. Astonishingly, the stink spirit is a river god, who is heavily dirtied by the pollution of his river. Later she discovers that Haku is the god of the Kohaku River, and Haku is the one who saved her life when she was a child. This makes the viewers think of the relationship between human and the nature. Human rely to the nature, but they are destroying the nature. This is a meaningful message that will make the audience think about the nature after watching Spirited Away. Spirited Away has a very beautiful ending. No Face is a lonely spirit. He travels place to place without purposes. Finally, he finds a home to stay. He stays with Zeniba to look after her. It is a beautiful ending for a lonely spirit. Chihiro finally saves her parents from Yubaba. She passes the test of Yubaba and breaks the spell. It is a happy ending that all the viewers expect. There is also a happy ending for Yubaba. Her son returns after a journey to Zeniba’s house, and he grows up more after the trip. Haku remembers his name is Kohaku, and he is the god of the Kohaku River. He is no longer under control of Yubaba. For Chihiro, she has grown into a better person for her experience in the spiritual world. Spirited Away is a great movie. It shows the viewers the imaginary world that the viewers only see in their childhood dream. The movie also contains a meaningful message about the environment. Finally, the viewers will feel relieved after watching Spirited Away because of its beautiful ending. How to cite Evaluation of Spirited Away, Essay examples

Monday, April 27, 2020

Rose For Emily By Faulkner Essays (1016 words) - Fiction

Rose For Emily By Faulkner "A Rose for Emily" is one of William Faulkner's famous stories. The antagonist of it is Miss Emily Grierson, which was forced by her dominating and repressive father to grow up alone. She was raised to adhere to a certain standards. So, she stocked with the old south's rules. Miss Emily was raised with the belief that no man was suitable for her. And her father is the cause of her superior feeling. After her father's death, she wanted to live her life her way, but every body in the town including the authorities make her feel that her life of living is unacceptable, and that based on old south and new south traditions and beliefs. Her relation ship with the Colonel Sartoris to make her exempt from paying taxes is suspicious. But, he did not realize that once he is gone, there would be some one else to put her in the right track. Miss Emily tried to do some changes in her life when Homer showed up. But her feeling of loosing him made her start with a plan that kept him close until her death. Many analysts give attention to the story since the first time published. Petry mentioned two reasons for making "A Rose for Emily" a special. First, the disordered chronology, Second the end of the story which is definitely a shocking ending to every reader. So we can see how the narrator starts off telling that Miss Emily was dead and everyone in the town went to her funeral. Then, he went back to tell about Emily's life, which ended by killing Homer and keeping his body in the "bridal bed." (52-54) Loneliness can be a terrible thing to prey on someone's mind. Apparently no man was good enough for Emily, that why she never got married and was by self Her father gone and now she is alone, even though she still have Tobe to help her with the market and other chores. Then, the foreman Homer Barron showed up in her life. He was sent by the Construction Company to pave the sidewalks. But, his job did not finish there. He is the only one left, a northerner that would love her despite of all the southerners who were scared of her weird family. Truly, Homer can not give her what she is looking for neither did her father. The need for companionship is the basis of courting Homer Barron. When the work finished and Homer left town, Miss Emily was once again alone. And the insanity began to set in. Even though her cousins stay with her for a short while, this is not what Emily wants. When Homer came back, her chance for everlasting companionship was available. So, she killed him to secure the fact that she will always have him by her side, and she will never be alone again. Blythe think that the most provocative aspect in the story is the motive in killing Homer Barron. And he suggested that homosexuality is the reason for Emily to poison him. Homer himself said that he only like men, and whether this means he is gay as his last name would imply, or he simply is just like to be around men, he will not settle down. Emily could not stand the thought of loosing another man; she wanted to save face, her pride, and loneliness (49-50). In the other hand, Wallace mentioned in one of his articles that he denied the knowing that Homer Barron is a gay, because he is wandering how the narrator know all of the details in the story. Beside that, he did not get to write about Emily until fifty years passed, which will make every thing he says is suspect. The narrator just wants to trap us (105-107). Miss Emily is a southern lady. She was raised to adhere to certain standards by stocking to the old south's rules. She locked herself in her house and refused to see any one but her servant. She represents the past south (a fallen monument). In the story we can see how Miss Emily tried her best to keep the southern tradition, she write on "note paper of an archaic shape" in "faded ink." After her father's death, she kept him for three days maybe because he was the only symbol of the south that left for her. She told the tax collectors to go and ask Colonel Sartoris to explain why she is exempt.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

When the Recession of the Late 2000s Began and Ended

When the Recession of the Late 2000s Began and Ended The recession that began in the late 2000s was, to date, the worst economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression. They didnt call it the Great Recession for nothing. So how long did the recession last? When did it begin? When did it end? How did the length of the recession compare to previous recessions? See more: Even in Recession, Congress Pay Grew Heres a brief Q and A on the recession. When did the Great Recession begin? December 2007, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, nonprofit research group. When did the Great Recession end? June 2009, though lingering effects such as high unemployment continued to plague the United States well beyond that date. In determining that a trough occurred in June 2009, the committee did not conclude that economic conditions since that month have been favorable or that the economy has returned to operating at normal capacity, the NBER reported in September 2010. Rather, the committee determined only that the recession ended and a recovery began in that month. And a slow recovery it would be. How does the committee define a recession and a recovery? A recession is a period of falling economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales, NBER said. The trough marks the end of the declining phase and the start of the rising phase of the business cycle. Economic activity is typically below normal in the early stages of an expansion, and it sometimes remains so well into the expansion. How does the length of the Great Recession compare to past downturns? The recession lasted 18 months, making it the longest of any recession since World War II, according to the committee. Previously the longest postwar recessions were those of 1973-75 and 1981-82, both of which lasted 16 months. When and for how long did the other modern recessions occur? The recession of 2001 lasted eight months, from March through November of that year. The recession of the early 1990s also lasted eight months, from July 1990 through March 1991. The recession of the early 1980s lasted 16 months, from July 1981 through November 1982. How did the government deal with the Great Recession? In order to deal with the nation’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Congress passed legislation that increased discretionary government spending in order to stimulate the economy. This legislation created programs ranging from financial assistance to large banks and car manufacturers to direct tax rebates for low-income households. In addition, Congress funded a series of massive â€Å"shovel-ready† public works projects, such as highway construction and improvement. At its peak, in early 2009, total discretionary government spending reached about $1.2 trillion in annual terms, or 7% of the nation’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In other words, ending the Great Recession required spending a lot of money the government simply had not planned to spend. How did the Great Recession affect taxpayers? Recessions, especially â€Å"Great† ones, can be costly affairs for taxpayers. According to the Federal Reserve Board, the Great Recession raised the U.S. federal debt and fiscal deficit to record peacetime levels. The federal debt increased from 62% of the GDP in 2007 before the recession to over 100% in 2013, five years after the supposed end of the recession. Indeed, the effects of the Great Depression of 2008 will linger for years to come. Updated by Robert Longley

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

World War II in the Pacific - New Guinea, Burma, China

World War II in the Pacific - New Guinea, Burma, China Previous: Japanese Advances Early Allied Victories World War II 101 Next: Island Hopping to Victory The Japanese Land in New Guinea In early 1942, following their occupation of Rabaul on New Britain, Japanese troops began landing on the north coast of New Guinea. Their objective was to secure the island and its capital, Port Moresby, in order to consolidate their position in the South Pacific and provide a springboard for attacking the Allies in Australia. That May, the Japanese prepared an invasion fleet with the goal of attacking Port Moresby directly. This was turned back by Allied naval forces at the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 4-8. With the naval approaches to Port Moresby closed, the Japanese focused on attacking overland. To accomplish this, they began landing troops along the islands northeast coast on July 21. Coming ashore at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda, Japanese forces began pressing inland and soon captured the airfield at Kokoda after heavy fighting. Battle for the Kokoda Trail The Japanese landings preempted Supreme Allied Commander, Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) General Douglas MacArthurs plans for using New Guinea as a platform for attacking the Japanese at Rabaul. Instead, MacArthur built up his forces on New Guinea with the goal of expelling the Japanese. With the fall of Kokoda, the only way to supply Allied troops north of the Owen Stanley Mountains was over the single-file Kokoda Trail. Running from Port Moresby over the mountains to Kokoda, the trail was a treacherous path that was seen as an avenue of advance for both sides. Pushing his men forward, Major General Tomitaro Horii was able to slowly drive the Australian defenders back up the trail. Fighting in terrible conditions, both sides were plagued by disease and a lack of food. Upon reaching Ioribaiwa, the Japanese could see the lights of Port Moresby but were forced to halt due to a lack of supplies and reinforcements. With his supply situation desperate, Horii was ordered to withdraw back to Kokoda and the beachhead at Buna. This coupled with the repulse of Japanese attacks on the base at Milne Bay, ended the threat to Port Moresby. Allied Counterattacks on New Guinea Reinforced by the arrival fresh American and Australian troops, the Allies launched a counteroffensive in the wake of the Japanese retreat. Pushing over the mountains, Allied forces pursued the Japanese to their heavily defended coastal bases at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda. Beginning on November 16, Allied troops assaulted the Japanese positions and in bitter, close-quarters, fighting slowly overcame them. The final Japanese strongpoint at Sanananda fell on January 22, 1943. Conditions in the Japanese base were horrific as their supplies had run out and many had resorted to cannibalism. After successfully defending the airstrip at Wau in late January, the Allies scored a major victory at the Battle of the Bismarck Sea on March 2-4. Attacking Japanese troop transports, aircraft from SWPAs air forces managed to sink eight, killing over 5,000 soldiers that were en route to New Guinea. With momentum shifting, MacArthur planned a major offensive against the Japanese bases at Salamaua and Lae. This attack was to be part of Operation Cartwheel, an Allied strategy for isolating Rabaul. Moving forward in April 1943, Allied forces advanced towards Salamaua from Wau and were later supported by landings to the south at Nassau Bay in late June. While fighting continued around Salamaua, a second front was opened around Lae. Named Operation Postern, the attack on Lae began with airborne landings at Nadzab to the west and amphibious operations to the east. With the Allies threatening Lae, the Japanese abandoned Salamaua on September 11. After heavy fighting around the town, Lae fel l four days later. While fighting continued on New Guinea for the rest of the war, it became a secondary theater as SWPA shifted its attention to planning the invasion of the Philippines. The Early War in Southeast Asia Following the destruction of Allied naval forces at the Battle of the Java Sea in February 1942, the Japanese Fast Carrier Strike Force, under Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, raided into the Indian Ocean. Hitting targets on Ceylon, the Japanese sank the aging carrier HMS Hermes and forced the British to relocate their forward naval base in the Indian Ocean to Kilindini, Kenya. The Japanese also seized the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Ashore, Japanese troops began entering Burma in January 1942, to protect the flank of their operations in Malaya. Pushing north towards the port of Rangoon, the Japanese pushed aside British opposition and forced them to abandon the city on March 7. The Allies sought to stabilize their lines in the northern part of the country and Chinese troops rushed south to aid in the fight. This attempt failed and the Japanese advance continued, with the British retreating to Imphal, India and the Chinese falling back to the north. The loss of Burma severed the Burma Road by which Allied military aid had been reaching China. As a result, the Allies began flying supplies over the Himalayas to bases in China. Known as The Hump, the route saw over 7,000 tons of supplies cross it each month. Due to the hazardous conditions over the mountains, The Hump claimed 1,500 Allied aviators during the war. Previous: Japanese Advances Early Allied Victories World War II 101 Next: Island Hopping to Victory Previous: Japanese Advances Early Allied Victories World War II 101 Next: Island Hopping to Victory The Burmese Front Allied operations in Southeast Asia were perpetually hampered by a lack of supplies and the low priority given the theater by Allied commanders. In late 1942, the British launched their first offensive into Burma. Moving along the coast, it was quickly defeated by the Japanese. To the north, Major General Orde Wingate began a series of deep penetration raids designed to wreak havoc on the Japanese behind the lines. Known as Chindits, these columns were supplied entirely by air and, though they suffered heavy casualties, succeeded in keeping the Japanese on edge. Chindit raids continued throughout the war and in 1943, a similar American unit was formed under Brigadier General Frank Merrill. In August 1943, the Allies formed the Southeast Asia Command (SEAC) to handle operations in the region and named Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten as its commander. Seeking to regain the initiative, Mountbatten planned a series of amphibious landings as part of a new offensive, but had to cancel them when his landing craft were withdrawn for use in the Normandy invasion. In March 1944, the Japanese, led by Lieutenant-General Renya Mutaguchi, launched a major offensive to take the British base at Imphal. Surging forward they encircled the town, forcing General William Slim to shift forces north to rescue the situation. Over the next few months heavy fighting raged around Imphal and Kohima. Having suffered high numbers of casualties and unable to break the British defenses, the Japanese broke off the offensive and began retreating in July. While the Japanese focus was on Imphal, US and Chinese troops, directed by General Joseph Stilwell made progress in northern Burma. Retaking Burma With India defended, Mountbatten and Slim began offensive operations into Burma. With his forces weakened and lacking equipment, the new Japanese commander in Burma, General Hyotaro Kimura fell back to the Irrawaddy River in the central part of the country. Pushing on all fronts, Allied forces met with success as the Japanese began giving ground. Driving hard through central Burma, British forces liberated Meiktila and Mandalay, while US and Chinese forces linked up in the north. Due to a need to take Rangoon before the monsoon season washed away the overland supply routes, Slim turned south and fought through determined Japanese resistance to take the city on April 30, 1945. Retreating east, the Kimuras forces were hammered on July 17 when many attempted to cross the Sittang River. Attacked by the British, the Japanese suffered nearly 10,000 casualties. The fighting along the Sittang was the last of the campaign in Burma. The War in China Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched a major offensive in China against the city of Changsha. Attacking with 120,000 men, Chiang Kai-Sheks Nationalist Army responded with 300,000 forcing the Japanese to withdrawal. In the wake of the failed offensive, the situation in China returned to the stalemate that had existed since 1940. To support the war effort in China, the Allies dispatched large amounts of Lend-Lease equipment and supplies over the Burma Road. Following the capture of the road by the Japanese, these supplies were flown in over The Hump. To ensure that China remained in the war, President Franklin Roosevelt dispatched General Joseph Stilwell to serve as Chiang Kai-Sheks chief of staff and as commander of the US China-Burma-India Theater. Chinas survival was of paramount concern for the Allies as the Chinese front tied down large numbers of Japanese troops, preventing them from being used elsewhere. Roosevelt also made the decision that US troops would not serve in large numbers in the Chinese theater, and that American involvement would be limited to air support and logistics. A largely political assignment, Stilwell soon became frustrated by the extreme corruption of Chiangs regime and his unwillingness to engage in offensive operations against the Japanese. This hesitancy was largely the result of Chiangs desire to reserve his forces for fighting Mao Zedongs Chinese Communists after the war. While Maos forces were nominally allied with Chiang during the war, they operated independently under Communist control. Issues Between Chiang, Stilwell, Chennault Stilwell also butted heads with Major General Claire Chennault, the former commander of the Flying Tigers, who now led the US Fourteenth Air Force. A friend of Chiangs, Chennault believed that the war could be won through air power alone. Wishing to conserve his infantry, Chiang became an active advocate of Chennaults approach. Stilwell countered Chennault by pointing out that large numbers of troops would still be required to defend US airbases. Operating parallel to Chennault was Operation Matterhorn, which called for the basing of new B-29 Superfortress bombers in China with the task of striking the Japanese home islands. In April 1944, the Japanese launched Operation Ichigo which opened a rail route from Beijing to Indochina and captured many of Chennaults ill-defended airbases. Due to the Japanese offensive and the difficulty in obtaining supplies over The Hump, the B-29s were re-based to the Marianas Islands in early 1945. Endgame in China Despite having been proven correct, in October 1944, Stilwell was recalled to the US at Chiangs request. He was replaced by Major General Albert Wedemeyer. With the Japanese position eroding, Chiang became more willing to resume offensive operations. Chinese forces first aided in evicting the Japanese from northern Burma, and then, led by General Sun Li-jen, attacked into Guangxi and southwestern China. With Burma retaken, supplies began to flow into China allowing Wedemeyer to consider larger operations. He soon planned Operation Carbonado for the summer of 1945, which called for an assault to take the port of Guandong. This plan was cancelled following the dropping of the atomic bombs and Japans surrender. Previous: Japanese Advances Early Allied Victories World War II 101 Next: Island Hopping to Victory