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Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money,^[1] or money earned by deposited funds.^[2]

When money is borrowed, interest is typically paid to the lender as a percentage of the principal, the amount owed to the lender. The percentage of the principal that is paid as a fee over a certain period of time (typically one month or year) is called the interest rate. A bank deposit will earn interest because the bank is paying for the use of the deposited funds. Assets that are sometimes lent with interest include money, shares, consumer goods through hire purchase, major assets such as aircraft, and even entire factories in finance lease arrangements. The interest is calculated upon the value of the assets in the same manner as upon money.

Interest is compensation to the lender, for a) risk of principal loss, called credit risk; and b) forgoing other investments that could have been made with the loaned asset. These forgone investments are known as the opportunity cost. Instead of the lender using the assets directly, they are advanced to the borrower. The borrower then enjoys the benefit of using the assets ahead of the effort required to pay for them, while the lender enjoys the benefit of the fee paid by the borrower for the privilege. In economics, interest is considered the price of credit.

Interest is often compounded, which means that interest is earned on prior interest in addition to the principal. The total amount of debt grows exponentially, and its mathematical study led to the discovery of the number e.^{[citation needed]}

History of interest[link]

According to historian Paul Johnson, the lending of "food money" was commonplace in Middle East civilizations as far back as 5000BC. They regarded interest as legitimate since acquired seeds and animals could "reproduce themselves"; whilst the ancient Jewish religious prohibitions against usury were a "different view".^[3].

In the Roman Empire interest rates usually calculated on a monthly basis and set as multiples of 12, apparently for expedient calculation by the wealthy private individuals that did most of the moneylending.^[4]

The First Council of Nicaea, in 325, forbade clergy from engaging in usury^[5] which was defined as lending on interest above 1 percent per month (12.7% APR). Later ecumenical councils applied this regulation to the laity.^[5][6] Catholic Church opposition to interest hardened in the era of scholastics, when even defending it was considered a heresy. St. Thomas Aquinas, the leading theologian of the Catholic Church, argued that the charging of interest is wrong because it amounts to "double charging", charging for both the thing and the use of the thing.

In the medieval economy, loans were entirely a consequence of necessity (bad harvests, fire in a workplace) and, under those conditions, it was considered morally reproachable to charge interest.^{[citation needed]} It was also considered morally dubious, since no goods were produced through the lending of money, and thus it should not be compensated, unlike other activities with direct physical output such as blacksmithing or farming.^[7] For the same reason, interest has often been looked down upon in Islamic civilization, with most scholars agreeing that the Qur'an explicitly forbids charging interest.

Medieval jurists developed several financial instruments to encourage responsible lending and circumvent prohibitions on ursury, such as the Contractum trinius

Of Usury, from Brant's Stultifera Navis (the Ship of Fools); woodcut attributed to Albrecht Dürer

In the Renaissance era, greater mobility of people facilitated an increase in commerce and the appearance of appropriate conditions for entrepreneurs to start new, lucrative businesses. Given that borrowed money was no longer strictly for consumption but for production as well, interest was no longer viewed in the same manner. The School of Salamanca elaborated on various reasons that justified the charging of interest: the person who received a loan benefited, and one could consider interest as a premium paid for the risk taken by the loaning party.

There was also the question of opportunity cost, in that the loaning party lost other possibilities of using the loaned money. Finally and perhaps most originally was the consideration of money itself as merchandise, and the use of one's money as something for which one should receive a benefit in the form of interest. Martín de Azpilcueta also considered the effect of time. Other things being equal, one would prefer to receive a given good now rather than in the future. This preference indicates greater value. Interest, under this theory, is the payment for the time the loaning individual is deprived of the money.

Economically, the interest rate is the cost of capital and is subject to the laws of supply and demand of the money supply. The first attempt to control interest rates through manipulation of the money supply was made by the French Central Bank in 1847.

The first formal studies of interest rates and their impact on society were conducted by Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham and Mirabeau during the birth of classic economic thought.^{[citation needed]} In the late 19th century leading Swedish economist Knut Wicksell in his 1898 Interest and Prices elaborated a comprehensive theory of economic crises based upon a distinction between natural and nominal interest rates. In the early 20th century, Irving Fisher made a major breakthrough in the economic analysis of interest rates by distinguishing nominal interest from real interest. Several perspectives on the nature and impact of interest rates have arisen since then.

The latter half of the 20th century saw the rise of interest-free Islamic banking and finance, a movement that attempts to apply religious law developed in the medieval period to the modern economy. Some entire countries, including Iran, Sudan, and Pakistan, have taken steps to eradicate interest from their financial systems entirely.^{[citation needed]} Rather than charging interest, the interest-free lender shares the risk by investing as a partner in profit loss sharing scheme, because predetermined loan repayment as interest is prohibited, as well as making money out of money is unacceptable. All financial transactions must be asset-backed and it does not charge any "fee" for the service of lending.

Types of interest[link]

Simple interest[link]

Simple interest is calculated only on the principal amount, or on that portion of the principal amount that remains unpaid.

The amount of simple interest is calculated according to the following formula:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): I_{simp} = r \cdot B_0 \cdot m

where r is the period interest rate (I/m), B₀ the initial balance and m the number of time periods elapsed.

To calculate the period interest rate r, one divides the interest rate I by the number of periods m.

For example, imagine that a credit card holder has an outstanding balance of $2500 and that the simple interest rate is 12.99% per annum. The interest added at the end of 3 months would be,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): I_{simp} = \bigg( \frac{0.1299}{12} \cdot $2500 \bigg) \cdot 3 = $81.19

and they would have to pay $2581.19 to pay off the balance at this point.

If instead they make interest-only payments for each of those 3 months at the period rate r, the amount of interest paid would be,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): I = \bigg(\frac{0.1299}{12}\cdot $2500\bigg) \cdot 3 = ($27.0625/month) \cdot 3=$81.19

Their balance at the end of 3 months would still be $2500.

In this case, the time value of money is not factored in. The steady payments have an additional cost that needs to be considered when comparing loans. For example, given a $100 principal:

• Credit card debt where $1/day is charged: 1/100 = 1%/day = 7%/week = 365%/year.
• Corporate bond where the first $3 are due after six months, and the second $3 are due at the year's end: (3+3)/100 = 6%/year.
• Certificate of deposit (GIC) where $6 is paid at the year's end: 6/100 = 6%/year.

There are two complications involved when comparing different simple interest bearing offers.

1. When rates are the same but the periods are different a direct comparison is inaccurate because of the time value of money. Paying $3 every six months costs more than $6 paid at year end so, the 6% bond cannot be 'equated' to the 6% GIC.
2. When interest is due, but not paid, does it remain 'interest payable', like the bond's $3 payment after six months or, will it be added to the balance due? In the latter case it is no longer simple interest, but compound interest.

A bank account that offers only simple interest, that money can freely be withdrawn from is unlikely, since withdrawing money and immediately depositing it again would be advantageous.

Composition of interest rates[link]

In economics, interest is considered the price of credit, therefore, it is also subject to distortions due to inflation. The nominal interest rate, which refers to the price before adjustment to inflation, is the one visible to the consumer (i.e., the interest tagged in a loan contract, credit card statement, etc.). Nominal interest is composed of the real interest rate plus inflation, among other factors. A simple formula for the nominal interest is:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): i= r + \pi

Where i is the nominal interest, r is the real interest and Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \pi is inflation.

This formula attempts to measure the value of the interest in units of stable purchasing power. However, if this statement were true, it would imply at least two misconceptions. First, that all interest rates within an area that shares the same inflation (that is, the same country) should be the same. Second, that the lenders know the inflation for the period of time that they are going to lend the money.

One reason behind the difference between the interest that yields a treasury bond and the interest that yields a mortgage loan is the risk that the lender takes from lending money to an economic agent. In this particular case, a government is more likely to pay than a private citizen. Therefore, the interest rate charged to a private citizen is larger than the rate charged to the government.

To take into account the information asymmetry aforementioned, both the value of inflation and the real price of money are changed to their expected values resulting in the following equation:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): i_t = r_{(t+1)} + \pi_{(t+1)} + \sigma

Here, Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): i_t

is the nominal interest at the time of the loan, Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): r_{(t+1)}
is the real interest expected over the period of the loan, Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.):  \pi_{(t+1)} 
is the inflation expected over the period of the loan and Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.):  \sigma 
is the representative value for the risk engaged in the operation.

Cumulative interest or return[link]

This section requires expansion.

The calculation for cumulative interest is (FV/PV)-1. It ignores the 'per year' convention and assumes compounding at every payment date. It is usually used to compare two long term opportunities.^{[citation needed]}

Other conventions and uses[link]

Exceptions:

• US and Canadian T-Bills (short term Government debt) have a different calculation for interest. Their interest is calculated as (100-P)/P where 'P' is the price paid. Instead of normalizing it to a year, the interest is prorated by the number of days 't': (365/t)*100. (See also: Day count convention). The total calculation is ((100-P)/P)*((365/t)*100). This is equivalent to calculating the price by a process called discounting at a simple interest rate.
• Corporate Bonds are most frequently payable twice yearly. The amount of interest paid is the simple interest disclosed divided by two (multiplied by the face value of debt).

Flat Rate Loans and the Rule of .78s: Some consumer loans have been structured as flat rate loans, with the loan outstanding determined by allocating the total interest across the term of the loan by using the "Rule of 78s" or "Sum of digits" method. Seventy-eight is the sum of the numbers 1 through 12, inclusive. The practice enabled quick calculations of interest in the pre-computer days. In a loan with interest calculated per the Rule of 78s, the total interest over the life of the loan is calculated as either simple or compound interest and amounts to the same as either of the above methods. Payments remain constant over the life of the loan; however, payments are allocated to interest in progressively smaller amounts. In a one-year loan, in the first month, 12/78 of all interest owed over the life of the loan is due; in the second month, 11/78; progressing to the twelfth month where only 1/78 of all interest is due. The practical effect of the Rule of 78s is to make early pay-offs of term loans more expensive. For a one year loan, approximately 3/4 of all interest due is collected by the sixth month, and pay-off of the principal then will cause the effective interest rate to be much higher than the APY used to calculate the payments. ^[8]

In 1992, the United States outlawed the use of "Rule of 78s" interest in connection with mortgage refinancing and other consumer loans over five years in term.^[9] Certain other jurisdictions have outlawed application of the Rule of 78s in certain types of loans, particularly consumer loans.^[8]

Rule of 72: The "Rule of 72" is a "quick and dirty" method for finding out how fast money doubles for a given interest rate. For example, if you have an interest rate of 6%, it will take 72/6 or 12 years for your money to double, compounding at 6%. This is an approximation that starts to break down above 10%.

Market interest rates[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

There are markets for investments (which include the money market, bond market, as well as retail financial institutions like banks) set interest rates. Each specific debt takes into account the following factors in determining its interest rate:

Opportunity cost[link]

Opportunity cost encompasses any other use to which the money could be put, including lending to others, investing elsewhere, holding cash (for safety, for example), and simply spending the funds.

Inflation[link]

Since the lender is deferring consumption, they will wish, as a bare minimum, to recover enough to pay the increased cost of goods due to inflation. Because future inflation is unknown, there are three ways this might be achieved:

• Charge X% interest 'plus inflation'. Many governments issue 'real-return' or 'inflation indexed' bonds. The principal amount or the interest payments are continually increased by the rate of inflation. See the discussion at real interest rate.
• Decide on the 'expected' inflation rate. This still leaves the lender exposed to the risk of 'unexpected' inflation.
• Allow the interest rate to be periodically changed. While a 'fixed interest rate' remains the same throughout the life of the debt, 'variable' or 'floating' rates can be reset. There are derivative products that allow for hedging and swaps between the two.

However interest rates are set by the market, and it happens frequently that they are insufficient to compensate for inflation: for example at times of high inflation during e.g. the oil crisis; and currently (2011) when real yields on many inflation-linked government stocks are negative.

Default[link]

There is always the risk the borrower will become bankrupt, abscond or otherwise default on the loan. The risk premium attempts to measure the integrity of the borrower, the risk of his enterprise succeeding and the security of any collateral pledged. For example, loans to developing countries have higher risk premiums than those to the US government due to the difference in creditworthiness. An operating line of credit to a business will have a higher rate than a mortgage loan.

The creditworthiness of businesses is measured by bond rating services and individual's credit scores by credit bureaus. The risks of an individual debt may have a large standard deviation of possibilities. The lender may want to cover his maximum risk, but lenders with portfolios of debt can lower the risk premium to cover just the most probable outcome.

Default Interest[link]

Default interest is the interest that a borrower would pay if the borrower will not fulfill the loan covenants. The default interest is usually much higher than the original interest since it is reflecting the aggravation in the financial risk of the borrower. The default interest compensates the lender for the added risk.

Banks tend to add default interest to the loan agreements in order to separate between different scenarios.

Deferred consumption[link]

Charging interest equal only to inflation will leave the lender with the same purchasing power, but they would prefer their own consumption sooner rather than later. There will be an interest premium of the delay. They may not want to consume, but instead would invest in another product. The possible return they could realize in competing investments will determine what interest they charge.

Length of time[link]

Shorter terms often have less risk of default and exposure to inflation because the near future is easier to predict. In these circumstances, short term interest rates are lower than longer term interest rates (an upward sloping yield curve).

Government intervention[link]

Interest rates are generally determined by the market, but government intervention - usually by a central bank - may strongly influence short-term interest rates, and is one of the main tools of monetary policy. The central bank offers to borrow (or lend) large quantities of money at a rate which they determine (sometimes this is money that they have created ex nihilo, i.e. printed) which has a major influence on supply and demand and hence on market interest rates.

Open market operations in the United States[link]

The Federal Reserve (Fed) implements monetary policy largely by targeting the federal funds rate. This is the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans of federal funds. Federal funds are the reserves held by banks at the Fed.

Open market operations are one tool within monetary policy implemented by the Federal Reserve to steer short-term interest rates. Using the power to buy and sell treasury securities, the Open Market Desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York can supply the market with dollars by purchasing T-notes, hence increasing the nation's money supply. By increasing the money supply or Aggregate Supply of Funding (ASF), interest rates will fall due to the excess of dollars banks will end up with in their reserves. Excess reserves may be lent in the Fed funds market to other banks, thus driving down rates.

Interest rates and credit risk[link]

It is increasingly recognized that the business cycle, interest rates and credit risk are tightly interrelated. The Jarrow-Turnbull model was the first model of credit risk that explicitly had random interest rates at its core. Lando (2004), Darrell Duffie and Singleton (2003), and van Deventer and Imai (2003) discuss interest rates when the issuer of the interest-bearing instrument can default.

Money and inflation[link]

Loans and bonds have some of the characteristics of money and are included in the broad money supply.

National governments (provided, of course, that the country has retained its own currency) can influence interest rates and thus the supply and demand for such loans, thus altering the total of loans and bonds issued. Generally speaking, a higher real interest rate reduces the broad money supply.

Through the quantity theory of money, increases in the money supply lead to inflation. This means that interest rates can affect inflation in the future.^{[citation needed]}

Interest in mathematics[link]

It is thought that Jacob Bernoulli discovered the mathematical constant e by studying a question about compound interest.^[10] He realized that if an account that starts with $1.00 and pays say 100% interest per year, at the end of the year, the value is $2.00; but if the interest is computed and added twice in the year, the $1 is multiplied by 1.5 twice, yielding $1.00×1.5² = $2.25. Compounding quarterly yields $1.00×1.25⁴ = $2.4414…, and so on.

Bernoulli noticed that if the frequency of compounding is increased without limit, this sequence can be modeled as follows:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left( 1 + \dfrac{1}{n} \right) ^n = e

,

where n is the number of times the interest is to be compounded in a year.

Formulae[link]

The balance of a loan with regular monthly payments is augmented by the monthly interest charge and decreased by the payment so

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B_{k + 1} = \big( 1 + r \big) B_{k} - p

,

where

i = loan rate/100 = annual rate in decimal form (e.g. 10% = 0.10 The loan rate is the rate used to compute payments and balances.)

r = period rate = i/12 for monthly payments (customary usage for convenience)[1]

B₀ = initial balance (loan principal)

B_k = balance after k payments

k = balance index

p = period (monthly) payment

By repeated substitution one obtains expressions for B_k, which are linearly proportional to B₀ and p and use of the formula for the partial sum of a geometric series results in

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B_{k} = (1 + r)^k B_{0} - \frac{(1+r)^k - 1}{r} p

A solution of this expression for p in terms of B₀ and B_n reduces to

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): p = r \Bigg[ \frac{(1+r)^{n} B_{0}-B_{n}}{(1+r)^{n}-1} \Bigg]

To find the payment if the loan is to be finished in n payments one sets B_n = 0.

The PMT function found in spreadsheet programs can be used to calculate the monthly payment of a loan:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): p=PMT(rate,num,PV,FV,) = PMT(r,n,-B_0,B_n,)\;

An interest-only payment on the current balance would be

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): p_{I}= r B

.

The total interest, I_T, paid on the loan is

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): I_{T} = np - B_{0}

.

The formulas for a regular savings program are similar but the payments are added to the balances instead of being subtracted and the formula for the payment is the negative of the one above. These formulas are only approximate since actual loan balances are affected by rounding. To avoid an underpayment at the end of the loan, the payment must be rounded up to the next cent. The final payment would then be (1+r)B_n-1.

Consider a similar loan but with a new period equal to k periods of the problem above. If r_k and p_k are the new rate and payment, we now have

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B_{k} = B'_{0} = (1 + r_{k})B_{0} - p_{k}

.

Comparing this with the expression for B_k above we note that

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): r_{k} = (1 + r)^{k}-1

and

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): p_{k} = \frac{p}{r} r_{k}

.

The last equation allows us to define a constant that is the same for both problems,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B^{*} = \frac{p}{r} = \frac{p_{k}}{r_{k}}

and B_k can be written as

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B_{k} = (1 + r_{k}) B_{0} - r_{k} B^*

.

Solving for r_k we find a formula for r_k involving known quantities and B_k, the balance after k periods,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): r_{k} = \frac{B_{0} - B_{k}}{B^{*} - B_{0}}

Since B₀ could be any balance in the loan, the formula works for any two balances separate by k periods and can be used to compute a value for the annual interest rate.

B* is a scale invariant since it does not change with changes in the length of the period.

Rearranging the equation for B^* one gets a transformation coefficient (scale factor),

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \lambda_{k} = \frac{p_{k}}{p} = \frac{r_{k}}{r} = \frac{(1 + r)^{k} - 1}{r} = k[1 + \frac{(k - 1)r}{2} + \cdots]

(see binomial theorem)

and we see that r and p transform in the same manner,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): r_k=\lambda_k r\;

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): p_k=\lambda_k p\;

The change in the balance transforms likewise,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \Delta B_k=B'-B=(\lambda_k rB-\lambda_k p)=\lambda_k \Delta B \;

which gives an insight into the meaning of some of the coefficients found in the formulas above. The annual rate, r₁₂, assumes only one payment per year and is not an "effective" rate for monthly payments. With monthly payments the monthly interest is paid out of each payment and so should not be compounded and an annual rate of 12·r would make more sense. If one just made interest-only payments the amount paid for the year would be 12·r·B₀.

Substituting p_k = r_k B* into the equation for the B_k we get,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B_k=B_0-r_k(B^*-B_0)\;

Since B_n = 0 we can solve for B*,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B^{*} = B_{0} \bigg(\frac{1}{r_{n}} + 1 \bigg)

.

Substituting back into the formula for the B_k shows that they are a linear function of the r_k and therefore the λ_k,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B_k=B_0\bigg(1-\frac{r_k}{r_n}\bigg)=B_0\bigg(1-\frac{\lambda_k}{\lambda_n}\bigg)

This is the easiest way of estimating the balances if the λ_k are known. Substituting into the first formula for B_k above and solving for λ_k+1 we get,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \lambda_{k+1}=1+(1+r)\lambda_k\;

λ₀ and λ_n can be found using the formula for λ_k above or computing the λ_k recursively from λ₀ = 0 to λ_n.

Since p=rB* the formula for the payment reduces to,

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): p=\bigg(r+\frac{1}{\lambda_n}\bigg)B_0

and the average interest rate over the period of the loan is

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): r_{loan} = \frac{I_{T}}{nB_{0}} = r + \frac{1}{\lambda_{n}} - \frac{1}{n}

,

which is less than r if n>1.

See also[link]

Look up interest in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Actuarial notation
• Promissory note
• Rate of return
• Cash accumulation equation
• Compound interest
• Credit rating agency
• Credit card interest
• Discount
• Fisher equation
• Hire purchase
• Interest expense
• Interest rate
• Leasing
• Monetary policy
• Mortgage loan
• Risk-free interest rate
• Yield curve
• Time value of money
• Simple Interest

Religion:

• Usury
• Riba

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2009)

Specific references[link]

General references[link]

• Duffie, Darrell and Kenneth J. Singleton (2003). Credit Risk: Pricing, Measurement, and Management. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-09046-7. 
• Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). The Theory of Interest. Richard D. Irwin, Inc.. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 79-98251. 
• Lando, David (2004). Credit Risk Modeling: Theory and Applications. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-08929-4. 
• van Deventer, Donald R. and Kenji Imai (2003). Credit Risk Models and the Basel Accords. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-82091-9. 

Deepak Tiwari(Rizvi college)BBI student

External links[link]

• White Paper: More than Math, The Lost Art of Interest calculation
• Mortgages made clear Financial Services Authority (UK)
• OECD interest rate statistics
• Calculate Your Interest

• You can see a list of current interest rates at these sites:
  • World Interest Rates
  • Forex Motion
  • "Which way to pay"

Rebecca Black
Rebecca Black in November 2011
Background information
Birth name	Rebecca Renee Black
Born	(1997-06-21) June 21, 1997 (age 15) Irvine, California, U.S.[1]
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2011–present
Labels	RB Records
Website	www.rebeccablackonline.com

Rebecca Renee Black^[2] (born June 21, 1997) is an American pop singer and dancer who gained extensive media attention with the 2011 single "Friday". Her mother paid $4,000 to have the single and an accompanying music video put out as a vanity release^[3] through the record label ARK Music Factory.^[4] The song was co-written and produced by Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson of Ark Music Factory. After the video went viral on YouTube and other social media sites, "Friday" was derided by many music critics and viewers, who dubbed it "the worst song ever."^[5][6][7] The music video received around 167 million views, causing Black to gain international attention as a "viral star", before being removed from the site on June 16. Black re-uploaded it in her own channel three months later.

Biography[link]

Personal life[link]

Rebecca Black was born on June 21, 1997,^[8] in Irvine, California.^[1] She is the daughter of John Jeffery Black and Georgina Marquez Kelly, both veterinarians.^[4][9] She is of Mexican, Spanish, Italian, English, and Polish descent.^[10][11] An honor student, Black studied dance, auditioned for school shows, attended music summer camps, and began singing publicly in 2008 after joining the patriotic group Celebration USA.^{[citation needed]} In 2011 Black left public school in favor of homeschooling, both in response to constant verbal bullying at school and in order to focus more of her time on her career.^[12] Black later said that her main reason for the move to homeschooling was more for career reasons rather than the bullying.^[13]

Career[link]

Ark Music Factory and "Friday" (2010–2011)[link]

In late 2010, a classmate of Black and music-video client of ARK Music Factory, a Los Angeles label, told her about the company.^[14] Black's mother paid $4,000 for Ark Music to produce the music video while the Blacks retained ownership of both the master and the video.^[4][15] The single, "Friday", written entirely by Ark, was released on YouTube and iTunes. The song's video was uploaded to YouTube on February 10, 2011, and received approximately 1,000 views in the first month. The video went viral on March 11, 2011, acquiring millions of views on YouTube in a matter of days, becoming the most-talked-about topic on social networking site Twitter,^[16] and garnering mostly negative media coverage.^[17] As of June 14, 2011, the video had received more than 3,190,000 "dislikes" on YouTube compared to more than 451,000 "likes".^[18] As of March 22, 2011, first-week sales of her digital single were estimated to be around 40,000 by Billboard.^[19] On March 22, 2011, Black appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, during which she performed the single and discussed the negative reaction to it.^[20] The song has peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 and the New Zealand Singles Chart at number 58 and 33, respectively.^[21][22] In the UK, the song debuted at number 61 on the UK Singles Chart.^[23]

Black teamed up with Funny or Die on April Fool's Day (the site was renamed Friday or Die) for a series of videos, including one which addresses the controversy about the driving kids in her music video, stating "We so excited about safety."^[24]

She has stated that she is a fan of Justin Bieber, and expressed interest in performing a duet with him.^[25]

In response to the YouTube video of "Friday", Black began to receive death threats in late February 2011, specifically by phone and email.^[26] These threats are being investigated by the Anaheim Police Department.^[27]

In March 2011, Ryan Seacrest reportedly helped sign Rebecca to manager Debra Baum's DB Entertainment.^[28]

MTV selected Rebecca to host its first online awards show, the O Music Awards Fan Army Party in April 2011.^[29] As an homage to "Friday", Black appears in the music video for Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)",^[30] in which Black plays alongside Perry as the hostess of a party Perry attends. "Friday" was also performed on the second season of Glee in the episode, "Prom Queen", which originally aired May 10, 2011. When asked about why the song was covered on Glee, show creator Ryan Murphy replied, "The show pays tribute to pop culture and, love it or hate it, that song is pop culture."^[31]

RB Records and upcoming album (2011–present)[link]

After the fallout with Ark Music Factory, Black announced she would start an independent record label named RB Records. Black released a self-produced single titled "My Moment" on July 18 by her own label RB Records, with an accompanying music video, publishing it to her YouTube channel; the video as of November 27 has received, approximately, 590,000 "dislikes" against 340,000 "likes."^[32] In the "My Moment" music video, director Morgan Lawley features real life video of Black's life from both before and after her fame.^[33]

Black is planning to release her official debut album around 2012, which she said will include "a bunch of different kinds of stuff."^[34] It is being recorded at a studio belonging to music producer Charlton Pettus.^[35] In an interview with The Sun, Black said that the songs will be "appropriate and clean".

Black appears as herself in the music video of Katy Perry's single "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". She appears as the host of a party in the house next door to that of "Kathy Beth Terry". At the end of the video Perry attempts to blame the excesses of the party (which had subsequently moved to her own house) on Black, only for her parents (Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson) to disbelieve her.^[36] Later on, Perry (in character as Kathy Beth Terry) and Black hosted a livestream on Tinychat.com after weeks of Black being mentioned on Terry's Twitter.^[37] Perry, who performs Friday routinely on stage as part of California Dreams Tour, also brought Black on stage to perform the song as a duet during her show at the Nokia Theater on August 5, 2011.^[38]

On August 10, 2011, Black was featured in an ABC Primetime Nightline: Celebrity Secrets special entitled Underage and Famous: Inside Child Stars' Lives.^[39]

On Friday, September 16, Black re-uploaded "Friday" on YouTube.^[40] In late September 2011, she was brought to Australia by Telstra to promote the launch of their 4G service.^[41]

On October 25, Black announced she started filming her upcoming music video which she first identified as 'POI' and later identified as "Person of Interest".^[42] Black said, "The basis of it is that it's a love song but it's not a love song. It's about almost teenage crushes — when you're not in love yet but you really like a guy — which I'm really excited about because I don't think there are too many out like that. It's very much a dance type song. It will make you get up and dance and sing along in your car."^[43] A teaser of the official music video was posted on November 3, 2011.^[44] Black released another teaser including a snippet of the song on November 10, 2011 on her YouTube channel. The single and its accompanying music video were released on November 15, 2011.^[45]

On December 20, 2011, "Friday" was revealed as the #1 video of the year by YouTube and Black hosted a short video called "YouTube Rewind".^[46]

Zeitgeist sorted billions of Google searches to capture the year's 10 fastest-rising global queries and the rest of the spirit of 2011. Rebecca Black #1 Most Searched Google. The searches for the teen singer topped even those of pop icon Lady Gaga and Adele.^[47]

On May 8, 2012, Black released her fourth official single, "Sing It".^[48] The music video premiered on Black's YouTube the same day.

Philanthropy[link]

Black features NOH8 Campaign a silent protest photo project against California Proposition 8. It features photographs portraying people in front of a white backdrop wearing white t-shirts, their mouths taped shut and "NOH8" painted on their cheek.

Rebecca has pledged to donate profits from the sales of her song "Friday" towards her school, El Rancho Charter, and shortly after the 2011 Japan Earthquake, to emergency relief in the country.^[49]

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

Music videos[link]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

• In April 2011, the MTV O Music Awards, one of the annual awards established by MTV to honor the art, creativity, personality and technology of music into the digital space nominated "Which Seat Can I Take?" for "Favorite Animated GIF" that included footage by Rebecca Black featuring 50 Cent and Bert.^[55]
• Black was named "Choice Web Star" at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards in August 2011.^[56]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official YouTube Channel
• Rebecca Black at the Internet Movie Database

David Stockman
David Stockman (front)
25th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In office January 21, 1981 – August 1, 1985
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	James T. McIntyre
Succeeded by	James C. Miller III
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 4th district
In office January 3, 1977 – January 21, 1981
Preceded by	J. Edward Hutchinson
Succeeded by	Mark D. Siljander
Personal details
Born	David Alan Stockman (1946-11-10) November 10, 1946 (age 65) Fort Hood, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Jennifer Blei Stockman
Profession	Businessman

David Alan Stockman (born November 10, 1946) is a former U.S. politician and businessman, serving as a Republican U.S. Representative from the state of Michigan (1977–1981) and as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1981–1985).

Early life and education[link]

Stockman was born in Fort Hood, Texas, the son Allen Stockman, a fruit farmer, and Carol (née Bartz).^[1] He is of German descent and his family's surname was originally "Stockmann".^[2] He was raised in a conservative family and his maternal grandfather, William Bartz, was a Republican county treasurer for 30 years.^[3][4] Stockman was educated at public schools in Stevensville, Michigan. He graduated from Lakeshore High School during 1964 and received a B.A. from Michigan State University, East Lansing, during 1968. He performed graduate studies at Harvard University, 1968–1970 and 1974–1975. He attended Harvard Divinity School.^[5]

Political career[link]

He served as special assistant to United States Representative and 1980 Presidential candidate John Anderson of Illinois, 1970–1972, and was executive director, United States House of Representatives Republican Conference, 1972–1975.

Congress[link]

Stockman was elected to the United States House of Representatives for the 95th Congress and was reelected by two subsequent elections, serving from January 3, 1977, until his resignation January 21, 1981, to accept appointment as Director of the Office of Management and Budget for U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Office of Management and Budget[link]

Stockman became one of the most controversial OMB directors ever during a tenure that lasted until his resignation during August 1985. Committed to the doctrine of supply-side economics, he assisted the approval of the "Reagan Budget" (the Gramm-Latta Budget), which Stockman hoped to be a serious curtailment of the "welfare state", gaining a reputation as a tough negotiator with House Speaker Tip O'Neill's Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and Majority Leader Howard Baker's Republican-controlled Senate. During this period, although only in his early 30s, Stockman became well known to the public during the contentious political wrangling concerning the role of the federal government in American society.

Stockman's influence within the Reagan Administration decreased after the Atlantic Monthly magazine published the famous 18,246 word article, "The Education of David Stockman",^[5] in its December 1981 issue, based on lengthy interviews Stockman gave to reporter William Greider. The White House's public relations team thereafter attempted to limit the article's damage to Reagan's perceived fiscal-leadership skills. Stockman was quoted as referring to Reagan's tax act as: "I mean, Kemp-Roth [Reagan's 1981 tax cut] was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate.... It's kind of hard to sell 'trickle down.' So the supply-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really 'trickle down.' Supply-side is 'trickle-down' theory." Of the budget process during his first year on the job, Mr. Stockman is quoted as saying: "None of us really understands what's going on with all these numbers," which was used as the subtitle of the article.

After Stockman's first year at OMB and after "being taken to the woodshed by the president" due to his candor with Atlantic Monthly's William Greider, Stockman became inspired with the projected trend of increasingly large federal deficits and the rapidly expanding national debt. On 1 August 1985, he resigned OMB and later wrote a memoir of his experience in the Reagan Administration titled The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed (ISBN 0060155604), in which he specifically criticized the failure of congressional Republicans to endorse a reduction of government spending as necessary offsets to the large tax decreases, in order to avoid the creation of large deficits and an increasing national debt.

Fiscal legacy[link]

President Jimmy Carter's last signed and executed fiscal year budget results ended with a $79.0 billion budget deficit, ending during the period of David Stockman's and Ronald Reagan's first year in office, on October 1, 1981.^[6] The gross federal national debt had just increased to $1.0 trillion during October 1981 ($998 billion on 30 September 1981). By 30 September 1985, four and a half years into the Reagan administration and shortly after Stockman's resignation from the OMB during August 1985, the gross federal debt was $1.8 trillion.^[7] Stockman's OMB work within the administration during 1981 until August was dedicated to negotiating with the Senate and House about the next fiscal year's budget, executed later during the autumn of 1985, which resulted in the national debt becoming $2.1 trillion at fiscal year end 30 September 1986 and becoming $2.6 trillion at fiscal year end 30 September 1988.^[8]

Business career[link]

Having left government, Stockman joined the Wall St. investment bank Salomon Brothers and later became a partner of the now very successful New York–based private equity company, the Blackstone Group.^[9] His record was mixed at Blackstone, with some very good investments, such as American Axle, but also several large failures, including Haynes International and Republic Technologies.^[10] During 1999, after Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman curtailed Stockman's role in managing the investments he had developed,^[11] Stockman resigned Blackstone to start his own private equity fund company, Heartland Industrial Partners, L.P., based in Greenwich, Connecticut.^[12]

On the strength of his investment record at Blackstone, Stockman and his partners raised $1.3 billion of equity from institutional and other investors. With Stockman's guidance, Heartland used a contrarian investment strategy, buying controlling interests in companies operating in sectors of the U.S. economy that were attracting the least amount of new equity: auto parts and textiles. With the help of about $9 billion in Wall Street debt financing, Heartland completed more than 20 transactions in less than 2 years to create four portfolio companies: Springs Industries, Metaldyne, Collins & Aikman, and TriMas. Several major investments performed very poorly, however. Collins & Aikman filed for bankruptcy during 2005 and when Heartland sold Metaldyne to Asahi Tec Corp. during 2006, Heartland lost most of the $340 million-plus of equity it had invested in the business.^[13]

Collins & Aikman Corp.[link]

During August 2003, Stockman installed himself as CEO of Collins & Aikman Corporation, a Detroit-based manufacturer of automotive interior components. He was ousted from that job days before a Chapter 11 filing on May 17, 2005.

Criminal and civil charges[link]

On March 26, 2007, federal prosecutors in Manhattan indicted Stockman in "a scheme ... to defraud [Collins & Aikman]'s investors, banks and creditors by manipulating C&A's reported revenues and earnings." At the same time, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil charges against Stockman related to actions he performed while CEO of Collins & Aikman.^[14] Stockman suffered a personal financial loss, estimated at $13 million, along with losses suffered by as many as 15,000 Collins & Aikman employees worldwide. Stockman said in a statement posted on his law company's website that the company's end was the consequence of an industry decline, not fraud.^[15] On January 9, 2009, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced that it did not intend to prosecute Stockman for this case.

Personal life[link]

Stockman lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.^[12] He is married to Jennifer Blei Stockman and is the father of two children, Rachel and Victoria. Jennifer Blei Stockman is a chairperson emeritus of the Republican Majority for Choice,^[16] and President of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Board of Trustees.^[17]

Quotes[link]

“I invest in anything that Bernanke can’t destroy, including gold, canned beans, bottled water and flashlight batteries."^[18]

"(Extending the Bush tax cuts is) rank demagoguery. We should call it for what it is. If these people were all put into a room on penalty of death to come up with how much they could cut, they couldn't come up with $50 billion, when the problem is $1.3 trillion. So, to stand before the public and rub raw this anti-tax sentiment, the Republican Party, as much as it pains me to say this, should be ashamed of themselves."^[19]

"The Republican Party has totally abdicated its job in our democracy, which is to act as the guardian of fiscal discipline and responsibility. They're on an anti-tax jihad -- one that benefits the prosperous classes."^[20]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Ronald Reagan, Ron Paul, & the Fed: Q&A with David Stockman, Reason.tv
• Fixing America’s Finances interview on On Point.

v t e Private equity and venture capital investors Investment strategy Buyout · Venture · Growth · Mezzanine · Secondaries History History of private equity and venture capital · Early history of private equity · Private equity in the 1980s · Private equity in the 1990s · Private equity in the 2000s Investor types Private equity investors · Venture capitalists · Corporate raiders

v t e Directors of the United States Office of Management and Budget Dawes Lord Roop Douglas D W Bell Smith Webb Pace Lawton Dodge Hughes Brundage Stans D E Bell Gordon Schultze Zwick Mayo Shultz Weinberger Ash Lynn Lance McIntyre Stockman Miller Wright Darman Panetta Rivlin Raines Lew Daniels Bolten Portman Nussle Orszag Zients (Acting) Lew Zients (Acting)

Clive Crook at the Financial Times Meet the Editor reception, Washington, DC

Clive Crook (born 1955 in Yorkshire) is a columnist for the Financial Times, the National Journal^[1] and a senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly. For twenty years he held various editorial positions at The Economist, including deputy editor for eleven years.^[2]

In 2006, he co-chaired the Copenhagen Consensus project, framing global development priorities for the coming decades together with Nobel laureates and other world renowned economists.^[3] He has co-authored Globalisation: Making Sense of an Integrating World: Reasons, Effects and Challenges for the Economist Group.^[4][5]

Background[link]

He was born in Yorkshire and raised in Lancashire. His education is from Bolton School, graduate from Magdalen College, Oxford and the London School of Economics.^[6]

Publications[link]

• Crook, Clive; Bishop, Matthew; Peet, John; Beddoes, Zanny Minton; Guest, Robert (2002-02-21). Globalisation: Making Sense of an Integrating World: Reasons, Effects and Challenges (Economist). Economist Books. pp. 336. ISBN 978-1-86197-348-1. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Clive Crook at The Atlantic Monthly
• Clive Crook's CV at Leigh Bureau
• Clive Crook's Column at Financial Times
• Clive Crook's Blog at Financial Times
• Clive Crook on Twitter

Jim Caviezel
Caviezel in 2009
Born	James Patrick Caviezel, Jr. (1968-09-26) September 26, 1968 (age 43) Mount Vernon, Washington, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1991–present
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Kerri Browitt (1996-present)
Children	three

James Patrick Caviezel, Jr.  /kəˈviːzəl/; (born September 26, 1968), known professionally as Jim Caviezel is an American film and television actor. He played Jesus Christ in the 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ. He has also played Bobby Jones in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, Detective John Sullivan in Frequency, Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo, Catch in Angel Eyes, Carroll Oerstadt in Déjà Vu and Private Witt in The Thin Red Line. He stars on the CBS crime thriller Person of Interest as John Reese.

Early life and education[link]

Caviezel was born in Mount Vernon, Washington. His mother, Margaret (née Lavery), is a former stage actress and homemaker, and his father, James Patrick Caviezel, Sr., is a chiropractor.^[1][2] He has a younger brother, Timothy, and three sisters, Ann, Amy, and Erin, and was raised in a tight-knit Roman Catholic^[3][4] family in Conway, Washington. His surname is of Romansh origin; his father is of Slovak (maternal) and Swiss (paternal) descent, while his mother is of Irish descent.^[5][6] Caviezel's father attended UCLA and played basketball for coach John Wooden, prompting all the Caviezel siblings to play the sport.^[7]

Caviezel attended Mount Vernon High School for two years and then moved to Seattle and lived with family friends in order to play basketball at O'Dea High School, a Catholic high school. The following spring, he transferred from O'Dea to another Catholic school, John F. Kennedy Memorial High in Burien, where he played basketball, graduating in 1987. Following high school, Caviezel enrolled at Bellevue Community College, where the 6'2" athlete played college basketball. A foot injury in his second year put an end to his hopes of a basketball career in the NBA. He transferred to the University of Washington where he turned his focus to acting and became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.^[7]

Career[link]