<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span><p style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; text-align: justify; mso-pagination: none;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The absence of governmental oversight and regulation of Not-For-Profit corporations has resulted in these entities performing their stated purposes inadequately and inefficiently and has enabled financial indiscretions which have tarnished their reputations. Enhanced oversight and regulation is needed to prevent recurrences of these failures.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span>

During the past five years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has investigated over 140 companies for their practices of backdating the grant dates of employee stock options (ESOs), and has cited a number of these companies for their part in this behavior that has led to huge financial losses to corporate stockholders.  The practice of backdating stock options grant dates is not necessarily illegal, but there may be some ethical issues involved with respect to the firms implicated in the acts.  Options backdating may arise, not only because of clerical errors, lax record keeping, or internal control system failure, but also because of the intentional manipulation of corporate reports and documentation.  In cases where top executives deliberately manipulate stock options grant dates to further bloat their excessive compensation packages above the amounts that directors approved for them, the firm and its officers/directors may be liable for violations of SEC disclosure requirements, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and tax laws, and if these actions occurred after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, there could be severe penalties imposed on the firm and on the individuals involved.

<p>Foreclosures are at a record high, causing families to be displaced, blighted neighborhoods and the reduction of home values. This paper examines a few unusual cases recently determined, whereby the Court exercises its equity powers to find a just result.</p>

The real estate market crash was a major contributor in creating the dismal global economic situation. The paper reviews the options of the homeowners in debt and the government's actions to stimulate the real estate market.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The 2008 economic crisis world-wide was caused by many factors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>However, of the most blatant contributors in the U.S. were the failure of sub-prime mortgages and the government&rsquo;s failure to properly regulate the banking loan industry. This triggered the passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which was enacted on July 30, 2008.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This Act, in the collective opinions of the authors, is a little too little and a little too late to actually remedy the massive harm caused by these types of loans and the abuses in the home loan industry.</span></span></p>