query: Cher has sold more than 100 million music records worldwide.

pos: Cher Cher ( -LSB- ˈʃɛər -RSB- born Cherilyn Sarkisian , May 20 , 1946 ) is an American singer and actress . Sometimes referred to as the Goddess of Pop , she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industry . She is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in numerous areas of entertainment , as well as adopting a variety of styles and appearances during her five-decade-long career .   Cher gained popularity in 1965 as one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher after their song `` I Got You Babe '' reached number one on the American and British charts . By the end of 1967 , they had sold 40 million records worldwide and had become , according to Time magazine , rock 's `` it '' couple . She began her solo career simultaneously , releasing in 1966 her first million-seller song , `` Bang Bang ( My Baby Shot Me Down ) '' . She became a television personality in the 1970s with her shows The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour , watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run , and Cher . She emerged as a fashion trendsetter by wearing elaborate outfits on her television shows . While working on television , she established herself as a solo artist with the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles `` Gypsys , Tramps & Thieves '' , `` Half-Breed '' , and `` Dark Lady '' . After her divorce from Sonny Bono in 1975 , Cher launched a comeback in 1979 with the disco-oriented album Take Me Home and earned $ 300,000 a week for her 198082 residency show in Las Vegas .   In 1982 , Cher made her Broadway debut in the play Come Back to the Five and Dime , Jimmy Dean , Jimmy Dean and starred in the film adaptation of the same title . She subsequently earned critical acclaim for her performances in films such as Silkwood ( 1983 ) , Mask ( 1985 ) , and Moonstruck ( 1987 ) , for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress . She then revived her musical career by recording the rock-inflected albums Cher ( 1987 ) , Heart of Stone ( 1989 ) , and Love Hurts ( 1991 ) , all of which yielded several successful singles . She reached a new commercial peak in 1998 with the album Believe , whose title track became the biggest-selling single of all time by a female artist in the UK . It also features the pioneering use of Auto-Tune , also known as the `` Cher effect '' . Her 2002 -- 2005 Living Proof : The Farewell Tour became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time , earning $ 250 million . In 2008 , she signed a $ 180 million deal to headline the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for three years . After seven years of absence , she returned to film in the 2010 musical Burlesque . Cher 's first studio album in 12 years , Closer to the Truth ( 2013 ) , became her highest-charting solo album in the U.S. to date at number three .   Cher has won a Grammy Award , an Emmy Award , an Academy Award , three Golden Globe Awards , a Cannes Film Festival Award , and a special CFDA Fashion Award , among several other honors . Throughout her career , she has sold 100 million records worldwide , becoming one of the best-selling music artists in the music history . She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in each decade from the 1960s to the 2010s . Outside of her music and acting , she is noted for her political views , philanthropic endeavors and social activism , including LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS prevention .

neg: The Miracles discography The Miracles were the Motown Record Corporation 's first group and its first million-selling recording artists . During their nineteen-year run on the American music charts , The Miracles charted over fifty hits and recorded in the genres of doo wop , soul , disco , and R&B . Twenty-six Miracles songs reached the Top Ten of the Billboard R&B singles chart , including four R&B number ones . Sixteen of the Miracles ' songs charted within the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 , with seven of those songs reaching the Top Ten and two -- 1970 's `` The Tears of a Clown '' and 1975 's `` Love Machine '' ( Part 1 ) -- reaching number-one . A third song , the million-selling `` Shop Around '' reached # 1 on the Cash Box magazine Pop chart . The Miracles also scored 11 U.S. R&B Top 10 Albums , including 2 - # 1 's .  According to several websites , the Miracles are one of the most oft-covered groups in recorded history and the most covered Motown group ever . Their music and songs have influenced artists all over the world -- in every major musical genre -- over the last 50 years . They also have the distinction of having more songs inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame than any other Motown group .   ( Original lineup : Claudette Rogers Robinson , Bobby Rogers , Ronnie White , Smokey Robinson , Marv Tarplin , Pete Moore ) . All releases were on Motown Records ' Tamla subsidiary label unless otherwise indicated .   In the 1960s , Motown Record Corporation , like many independent labels , did not register sales figures through the RIAA , the organization that certifies and awards Gold Records . So it is difficult to determine the full number of Miracles songs and recordings that sold a million or more records . Also , with the passing of decades of time , some songs that did not sell a million records on their initial release may have indeed done so over the years . However , several reference works , such as the books Hits Of The Sixties : The Million Sellers by Demitri Coryton & Joseph Murrells , as well as The Book Of Golden Discs - by Joseph Murrells - point out that the Miracles had several million - selling records during their career , including the following : Shop Around ( 1961 ) , You 've Really Got a Hold on Me ( 1962 ) , Mickey 's Monkey ( 1963 ) , The Tracks Of My Tears ( 1965 ) , Going To A Go-Go , ( single and album ) ( 1965 ) , I Second That Emotion ( 1967 ) , Baby Baby Do n't Cry ( 1969 ) , The Tears of a Clown * ( 1970 ) , Do It Baby ( 1974 ) , Love Machine * ( 1975 ) , and the Platinum album City Of Angels ( 1975 ) . This is quite probably an incomplete list , since Miracle Pete Moore states on his corporate website , that The Miracles actually had 12 Gold Records to their credit by 1967 , including 1965 's Ooo Baby Baby .   multi-million sellers .  Note : The Miracles ' 2006 DVD release The Definitive Performances ( 1963 -- 1987 ) was also certified Gold by the R.I.A.A.

neg: The Pussycat Dolls discography The discography of American girl group The Pussycat Dolls consists of two studio albums , one extended play , two live albums , 14 singles , two promotional singles and 13 music videos . To date , the group has sold 15 million albums and 40 million singles worldwide .   In 2003 , Robin Antin struck a joint venture with Interscope Records to develop the Pussycat Dolls into a recording group . In 2004 , the group made their musical debut by releasing a cover of `` Sway '' , for the soundtrack to the film , Shall We Dance ? .   Their self-titled debut album was released in September 2005 and it peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 . It earned double platinum certification in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA ) , and 3 × platinum in Australia by the Australian Recording Industry Association ( ARIA ) , and 4 × platinum the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry ( BPI ) . The album 's lead single , `` Do n't Cha '' , peaked atop the charts in 15 countries and reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the RIAA . Its follow-up singles , `` Stickwitu '' and `` Buttons '' were also a commercial success peaking in the top five on charts worldwide . After the success of their debut album , The Pussycat Dolls released their first video album , Pussycat Dolls : Live from London in 2006 to coincide with the group 's headlining world tour . As of 2008 , PCD has sold 3 million copies in the United States .   After a three-year hiatus in hopes to further Scherzinger 's own solo career , the group reunited to record their second and final studio album , Doll Domination in September 2008 . Scherzinger began to receive a larger input in the recording process as co-writer and co-producer of the album . Doll Domination garnered a higher peak position than PCD of number four on Billboard 200 , but failed to match its predecessor 's commercial success . Its lead single `` When I Grow Up '' became another top ten single for the group . `` I Hate This Part '' was released as the second single and managed to attain similar success . In early 2009 , Doll Domination was re-released as two compilation albums . The lead single from Doll Domination 2.0 was `` Jai Ho ! ( You Are My Destiny ) '' which reached number one in 17 countries and follow-up single `` Hush Hush ; Hush Hush '' reached the top 20 worldwide . In 2010 , the original recording group line-up disbanded .

neg: Mina (singer) Anna Maria Quaini ( born 25 March 1940 ) , known as Mina Mazzini or simply Mina , is an Italian singer . She was a staple of television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the 1960s to the mid-1970s , known for her three-octave vocal range , the agility of her soprano voice , and her image as an emancipated woman .   In performance , Mina combined several modern styles with traditional Italian melodies and swing music , which made her the most versatile pop singer in Italian music . Mina dominated the country 's charts for fifteen years and reached an unsurpassed level of popularity . She has scored 79 albums and 71 singles on the Italian charts .   Mina 's TV appearances in 1959 were the first for a female rock and roll singer in Italy . Her loud syncopated singing earned her the nickname Queen of Screamers . The public also labeled her the Tiger of Cremona for her wild gestures and body shakes . When she turned to light pop tunes , Mina 's chart-toppers in West Germany in 1962 and Japan in 1964 earned her the title of the best international artist in these countries . Mina 's more refined sensual manner was introduced in 1960 with Gino Paoli 's ballad `` This World We Love In '' , which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961 .   Mina was banned from TV and radio in 1963 because her pregnancy and relationship with a married actor did not accord with the dominant Catholic and bourgeois morals . After the ban , the public broadcasting service RAI tried to continue to prohibit her songs , which were forthright in dealing with subjects such as religion , smoking and sex . Mina 's cool act combined sex appeal with public smoking , dyed blonde hair , and shaved eyebrows to create a `` bad girl '' image .   Mina 's voice has distinctive timbre and great power . Her main themes are anguished love stories performed in high dramatic tones . The singer combined classic Italian pop with elements of blues , R&B and soul music during the late 1960s , especially when she worked in collaboration with the singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti . Top Italian songwriters created material with large vocal ranges and unusual chord progressions to showcase her singing skills , particularly `` Brava '' by Bruno Canfora ( 1965 ) and the pseudo-serial `` Se telefonando '' by Ennio Morricone ( 1966 ) . The latter song was covered by several performers abroad . Shirley Bassey carried Mina 's ballad `` Grande grande grande '' to charts in the U.S. , U.K. , and other English-speaking countries in 1973 . Mina 's easy listening duet `` Parole parole '' was turned into a worldwide hit by Dalida and Alain Delon in 1974 . Mina gave up public appearances in 1978 but has continued to release popular albums on a yearly basis to the present day .

neg: Vera Lynn 100 Vera Lynn 100 is a compilation album by English singer Vera Lynn . The album was released on 17 March 2017 , by Decca Records , to celebrate Lynn 's 100th birthday . Some of her best-known songs have been re-orchestrated for the album , which features original vocals . The album features a previously unreleased cover of `` Sailing '' , and collaborations with singers Alfie Boe , Alexander Armstrong , Aled Jones and Cynthia Erivo . The singer also performed at a charity concert on 18 March , to raise funds for her children 's charity .

neg: Ross (1983 album) Ross is a 1983 album by the American entertainer Diana Ross , her third released on the RCA label . It was released shortly before Ross gave a pair of free concerts in New York 's Central Park . The album reached # 32 on the US charts , # 14 on the US R&B charts and # 44 in the UK . It has never been reissued as a digital download . The album 's highest international chart position was in Sweden , where it reached # 7 .   Five of the eight tracks were produced by Gary Katz , two by Ray Parker Jr and one by Ross . The album 's first single , `` Pieces of Ice '' , peaked at # 31 on the US charts . Subsequent singles `` Up Front '' ( US R&B # 60 , UK # 79 ) and `` Let 's Go Up '' ( US # 77 ) were also minor hits . `` Up Front '' was remixed by Jolley & Swain for its European release . The album 's final US sales were slightly higher than 250,000 copies .   The album was remastered and re-released in September 2014 by Funky Town Grooves , as an `` Expanded Edition '' with bonus material .

neg: Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt ( born July 15 , 1946 ) is an American popular music singer . She has earned 11 Grammy Awards , three American Music Awards , two Academy of Country Music awards , an Emmy Award , and an ALMA Award , and many of her albums have been certified gold , platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally . She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award . She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014 . On July 28 , 2014 , she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities .   In total , she has released over 30 studio albums and 15 compilation or greatest hits albums . Ronstadt charted 38 Billboard Hot 100 singles , with 21 reaching the top 40 , 10 in the top 10 , three at number 2 , and `` You 're No Good '' at number 1 . This success did not translate to the UK , with only her single `` Blue Bayou '' reaching the UK Top 40 . Her duet with Aaron Neville , `` Do n't Know Much '' , peaked at number 2 in December 1989 . In addition , she has charted 36 albums , 10 top-10 albums and three number 1 albums on the Billboard Pop Album Chart . Her autobiography , Simple Dreams : A Musical Memoir , was published in September 2013 . It debuted in the Top 10 on The New York Times Best Seller list .   Ronstadt has collaborated with artists in diverse genres , including Bette Midler , Billy Eckstine , Frank Zappa , Rosemary Clooney , Flaco Jiménez , Philip Glass , Warren Zevon , Emmylou Harris , Gram Parsons , Dolly Parton , Neil Young , Johnny Cash , and Nelson Riddle . She has lent her voice to over 120 albums and has sold more than 100 million records , making her one of the world 's best-selling artists of all time . Christopher Loudon , of Jazz Times , wrote in 2004 that Ronstadt is `` blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation . ''   After completing her last live concert in late 2009 , Ronstadt retired in 2011 . She was diagnosed as having Parkinson 's disease in December 2012 , which left her unable to sing .

neg: Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Dance/Electronic Digital Songs is a weekly chart that ranks the best-selling digital dance and electronic singles in the United States , according to Billboard . Although it originally started tracking singles the week of January 2 , 2010 , it did not become an official chart until the issue dated April 3 , 2010 .   The Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart tracks the 50 most popular downloaded dance music singles , including tracks that are exclusively available online only . This chart also includes previously released dance and disco songs that became available for downloading , which means that songs like `` You Spin Me Round ( Like a Record ) '' by Dead or Alive are eligible to chart .   On January 17 , 2013 , Billboard added a new chart , Dance/Electronic Songs , which tracks the 50 most popular Dance and Electronic singles and tracks based on club play , single sales , radio airplay , digital downloads , and online streaming . As such , this chart serves as the main component for the Dance Club Songs , Dance/Mix Show Airplay , Dance Single Sales , and Dance/Electronic Digital Songs charts .   The chart 's first number one was `` Bad Romance '' by Lady Gaga in the January 23 , 2010 issue and Gaga 's songs spent so far ( as December , 2014 ) a total of 1025 weeks on the chart . The chart 's longest running number-one is `` Bulletproof '' by La Roux , reigning at the lead position for 18 consecutive weeks .

neg: Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance ( previously called Best Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Performance , Female ) was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards , a ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards , to female recording artists for quality R&B songs . Awards in several categories are distributed annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to `` honor artistic achievement , technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry , without regard to album sales or chart position . ''   According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards , the award was presented to artists that performed `` newly recorded solo R&B vocal performances '' . Solo numbers by members of an established group were not eligible for the award as `` separate entries from the duo or group performances . '' Albums were also considered for the accolade until 1992 .   As a part of the major overhaul of Grammy categories , the award was discontinued in 2011 . The Female R&B Vocal Performance category , Male R&B Vocal Performance category and all duo/group vocal performances in the R&B category shifted to the Best R&B Performance category in 2012 .   The award for the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance was first presented to Aretha Franklin at the 10th Grammy Awards ceremony in 1968 for the song `` Respect '' . Franklin received the most wins with eleven , followed by Anita Baker with five . Franklin also holds the record for the most nominations with twenty-three , while Chaka Khan is second with eight nominations . Fantasia Barrino became the final recipient of the award , when her song `` Bittersweet '' won the award in 2011 . The award was presented to artists from the United States each year .

neg: List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 1983 The Billboard 200 , published in Billboard magazine , is a weekly chart that ranks the highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States . In 1983 , the name of the chart was Top LPs & Tape . Before Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991 , Billboard estimated sales from a representative sampling of record stores nationwide , using telephone , fax or messenger service . Data were based on rankings made by the record stores of the best-selling records , not on actual sales figures .   There were six number-one albums on this chart in 1983 , including the debut album of the Australian band Men at Work , Business as Usual , which spent the last seven weeks of 1982 and the first eight weeks of 1983 at number one , and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA ) in 1984 . Thriller , the sixth studio album by recording artist Michael Jackson , was released on November 1982 . It peaked at number one for twenty-two non-consecutive weeks in 1983 with another fifteen consecutive weeks at the top into the following year , and seven songs from the album became top ten singles between late 1982 and early 1984 . Two of them : `` Billie Jean '' and `` Beat It '' , reached the top position of the Billboard Hot 100 . Thriller won eight Grammy Awards , including Album of the Year at the 26th Grammy Awards , and was the best-selling album of 1983 with more than fifteen million copies sold . In 2008 , twenty-five years after its release , the record was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame , and a few weeks later , it was among twenty-five recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry as `` culturally significant '' .   Flashdance , the soundtrack to the 1983 musical and romance film of the same name , peaked at number one for two weeks and won the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture . The two singles released from the album , `` Flashdance ... What a Feeling '' by Irene Cara , and `` Maniac '' by Michael Sembello , reached the top of the singles chart in 1983 . The New York Times considered the British band The Police to be the year 's most influential rock band . Australian , British , and American bands copied the white-reggae formula of their ( The Police 's ) earlier successes . The group released their fifth and final studio album , Synchronicity , in 1983 . The album , a varied accomplished blend of rock , funk , and third-world rhythms , stayed at number one for seventeen weeks and was certified four times platinum by the RIAA in 1984 . Metal Health , the third album by heavy metal band Quiet Riot , peaked at number one for one week , becoming the first heavy metal record to reach the top of the Billboard 200 . Singer-songwriter Lionel Richie released his second album Ca n't Slow Down in 1983 , which spent three weeks at the top and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 27th Grammy Awards .

neg: Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion , ( -LSB- ˈdiːɒn -RSB- -LSB- seˈlɪn dziˈjɔ̃ -RSB- ; born 30 March 1968 ) is a Canadian singer and businesswoman . Born into a large family from Charlemagne , Quebec , Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record . Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Switzerland . Following a series of French albums during the 1980s , she signed on to Epic Records in the United States . In 1990 , Dion released her debut English-language album , Unison , establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world .   During the 1990s , with the help of Angélil , she achieved worldwide fame after releasing several English albums along with additional French albums . Her albums , Falling into You ( 1996 ) and Let 's Talk About Love ( 1997 ) , were both certified diamond in the US while D'eux ( 1995 ) became the best-selling French-language album of all time . She also scored a series of international number-one hits , including `` Nothing Broken but My Heart '' , `` The Power of Love '' , `` Think Twice '' , `` Because You Loved Me '' , `` It 's All Coming Back to Me Now '' , `` My Heart Will Go On '' , and `` I 'm Your Angel . '' However , in 1999 at the height of her success , Dion announced a hiatus from entertainment to start a family and spend time with her husband , who had been diagnosed with cancer . She returned to the top of pop music in 2002 and signed to perform nightly in A New Day ... ( 2003 -- 07 ) , a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace , on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise , Nevada . It became the most successful residency show of all time , grossing US $ 385 million .   Dion 's music has been influenced by genres ranging from rock and R&B to gospel and classical . Her recordings are mainly in French and English , although she also sings in Spanish , Italian , German , Latin , Japanese , and Mandarin Chinese . While her releases have often received mixed critical reception , she is regarded as one of pop music 's most influential voices . Dion has won five Grammy Awards , including Album of the Year and Record of the Year . She is the second best-selling female artist in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era . In 2003 , Dion was honoured by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry ( IFPI ) for selling over 50 million albums in Europe . Dion remains the best-selling Canadian artist and one of the best-selling artists of all time with record sales of over 200 million copies worldwide .

neg: Whitney Houston discography The discography of American singer Whitney Houston ( 1963 -- 2012 ) consists of seven studio albums , six compilations , two soundtrack albums , five box sets , six extended plays , and fifty-seven singles . In 1985 , Houston released her self-titled debut album . It spent fourteen weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 and was certified thirteen times platinum ( Diamond ) by the Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA ) , with global sales of 25 million copies . The album produced four US top 5 singles , including three Billboard Hot 100 number-ones . In 1987 , Houston released her second album Whitney . The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was supported by four US number-one singles : `` I Wan na Dance with Somebody ( Who Loves Me ) '' , `` Did n't We Almost Have It All '' , `` So Emotional '' , and `` Where Do Broken Hearts Go '' , which established an unprecedented seven consecutive number one hits by a performer . Whitney was certified 9 × Platinum by the RIAA and topped the charts in numerous countries , having sold in excess of 20 million copies worldwide . Houston 's third studio album , I 'm Your Baby Tonight ( 1990 ) , peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 chart and yielded two number-one singles ; `` I 'm Your Baby Tonight '' and `` All the Man That I Need '' , selling 10 million units worldwide . In February 1991 , Houston released `` The Star Spangled Banner '' performance from Super Bowl XXV as a single , becoming the highest-charting rendition of the national anthem on the Billboard Hot 100 chart .   The Bodyguard soundtrack from her film debut , was released in November 1992 . The album contains tracks by other recording artists but is considered a Houston album by Billboard . It topped the Billboard 200 for twenty non-consecutive weeks , one of the longest tenures by an album in the Nielsen SoundScan era . The album was certified 17 × Platinum the United States and sold over 45 million copies worldwide , becoming the best-selling soundtrack album and one of the top 5 best-selling albums of all time . The lead single from the soundtrack , `` I Will Always Love You '' , topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a then-record-breaking fourteen weeks and was certified 6 × Platinum by the RIAA , peaked at number one on the charts in nearly every country and sold 12 million copies worldwide , becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time . Houston contributed three songs , including her eleventh number-one single `` Exhale ( Shoop Shoop ) '' on the 7x platinum soundtrack album , Waiting to Exhale ( November 1995 ) . The following year she released The Preacher 's Wife in November 1996 . The soundtrack was certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA and became the biggest selling gospel album of all time . In 1998 , she released her first studio album in eight years , My Love Is Your Love . The album failed to match the commercial status of her previous albums , peaking at number thirteen , her lowest chart position on the Billboard 200 among her studio albums . Despite initial weak sales , the album went on to achieve multi-platinum status with 11 million units sold worldwide , being certified 4 × Platinum in the United States . From late 1998 to early 2000 , the album generated five singles ; `` When You Believe '' ( duet with Mariah Carey ) , `` Heartbreak Hotel '' , `` It 's Not Right but It 's Okay '' , `` My Love Is Your Love '' , and `` I Learned from the Best '' .   Houston entered the 2000s with her first greatest hits compilation , Whitney : The Greatest Hits , released in May 2000 . The double-disc was certified 3 × Platinum by the RIAA in 2002 and earned 5 × Platinum award posthumously , recognizing 2.6 million in sales throughout the United States . The album hit the top position on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.66 million copies in the UK alone . Also , it reached the top ten in many worldwide markets , selling 10 million copies globally . Just Whitney , released in December 2002 , became her first album after renewing her contract with Arista for a record $ 100 million in 2001 . The album failed to earn multi-platinum status , receiving only Platinum award in the US , and became her lowest-selling studio album to date . She released a holiday album , One Wish : The Holiday Album in November 2003 . In September 2009 , Houston returned to the top position of the Billboard 200 with I Look to You , becoming her fourth number-one album on the chart ; which was her first non-soundtrack number-one in 22 years , since 1987 's Whitney . It also topped the album charts of several European countries and was certified Platinum by the RIAA . Her albums Whitney Houston , Whitney , The Bodyguard and Whitney : The Greatest Hits are among the top 100 certified albums according to the RIAA .   According to the RIAA , Houston is the top-selling R&B female artist of the 20th century , and the fourth best-selling female artist in the United States , with shipments of 57 million albums . In addition , until the launch of the RIAA 's digital certification program in 2004 , she had sold 16.5 million physical singles more than any other female solo artist in history . According to the Official UK Charts Company in October 2012 , Houston is at number four in the top 10 biggest selling female singles artists of all-time list with a sales total of 8.5 million singles . Whitney Houston is one of pop music 's best-selling music artists of all-time , with an estimated 170 -- 200 million records sold worldwide .

neg: List of Single Top 100 number-one singles of 2011 Throughout all 52 weeks in 2011 , 31 songs topped the Mega Single Top 100 . The Single Top 100 is a chart composed by MegaCharts based on official physical single sales and legal downloads , and one of the three official Dutch record charts , the two others being the Dutch Top 40 and the Mega Top 50 . The first number-one hit on the chart in 2011 was Martin Solveig and Dragonette 's `` Hello '' , and the last was Studio Killers ' `` Ode to the Bouncer '' .   Artists and acts that had or were featured in at least one song that topped the Mega Single Top 100 that year for at least one week were Martin Solveig , Dragonette , Jan Smit , Ben Saunders , Dean Saunders , Adele , 3JS , Lady GaGa , Nick & Simon , Alexis Jordan , Glennis Grace , Frans Duijts , Do , Coldplay , Rochelle Perts , Guus Meeuwis , Sak Noel , Lucenzo , Big Ali , Don Omar , Nick Schilder , Thomas Acda , Keizer , Paul de Munnik , Gotye , Kimbra , The Voice of Holland , Gers Pardoel , Jeroen van der Boom , Metropole Orkest ( Dutch : The Metropole Orchestra ) , Birdy , Sandro Silva , Quintino and Studio Killers . Out of these acts , 20 of them , Dean Saunders , Alexis Jordan , Glennis Grace , Frans Duijts , Rochelle Perts , Guus Meeuwis , Sak Noel , Don Amor , Big Ali , Lucenzo , Nick Schilder , Thomas Acda , Simon Keizer , Paul de Munnik , Gotye , Kimbra , Birdy , Quintino , Sandro , and Studio Killers , achieved their first number-one single on the chart that year , either as lead or featured artist . Two artists , Jan Simit and Adele , had 2 songs that went number one . 23 singles that topped the chart were solo songs , while eight others were collaborations . One of Adele 's songs , `` Rolling in the Deep '' , was the best-performing single of 2011 , topping the Single Top 100 's 2011 year-end chart .

neg: All I Ever Need Is You (song) `` All I Ever Need Is You '' is a popular song written by Jimmy Holiday and Eddie Reeves and recorded by Ray Charles for his 1971 album , Volcanic Action of My Soul . The most well-known version of the song is the hit single by Sonny & Cher which in 1971 reached number seven on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and is their single of greatest longevity , spending 15 weeks on that chart . Their album by the same title sold over 500,000 copies reaching RIAA gold status .   `` All I Ever Need Is You '' by Sonny & Cher also topped the Easy Listening chart for five weeks late in 1971 . and was a top-ten single in both the United Kingdom and Canada . It has sold more than 2,250,000 copies world wide .   Two versions made the country music charts : Ray Sanders ( # 18 ) in 1971 , and Kenny Rogers and Dottie West ( # 1 ) in 1979 . The Rogers & West recording was included on four albums : Classics ( Kenny Rogers and Dottie West album ) in 1979 selling over 2,000,000 copies ; Duets ( Kenny Rogers album ) in 1984 selling over 1,000,000 copies ; 42 Ultimate Hits ( Kenny Rogers album ) in 2004 selling over 500,000 copies and 21 Number Ones ( Kenny Rogers album ) in 2006 selling over 500,000 copies .   A 1984 Dutch version titled `` Ik Meen ` T '' by recording artist Andre Hazes reached # 1 for two weeks on March 9 and 16 , 1985 on the pop singles chart in the Netherlands .   `` All I Ever Need Is You '' was associated with two Grammy Award Nominations : 1972 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals Sonny & Cher , All I Ever Need Is You ; and 1973 `` Best Country Instrumental Performance '' Chet Atkins & Jerry Reed , Me and Chet ( album included `` All I Ever Need Is You '' ) . The song was recorded by Tom Jones , Sammi Smith and several others .

neg: Anthology (The Supremes album) Anthology , also known as Anthology : The Best of The Supremes , first released in May 1974 , is a series of same or similarly titled compilation albums by The Supremes . Motown released revised versions in 1986 , 1995 and 2001 . In its initial version , a 35-track triple record collection of hits and rare material , the album charted at # 24 on Billboard 's `` Black Albums '' and # 66 on `` Pop Albums '' . In 2003 , Rolling Stone Magazine listed the 2001 version of the album at # 431 in its list of `` Rolling Stone 's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time '' . Without specifying which edition , music journalist Robert Christgau lists the album as part of his recommended `` core collection '' of albums representing rock music before 1980 .   According to Motown data , the 1974 and 1986 releases combined sold over 1,100,000 copies in the USA , while the 1995 edition sold around 125,000 copies . The fourth and final edition released in 2001 managed to sell around 75,000 USA copies .

neg: Bad Girl (The Miracles song) `` Bad Girl '' is a 1959 doo-wop single by The Miracles . Issued locally on the Motown Records label , it was licensed to and issued nationally by Chess Records because the fledgling Motown Record Corporation did not , at that time , have national distribution . It was the first single released ( and the only one released by this group ) on the Motown label - all previous singles from the company ( and all following ones from the group ) were released on Motown 's Tamla label . Although The Miracles had charted regionally and on the R&B charts with several earlier songs , including `` Got a Job '' , `` I Cry '' , `` I Need a Change '' , and '' ( You Can ) Depend on Me '' , `` Bad Girl '' was their first national chart hit , reaching # 93 on the Billboard Hot 100 . Written by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson and Motown Records ' President and Founder Berry Gordy , `` Bad Girl '' is a sad , remorseful ballad about a young woman , whom Robinson , as the narrator , says `` was so good at the start '' , but who later in the song `` is breaking my heart '' . It is in the popular doo-wop style , as several of The Miracles ' songs were during the late 1950s . The record 's success , coupled with the distributor 's failure to pay Gordy and The Miracles properly for its sales , prompted Robinson to urge Gordy to `` go national '' with it , meaning that Motown should do its own national distribution of its songs , and eliminate the middleman , to ensure that all money from sales of its records would go directly to the label .   On the Motown/Universal DVD Smokey Robinson and The Miracles : The Definitive Performances 1963-1987 , Robinson and fellow Miracles Bobby Rogers and Pete Moore commented that the song 's success allowed the group to tour nationally for the first time , and to play New York 's legendary Apollo Theatre during the Ray Charles Show . The group was not ready for the appearance : it lacked performance experience and failed to produce professional big band arrangements to the satisfaction of theatre manager Honi Coles . Ray Charles intervened , took the group under his wing , and , with his band , created arrangements for their songs . Charles was one of the first to help them on their climb to eventual success .   `` Bad Girl '' has since become a doo-wop classic and was named one of the 100 Greatest Doo-Wop Songs of All Time by Doo Wop Nation . It appears on several Miracles ' compilations , including Greatest Hits from the Beginning . The song was also performed by the group on their final live album , 1957 -- 1972 . It has been covered by the Dazz Band and by Motown artist Mary Wells , whose version was called `` Bad Boy '' and appeared on her debut album , Bye Bye Baby I Do n't Want to Take a Chance .

neg: List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2007 The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart that ranks the best-performing singles of the United States . Published by Billboard magazine , the data are compiled by Nielsen SoundScan based collectively on each single 's weekly physical and digital sales , and airplay . In 2007 , 17 singles reached the top spot on the chart . An 18th single , Beyoncé Knowles ' `` Irreplaceable '' , began a run at the top in 2006 which continued into 2007 .   In 2007 , eight acts achieved their first US number-one single , either as a lead artist or featured guest : Maroon 5 , Avril Lavigne , Mims , Plain White T 's , Sean Kingston , Soulja Boy Tell 'Em , T-Pain , and Yung Joc . Producer Timbaland earned his first number-one single as lead artist with `` Give It to Me '' ; he had previously appeared as featured guest on singer Nelly Furtado 's number-one single `` Promiscuous '' . T-Pain , Justin Timberlake , Nelly Furtado and Fergie each earned two number-one singles , either as a lead artist or featured guest .   Three number-one singles tied for the longest run on the chart in 2007 : Knowles ' `` Irreplaceable '' , Rihanna 's `` Umbrella '' , and Soulja Boy Tell 'Em 's `` Crank That ( Soulja Boy ) '' all topped the chart for seven weeks ; the last of these was non-consecutive . However , `` Irreplaceable '' , which started its peak position in three issues the previous year , is credited to by Billboard magazine as 2006 's longest-running single . To this effect , `` Umbrella '' and `` Crank That ( Soulja Boy ) '' are the longest-running singles of 2007 . Other singles with extended chart runs include singer Alicia Keys ' `` No One '' which stayed at number one for five straight weeks .   `` Irreplaceable '' is the best-performing single of the calendar year , topping the Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2007 for seven consecutive weeks . Band Maroon 5 's `` Makes Me Wonder '' is noted for its jump from 64th to 1st place on the Billboard Hot 100 , making it the largest leap of 2007 . `` Umbrella '' , which occupied the top slot for seven of summer 's thirteen weeks , has been credited by the music press as 2007 's Song of the Summer .

neg: List of awards and nominations received by Missy Elliott Missy Elliott is an American rapper , singer-songwriter , author , record producer and actress . Missy 's debut album Supa Dupa Fly was released on July 15 , 1997 in the United States under her own label The Goldmind Inc. signed under Elektra Records . Her second album Da Real World was then released on June 22 , 1999 , followed by her third album Miss E. . . So Addictive , released on May 15 , 2001 . Under Construction was the fourth album released by Elliott , which was released on November 12 , 2002 , followed by her fifth album This Is Not a Test ! that saw a release in November 25 , 2003 , and The Cookbook , Elliott 's latest album to date , which was released on July 4 , 2005 .   Throughout Missy Elliott 's career , she has received several awards and nominations . Elliott would also be noted to become the first female rapper in history to take home the award for `` Best International Video '' from VIVA Comet Media Awards for her solo debut single , `` The Rain ( Supa Dupa Fly ) '' . Elliott 's debut Supa Dupa Fly ( 1997 ) would go on to score two Grammy nominations for Best Rap Solo Performance & Best Rap Album , alongside three MTV Music Video Awards nominations for `` Best Direction in a Video , '' `` Best Breakthrough Video '' & `` Best Rap Video '' .   Missy Elliott 's second album Da Real World ( 1999 ) attained a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album . She also received an award for `` Best R&B / Soul or Rap Music Video '' by the Soul Train Awards . The album went on to go platinum making it Elliott 's second platinum album . The follow-up , Miss E. . . So Addictive ( 2001 ) , was a commercial success ; selling over 9.2 million copies worldwide making it her third consecutive platinum album . This album would attain twelve MTV Video Music Awards nominations throughout 2001 and 2002 . Additionally , the effort gained Elliott several nominations from various award shows some including , the Grammy Awards , MTV Video Music Awards , and the BET Awards .   On March 27 , 2001 , Lil ' Kim , Christina Aguilera , Pink , and Mýa recorded a cover version of the LaBelle song , `` Lady Marmalade '' as a medley for the feature film Moulin Rouge that Missy Elliott wrote and produced , which topped # 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks . `` Lady Marmalade '' scored Elliott 's first Grammy Award in 2002 for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals .   Missy Elliott 's fourth album Under Construction ( 2002 ) was certified double platinum , making it her fourth platinum album . The effort gained Elliott eight MTV Video Music Awards in 2003 , taking two awards for `` Video of the Year & `` Best Hip-Hop Video '' . The album also gained Elliott five Grammy nominations in 2004 for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group , Best Rap Album , Album of The Year , Best Rap Song & Best Female Rap Solo Performance taking an award for Best Female Rap Solo Performance . Elliott 's follow-up This Is Not a Test ! ( 2003 ) would also attain a platinum certification , as well as two MTV Video Music Awards and one MTV Music Video Japan Awards nominations .   The Cookbook ( 2005 ) is Missy Elliott 's latest album to date . The effort attained three Grammy nominations in 2006 for Best Short Form Music Video , Best Rap Song & Best Rap Album . Elliott received the award for Best Short Form Music Video for her single `` Lose Control '' . The Cookbook also gained Elliott seven MTV Video Music Awards nominations , taking two awards for `` Best Dance Video '' and `` Best Hip-Hop Video '' . In 2014 , Missy Elliott became nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Song for the featured single , `` Without Me '' .

neg: E=MC² (Mariah Carey album) E = MC ² is the eleventh studio album by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey . It was released in the United States on April 15 , 2008 by Island Records . The singer began recording the album in 2007 in Anguilla , after writing and composing most of its material during and after her 2006 Adventures of Mimi Tour . Carey worked with several notable songwriters and producers during the course of the project , including Jermaine Dupri , Bryan-Michael Cox , Stargate , The-Dream , Tricky Stewart , Scott Storch and Danja .   The album revealed a more personal side of the singer , illustrated in its declarative theme of emancipation from her previous marriage , and from her personal and professional setbacks . Although it shared similar vocal production as well as an inclination to her signature pop and R&B ballads , the album also encompassed a variety of dance-oriented and uptempo styles . It was meant to be a continuation , or a second part of her tenth studio album , The Emancipation of Mimi ( 2005 ) . Carey collaborated with a number of artists on the album , including T-Pain , Damian Marley and Young Jeezy . Though considered by critics very similar to the formula its predecessor had been built on , E = MC ² included other genres she had never explored , such as reggae , and her continued recording of gospel-influenced hymns .   E = MC ² was generally well received by music critics , with many complimenting the record 's broad genre influences , and musical and production styles . Some critics , however , felt that the album was too similar to The Emancipation of Mimi , and did n't offer anything new from the formula . The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with opening week sales of 463,000 copies ; the highest first-week sales of Carey 's career . It opened inside the top-five on the albums chart in Australia , Canada , Switzerland and the United Kingdom . The album achieved worldwide sales of over 2.5 million copies .   Four singles were commission in promotion of the album . The album 's lead single , `` Touch My Body '' , became Carey 's eighteenth chart topper on the Billboard Hot 100 , making her the solo artist with the most number one singles in United States history , surpassing the record held by Elvis Presley . Additionally , it gave Carey her 79th week atop the chart , tying Presley for most weeks at number one . It achieved strong worldwide charting , peaking within the top five of the singles charts in Italy , Japan , New Zealand , Switzerland and the United Kingdom . `` Bye Bye '' served as the album 's second release . Although hailed by critics , and expected to have achieved large commercial success , the song stalled at number nineteen on the Hot 100 , and managed to chart weakly internationally . Both the third and fourth singles , `` I 'll Be Lovin ' U Long Time '' and `` I Stay in Love '' failed to garner success in any prominent music market .

neg: List of million-selling singles in the United Kingdom A million-selling single is regarded by the Official Charts Company ( OCC ) as one that has sold at least 1 million copies since the start of the UK Singles Chart in November 1952 . As well as a traditional purchase of a physical record , a sale can represent one permanent digital download of a track ( physical singles usually consist of two songs , although both are only included in sales figures for double A sides or where both receive a high level of interest and airplay ) . Both British Phonographic Industry ( BPI ) - certified awards ( Silver , Gold and Platinum ) and the weekly charts now include audio streaming but these are not included in the sales figures published by the OCC . Certified awards can also include shipments ( sales to trade ) . The OCC and Music Week regularly announce when a record becomes a million seller .   , 167 singles have sold 1 million copies in the UK . Of these , 108 were originally released in the 20th century ( 70 of them selling 1 million before the year 2000 ) and the remainder were released between 2000 and 2014 . The most recently released single to become a million-seller is `` Uptown Funk '' by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars , which was released in December 2014 and passed a million sales ten weeks later in February 2015 . Bing Crosby 's `` White Christmas '' is the earliest release : originally 1942 , although only sales from 1952 onwards are counted . The year in which the most million-sellers were released is 2011 , with twelve ; while a record 36 releases from both the 1990s and the 2010s have sold a million copies . Only two million sellers have failed to reach the top 5 on the UK Singles Chart : Snow Patrol 's `` Chasing Cars '' and Journey 's `` Do n't Stop Believin ' '' , both of which peaked at number 6 .

neg: Entertainer of the Year Entertainer of the Year is the twenty-first studio album by American country music singer-songwriter , Loretta Lynn . It was released on February 26 , 1973 , by MCA Records .   Entertainer of the Year was titled after Lynn received the `` Entertainer of the Year '' award from the Country Music Association the previous year , becoming the first woman to win that award . The one and only single from the album was released in late 1972 , `` Rated X '' . The song was a self-penned song by Lynn and peaked at # 1 on the Billboard country chart in 1973 , her first # 1 hit since 1971 , and became also one of her more controversial songs , describing the double-standard frequently endured by divorced women at the time . The album was Lynn 's first studio album of 1973 , and Lynn would end up releasing an additional two for the year .   The album was very successful on the Billboard album charts , peaking at # 1 on the Top Country Albums chart , and did not chart on the Billboard 200 . The album became Lynn 's fourth album to top the Top Country Albums chart . The album was Lynn 's first released on the MCA Records label , after the Decca label was retired by the company .


query: Bernard Madoff got the sentence.

pos: Bernard Madoff Bernard Lawrence `` Bernie '' Madoff ( -LSB- ˈmeɪdɒf -RSB- born April 29 , 1938 ) is an American fraudster and a former stockbroker , investment advisor , and financier . He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market , and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered the largest financial fraud in U.S. history . Prosecutors estimated the size of the fraud to be $ 64.8 billion , based on the amounts in the accounts of Madoff 's 4,800 clients as of November 30 , 2008 .   Madoff founded the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1960 , and was its chairman until his arrest on December 11 , 2008 . The firm was one of the top market maker businesses on Wall Street , which bypassed `` specialist '' firms by directly executing orders over the counter from retail brokers . At the firm , he employed his brother Peter as senior managing director and chief compliance officer , Peter 's daughter Shana Madoff , as the firm 's rules and compliance officer and attorney , and his sons Andrew and Mark . Peter has since been sentenced to 10 years in prison and Mark committed suicide by hanging exactly two years after his father 's arrest . Andrew died of lymphoma on September 3 , 2014 .   On December 10 , 2008 , Madoff 's sons told authorities that their father had confessed to them that the asset management unit of his firm was a massive Ponzi scheme , and quoted him as describing it as `` one big lie '' . The following day , FBI agents arrested Madoff and charged him with one count of securities fraud . The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) had previously conducted multiple investigations into Madoff 's business practices , but had not uncovered the massive fraud .   On March 12 , 2009 , Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies and admitted to turning his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme . The Madoff investment scandal defrauded thousands of investors of billions of dollars . Madoff said he began the Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s . However , federal investigators believe the fraud began as early as the mid-1980s and may have begun as far back as the 1970s . Those charged with recovering the missing money believe the investment operation may never have been legitimate . The amount missing from client accounts , including fabricated gains , was almost $ 65 billion . The Securities Investor Protection Corporation ( SIPC ) trustee estimated actual losses to investors of $ 18 billion . On June 29 , 2009 , Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison , the maximum allowed .

neg: Leopold and Loeb Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. ( November 19 , 1904 -- August 29 , 1971 ) and Richard Albert Loeb ( -LSB- ˈloʊb -RSB- June 11 , 1905 -- January 28 , 1936 ) , usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb , were two wealthy students at the University of Chicago who in May 1924 kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Robert Franks in Chicago . They committed the murder -- widely characterized at the time as `` the crime of the century '' -- as a demonstration of their perceived intellectual superiority , which , they thought , rendered them capable of carrying out a `` perfect crime '' , and absolved them of responsibility for their actions .   After the two men were arrested , Loeb 's family retained Clarence Darrow as counsel for their defense . Darrow 's 12-hour-long summation at their sentencing hearing is noted for its influential criticism of capital punishment as retributive rather than transformative justice . Both men were sentenced to life imprisonment plus 99 years . Loeb was murdered by a fellow prisoner in 1936 ; Leopold was released on parole in 1958 .   The Franks murder has been the inspiration for several works of film , theatre , and literature , including Patrick Hamilton 's 1929 play Rope and Alfred Hitchcock 's 1948 film of the same name . Later movies , such as Compulsion -- adapted from Meyer Levin 's 1957 novel -- and Swoon , were also based on the crime .

neg: Human Capital Contract A Human Capital Contract ( or `` HCC '' ) is a finance product that allows for the provision of funds to an individual through an `` equity-like '' arrangement , where the provider of the funds receives a portion of the individual 's future income for some specified period of time . Human Capital Contracts have been advocated by a number of Nobel Prize-winning economists , including Milton Friedman , Robert Merton , and Gary Becker . Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations described the knowledge and skills of workers as a form of Human Capital .   Human Capital Contracts are characterized by an initial investment amount by the capital provider , followed by a series of periodic dividend payments made from the receiver of the capital to the provider . These payments are variable in amount , proportional with the capital receiver 's income , and may never total the initial investment amount made the capital provider . In contrast , a loan is a form of debt , characterized by interest payments based on a fixed principal amount , where the repayment of the principal is a necessary condition of the loan .   In the 1970s , Yale University attempted to replace traditional student loans with human capital contracts under its `` Tuition Postponement Option '' , a program designed by economists Milton Friedman and James Tobin . However , the program was eventually abandoned as a failure . Other attempts to use human capital contracts ( or student loans with equity-like payoffs ) to fund students , have also generally failed because of severe adverse selection problems -- students who opt into such programs are generally those who expect to pursue low-income careers , and are least likely to be able to repay their loans . In addition , Human Capital Contracts , like income taxes , can contribute to moral hazard , by discouraging borrowers from maximizing their income and encouraging them instead to focus on non-wage based forms of compensation , such as more enjoyable work , better benefits , or lighter schedules .   Recently , a number of companies have begun to attempt to commercially underwrite Human Capital Contracts for the first time , including some that are not focused on funding a student population .   Anand Reddi and Andreas Thyssen , of the University of Colorado School of Medicine , proposed the use of human capital contracts to fund U.S. medical education in their article in The Huffington Post entitled : `` Healthcare Reform : Solving the Medical Student Debt Crisis Through Human Capital Contracts '' . The Reddi-Thyssen plan is being vetted by the American Medical Association . The University of California system is also currently evaluating Human Capital Contracts as a possible solution for providing more affordable , sustainable tuition assistance . There is also a plan to use human capital contracts in global health .   In comparing the merits of Human Capital Contracts with loans , proponents have noted that providers of HCCs are better aligned with the financial interests of the receiver of the funds , and the stream of payments required should be relatively more affordable to individuals who experience adverse economic events such as unemployment or other decreases in disposable income . Relative to conventional consumer loan structures , however , the regulatory framework related to Human Capital Contracts is underdeveloped and has thus far prevented widespread proliferation of the product despite considerable academic research .

neg: Subprime lending In finance , subprime lending ( also referred to as near-prime , non-prime , and second-chance lending ) means making loans to people who may have difficulty maintaining the repayment schedule , sometimes reflecting setbacks , such as unemployment , divorce , medical emergencies , etc. . Historically , subprime borrowers were defined as having FICO scores below 600 , although `` this has varied over time and circumstances . ''   These loans are characterized by higher interest rates , poor quality collateral , and less favorable terms in order to compensate for higher credit risk . Many subprime loans were packaged into mortgage-backed securities ( MBS ) and ultimately defaulted , contributing to the financial crisis of 2007 -- 2008 .   Proponents of subprime lending maintain that the practice extends credit to people who would otherwise not have access to the credit market . Professor Harvey S. Rosen of Princeton University explained , `` The main thing that innovations in the mortgage market have done over the past 30 years is to let in the excluded : the young , the discriminated against , the people without a lot of money in the bank to use for a down payment . ''

neg: Hard money loan A hard money loan is a specific type of asset-based loan financing through which a borrower receives funds secured by real property . Hard money loans are typically issued by private investors or companies . Interest rates are typically higher than conventional commercial or residential property loans , starting at 7.7 % , because of the higher risk and shorter duration of the loan . Most hard money loans are used for projects lasting from a few months to a few years . Hard money is similar to a bridge loan , which usually has similar criteria for lending as well as cost to the borrowers . The primary difference is that a bridge loan often refers to a commercial property or investment property that may be in transition and does not yet qualify for traditional financing , whereas hard money often refers to not only an asset-based loan with a high interest rate , but possibly a distressed financial situation , such as arrears on the existing mortgage , or where bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings are occurring .   Hard Money is a term that is used almost exclusively in the United States and Canada where these types of loans are most common . In commercial real estate , hard money developed as an alternative `` last resort '' for property owners seeking capital against the value of their holdings . The industry began in the late 1950s when the credit industry in the U.S. underwent drastic changes .   From inception , the hard money field has always been formally unregulated by state or federal laws , although some restrictions on interest rates ( usury laws ) by state governments restrict the rates of hard money such that operations in several states , including Tennessee and Arkansas are virtually untenable for lending firms .

neg: Pan Am Flight 830 Pan Am Flight 830 was a flight from Narita International Airport in Tokyo , Japan to Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii . On August 11 , 1982 , the Boeing 747-121 serving the flight , nicknamed `` Clipper Ocean Rover '' was en route to Hawaii when the airplane was damaged by a bomb that had been placed on board . Despite the damage to the aircraft , Captain James E. ( Skipper ) O'Halloran III was able to land in Honolulu safely .   At the time of the explosion , the aircraft was approximately 225 kilometers northwest of Hawaii , cruising at 36000 ft with 270 passengers and 15 crew on board . The bomb , which had been placed under a seat cushion , killed 16-year-old Toru Ozawa , a Japanese national . The blast also injured 16 other people ( including Ozawa 's parents ) and caused damage to the floor and ceiling . The aircraft remained airborne and made an emergency landing in Honolulu .   The bomb was placed by Mohammed Rashed , a Jordanian linked to the 15 May Organization . In 1988 , he was arrested in Greece , tried , convicted of murder and sentenced to fifteen years in prison . He was paroled in 1996 after serving eight years . He was later extradited to the US from Egypt in 1998 to stand trial . In 2006 , as part of a plea bargain agreement he was sentenced to a further seven years in federal prison . As per his agreement with US prosecutors in providing information about other terrorist plots he was released from prison in March 2013 but still remained in a federal immigration detention facility in upstate New York awaiting deportation .   Abu Ibrahim was also indicted in the bombing of Pam Am Flight 830 and in 2009 was placed on the FBI 's most wanted list . On November 24 , 2009 , the Department of State announced that it was offering a reward of up to $ 5M for Abu Ibrahim , now about 73 years old . The previous reward of $ 200,000 had produced no results .   The aircraft was later put back in service by Pan American World Airways and remained in operation for various carriers through the early 1990s . It served as a prop for the 1996 film Executive Decision for the fictional Oceanic Airlines .

neg: Patriot Act, Title III, Subtitle B The USA PATRIOT Act was passed by the United States Congress in 2001 as a response to the September 11 attacks in 2001 . It has ten titles , with the third title ( `` Title III : International Money Laundering Abatement and Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 '' ) written to prevent , detect , and prosecute international money laundering and the financing of terrorism .   Title III is itself divided into three subtitles . The second subtitle , entitled Subtitle B : Bank Secrecy Act Amendments and Related Improvements , largely modifies the Bank Secrecy Act ( BSA ) to make it harder for money launderers to operate , and to make it easier for law enforcement and regulatory agencies to police money laundering operations . The BSA was amended to allow the designated officer or agency who receives suspicious transaction reports to notify U.S. intelligence agencies . It also addresses issues of record keeping and reporting by making it easier to undertake the reporting of suspicious transactions ; by making it a requirement that financial institutions report suspicious transactions ; through the creation of anti-money laundering programs and by better defining anti-money laundering strategy ; and by making it a requirement that anyone who does business file a report for any coin and foreign currency receipts that are over US$ 10,000 . The subtitle increases civil and criminal penalties for money laundering and introduces penalties for violations of geographic targeting orders and certain recordkeeping requirements .   Subtitle B legislated for the creation of a secure network which can be used by financial institutions to report suspicious transactions and which can also give them alerts of relevant suspicious activities . Subtitle B also makes FinCEN a bureau of the United States Department of Treasury . The subtitle allows the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to authorize personnel to act as law enforcement officers to protect the premises , grounds , property and personnel of any U.S. Federal reserve bank , and allows them to delegate this authority to U.S. Federal Reserve Banks . It instructs any United States Executive Directors of international financial institutions to use their voice and vote to support any country that has taken action to support the U.S. 's War on Terrorism , and to require such Executive Directors to provide ongoing auditing of disbursements made from their institutions to ensure that no funds are paid to persons who commit , threaten to commit , or support terrorism .

neg: Structured note A structured note is an over the counter derivative with hybrid security features which combine payoffs from multiple ordinary securities , typically a stock or bond plus a derivative . When it depends on a credit payoff , it is called a credit-linked note .   A simple example of a structured note would be a five-year bond tied together with an option contract . The addition of the option contract changes the security 's risk/return profile to make it more tailored to an investor 's comfort zone . This makes it possible to invest in an asset class that would otherwise be considered too risky .   From the investor 's point of view , a structured note might look like this : I agree to a three-year contract with a bank . I give the bank $ 100 . The money will be indexed to the S&P 500 . In three years , if the S&P has gone up , the bank will pay me $ 100 plus the gain in the S&P . However , if the S&P has gone down , the bank will pay me back the entire $ 100 - an advantage known as downside protection . ( In reality the downside protection is usually `` contingent '' , i.e. it only applies up to a certain threshold amount . For example , with a threshold of 40 % , if the S&P has gone down by more than 40 % , the bank will no longer pay me back $ 100 , but instead it will pay me the proportional value indexed to the S&P - e.g. $ 55 if the S&P has gone down by 45 % . Because no such actual security exists outside of the sponsor creating such hybrid , the creditworthiness of this structured note depends on the strength of the sponsor .

neg: Omega Trust Omega Trust was a fraudulent US investment scheme in Illinois .   Clyde D. Hood is a former electrician from Mattoon , Illinois . In 1994 Hood formed Omega Trust and Trading Limited and began to lecture to church groups . He said that the Lord had given him a mission . He claimed that he was one of the international traders who could make secret multimillion-dollar deals to benefit humanitarian programs through debentures and `` prime bank notes '' in foreign banks . Hood asked for an investment of $ 100 and promised a payout of $ 5,100 within 275 days . He wanted the money delivered wrapped in aluminum foil and via Federal Express because U.S. federal government was trying to block the trades through the United States Postal Service . Therefore the scheme should remain secret . Thousands of people from USA and overseas sent money .   The program stopped accepting new investors in 1995 . By that time , Hood had received more than $ 10 million . He began to present number of excuses as to why investors had not been paid , blaming administrative costs , problems with foreign banks and international financial conflicts . When some people still wanted to join , Hood and accomplices claimed that they could sell share units of people who had wanted to leave the program . The estimated total amount of money was $ 20 million .   In addition , Hood began new investment schemes named Alpha and Destiny and obtained more money from those who had invested to Omega . With the money Hood and his associates bought land and businesses in Mattoon , gave no-interest loans and made trips to Europe . Some of the money also went to finance businesses of other Hood associates like construction contractor Chris Engel .   Engel later cooperated with the police and let them tape a phone conversation with Hood . Hood lawyer Steve Ryan was also later removed from the case when he was subpoenaed as a witness and for possible collusion .   Clyde Hood and his 18 associates were indicted in 2000 . Some of them pleaded guilty or were convicted of multiple counts of fraud , mail fraud , money laundering and filing a false tax return ( see ) .   On April 10 , 2001 , Hood pleaded guilty to mail or wire fraud conspiracy , money laundering conspiracy , and filing a false tax return .   On January 24 , 2002 Hood was sentenced to prison for 14 years and was fined $ 5,000 . Five of his associates were convicted of active participation of the scheme and were ordered to make restitution . Thirteen associates were convicted of money laundering . Three hundred fifty-five victims received restitution from forfeited Omega Trust funds to the total of $ 1,697,310.00 .   The Omega Trust still lives on in the Internet as a supposed global poverty relief program ( see NESARA ) .   Hood is imprisoned at the `` Federal Medical Center Devens , '' north of Worcester , Massachusetts , and was scheduled for release in November 2012 .   Category : Fraud in the United States  Category : Crimes in Illinois

neg: Chewco Chewco Investments L. P. , was a limited partnership associated with the Enron scandal , which resulted in the bankruptcy of Enron . It was named after the Star Wars character Chewbacca , because it was created to hide losses from the Joint Energy Development Investment Limited , known by its acronym `` JEDI '' . Like Chewbacca , the Jedi Knights were prominent characters in Star Wars .   Enron created Chewco as a limited partnership which would help keep the JEDI project off its books . It wanted to buy out the California Public Employees ' Retirement System 's interest in JEDI , but it did not want to be forced , by accepted accounting principles , to consolidate JEDI in the Enron financial statements and thus reflect debt and/or financial losses . Enron wanted to keep JEDI afloat , but it needed a partner to take at least a 3 % stake , or the partnership 's results would have to be included in Enron 's financial statements . Chewco was created to be that partner .   The Chewco structure did not meet the SPE consolidation rules . The three basic rules for nonconsolidation of an SPE require that the independent equity investor --   continuously invest at least 3 % of the SPE 's assets ;  exercise control of and assume risks of the SPE ; and  like all other transactions , provide real ( potential ) economic benefits to Enron .   Chewco appeared to meet these tests , because it was financed by an unsecured loan from Barclay 's Bank ; in reality , however , the loan had been guaranteed by Enron stock held by Enron itself . Additionally , as investors became more wary of Chewco , Michael Kopper , an Enron employee who reported to CFO Andrew Fastow , took over the titular management role and was used to hide actual ownership . With Enron thus assuming practical control over Chewco , the structure did not meet an additional requirement for a non-consolidated SPE . More prosaically , this was one of many ways in which Enron `` cooked the books '' , failing to disclose corporate debt that SEC regulations require to be disclosed .   Over the course of three years , Kopper received between $ 1.5 and $ 2 million in management fees from Chewco , some of which was kicked back to Fastow in the form of checks written to members of his family . According to the Powers Report ( the report of the investigative committee chaired by William Powers , Jr ) Kopper did little actual work , aside from time spent manipulating the books . Chewco itself did little actual work other than moving funds from one account to another , and that was done with minor expenditure of labor by lower-level employees .   After all was said and done , Enron used Chewco to report roughly $ 400 million in profits which did not exist , while concealing $ 600 million in debt . Enron 's requirement to restate its earnings to remove this fake $ 400 million profit was a primary catalyst of Enron 's downfall .

neg: Too big to fail The `` too big to fail '' theory asserts that certain corporations , particularly financial institutions , are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the greater economic system , and that they therefore must be supported by government when they face potential failure . The colloquial term `` too big to fail '' was popularized by U.S. Congressman Stewart McKinney in a 1984 Congressional hearing , discussing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 's intervention with Continental Illinois . The term had previously been used occasionally in the press .   Proponents of this theory believe that some institutions are so important that they should become recipients of beneficial financial and economic policies from governments or central banks . Some economists such as Paul Krugman hold that economies of scale in banks and in other businesses are worth preserving , so long as they are well regulated in proportion to their economic clout , and therefore that `` too big to fail '' status can be acceptable . The global economic system must also deal with sovereign states being too big to fail .   Opponents believe that one of the problems that arises is moral hazard whereby a company that benefits from these protective policies will seek to profit by it , deliberately taking positions ( see asset allocation ) that are high-risk high-return , as they are able to leverage these risks based on the policy preference they receive . The term has emerged as prominent in public discourse since the 2007 -- 08 global financial crisis . Critics see the policy as counterproductive and that large banks or other institutions should be left to fail if their risk management is not effective . Some critics , such as Alan Greenspan , believe that such large organisations should be deliberately broken up : `` If they 're too big to fail , they 're too big '' . More than fifty prominent economists , financial experts , bankers , finance industry groups , and banks themselves have called for breaking up large banks into smaller institutions .   In 2014 , the International Monetary Fund and others said the problem still had not been dealt with . While the individual components of the new regulation for systemically important banks ( additional capital requirements , enhanced supervision and resolution regimes ) likely reduced the prevalence of TBTF , the fact that there is a definite List of systemically important banks considered TBTF has a partly offsetting impact .

neg: Lehman Brothers Treasury Lehman Brothers Treasury Co. . B.V. ( `` LBT '' ) is a private company with limited liability ( besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid ) incorporated under Dutch law with its registered office in Amsterdam , the Netherlands . LBT is a fully owned subsidiary of Lehman Brothers UK Holdings ( Delaware ) Inc. , which company is fully owned by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( `` LBH '' ) . On 15 September 2008 LBH filed a petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York seeking relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code .   On 19 September 2008 the Amsterdam District Court granted LBT provisional suspension of payment ( voorlopige surseance van betaling ) . On 8 October 2008 at 18.56 hours the Amsterdam District Court has revoked the provisional suspension of payment and declared LBT bankrupt ( in staat van faillissement ) with the appointment of Rutger Schimmelpenninck as bankruptcy trustee ( curator ) . Source : The official website of the bankruptcy trustee .

neg: Kenneth McGriff Kenneth `` Supreme '' McGriff ( born September 19 , 1960 ) is a convicted American drug trafficker and organized crime figure .   McGriff came to prominence in the early 1980s when he formed his own crack distributing organization which he called the Supreme Team based in the South Jamaica section of Queens , New York . Under McGriff 's leadership , the gang 's numbers swelled to the hundreds and came to control the crack cocaine trade in the Baisley Park Houses , the neighborhood where McGriff was raised .   In 1987 , McGriff was arrested following a joint state and federal investigation and in 1989 pleaded guilty to engaging in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise . He was sentenced to 12 years incarceration . McGriff was released from prison on parole in early 1994 after serving approximately seven years of his sentence . He was sent back to prison on parole violations by year 's end , and served another 2 1/2 years ' incarceration before being released in 1997 .   McGriff is alleged to have had a hand in the 2002 murder of Run D.M.C. member Jam Master Jay , and was convicted of ordering the 2001 killing of Mobb Deep affiliate E-Moneybags ( real name Eric Smith ) . Federal authorities also accused him in connection with the attempted murder of 50 Cent . Persistent rumors suggest that McGriff felt 50 Cent had exposed too much of the drug kingpin in Jamaica , Queens and others involved in the drug trade through the lyrics of his song `` Ghetto Qu ` ran '' released in 2000 .   On February 1 , 2007 McGriff was convicted of murder-for-hire at a Federal court in the Eastern District of New York on charges that he paid $ 50,000 to have two rivals ( Eric Smith and `` Big Nose '' Troy Singleton ) gunned down in 2001 . The jury deliberated for five days before finding McGriff guilty of murder conspiracy and drug trafficking . On February 9 , 2007 , the same jury sentenced McGriff to life in prison . Throughout this case he was defended by a court-appointed attorney because nearly all of his assets had been seized .   McGriff began serving his life sentence at ADX Florence , the federal supermax prison in Colorado , but in 2011 was transferred to the United States Penitentiary , Lee , a high-security federal prison in Pennington Gap , Virginia .

neg: Collateralized mortgage obligation A collateralized mortgage obligation ( CMO ) is a type of complex debt security that repackages and directs the payments of principal and interest from a collateral pool to different types and maturities of securities , thereby meeting investor needs . CMOs were first created in 1983 by the investment banks Salomon Brothers and First Boston for the U.S. mortgage liquidity provider Freddie Mac . ( The Salomon Brothers team was led by Gordon Taylor . The First Boston team was led by Dexter Senft ) .   Legally , a CMO is a debt security issued by an abstraction -- a special purpose entity -- and is not a debt owed by the institution creating and operating the entity . The entity is the legal owner of a set of mortgages , called a pool . Investors in a CMO buy bonds issued by the entity , and they receive payments from the income generated by the mortgages according to a defined set of rules . With regard to terminology , the mortgages themselves are termed collateral , ` classes ' refers to groups of mortgages issued to borrowers of roughly similar credit worthiness , tranches are specified fractions or slices , metaphorically speaking , of a pool of mortgages and the income they produce that are combined into an individual security , while the structure is the set of rules that dictates how the income received from the collateral will be distributed . The legal entity , collateral , and structure are collectively referred to as the deal . Unlike traditional mortgage pass-through securities , CMOs feature different payment streams and risks , depending on investor preferences . For tax purposes , CMOs are generally structured as Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits , which avoid the potential for `` double-taxation '' .   Investors in CMOs include banks , hedge funds , insurance companies , pension funds , mutual funds , government agencies , and most recently central banks . This article focuses primarily on CMO bonds as traded in the United States of America .   The term `` collateralized mortgage obligation '' technically refers to a security issued by specific type of legal entity dealing in residential mortgages , but investors also frequently refer to deals put together using other types of entities such as real estate mortgage investment conduits as CMOs .

neg: Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme ( -LSB- ˈpɒn.zi -RSB- also a Ponzi game ) is a fraudulent investment operation where the operator , an individual or organization , pays returns to its investors from new capital paid to the operators by new investors , rather than from profit earned through legitimate investments or business activities . Operators of Ponzi schemes usually entice new investors by offering higher returns than other investments , in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent .   Ponzi schemes occasionally begin as legitimate businesses , until the business fails to achieve the returns expected . The business becomes a Ponzi scheme if it then continues to operate under fraudulent terms . Whatever the initial situation , the perpetuation of the high returns requires an ever-increasing flow of money from new investors to sustain the scheme .   The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi , who became notorious for using the technique in the 1920s . The idea , present in novels ( for example , Charles Dickens ' 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit and 1857 novel Little Dorrit each described such a scheme ) , was actually performed in real life by Ponzi with his operation which took in so much money that it was the first to become known throughout the United States . Ponzi 's original scheme was based on the arbitrage of international reply coupons for postage stamps ; however , he soon diverted investors ' money to make payments to earlier investors and himself .

neg: Wiedergutmachung The German word Wiedergutmachung after World War II refers to the reparations that the German government agreed to pay in 1953 to the direct survivors of the Holocaust , and to those who were made to work as forced labour or who otherwise became victims of the Nazis . The sum would amount , through the years , to over 100 billion Deutsche Mark . Historian Tony Judt writes about Wiedergutmachung :  In making this agreement Konrad Adenauer ran some domestic political risk : in December 1951 , just 5 percent of West Germans surveyed admitted feeling ` guilty ' towards Jews . A further 29 percent acknowledged that Germany owed some restitution to the Jewish people . The rest were divided between those ( some two-fifths of respondents ) who thought that only people ` who really committed something ' were responsible and should pay , and those ( 21 percent ) who thought ` that the Jews themselves were partly responsible for what happened to them during the Third Reich . ' When the restitution agreement was debated in the Bundestag on March 18th 1953 , the Communists voted against , the Free Democrats abstained and both the Christian Social Union and Adenauer 's own CDU were divided , with many voting against any Wiedergutmachung ( reparations ) .   The noun Wiedergutmachung is the general term for `` restitution '' or `` reparation '' . The noun is made up of wieder ( `` again '' ) , gut ( `` good '' or `` well '' ) , and machung , a verbal noun of machen ( `` to make '' ) . The verb wiedergutmachen means literally `` to make good again '' or to compensate . Wiedergutmachungsgeld means `` Wiedergutmachung money '' .   In the former East Germany , Wiedergutmachung was mostly directed to Poland and the former USSR .   The German federal office currently in charge of this issue is the Bundesamt für zentrale Dienste und offene Vermögensfragen ( BADV ) ( Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Property Issues ) . It applies the `` Federal Compensation Laws '' ) and took these responsibilities over from the Verwaltungsamt für innere Restitutionen which , in its charter , states :   Individuals who were persecuted for political , racial , religious or ideological reasons by the wartime German regime are eligible for money from the German government under the terms of the Federal Compensation Law ( BEG ) of 1953 and 1956 . This includes Jews who were interned in camps or ghettos , were obliged to wear the star badge , or who lived in hiding .   Only people who were directly victimised are eligible for Wiedergutmachung , and not , for example , offspring born after the war or grandchildren . Statistics concerning Wiedergutmachung payments were released by the BEG through the mid-1980s , but have not since been publicly released . As of the mid-1980s , over four million claims had been filed and paid . Approximately 40 % of the claims were from Israel , where many Holocaust survivors live , 20 % were from Germany , and 40 % were from other countries .   An unusual compensation was to the Republic of Ireland , a neutral country , for bombings in 1941 .   On 3 December 1998 , Germany was a signer of the `` Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art '' . Adherence to these principles is strictly voluntary and not a legal requirement . The Washington Principles cover only items in the possession of public institutions , and not items in the possession of private individuals . Germany has no law in effect which actively requires institutions to have their possessions searched for Nazi-looted goods , unlike the 1998 restitution law in Austria .

neg: Goodfellas Goodfellas ( stylized as GoodFellas ) is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese . It is an adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi , who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese . The film narrates the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill and his friends over a period from 1955 to 1980 .   Scorsese initially named the film Wise Guy and postponed making it ; later , he and Pileggi changed the name to Goodfellas . To prepare for their roles in the film , Robert De Niro , Joe Pesci , and Ray Liotta often spoke with Pileggi , who shared research material left over from writing the book . According to Pesci , improvisation and ad-libbing came out of rehearsals wherein Scorsese gave the actors freedom to do whatever they wanted . The director made transcripts of these sessions , took the lines he liked best , and put them into a revised script , which the cast worked from during principal photography .   Made on a budget of $ 25 million , Goodfellas grossed $ 46.8 million . It received positive reviews from critics and was nominated for six Academy Awards , including Best Picture and Best Director , with Pesci winning Best Actor in a Supporting Role . The film won five awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts , including Best Film and Best Director . Additionally , Goodfellas was named the year 's best film by various critics ' groups .   Goodfellas is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in the crime genre . In 2000 , it was deemed `` culturally , historically , and aesthetically significant '' and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress . Its content and style have been emulated in numerous other films and television shows .

neg: PIMCO Pacific Investment Management Company , LLC ( commonly called PIMCO ) , is an American investment management firm headquartered in Newport Beach , California , with over 2,000 employees working in 13 offices across 12 countries , and $ 1.51 trillion in assets under management as of 30 June 2016 . The company provides mutual funds and other portfolio management and asset allocation solutions for millions of investors worldwide . PIMCO offers a broad list of investment strategies that encompass the entire risk spectrum and capital structure , including core bonds and credit , structured credit , alternatives , real assets , equities and currencies .   PIMCO oversees investments on behalf of millions of clients , including retirement savers , public and private pension plans , educational institutions , central banks and government agencies , foundations and endowments and financial intermediaries among others .   The firm , a prominent thought leader in the financial markets , is known to have coined and popularized the phrase `` The New Normal '' in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis in 2009 . `` The new normal '' as a standalone phrase has a long history dating to the post-First World War era and then seeing a new resurgence in use in the post 9/11 era . More recently , PIMCO introduced `` The New Neutral '' thesis to characterize a period of lower but stable economic growth , and interest rates to remain lower than historically for a longer period of time .   In April 2015 , PIMCO announced the hire of former Federal Reserve Chairman , Dr. Ben Bernanke as a Senior Advisor , following in the footsteps of predecessor Federal Reserve Chairman , Alan Greenspan .

neg: Sovereign default A sovereign default ( -LSB- ˈsɒvrᵻn , _ - vərᵻn -RSB- ) is the failure or refusal of the government of a sovereign state to pay back its debt in full . Cessation of due payments ( or receivables ) may either be accompanied by formal declaration ( repudiation ) of a government not to pay ( or only partially pay ) its debts , or it may be unannounced . A credit rating agency will take into account in its gradings capital , interest , extraneous and procedural defaults , failures to abide by the terms of bonds or other debt instruments . Countries have at times escaped the real burden of some of their debt through inflation . This is not `` default '' in the usual sense because the debt is honored , albeit with currency of lesser real value . Sometimes governments devalue their currency . This can be done by printing more money to apply toward their own debts , or by ending or altering the convertibility of their currencies into precious metals or foreign currency at fixed rates . Harder to quantify than an interest or capital default , this often is defined as an extraneous or procedural default ( breach ) of terms of the contracts or other instruments .   If potential lenders or bond purchasers begin to suspect that a government may fail to pay back its debt , they may demand a high interest rate in compensation for the risk of default . A dramatic rise in the interest rate faced by a government due to fear that it will fail to honor its debt is sometimes called a sovereign debt crisis . Governments may be especially vulnerable to a sovereign debt crisis when they rely on financing through short-term bonds , since this creates a situation of maturity mismatch between their short-term bond financing and the long-term asset value of their tax base .   They may also be vulnerable to a sovereign debt crisis due to currency mismatch : if few bonds in their own currency are accepted abroad , and so the country issues mainly foreign-denominated bonds , decrease in the value of their own currency can make it prohibitively expensive to pay back their foreign-denominated bonds ( see original sin ) .   Since a sovereign government , by definition , controls its own affairs , it can not be obliged to pay back its debt . Nonetheless , governments may face severe pressure from lending countries . In a few extreme cases , a major creditor nation , before the establishment of the UN Charter Article 2 ( 4 ) prohibiting use of force by states , made threats of war or waged war against a debtor nation for failing to pay back debt to seize assets to enforce its creditor 's rights . For example , Britain invaded Egypt in 1882 . Other examples include the United States ' `` gunboat diplomacy '' in Venezuela in the mid-1890s and the United States occupation of Haiti beginning in 1915 .   Today a government which defaults may be widely excluded from further credit , some of its overseas assets may be seized ; and it may face political pressure from its own domestic bondholders to pay back its debt . Therefore , governments rarely default on the entire value of their debt . Instead , they often enter into negotiations with their bondholders to agree on a delay ( debt restructuring ) or partial reduction of their debt ( a ` haircut or write-off ' ) .   Some economists have argued that , in the case of acute insolvency crises , it can be advisable for regulators and supranational lenders to preemptively engineer the orderly restructuring of a nation 's public debt - also called `` orderly default '' or `` controlled default '' . In the case of Greece , these experts generally believe that a delay in organising an orderly default would hurt the rest of Europe even more .   The International Monetary Fund often lends for sovereign debt restructuring . To ensure that funds will be available to pay the remaining part of the sovereign debt , it has made such loans conditional on acts such as reducing corruption , imposing austerity measures such as reducing non-profitable public sector services , raising the tax take ( revenue ) or more rarely suggesting other forms of revenue raising such as nationalization of inept or corrupt but lucrative economic sectors . A recent example is the Greek bailout agreement of May 2010 .

neg: Sentencing Act of 1987 The Sentencing Act of 1987 ( Pub.L . 100-182 ) enacted some changes to the federal sentencing regime in the United States . The legislation amended to permit expressly departures based on circumstances of an exceptional `` kind '' or `` degree . '' The insertion of this new language was described by the manager of the House bill , Representative John Conyers , as `` clarifying '' in nature because it simply made explicit in the law that which was previously described in the Senate Committee Report as implicit and intended . There is evidence that under the new regime , sentences may not have increased as much as expected : although the average prison term for trial sentences increases post‐reforms , there is no systematic increase in the average length of the pleas .   Additionally , the law abolished parole for federal prisoners and created the United States Sentencing Commission . The commission makes the guidelines used by federal judges when sentencing people convicted of a federal crime .   The bill was introduced by Senator Joseph Biden on October 27 , 1987 . It was signed into law on December 7 , 1987 , by President Ronald Reagan .

neg: Nuclear option The nuclear option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the United States Senate to override a rule or precedent by a simple majority of 51 votes , instead of by a supermajority of 60 votes . The option is invoked by the presiding officer of the body ruling that the validity of a Senate rule or precedent is a constitutional question . The issue is immediately put to the full Senate , which decides by majority vote . The procedure thus allows the Senate to decide any issue by majority vote , regardless of existing procedural rules , such as current Senate rules specifying that ending a filibuster requires the consent of 60 senators ( out of 100 ) for legislation , and 67 for amending a Senate rule . The term `` nuclear option '' is an analogy to nuclear weapons being the most extreme option in warfare .   The nuclear option has only been used in practice twice -- in 2013 and 2017 , however the threat to use it dates back at least to 1917 , in opinions related to reform of the Senate 's filibuster rules . Subsequently , an opinion written by Vice President Richard Nixon in 1957 concluded that the U.S. Constitution grants the presiding officer the authority to override existing Senate rules . The option was used to make further rule changes in 1975 . In November 2013 , Senate Democrats used the nuclear option to eliminate filibusters on executive branch nominations and federal judicial appointments other than those to the Supreme Court . On April 6 , 2017 , Senate Republicans used the nuclear option to eliminate the exception for Supreme Court nominees , after the nomination of Neil Gorsuch failed to meet the requirement of 60 votes for ending the debate .   Before November 2013 , Senate rules required a three-fifths vote of the `` duly chosen and sworn '' members of the Senate -- ( usually 60 votes ) to end debate on a bill , nomination or other proposal ; they also require a two-thirds vote ( `` present and voting '' -- 67 or more votes ) to end debate on a change to the Senate rules . Those rules effectively allowed a minority of the Senate to block a bill or nomination through the technique of the filibuster . This had resulted in a de facto requirement that a nomination have the support of 60 Senators to pass , rather than a majority of 51 . A three-fifths vote is still required to end debates on legislation . Before April 2017 , Senate rules required a three-fifths vote to confirm nominations for Supreme Court nominees .   Under the new nuclear option proceedings , the majority leader and presiding officer , guided by parliamentary experts , go through a series of choreographed steps in which the leader suggests a change to the rules , the presiding officer challenges him , and then the leader calls a second vote on a rules change , which requires only 51 votes . This effectively ends what had become a 60-vote requirement for confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee or the passage of legislation .