2008 Financial Collapse Summary

2008 Financial Collapse Summary Dave Levengood â€Å"Too Big to Fail† vs. â€Å"How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes† The Great Recession of 2008 was not only the largest economic crash of this decade, it was the largest economic crash since the Great Depression. The Great Recession has been studied extensively since it happened, and there are finite conclusions as to why it occurred that can be drawn from the facts. First, ineffective government regulations of the banking system allowed the Wall Street banks to carelessly loan out money to essentially anyone who asked for it. Second, many of those loans, which originally stimulated the housing bubble, were defaulted on when the nearly 8 trillion dollar housing bubble burst, leaving behind billions of dollars of debt. Third, this debt destroyed consumer confidence in the large banks, causing a drop in the stock market as people withdrew their money. The lack of â€Å"credit† as Ben Bernanke describes it, almost threw the American Economy into an abyss much deeper than that of the Great Depression. Two works that both outline the causes and re sults of the Great Recession are Peter Schiff’s â€Å"How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes,† and the HBO film, â€Å"Too Big to Fail.† Schiff’s book uses a comical portrayal of the U.S. economy in the form of islanders of the nation Usonia, with â€Å"fish† as dollars. HBO’s documentary focuses more on the day-to-day actions by the government and banks trying to prevent this recession forming into a depression. In all however, both works draw on and allude to the known problems in the U.S. economy that led to the Great Recession. â€Å"Too Big to Fail† implies that the start of the entire economic fall was when President Reagan deregulated the banks, giving them much more freedom to give out loans. This freedom was then abused by overconfident banks and thus the recession occurred. Schiff does not share the same view outright in his book, however his comments on the frequency and careless loans by the banks cannot be overlooked. That being said, Schiff focuses extensively on the changing value of currency over the course of the recession. After being taken off the gold standard, Schiff describes how the U.S. economists were free to change their currency as needed to sustain growth. The ONLY reason why this worked was because the U.S. had become such a large economic player that the Reserve Note was backed up by the â€Å"trustworthy† reputation of previous years. Had other nations not accepted our dollars as a reserve note, we would have a much more difficult time borrowing and spending money to day. Furthermore, Schiff describes the acts of the Federal Reserve inflating currency as the â€Å"re-officialization† of the dollar bill into  ¾, then  ½ of its original value. This crack of instability in our currency was heavily leaned upon during the great recession when the value of our currency was questioned. After the large investment banks lost money, consumers seriously questioned the value of the dollar. As true with all expectations, when confidence and expectations are low, they tend to be self-fulfilling prophecies in that they come true because people think they will. Therefore, â€Å"Too Big to Fail† describes the original cause of the recession as the deregulation of the banks by Reagan, while Schiff might argue that the underlying cause was because of the insecurity in the value of the United States dollar. The second cause of the Great Recession was the housing bubble. While there may have been some disagreement in the underlying causes of the recession between the two works, both Schiff and â€Å"Too Big† are in agreement over the catastrophic consequences of the bursting of the housing bubble. â€Å"Too Big to Fail† details how the banks were truly sunk by the defaulting of housing loans. In forcing mergers and subsidies, the problem was constantly the â€Å"toxic assets† which were the housing stocks. After the burst of the bubble, all of the large Wall Street banks were left with billions of dollars owed to them in the form of housing debts. Nobody knew if those debts would be repaid, however given the look of the housing markets at the time, the banks assumed the worst. Schiff also details the housing bubble as the â€Å"hut rut.† After political and fiscal dancing by the leaders of Usonia to re-stabilize their fish note, things in the Usonian economy b egan to look up. Schiff describes the hut rut as a gradual idea at first, with large dependable borrowers striving for the â€Å"American Dream† of owning a hut. Then, the government stepped in to help subsidize the buying of homes and restricts interest rates from being too high for risky buyers. This was most likely a large political move to gain re-election by making it appear as though homes were provided to all of the country. The result of these subsidies and restrictions was an upward spiral in the hut-market. The spiral increased speed until it was completely out of control of the government that originally regulated it. All semblance of legitimate value was lost, as consumers just demanded to get a hut to attain social status. As this towering house of cards grew and grew, so did the doubts and fragility within the market. Finally, the peak was reached and instead of all buyers of huts and small sellers, there were only sellers of huts. The prices deflated exponentia lly, and thus the hut bubble burst in a spectacular fashion. Therefore, Schiff describes how the subsidies and interest rate restrictions promoted excessive buying of houses by people who could not afford them, and â€Å"Too Big† demonstrates the effect of those defaulted loans on the banks that made them. The final act of the recession was the actual bailing out of the major companies, subsidies given, and eventually cash injections forced onto Wall Street banks. This part of the recession is the part most focused on by â€Å"Too Big to Fail.† The first domino to fall was the bailing out of Bear Stearns by the U.S. government as it was bought JP Morgan. This fall then caused the next smallest bank, Lehman Brothers, to get hit hard by shaky consumers. The combination of Richard Fuld’s ignorance in the Korean negotiations, and poor loan choices by the bank itself led to Lehman Brothers’ declaration of bankruptcy. While this causes an appreciation in the U.S. dollar for a short span, the lack of confidence originally in Lehman Brothers spreads like a disease to all the other banks in the system. One aspect of the recession that the film covers that Schiff does not is AIG. AIG took on an unbelievable amount of housing risks, expecting all of the assets to go up, howev er when the housing bubble crashed hard, so did AIG. The effect of AIG’s faltering was extrapolated throughout the economy due to the massive size of the company. Providing insurance to essentially all areas of the economy, AIG was â€Å"too big to fail† however, when it did, it threatened to take down the entire system with it. In an attempt to re-stabilize the system, Timothy Geithner, a policy-maker during the recession, attempts to merge the investment banks to boost confidence, however that fails miserably. The eventual plan that is decided upon is a 700 billion dollar bailout that would be used to purchase the â€Å"toxic assets† that were such a problem to the investment banks. However, after discovering the toxic asset plan too slow, Henry Paulson, secretary of the treasury during the recession, decides to give direct cash injections to the bank, with the hope of them lending it out. The only problem with the TARP bailout, is that the banks did not lend out the money. The economy continued to slope downward until 2009 when the market finally stabilized. While the collapse of AIG and the investment banks were truly scary notions, the true threat that faced the economy was the lack of credit. As described by Ben Bernanke, the ability to borrow money and pay it back plus interest is the heart and soul of an economy. Without credit, an economy will grind to a halt. This lack of credit is addressed by Schiff as well, who describes the government’s policies towards the lack of credit as simply throwing fish at it until the economy corrected itself. The only real policies that Schiff addresses by the government during the recession is the bailing out of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae by George Bush to stop them from hurting the economy any more than they already had. Schiff believes that the savior of the U.S. recession was China, in the form of lending the U.S. the money necessary for the cash injections and stimuli. The problem that Schiff describes with this plan is necessity to repay China all of the debts that we owe it. Therefore, Schiff details how China supplied our government with the â€Å"real† money necessary to stop the bleeding of the housing market, while â€Å"Too Big to Fail† shows the steps taken to stop the bleeding itself. In conclusion, the Great recession of 2008 was an event long in the making, starting with the deregulation of the banking industry by Reagan and formation of the Fed by FDR. This caused weakness in the economy that was exploited by the crash of the housing bubble, and the resultant scramble for cash by out government has left us trillions of dollars in debt. The largest problem coming out of this recession is the probability of another bubble in the form of treasury bonds. If this bubble develops and the government does not kill it before it has time to grow, we could be facing a much larger and more permanent crash. Luckily, this recession did not turn into a depression. This is outlined in an article by Chris Isidore, a senior economics editor at CNN who attributes the survival of our economy to the trillions of dollars poured into the econmy by Ben Bernanke. While Schiff may not have agreed with the extensive borrowing to finance this, there is no doubt that Bernanke saved our eco nomy from total collapse, even if he did use any mean necessary. Schiff’s epilogue sums up the current position of U.S. political leaders, in that they do not have the courage to do what is necessary to fix the economy, instead worrying about their jobs and money. Hopefully we can learn from the mistakes shown in both of these works and ensure a stable and steadily growing economic future.

Body Communication :: essays research papers

The methodology of the social sciences has evolved slowly. In this evolution, criticism has always performed an important function. Through the continuous interchange of ideas, information, and criticism, it became possible to institutionalize commonly accepted rules and procedures and to develop corresponding methods and techniques. This system of rules and procedures is the normative component of the scientific methodology. It defines the â€Å"rules of the game,† and these in turn enable communication, constructive criticism, and scientific progress. Knowledge comes from experience. By observing what is happening around us in our every day lives, we gain knowledge through visual digestion of our environment. Body communication of other people helps you to know and understand how you will interact with that person or audience. Communicating successfully in front of an audience requires actions and qualities not found in writing. Facial expressions, gestures, and appearance are important qualities for communicating in front of an audience. Posture, I feel is most important. You should stand erect, but relaxed with your weight apportioned on both feet, avoid leaning and slouching. Feeling comfortable while you stand will give you a natural feeling about yourself. Movement while you are speaking can help you, but if done incorrectly it may harm you. You should move from side to side, rather than back and forth. This should not be a continuous motion, you do not want to look petrified. Moving physically may decrease nervousness, especially as you approach the lectern. Emphasis in stressing a point while speaking using facial gestures. The audience will follow you more easily when your movement suggests an idea of importance and holds the groups attention. Your appearance and facial expressions allow the audience to determine how you feel about your topic. On the other hand if you are frowning or glaring you may convey non-verbal impressions that you are worried, angry, or not interested. Your enthusiasm will reflect upon your listeners. Gestures such as hand, arm, shoulder, and head movement are used to emphasize, such as a rejection by raising your hand or making a fist. You can also use your hands to point at an object or describe the size of something. Communication can be done without speaking. It is amazing how we can express ourselves in this carefree way. It is important to feel good when you speak, This will make you more relaxed and your words will flow with ease.

Holocaust Post to World War II Essay

Let us begin by quoting the superb words of Elie Wiesel (1995), the Nobel laureate for peace in 1986 and Holocaust survivor: â€Å"For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time. The witness has forced himself to testify. For the youth of today, for the children who will be born tomorrow. He does not want his past to become their future† (cited in Hill and Wang, c2006, pg 15). Cruel Massacre Against Humanity in Holocaust Post to WWII Holocaust post to the beginning of World War II gave an account of tragedy and massive killings of majorly Jews in millions. Other killings involved the people of Gypsies who are descendant of Egypt in history, the mentally and physically challenged ancient individuals, political enemies to the ruling government of Nazi of Germany, and racially undesirable individuals who met an untimely dead end in the Nazi Camp’s of Germany after . This holocaust occurred between the years 1939 and the commencement of World War II. It is a great destruction that is characterized by extensive loss of human lives through means such as fire, nuclear arms et cetera. Holocaust at times is also used to represent the genocide in Armenian and Hellenic. Hellenic are Greece speaking people who suffered massive religious killing of about 3 million Christians in Turkey between the years 1915 to 1925 (Dawidowicz, 1975). Prior to the World War II, over six million Jewish people were targeted and destroyed by the then Nazi government and its co-sponsors. Nazi government of Germany developed a great hatred for the people of Jews who have spread and had established tent all over European States. The destruction was caused by an expression of superiority over the perceived â€Å"inferior Jews†. The spreading and the success of the Jews over some citizen of Europe became a matter of crucial talk among the cabinet members of Nazi. Nazi saw them as strange people who must not live. Later on, Nazi resulted into racial war against the Jews. In addition to the Jews, Nazi also developed similar racial hatred to other set of people in the all over world. The list includes â€Å"the people of Roma called Gypsies, the physically challenged or formally called the handicapped, the Slavic people of Russia, Poland and others as mentioned earlier† (Yahil L. 1990). In addition to the basis of destruction on perception of racial inferiority, political and theological reasons were also confirmed as part of the basis for destruction of certain other set of people. Thirdly is the massive destruction based on ideological group belonging and on cultural hatred for the Jews, one of the prominent groups by then were the Communist, the Socialist groups, and the Jehovah Witness movement. Certain homosexual were not spared in the killing. Due to the presence of certain members of the Nazi government who were homosexuals, there was mixed feelings development towards the extermination this set of people. The Jehovah witness movement group recorded the lowest number of casualties because they were less concentrated in a place unlike others. The achievement was made possible owing to regional concentration of the target people to be destroyed. Some were taken on hostage within a wide range of land for a long period before they were been destroyed by biological weapons, diseases, famine, and other forms of military maltreatment. For the physically challenged group, Nazi carried out his mission by including in his policy the so called â€Å"Euthanasia Program† (early killing to prevent prolong living in serious discomfort and pain). Some able body target among the Jews and Poland were captured and unofficially sentenced to hard labor till they meet their death. Post-World War II Holocaust After the WWII, there was an arrival of a different dimension to the war. Holocaust in the mid-1940 to the early 90s was basically the existence of relative tension, and fragile calmness. This is due to the modernized existence of nuclear and atomic destruction that posed more colossal figures in potential victims. On the basis of nuclear power possession, nations were termed superpower of the world. The era was termed cold war among the two major powerful unions – the United States and the Soviet Union of Eastern Europe, Northern and Central Asian continent. The United State came in following the 1942 Washington Act to deliver the Jews from total extinction. Holocaust Literature In the modern study of holocaust, many theories are used to propose the origin of holocaust. While the Intentionalists accept that holocaust is a deliberate act initiated by Adolf Hitler, the Functionalists argue that the genesis of holocaust was rather a policy failure by the government of Nazi to regulate immigration to Europe and expel other migrants out of Europe. Hence, the Jews find their way in with ease and dominate the Europe in their millions. Functionalists disagree on several claims by the Intentionalism on several of their literature pointing finger on the lack of adequate plan on population growth as the genesis of holocaust. There also exist â€Å"holocaust theology† that reviews God’s kindness and protection shield on His own people.

Kafkas The Metamorphosis as an existential exercise.

Kafkas The Metamorphosis as an existential exercise. Sisyphus Shrugged:Symbolic Alienation in The MetamorphosisThe grotesque world is and is not our own world. The ambiguous way in which we are affected by it results from our awareness that the familiar and apparently harmonious world is alienated under the impact of abysmal forces, which break it up and shatter its coherence. Wolfgang KayserModernity has added irony to injury. The study of the humanities is intended to bridge something inescapable in the human condition: the fundamental alienation of the individual. The keen reader of literature will gradually grow familiar with the unifying substance that binds peoples of all times and cultures. Joseph Campbell, quite famous for his work in mythology, says that storytelling is "the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation" (3). Apparently, it is through our (that is, mankind's) use of symbols that we tap our humanity, and our universal experience.Gregor Robertson, Founder of Happy PlanetWhen symbolic imagery is used, whether or not it is used consciously, it is an appeal to dream, and thus an appeal to the psychological fabric that we all share. Of course, that's the way it's supposed to be. Existentialism, nihilism, and Marxism are all viable alternative philosophies that celebrate, if a nihilist can be said to celebrate anything at all, in man's alienation. These darker, strikingly modern philosophies are well applied to The Metamorphosis, though a formalistic approach to the book's symbols does in fact help illustrate their themes.Gregor Samsa does not fit conveniently fit Campbell's archetype of the hero. The reason for this should be clear: Gregor is not a typical hero. He is rather the unwilling, perhaps unwitting antihero in an absurd circus that is the modern world. Gregor's world, as well as the world of many existentialists, exists...

Totto-Chan a Little Girl Sitting by the Window Essay Example

Totto Totto-Chan a Little Girl Sitting by the Window Paper Totto-Chan a Little Girl Sitting by the Window Paper Essay Topic: Rear Window It is a diary of the author named Outsets Groaning who also has a lovely nickname Toto-chain. The word diary maybe not as exact as the one memoirs because she wrote this book base on her memory since she was a child. Call her Toto-chain (it Is much easier than reading her full name). Reading this book makes me admire her a lot although at that time she was only a little girl. If you read this book I bet you will be surprised a lot because of her thought and behavior. How simple and mature (Included Immature) she Is. Let have a read and see the way she treated everyone around her, the way she faced and reflected all the events In that period. Everything was described with the simple words Like a story of a primary- girl, but they are very attractive and you can easily Image the whole picture of Japan at that time. Toothache was an active and clever child. She could spend several hours to tell her favorite stories or to play anything she loved to. Toothache was expelled from her first primary school because she always made noise to be paid attention, she liked to do everything herself naturally (of course every teachers Hough that was wrong and Toto-chain was out of rule). Toots;-chain moved to the new primary one named Tome Gangue where she met Mr.. Sickbays, an admirable headmaster. At that time, Mr.. Sickbays was said to be a model teacher because of his strange education method (of course he was going on the right way but not too many parents believed in his program so that Tome had only fifty pupils). He spent a lot of time to go to many countries all over the world to study and find the most suitable method to apply in his country, his school. He knew that teaching children in primary level was synonymous with showing them how to improve their good heartsickness. At school Tome, all of the pupils were never offered doing something strictly. Mr.. Sickbays created the best condition for them to express themselves naturally. No subjects were forced, children completely could study whatever they want. The teachers work was helping them when they need. Toto-chain and other pupils In Tome all loved the headmaster with a bald head. Toto-chain had the strong Impression on Mr.. Sickbays because on the 1st day she moved to this school, he was the only one sitting in nearly 4 hours to hear all her analogical stories no louts could be patient like that. School Tome Gangue was built by the old railroad cars. If I were a child at the same time with Toto-chain, I would Like to study In this special school. Looking at Tome, It realized everyone a train moving In the autumn sunshine, It satisfied the curiousness of the pupils and excited their creation. Toto- chain was a little girl, everything happened around her was realized with a simple mind. She always took care on everyone around her, from her family, her classmates, even her chickens, her dog Rocky by a simple way but moving. Each pupil in Tome ad a tree to watered, Toothache had one and she loved to climb on the tree and see so far away to image Osaka city. Yashmak-chain was a disable children who was one of the Toothaches classmates. He was paralytic and could not move easily. Rearing ten part wanly scarred lotto-can Nellie Yashmak-can to calms on near tree, to show him Where was Osaka city? was very touching (This book has only 60 short parts. And in part 56, Yashmak-chain died because of his disease. In part 59, Toto-chain lost Rocky, a dog, a close friend of her. I hate these parts of looses >

Torture in Extreme Emergencies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Torture in Extreme Emergencies - Essay Example A third viewpoint has arisen recently which combines views of both the groups and debates that torture can in some extreme emergencies be morally justified, however it should not be legalized or institutionalized. As per the definition of torture, it involves some practices like using electric shocks, cutting some body parts, using a hot iron, administrating severe pain, depriving of food, water and sleep for days together or beating. All this includes physically assaulting a person by the torturer by having control over the person. The person who is being tortured is defenseless and also not agreeable to such assault. Apart from these, extreme mental assault can also be considered torture. However, the extent of it and consent of the person being tortured to brand the assault as torture is well arguable. On the other hand, it might be argued that some cases of intentional infliction of extreme mental suffering on non-consenting, defenseless persons are cases of torture, whereas some instances are not. According to an article on Torture by Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy published in February, 2006, "In various national and international laws, e.g. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (United Nations 1984 - see Other Internet Resources), a distinction is made between torture and inhumane treatment, albeit torture is a species of inhumane treatment. Such a distinction needs to be made. For one thing, some treatment, e.g. flogging, might be inhumane without being sufficiently extreme to count as torture. For another thing, some inhumane treatment does not involve physical suffering to any great extent and is therefore not torture, properly speaking (albeit, the treatment in question may be as morally bad as, or even morally worse than, torture). Some forms of the infliction of mental suffering are a case in point, as are some forms of morally degrading treatment, for example causing a prisoner to pretend to have sex with an animal." (Unknown author, Torture, 2006) Though the main reason for torture is to break the victim's will, the other reasons for torture according to the above-mentioned U.N. Convention list them as to get a confession for a crime, to gather some information; to force a person or a group of people to behave in a way desired by the torturer as well as to punish for the crime.   Now the question arises on why torture is considered as wrong. Torture includes two aspects which are morally wrong as it involves administrating acute physical assault which is done intentionally on another person as well as it is administered on a fellow human being involving intentional, substantial curtailment of individual autonomy.   Authorities in the field feel that torture is worse than killing. According to Michael Davis,"Both torture and (premature) death are very great evils but, if one is a greater evil than the other, it is certainly torture" (Davis, Michael, 2005: 165), and David Sussman feels, "Yet while there is a very strong moral presumption against both killing and torturing a human being, it seems that we take the presumption against torture to be even greater than that against homicide" (Sussman, David, 2005: 15).  

Consumer Compliance- week 5 Discussion Post Responses Assignment

Consumer Compliance- week 5 Discussion Post Responses - Assignment Example A mortgage and a Deed of Trust helps in making sure that the loan is paid back by the lender. They secure the loan’s repayment by placing a lien on the property (Bevans, 2009). In a mortgage, the lien gives the right to the lender to sell the property and recover money while a Deed of Trust gives a lien to a trustee. In case of default, a mortgage requires that the judicial foreclosure which is often costly while a Deed of Trust allows for non-judicial foreclosure which is often faster and less costly (Haupt & Haupt, 2006). Both the documents help in securing a loan and provide mechanisms for recovery the loan incase the borrower defaults. A mortgage gives foreclosure rights to the lender while a Deed of Trust gives the rights to the trustee. Even though Deed of Trust seems to be the most efficient method because it allows for faster foreclosure time than a mortgage, it complicates the process because it has more parties involved (Haupt & Haupt, 2006). However, incorporating a trustee facilitates the foreclosure process because that is their area of specialization. They have the necessary man power to easily foreclose. Nevertheless, a Deed of Trust requires that proper notices be posted and rules followed, which makes it equally time-consuming (Bevans, 2009).Bottom of