The Things They Carried- Thesis

Tim O'Briens book, The Things They Carried, provides valuable insight into the minds of soldiers, and enlightens us to the emotional and psychological costs of war. Specifically or stories of Mary Anne, the baby water buffalo, and the chapter "Speaking of Courage" help us to relate the metamorphosis that soldiers undergo.

The Artifacts

Many different kinds of artifacts were mentioned in the article by Sturken, some of them being things such as, lighters, pictures, and even condoms. It was a way for soldiers to try and keep a connection and memory of home and family. Since back then most of soldiers  did not even know why they were even fighting for. Similarly to The Things They Carried the artifacts that they brought along with them were also used as constant reminders of a time where there was peace and love, as well as they were appreciated as individuals.

last thoughts on immigration

My last thoughts on immigration are both positive and negative. I understand that immigrants are helping out economy is some very important ways, such as crops and other low wage jobs. Lets admit it, no one in this country, let only california would willingly work long hours with low pay, so somebody got to do it. Without them we would have a major shortage in crops, as well as just a lot of jobs that are neccessary with no one to take them. However, with all those people coming over we are dealing with the affects of over population, people are tearing down land and building up homes for people who are not even from this country or have contributed anything to it Also, people of america are being put of their own jobs in order to make for the new. So basically, every issue has it up and downs and as long as it is well managed it shouldn't start any kind of chaos.

SB1070

SB1070 is a law in Arizona basically allowing authorities to pull over and arrest anybody "suspicious" looking; especially immigrants. To me this law just sounds like an easy method for the police to racially profile people. I find this law to be very unjust i understand that you want to keep your state safe and well regulated but to pull over just any innocent person for no real reason other than YOU feel feel that they are causing a threat or just dont belong in there isnt fair. The law states that all people must carry around their travel documents ( ie passports, visas, ID, etc) at all times in case pulled over. But what if you have a resident of Arizona just driving around and they happen to forget their documents? What happens to them? I also feel that what are these authorities even classifying as immigrants? Because there are alot of people that are not from Arizona but are from this country and also since we have such a diverse country we are filled with people who look different from what some may consider "typical"american. Therefore i feel this law needs better rues and reasons behind it and needs to be better regulated.

Worldy Change

A Halt to Life As We Knew It

Our country was hit with a huge reality check in November of 2008, a disaster that would change our economy for good, a global financial crisis. Who would think that the way we live and run our everyday lives would change on the drop of a dime?  It began in December of 2007 when various systematic imbalances started to flood the country. Even though most believe that the recession ended around June or July of 2009, it is quite apparent that we are still suffering through the hardships to this day. This recession has really made a downward spiral of thousands of peoples lives, making it hard for American citizens to sustain themselves and their families. But the big question on everyone’s mind is who is to blame for this tragedy? How did it get so bad? The banks and the government have managed to pull the whole country into a global financial crisis due to carelessness and greed.

First, the U.S. government made the big mistake to lower interest rates too much after 9/11. Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist stated “The move is to be applauded but there is more to come. The playbook to avoid depressions says rates need to be as close to zero as possible” (new york times). By lowering interest rates by that much it just made it easier for any person to get what they wanted and not have to prove their qualification. The Fed said, “Broader financial market conditions have continued to deteriorate and credit has tightened further for some businesses and households. Moreover, incoming information indicates a deepening of the housing contraction as well as some softening in labor markets”, meaning that lending standards were lowered to the point to where banks were not even taking into consideration if people had jobs, income, assets, or even credit rating as long as banks were getting the money that they wanted of this whole deal. Another major factor that helped contribute to that issue was simply that the government was not taking charge and overseeing what was happening in the economy (143). Deregulation was allowing companies to grow, merge, and develop in a way that jeopardized the whole economy (142).  

Another that played a large role in this whole mishap was financial institutions. Subprime mortgages were probably the most prevalent in order of causing the recession because they were securitized, which turned into mortgage-backed securities that people could invest in. Then Wall Street created structured finance where they were lending out money without using capital, therefore leaving a small amount of money to leverage and bigger investments. The Washington Post stated in an article that many banks in the country had leverage of 30 or more to 1, which means that for every one dollar they use to invest in these mortgages they are also using thirty dollars of borrowed money to invest. According to RealityTrac Inc, the global financial crisis caused 2.5 million homes to be foreclosed on with millions more having foreclosure filings and by 2009, 1 in 45 homes were in default.

In some parts of the country, home prices fell 32%.

However, even with all the damage that has been done, who’s to say we can’t overcome this obstacle? Simply by helping banks, struggling homeowners, and the unemployed (at least 8 million jobs were lost with 740,000 jobs lost in January 2009 alone). Start by only giving out money/loans to citizens who are well qualified and are in dire need of it because then it slows the loss of saving and homes while also creating job opportunities. Also, helping restore small business and modify mortgages by reducing principals and lowering mortgage payments. Finally, government control, not too much and not too little, but at least enough to make sure everything is kept in proper standards, as well as making sure that the government and banks don’t let careless mistakes and greed get in the way of keeping a well regulated economy. I think this country has dealt with this burden long enough so that in the future we will take what we learned from our past mistakes and keep moving forward slowly but surely.  

Thoughts on Global Financial Crisis?

No doubt the global financial crisis had an effect on everyone from adults to the younger generation. Because of the global financial crisis more student are having to go to community college in order to transfer because college tuition is so exspensive, as a a new freshman in college this had a huge impact on my plans i had for myself and my future (not that is was that bad in the end) but still my parents are having quite a time trying to save up the money to get into a 4 year college especially with all the other payments that have increased as well due to the recession. As for my parents I believe the job loss and foreclosures on houses was affecting them the most. My moms work had a lot of people that got let go, which meant my moms work had to move to another place and join with another company to keep from closing down. My dad was lucky enough to not have lost his job but because many of his co-workers were let go it meant that  he had to work double the amount in order to make for all the employees that are now gone. The recession is tragic but its not here to stay, as long as citizens make smart choices, use common sense, and use our money wisely we will be able to escape this recession and hopefully make a change for the next generation.

Wells Fargos CEO

The president and CEO of wells fargo bank is John Stumpf. He was given that title back in june of 2007 but has been president since 2005. his main concerns for the year 2008 were of course, the recession, and unemployment. John G. Stumpf is supporting  the bank's books and making fresh loans, but he was scared that this disaster would ruin his chances at getting to take over Wachovia Bank and  plan to modify mortgages. Wells Fargo was the number 2 mortgage lender but has managed to handle the financial crisis better than most. Stumpf had inherited $446 billion in consumer  and commercial loans in the deal, also he had $95 billion in ARMs. Stumpf boosted wells fargo reserves for bad loans by $5.6 billion and took a $37.2 billion writedown on Wachovia. He set up a new division to fix the toxic mortgage rates in January and sent out 30,000 letters to borrowers trying to making lower interest rates as well as extend mortgage terms.