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. 

Financial Institution

Wells Fargo Bank

1. Wells Fargos stock before the recession in 2008 was around 12.6 billion dollars
2. The stock went down to 12.25 billion after the recession began in 2008
3. Yes, wells fargo also recieved T.A.R.P funds (25 billion in funds)
4. the companys revenue and profit before the crash was 89 billion and the declined down to 85 billion in 2010.  However, wells fargo was able to bring it total income back to 12.4 billion from its once before 12.3 billion.
5. Wells fargo did not experience high rates of default in the subprime mortgage lending because mortgages are predominately prime and near-prime.
6. In my opinion it seems like wells fargo did pretty well in handling themselves throughout this whole financial crisis, and if there was any loss of money or setbacks they managed to bring back income fast (within a year). Also, they were involved in any crazy schemes from what i researched.

Does Sweatshop Labor Affect the U.S. Worker?

From what i can see and notice it almost seems like sweatshop labor does not have a huge impact on U.S. workers. I can only see the affect it has on prices on goods and consumers in america because we all know that it is not costing all those workers in developing countries 50 and 70 dollars to make shoes,shirts,jeans, etc. Yet, when it gets to america the price is jacked up beyond belief. Theres always the idea that you could just stop contributing to sweatshop labor by trying to buy goods that are only made in the U.S. and Europe. Which is not a bad idea because if you think about it you may end up spending more money on say jeans or a nice pair of sunglasses but the quality is so much better which means it will last longer saving you money in the long term. I think america should try and make better goods more readily available to consumers and possibly think about lowering prices a little.

sweatshops?

When it comes to sweatshops it is quite obvious that the cons very much outweigh the pros. Lots of sweatshops, mainly based in China, give out scripts for their employees to learn if questioned in order to fool auditors into believing that people are content with the working conditions. Abuse is also very prevalent in most sweatshops both verbal and physical, such as, threats and sexual harassment.  Most employees receive low wage that fail to meet the basic standard of living, employees tend to work 60-80 hours/week and only get paid .20-.30 cents/hour. They are forced to work long hours with no overtime. However, employees are getting paid eight times the average wage working for American multinationals then any other job. Likewise, in developing countries they argue the fact that another country cannot judge their standards compared to someone elses because most countries cannot afford to be like the United States.

What I found out about the people that make alot of my belongings, such as, China, Vietnam, and Mexico and their working conditions was very different from the United States. In most developing countries the working standards are not as good as we might have expected. Most of the factories pay below minimum wage with little/short or no breaks, also the work can be very tedious and is hard to maintain after so many hours of doing the same repetitive actions over and over which can sometimes lead to minor health conditions. For example, arthritis in the hands, joint and muscle pain, headaches, ect. But the U.S cannot judge the standards of other countries based on its own because not every country can afford to be like the U.S. especially if the money is highly needed. Most workers that are working for an american multinational company get paid eight times the average wage than working for any other company in their own country.

Introduction

My name is Tarina I'm a student at foothill college. My major that I'm trying to accomplish is a toss up between psychology or biology. Ever since I was little I had a natural tendency to give out advice or listen and help my friends with issues that they might have been going through in their life.I hope that one day I can use my natural talent of understanding to help those who are struggling with major issues that are present in society today, such as, post traumatic stress disorder, suicide, abuse, etc. I feel that people ignore issues such as these just because who don't hear about them on the news or in the paper. Therefore, people pretend that they don't exist which leads to conditions worsening instead trying to help by doing something as simple as listening to someone for even a few minutes. I also want to hopefully become a vet and travel around the world helping promote animal cruelty awareness and help animals that are in countries that cant receive proper care.

I am also enrolled in English 1A. If I am to learn anything from this class it will be how to take information from any kind of text that is given to me and be able to pick out the main points and develop an argument or make an stance on that particular subject. this blog will help me accomplish my goal because I will be able to see other peoples point or view on the matter and take the information given and be able to analyze  it to understand their ideas.