Economic..Justice?
So my Ethics teacher posted this for our next discussion. I...I'm confused. What is his asking? I'm disagreeing with a lot of what he said too, his facts aren't...straight. Not completely. They're more like a young child was trying to draw a straight line.
Please make this make sense.
Recently we have had an economic downtown 2nd only to the Great Depression of the 1930s. We have experienced a mortgage collapse. This has been fueled by lack of regulation in the mortgage industry, where people had bought homes with low teaser rates, hoping to sell their homes before the rates rose. As people found themselves unable to flip their houses, many people walked away from them. This has led to a decline in the value of homes further eroding confidence in the housing market.
Due to lack of regulation in the financial system, the investment banks saw huge losses because they had invested in mortgage securities. This occurred under the 8 years of the Bush administration. Before Bush left office, emergency efforts were taken to shore up the failing investment banks through the first TARP installment. As President Bush left office, our country faced a staggering 1 trillion debt for the federal budget in 2008. Many felt that this was due primarily to Bush’s war expenditures and the tax cuts he provided for the wealthy.
Since this time, the Obama administration has attempted to take corrective action. Following Keynesian economic policies (vs. Supply Side economics of the Reagan and Bush administrations which attempted to “stimulate the economy” through reduced cost in federal spending and reduced taxes). Obama, with the support of the Democratic Congress, has put billions into the economy, and plans to either repeal the tax cuts for the wealthy (those earning over $250,000) or to allow this legislation to run its course in 2010 as part of Sunset Laws.
There has been public outrage over the sizeable bonuses many of the financial industry CEOs have taken even as they were beneficiaries of TARP. (See Webb’s comments on the outrageous income’s of CEOs in our major corporations.)
In addition, Obama is beginning a staged troop withdrawal in Iraq, which may reduce our nation’s military costs. However, this may be offset by the growing number of troops being sent to Afghanistan.
Obama has also taken steps to support the major financial institutions supplying loans for home owners and been able to free up funds for home loans at an extremely low interest rates.
The banks, which at the end of the Bush administration had frozen credit, are beginning to make loans again.
However, there are still great problems. We have an extremely high unemployment rate, nearing 10%, 2nd only to the Great Depression where it rose as high as 20%. General Motors and Chrysler are on the verge of bankruptcy. And there is a world-wide economic recession provoked by the near collapse of the U.S. banking system with its international connections.
A majority of U.S. economists are now predicting that our severe recession will end by September, but we may not feel the economic end of this until sometime afterward.
Some conservatives are criticizing Obama for taking socialistic measures. Based upon your readings in this week’s topic, is this what he has been doing? Are we seeing the end of the “free-market capitalistic system” and the develpmed of a more rational mixed-economy?
For additional thoughts see the article at the Learning Module for this week’s topic, by Jim Webb, printed in the New York Times in 2006 for other information on economic equality. This is located at the Learning Module under the title "Class Struggle.".
Please make this make sense.
Recently we have had an economic downtown 2nd only to the Great Depression of the 1930s. We have experienced a mortgage collapse. This has been fueled by lack of regulation in the mortgage industry, where people had bought homes with low teaser rates, hoping to sell their homes before the rates rose. As people found themselves unable to flip their houses, many people walked away from them. This has led to a decline in the value of homes further eroding confidence in the housing market.
Due to lack of regulation in the financial system, the investment banks saw huge losses because they had invested in mortgage securities. This occurred under the 8 years of the Bush administration. Before Bush left office, emergency efforts were taken to shore up the failing investment banks through the first TARP installment. As President Bush left office, our country faced a staggering 1 trillion debt for the federal budget in 2008. Many felt that this was due primarily to Bush’s war expenditures and the tax cuts he provided for the wealthy.
Since this time, the Obama administration has attempted to take corrective action. Following Keynesian economic policies (vs. Supply Side economics of the Reagan and Bush administrations which attempted to “stimulate the economy” through reduced cost in federal spending and reduced taxes). Obama, with the support of the Democratic Congress, has put billions into the economy, and plans to either repeal the tax cuts for the wealthy (those earning over $250,000) or to allow this legislation to run its course in 2010 as part of Sunset Laws.
There has been public outrage over the sizeable bonuses many of the financial industry CEOs have taken even as they were beneficiaries of TARP. (See Webb’s comments on the outrageous income’s of CEOs in our major corporations.)
In addition, Obama is beginning a staged troop withdrawal in Iraq, which may reduce our nation’s military costs. However, this may be offset by the growing number of troops being sent to Afghanistan.
Obama has also taken steps to support the major financial institutions supplying loans for home owners and been able to free up funds for home loans at an extremely low interest rates.
The banks, which at the end of the Bush administration had frozen credit, are beginning to make loans again.
However, there are still great problems. We have an extremely high unemployment rate, nearing 10%, 2nd only to the Great Depression where it rose as high as 20%. General Motors and Chrysler are on the verge of bankruptcy. And there is a world-wide economic recession provoked by the near collapse of the U.S. banking system with its international connections.
A majority of U.S. economists are now predicting that our severe recession will end by September, but we may not feel the economic end of this until sometime afterward.
Some conservatives are criticizing Obama for taking socialistic measures. Based upon your readings in this week’s topic, is this what he has been doing? Are we seeing the end of the “free-market capitalistic system” and the develpmed of a more rational mixed-economy?
For additional thoughts see the article at the Learning Module for this week’s topic, by Jim Webb, printed in the New York Times in 2006 for other information on economic equality. This is located at the Learning Module under the title "Class Struggle.".