Economic crash can be viewed from a number of perspectives ranging from causes and effects to the 2008 Crash's resemblance to the Crash of 1929, which began the Great Depression. This paper will consider the 2008 recession from the standpoint of the financial banking industry, which, according to economic journalists like Matt Taibbi (2010), played a major and significant role in the crumbling of the nation's economy -- just like it did in the Lawless Decade also known as the Roaring Twenties.
Big Banking Meets Big Government
What has now become known as the Era of De-Regulation actually had its beginnings in the 80s decade known just as much for its rampant excess as the early 20s were known for their unbridled lawlessness. Yet, while the latter enjoyed the snubs-to-the-law bootlegging speakeasies, the former enjoyed the merging of the financial sector with the political -- which began during Reagan's tenure in the White House. President Reagan started what became a tradition of employing the biggest names from the biggest banks as Treasury Secretary of the United States, a position that consistently allowed self-interest to govern and transform market regulations. Reagan's appointment of Donald Regan (CEO of Merrill Lynch) heralded the end of the kind of regulation that had kept companies like Goldman Sachs from ruining the economy through big short-term gains. Two Goldman Sachs alumni followed Regan to the seat of Secretary of the Treasury: Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson, the latter of whom helped finagle the public out of its earnings by pushing through the TARP $700 billion bailout of companies like AIG -- which, in turn, handed over their shares of the bailout to none other than Goldman Sachs, while Goldman Sachs competitors (like Lehman Brothers were allowed to be crushed without receiving any bailout whatsoever). The U.S. Treasury Secretary position was finally capped off by Timothy Geithner's accession to the throne (for which he abandoned the one given him at the Federal Reserve). All of this means, essentially, that the kind of big government so hated by members of the Tea Party is actually very cozy with the big business so loved, ironically, by the same Party.
The problem with the Tea Party is that it views de-regulation of big business as a good thing. But de-regulation...
Sorkin's book does a good job of giving the details on what happened among Lehman Brothers, Barclays, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, the Fed, and Big Gov following the collapse. Essentially, everyone had egg on his face -- but some of the bigger powers had the muscle to save face -- and sink competitors at the same time: which is exactly what Goldman Sachs did to Lehman. Goldman had been placing
The downward spiral of deflation, the collapse of countless banks and other financial institutions, and the unprecedented levels of unemployment all demanded that something be done. The programs that constituted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal were not entirely unknown in the pre-Depression world. Various European countries already possessed social welfare schemes to some extent, but in the United States this was largely new thinking. The changes wrought by the
Economic Events: 1980-1989 the decade of greed. The era of Ronald Reagan when the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Despite this common wisdom, 1980 started off auspiciously. On May 8, 1980 the World Health Organization hailed "one of the century's greatest medical accomplishments," the final and total eradication of smallpox (Dickson 247). But how quickly times change - barely a quarter century has passed and this same disease
Indeed, no room was allowed for alternative viewpoints regarding the situation. The crisis then occurred during July of 1997, when the Thai baht was floated. It is rather interesting that the very same players predicting continual prosperity, have moved to the exact opposite of their previous opinions, now profiting from the collapse and gloomy predictions for the future of the Asian economy. The role of the World Bank was thus
The U.S. is a property owning civilization and a number of the people wanted land and housing. Americans however scarcely ever create savings. "The country itself lives on other countries' savings by issuing bonds to finance its excessive consumption. The current crisis began with cheap housing loans offered by banks. Banks provided loans but instead of holding the loan in their books, they packaged them into collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)
While a cut down in budgets is inevitable, however, libraries should also try to increase their revenues. This can be achieved by promoting more subscriptions and grants through increasing dependency on technology (Budd 2005). A library might be able to attract grants if it goes digital. The director or management can make a presentation to convince the relevant authorities about how their grant will increase the library's productivity. This will
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