Analysis Of The Book ' The Adelphia Debacle '

In the essay written by Joey Franklin, the author exposes his own internal conflict, as well as the existing prejudice against fast food restaurant workers. The work is well developed, with the use of witty diction and tone, in addition to the appeals to rhetorical devices.

The world is full of financial hardship, and American society possesses a great deal of controversy concerning lending. Unfortunately, short term lending, such as payday loans or title loans, creates a structural void within American society. According to Wikipedia, “Structural inequality is defined as a condition where one category of people are attributed an unequal status in relation to other categories of people” (wilipedia.com). When working class Americans apply for a payday, the unequal status between upper and middle class possess a bigger separation financially. The never-ending process of a short term financial fix becomes lifelong debt. Thus, middle class society becomes lower class society. Eventually, working class society will struggle to say above the poverty line. In addition to an imbalance in society classes, short term lending targets consumers who life paycheck to paycheck. In Rigging the Game by Michael Schwalbe, the author explains the reproduction of inequalities. Schwalbe discusses the different kinds of capitals human, social, and cultural (10). The three capitals unknowingly shape Americans social system. Many businesses capitalize on these capitals knowing no laws or regulation exists to stop them from capitalizing on individuals who no faults of their own were born into these unfair capitals. As a result, short term lenders possess the ability to have extremely high interest rates and outrageous fine print penalties because there is little

Predatory lending has caused many conflicts in the American society. Victims who fall for predatory lending are

Many risks occur when gaining wealth, such as debt. People of high risk of often assume debts is not a problem for them. They begin to assume that they can pay back debt loans when they get more money, putting themselves further in debt even more than before. Recurrently, they will remain

Adelphia also filed the lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion against the entire Rigas family, including John's wife, Doris, and his daughter Ellen and son-in-law, Peter Venetis. The lawsuit accuses the family of a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, breaching its fiduciary duties, wasting corporate assets, abusing control, breaching its contracts and other violations. The suit alleges that the Rigases "regularly conducted their business activities with the sole purpose of benefiting themselves at the expense of Adelphia" and borrowed company funds that "either directly or indirectly, unjustly enriched the Rigas family directors and other Rigas family members."

As competition increased between savings and loans, banks, and credit unions, banks were eager to attract loan applicants in order to increase revenue and compete with other financial institutions. Jack S. Light, the author of Increasing Competition between Financial Institutions, said in his book that “commercial banks are diversifying their assets toward higher percentages of mortgages and consumer loans, and thrift institutions are seeking authority to diversify their loan structures. Moreover, mounting pressures are working toward, and have partially succeeded in, changing the authority of thrifts to include third-party payment accounts similar to commercial bank demand deposits.” (Light) Because of this eagerness to bring in new clients, they were willing to give out loans without checking into the financial stability of the borrower or the business that was requesting the loan. Unfortunately since the banks didn 't look into their clients’ financials adequately, many clients defaulted on their loans because they could not afford the payments, especially when balloon payments started.

5. The unintended consequence of the author’s purpose is to scare the American people into making impulsive decisions. If people are concerned that they will not receive their funds, then they make take out loans to make ends meet. Some of the individuals will not be able to repay the loans they take out on a whim, which will cause the debt crisis to worsen.

Debt is among the greatest challenges we face today, personally and as a country. More and more people are falling into this growing problem. Payday loan companies exploit this problem. Even though the loan amounts are relatively low, the

In the time between the end of World War II and the early 2000s, the ways consumers used debt changed significantly. However, one thing remained clear, borrowing became the new lifestyle that most Americans adopted. Borrowing allowed the average working and middle class person to purchase homes and the items that filled their interiors. It also became the fuel to a resurrecting economy. The trust between borrowers and lenders has encouraged the stimulation of the economy. Because of this, debt has played a crucial role in American history.

These people have the ability to consume even when they don’t have the money to pay for the matter they appropriate (Page 10). Additionally, being in debt is what constitutes responsibility; people get in less complicated debts so later they can get accepted for more complex and perpetual debts (Page 10). Also, debt in itself is hegemonic for the banks. These institutions prolong consumer’s debt and enslave them financially to make a profit and maintain the status quo intact. Finally, it can be said that “The social safety net has passed from a system of welfare to one of debt fare…” (Hardt and Negri, Pg. 10), one that only few members of the multitude, if any, have the capability of breaking away from.

Firstly, Mr. Franklin’s opening consideration reads as follows, A great Want of Money in any Trading Country, occasions Interest to be at a very high Rate. As a foundation for this assertion, he argues that men, in a time that occasions severe measures, are forced to demand high interest, even to eight and ten percent. In his resulting argument, Mr. Franklin has made a hazardous error in overlooking an ostensibly obvious exemption to his initial statement. Especially in times of monetary stress, the value of competition is realized. For, of course, during such times, money-lenders experience an increase in business, and, desiring to surpass their competition,

Quickly these corporations became known as the Fallen Angels and they were looking to rebound in any way possible. Operating managers at the time believed the corporations would rebound fairly easily because corporations would have no choice but to put all their attention on controlling their debt. However, in a situation such as this, close precision and execution is required otherwise the smallest mistake can lead to failure. According to Warren Buffet, “a plan that requires dodging them all is a plan for disaster.” The accumulation of debt continued to rise and not even the healthiest of corporations could obtain the capital to finance it. Even though businesses continued to suffer from accumulating debt, Investment Bankers noted that researchers found over time “higher interest rates received from low grade bonds had more than compensated for their higher rate of default.” From this information, Investment Bankers saw this accumulation of debt as an opportunity for investors. They concluded it was beneficial to have a diversified portfolio of junk bonds because the returns would be higher than a portfolio of high grade bonds. However Warren Buffet disagrees and discovered a hole in this fundamental approach by the Investment Bankers.

Abstract: The world today has encountered an issue of innocent people, people who have done nothing to deserve punishment, losing their lives. Many different types of tragic events have contributed to the loss of these innocent lives. A few of those tragic events include child abuse/neglect, bombings, school shootings and terrorist attacks. Due to the loss of friends, family and just innocent bystanders, many people are taking action to put a stop to these tragic events. There is action being taken through making public places more secure and making other citizens aware of all of these terrible events that have occurred. “A Child Called ‘It’” is an excellent non-fiction story of a man who was abused as a child. The book has an amazing emotional impact on the audience. The book is an immense path to raising awareness for child abuse and neglect.

Records falsification was not the only illegal activity the Rigas family was wrapped up in. The family used company funds, unbeknownst to their investors, to finance personal endevours and interests. Examples include using corporate money to build a $12.8 million golf course on the Rigas property, using the company plane for personal vacation trips including a safari to Africa, and funding for two Manhattan apartments for his family (Markon, 2014). Not only this, but John Rigas purportedly used the company jet to fly a Christmas tree two times to his daughter in New York (Barlaup, 2009)! All of these incidents are just brief excerpts of the fraud and misuse of company funds that John Rigas and his family committed without any intention of ever paying back into the company. These actions, namely lying and stealing, prove to be the heart of the two moral issues that will be further analyzed.

Similarly to how the Rigas family hid their transactions in the cash management system, they also manipulated company metrics and numbers in an effort to hide the actual current state of the company to the shareholders. Barlaup states that according to James Brown, former VP of finance at Adelphia, “it became a part of the corporate culture of Adelphia to conceal information that might be disadvantageous for the company” (2009). The purpose of doing all of this manipulation was to hide the fact that the company was in an enormous amount of debt. They hid the debt from the shareholders as a cause and effect result that would undoubtedly happen. If the shareholders knew that the company was in debt then the company’s numbers in the market would start to slide, thus making getting out of debt even harder. The ethical problem for the Rigas family at that point had become: Do we hide the debt in hopes of making more money in the market, or are we honest about the state of the company and risk a big financial loss as a result?