Narrative interview assignment_45181403
For this in-depth interview, I have selected my father, James Trainor as the ideal candidate to provide a comprehensive recount of the global economic climate during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). And how his experiences of economic fluctuations and policies during the GFC changed his perspectives and understandings of macroeconomic decisions, as well as their effects on the modern world. At the time of the Global Financial Crisis, James was the Global Head of Employment Tax for the Macquarie Group, one of Australia’s largest investment banking institutions. Fortunately, James retained his position at Macquarie throughout the GFC. This allowed him to see first-hand the economic climate
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Following the GFC, James learnt that economic fluctuations and circumstances can instantly change without warning. In addition, as a result of the GFC, James has become a more conservative consumer. This trend of streamlining spending is evident in the current economic climate with low inflation in major global economies combined with low economic growth. James’s perspective of the GFC provided me with a greater understanding of the global economic climate and the unique attitudes and perceptions towards the Global Financial Crisis. During the interview, James stated that he was surprised to witness long-standing and well-established companies crushed by the financial and economic hardships of the recession. “The insolvency of Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers came as a huge surprise to financial sector”. Said James. James also provided a detailed insight into why the United States and European markets were so affected by the GFC, and how their downturn rippled across the global economy.
Due to the initial global economic downturn, Macquarie’s global investment was extensively reduced. At the time, Macquarie was heavily invested in foreign assets in the United States and Europe. As the GFC severely hit those economies, Macquarie’s profits and share prices fiercely dropped. As a result, James’s stock options which he had accumulated since his initial employment in 2003 became
This fills a gap in introducing the reader to economical problems that were triggered due to this banking collapse such as macroeconomic problems. Which I will include in to paper to furthermore give the reader a more global approach in how the economy plays a significant role in our day to days lives.
In 2008, the world experienced a tremendous financial crisis which rooted from the U.S housing market; moreover, it is considered by many economists as one of the worst recession since the Great Depression in 1930s. After posing a huge effect on the U.S economy, the financial crisis expanded to Europe and the rest of the world. It brought governments down, ruined economies, crumble financial corporations and impoverish individual lives. For example, the financial crisis has resulted in the collapse of massive financial institutions such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brother and AIG. These collapses not only influence own countries but also international area. Hence, the intervention of governments by changing and
A Colossal Failure of Common Sense was one of many books to be published in the aftermath of the Financial Crisis of 2007. After seeing the global economy stall in the face of massive losses in word financial markets, many Americans sought to better understand the crisis and its causes. This book, written from the perspective of a financial market insider, provides a glimpse into the world of global finance and also seeks to explain how the players in this world were involved in the crisis. In the words of the author Lawrence McDonald, “My objective in writing A Colossal Failure of Common Sense was twofold. First, to provide … a close-up, inside view of how markets really work…..And, second, to give… as crystal clear an explanation as possible about the real reasons why the legendary Lehman Brothers met with such a swift end”1. By writing about his personal experience at Lehman Brothers and recounting stories from within the famous investment banking firm, Mr. McDonald largely succeeds at his first goal. However, the elements of personal biography and the chronological order of the book make it difficult for the reader to fully appreciate all of the varied causes of the financial crash. I believe that the main value of reading this book is in understanding these causes, with Lehman Brothers acting as a microcosm of the greater financial universe. As such, in this review I have isolated elements from Mr. McDonald’s book which highlight how the crisis
Many people today would consider the 2008, United States financial crisis a simple “malfunction” or “mistake”, but it was nothing close to that. Contrary to what many believe, renowned economists and financial advisors regarded the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 to be the most devastating crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. To make matters worse, the decline in the economy expanded nationwide, resulting in the recession of 2007 to 2009 (Brue). David Einhorn, CEO of GreenHorn Capital, even goes as far as to say "What strikes me the most about the recent credit market crisis is how fast the world is trying to go back to business as usual. In my view, the crisis wasn't an accident. We didn't get unlucky. The crisis came
The year is 2007 and lt is the holidays, yet for some people, there is no joy. The housing market has crashed and with it, the value of mortgage backed securities. Many are homeless and without a job. Over the course of 2 years, 7.5 million jobs and $16 trillion were lost. Unemployment hit 10% and the Dow Jones lost half of its value. Times were tough for everyone. Then, in 2009, the USA started to pull out of the crisis. The federal reserve lowered interest rates and aided banks with $7.7 trillion dollars of emergency loans. The Great Recession has ended, but to this day, some people haven’t fully recovered.
The collapse of Lehman Brothers, a sprawling global bank, in September 2008 almost brought down the world’s financial system. Considered by many economists to have been the worst financial crisis since the Great depression of the 1930s. Economist Peter Morici coined the term the “The Great Recession” to describe the period. While the causes are still being debated, many ramifications are clear and include the failure of major corporations, large declines in asset values (some estimates put the drop in the trillions of dollars range), substantial government intervention across the globe, and a significant decline in economic activity. Both regulatory and market based solutions have been proposed or executed to attempt to combat the causes and effects of the crisis.
At the time of the financial crisis in 2008 I was about 10 years old. So, I was old enough to know what was going on, but not why it was happening. My dad is self-employed, so we really experienced the repercussions of this event. My dad is in construction and is a snowplower, so the number of clients he had needed projects to be completed or driveways to be plowed severely decreased. Also at the time my mom was a stay at home mom for both of my sisters, but after the crisis occurred this would no longer be able to continue. My dad had also just bought a brand-new plow truck so now in addition to having less clients they now had a car loan they had to worry about.
The years 2008 shined a light on a group of people who were considered high society. When the stock market crashed in September 2008, the world shines a spotlight on the financial corporation. Words such as hedge fund manager and financial instrument such as credit default swaps are not words not known to everyday citizens. The economic downturn forced society to ask question not normally asked.
The United States has always funded the opportunistic financial well-being of its citizens. There has never been a financial crisis worse than that of the Great Depression until the 2008 financial crisis. Even though times were much tougher within the 20’s than that of the late 2000’s, policies were much different, condensing the absence of hope of happiness. There is always room for improvement among any economic standpoint of the ladder, but sometimes it’s just very hard to make some. Times are always tough and people functioning as a society always focus upon the short term involvements of the stock(s), but never seem to concentrate on the long run. However, with mistakes come lessons learned and improvements to economic ventures. Both the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Depression has taught us many things about our own markets and budget capabilities. Upon coincidental financial crises, times and polices were much different, but the reasoning upon the doubt can and will alter the course of economic futures and endeavors.
“Since 2007 to mid 2009, global financial markets and systems have been in the grip of the worst financial crisis since the depression era of the late 1920s. Major Banks in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe have collapsed and been bailed out by state aid”. (Valdez and Molyneux, 2010) Identify the main macroeconomic and microeconomic causes that resulted in the above-mentioned crisis and make an assessment of the success or otherwise of the actions taken by the U.K government to resolve the problem.
Throughout society there are many elements that can affect an individual’s life blamelessly, an economy is one of the most significant influences in an individual's life. Although the performance of the economy isn’t always present in an individual’s thought process indefinitely, it plays a key role in almost any decision one makes. The purpose of conducting this research is to place heavy emphasis on the gruesome financial crises that took place in the time period of December 2007 and ended June 2009, the disastrous financial crisis is notoriously known as The Great Recession of 2008. By analyzing and identifying The Great Recession of 2008 it allows us to fully gauge the validity of the crisis and the effects it had on the
The Global Financial Crisis is a national period of economic difficulty experienced by markets and consumers. The global financial crisis was a difficult time for businesses to flourish in the markets. In parallel, potential consumers had to reduce their purchases of goods as well as services--until the markets improved (Global Financial Crisis). Former President George Bush Jr. was the acting president during the global financial crisis. George Bush Jr. expressed that the world's major economies could overcome the financial crisis. The central bank governors from seven leading nations had agreed to a five-point plan to prevent future global turmoil (Elliot, L., Stewart, H., & Clark, A. 2008).
The 2008 financial crisis can be traced back to two factor, sub-prime mortgages and debt. Traditionally, it was considered difficult to get a mortgage if you had bad credit or did not have a steady form of income. Lenders did not want to take the risk that you might default on the loan. In the 2000s, investors in the U.S. and abroad looking for a low risk, high return investment started putting their money at the U.S. housing market. The thinking behind this was they could get a better return from the interest rates home owners paid on mortgages, than they could by investing in things like treasury bonds, which were paying extremely low interest. The global investors did not want to buy just individual mortgages. Instead, they bought
Just after ten years of Asian financial crisis, another major financial crisis now concern for all developed and some developing countries is “Global Financial Crisis 2008.” It is beginning with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on Sunday, September 14, 2008 and spread like a flood. At first U.S banking sector fall in a great liquidity crisis and simultaneously around the world stock markets have fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to come up with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems. (Global issue)
According to the work examined in this study the global recession that occurred in 2008 and 2009 was partially a result of the financial industry's failure to be responsible for the decision it made in using financial instruments that were risk and very complex in nature. The culture of corporations were constructed on risk-based rewards instead of rewards that resulted in value for stakeholders. The financial risks that banks took on were not well comprehended by the public or regulators and the mass media also failed to understand the risks that the banks had entered into with certain financial agreements.