Nassim Taleb—author of The Black Swan—has some ideas about other ways that unexpected events, even theoretically foreseeable ones that we ignorantly ignored. He questions the notion that the global and U.S. elite’s perpetual mindset should be one of shock and awe, as is the case—he wonders why even those in elected office willfully remain ignorant to the point of harming their constituents in various ways. 2008’s housing crisis—foreseen by the best analysts and ignored by realist banker—damaged millions of people’s economic standing, and the whole event transpired as a result of a bubble inflated thanks to human greed. The Middle East, Taleb and Blyth say, was the same way; a grenade with the pin already removed, yet somehow ignored by politicians …show more content…
Both Republicans and Democrats have played their parts in adding fragility into the market and the government that regulates it, leading to a system where a simple housing bubble can bring every facet of a nation’s economic system to its knees overnight—all of this because of ignorance of uncertainty: that illusion of omniscience. The Black Swan posits that the unfortunate events of September 11th never would have happened if the FBI and CIA had cooperated in sharing intelligence data, or had a legislator thought those 900,000 pound missiles might be used by terrorists if we aren’t careful. As with the Arab Spring—by all measures both predictable and overdue per various historians who see the world’s affairs to revolve around a cycle of peace and …show more content…
Historically, however, there need be no surprises when the Reagan administration gave ample evidence as to what happens when the federal government covers banks’ mistakes. Economists and social scientists like to believe that black swans are elusive and attack without warning, but Reagan to Greenspan is just one example of evidence to the contrary. Synthesizing, the United States has granted the Afghani government over one-trillion U.S. Dollars in the past sixteen years, to no avail. “Re-asses and re-inform” is the mantra that keeps the green flowing, but without real progress, only a regime founded on insanity and imprudence would continue pumping billions of dollars annually into a flaming
Events of the new millennium irreversibly changed the direction of American foreign policy. During the 1990s, Anti-American sentiments burgeoned in the Middle East within growing radical Islamist groups that perceived America as empirical and expansionist after the prolonged US occupation of Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia after the end of the first gulf war. The September 11th attack on the Twin Towers, once representative of American military and economic hegemony, symbolized to many a political failure that would change the focus of American national interest for years to come.
Conclusion: Roald Dahl uses his characters to portray his personal views that troubles in life can be solved by rationalizing the situation before making a decision, that you should appreciate what you have, and that ultimately that everyone is a lamb, all with the power to break free of their
The story of Obama’s Presidency revolves around the economy he inherited. Prior to Obama’s election, major financial institutions had invested heavily in securities backed by bundles of home mortgages. While these investments performed at a high rate for an extended period of time, the bubble eventually burst when homeowners could no longer afford their mortgage payments. This led to the collapse of many large financial institutions, sending the economy into a state of disarray. As unemployment broke into the 6% range in September of 2012, the polls began to trend in favor of Obama. With the Republicans having held the White House for eight years and Congress for six (of those eight), the American people connected the economic downturn with the Republican Party, paving the way for Obama’s election. (Sides & Varveck,
As a political personality, Robert Reich writes a book that closely relates the deteriorating status of the U.S. economy with the greed of other politicians and the government as a whole. To some extent, Robert Reich pulls out the sense in economy deterioration with the help of pinning the major government policies. Robert Reich 's argument comes out clearly, directly, and at some point presented willfully. From the heading of the topic of the book, what went wrong with our economy and our democracy, and how to fix it, a reader can clearly picture the content of the book that is politics and the financial mess that the United States of America is in today. The book provides a clear, simple, and easy to understand information on how the author, Robert Reich relates the cause a bad financial status for the country and how the government and other wealthy people living in America contribute to causing the financial crisis.
Theoretically, it holds that the United States (US) invaded Afghanistan as a self-defense strategy following the 9/11 attacks. Practically, however, as US foreign policy is about conquest, self-protection and resource-extraction, it seeks strategic dominance of geographical space to sustain its global relevance. The rationality of the US suggests the need to continuously accumulate capital, resources and military proficiency to ensure autonomy. Therefore, a pragmatic reading into the motivation behind the invasion of Afghanistan negates the self-defense theory. Rather, the shifting coordinates of power within central and southern Asia crafted the perfect criteria for US intervention. This work explores the motivations and systemic cover-ups designed by the Bush administration in ordering military troops into Afghanistan in 2001. It will hold that this invasion was not just a War on Terror, but rather a tactic to ensure US prevalence within the region, and henceforth, the rest of the world. Thus, why did the US invade Afghanistan?
Barbed wired barracks, portable potties, and partition-less showers. My grandfather reminisces his time spend at Manzanar Internment Camp. While my grandfather stood in the giant shadow of a 30-foot armed tower, 500-acres of Californian dessert enclosed nearly 12,000 Japanese Americans. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the removal and detainment of anyone in military territory. When “armed police went door to door rounding up Japanese Americans and ordering them straight to the camps” as my grandfather asserted, America’s national fear was exploited. My grandfather at the age of sixteen, lost his home, his family, and notably continued to face several obstacles postwar. Thousands of Japanese Americans during the 1940’s, including Ichiro in John Okada’s No-No Boy, have had their lives reshaped by new territories, boundaries and inner conflicts. The lost of family and friends was prevalent as racial prejudices intensified throughout the nation. While thousands of innocent families were victimized in the Japanese interment camps and imprisonments during WWII, the overwhelming distress led to corrupt relationships and inner turmoil.
The unprecedented government intervention during the massive economic crisis of the late 2000’s was met with varied sentiment of economists (Lee, 2009). For example, economist Marci Rossell felt that government intervention was arbitrary and lacked clarity as to which firms would receive government aid (Lee, 2009). She furthered her argument by stating that if the government bailed out homeowners and banks that were borrowing and lending “over their heads,” they were creating a dangerous precedent to set (Lee, 2009, p.40). However, Rossell praised the Obama administration for having a clear grasp on the economic situation and trusted in this administration’s guidance to recover from the economic crisis. Conversely, economist Steven Schwarcz said that though the government bailout in 2008 would cost more than it would have if the government had reacted more swiftly to early signs of recession, these institutions would collapse and fail without government aid (“How Three Economists,” 2008). If these institutions failed, the ripple effect of this failure to the U.S. economy would be irreparable.
The United States economy has always had its ups and downs like the rest of the world’s economies. Since December 2007 it has been in a recession, and it has not been able to come out of it yet; with the passage of time, we sink even more. Our current president Barack Obama has certain strategies to take us out of this, even though according to economists that recession ended since June 2009, the economy is growing too slow and the number of unemployed people is outrageous. For the 2012 elections many Republican candidates are trying to formulate new plans that differ from those that Obama has worked out, all these are strategies to get elected as presidents or in Obama’s case, reelected.
For this assignment I picked “the role of the Federal Reserve” a mere recital of the economic policies of government all over the world is calculated to cause any serious student of economics to throw up his hands in despair (pg, 74). The Federal Reserve is now in the business of enforcing the United States government’s drug laws, even if that means making a mockery of both state governments’ right to set their drug policies and the Fed’s governing statutes. A Federal Reserve official who played a key role in the government 's response to the 2008 financial crisis says the government should do more to prevent a repeat of that crisis and should consider whether the nation 's biggest banks need to be broken up. Neel Kashkari says he believes the most major banks still continue to pose a "significant, ongoing" economic risk. The next ten years will see an explosion of government debt and an implosion of government’s ability to fulfill its promises. Any economic or investment model based on past performance under previous economic conditions will be worthless just as useless as the Federal Reserve’s models.
Throughout history there has always been some sort of a class struggle. The rich always seemed to get richer while the poor barely managed to get by. One of the main things that contributed to the ever-expanding gap between the rich and the poor was greed. Whether it was the greed for money or for power, greed was certainly a driving force. More recently, the greed of several, rich and powerful individuals helped to cause one of the largest financial collapses of modern times. The purpose of this paper is to establish some of the key players in the economic crash of 2008, and to show some common
In 2008, the US experienced the traumatic chaos of a financial downturn, whose effects rippled throughout Europe and Asia. Many economists consider it the worst crisis since the Great Depression, and its alarming results are still seen today, a long six years later. Truly, the recession’s daunting size and formidable wake have left no one untouched and can only beg the question: could it have been prevented? The causes are manifold, but can be found substantially rooted in illogical investments and greedy schemes.
The main character in the film Black Swan, twenty-eight year old female Nina Sayers, displays signs of numerous disorders through her abnormal behavior. Nina’s life is consumed by her occupation: professional ballerina/dancer. Nina resides with her mother and rarely socializes with others. She has difficulty concentrating, is restless, irritable, suffers from muscle tension, and sleep disturbances from nightmares. Nina also feels very uncomfortable in social and intimate situations. She appears to be unable to successfully interact with those around her. The interaction that Nina has with her fellow dancers appears to be strained and superficial. Nina exhibits behavior that indicates she views all other dancers as competition instead of
The purpose of the review is to inform the reader about the possible dangers geopolitical risks might have on the financial industry when the industry does not look after them. I was intrigued by this dark side of modern communication and the effect it has on the safety of the banking sector.
Although the people’s voice is being heard and changes are being made, blood flows down the streets as people are being killed violently everyday. Many people believe it would have been more beneficial if the Middle East had completely avoid the Arab Spring or at least have gone a more passive road. Through the history of the region, leaders of Arab countries have anchored their position to later become rich and
The Arab Spring has been a life changing phenomena, not only for the people who are attempting to overthrow their governments but for political scientists everywhere. The events originating in the North African country of Tunisia have led to the snowballing of several other Middle Eastern, predominantly Muslim, nation states. The figurative breaking point might have finally been reached as the oppressed peoples of the Middle East have risen up to overthrow long-standing dictatorial governments in hopes of revolutionary change; change that is subject to the will of the people.