God Save The Banks

The current financial and economic situation in the United States is something everyone is aware of. Although these are troubled times, the quandary our nation faces in allocating the limited capital resources we have couldn’t come at a better time for me. With a plan on graduating from UW-Madison in the spring of 2010 with a major in economics, the current state of the economy is like a free class in economic crisis 101. I thought I would take my last blog for English 201 and share my thoughts on the economy.

First on the agenda is the housing market. The origin of this problem is greedy lenders; yup that’s the fat cat bank owner who just can’t keep his damn hand out of the cookie jar. Buyers were taking out hefty loans and the banks were allowing it with little discrimination. Suddenly buyers could not pay the interest back to the banks and massive foreclosures ensued. Now Congress is taking an estimated $700 billion of YOUR money to pay the mortgage investment losses for banker friends of our beloved Ben Bernanke, or been bamboozled as I like to call him. On the bright side, well, umm we may not see a bright side for some time in the housing market.

Fast forwarding to the present, we are still in an economic hole, or maybe crater is more appropriate. Spending has spiraled out of control with many new hands in the dwindling pockets of our national reserve. Another estimated $700 billion is going toward the Troubled Assist Relief Program (TARP) to do exactly what it sounds like, relieve those who need assistance, mainly more of their banking buddies. However, this almost incomprehensible sum of money isn’t coming from the taxpayer. Wait, hold your excitement, the money has to come from somewhere, right? WRONG!! The Fed knows only one magic trick, but it’s a good one. They have the ability to create money out of thin air. With risk of intense inflation and running the country deeper into recession, or even depression, the Fed is playing with fire and we all could get burned.

This brings me to my next point, and quite frankly, my favorite the auto industry. After seeing staggering losses for the past 5 quarters or so, GM corp. and Chrysler LLC are the next on the serving line. Their plea to the Fed is for a short-term bailout to avoid bankruptcy. If the company goes bankrupt over 1 million jobs will be lost. Although this has an obvious toll on the economy, sometimes it is better to cut off a leg before the infection spreads to the whole body. What I mean by this is there is no guarantee a bailout will help the automakers. There is no point in using the taxpayer’s money to keep bailing out a failing company. A never ending bail out plan will be far worse than an increased unemployment rate and although the short-term loss will be severe, it will be better in the long run. It is a foolish economic decision to keep funding the incompetent business leaders and allow them to go up against the competent. Allowing GM and Chrysler to go bankrupt will allow the companies to reestablish their companies with their companies and create a more efficient business.

Although I haven’t mentioned many other facets entangled in the economic fiasco, I hope I gave at least some insight to what is going on in our country. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to everyone in the class for the relaxed environment and interesting class discussion. I would also like to give a special thanks to my cohort and to Christine. You guys rock!


Thanks for listening to:

Curtis E. Bear
The Courtesy Bear

this is the end...

Every school year about this time going back to middle school I tend to have mixed feelings about the semester drawing to a close. Like many others, I am definitely looking forward to the long hiatus from school we have coming up after finals week. However, part of me cannot help but feel somewhat saddened that fall 08 is about to be put in the books. There were classes I enjoyed, new friends that were made, and plenty of good memories to look back on over the course of the past four months. I really enjoyed my experience in English 201. I did not really understand how the cohort idea was going to work at first, but I enjoyed working on assignments with my group. This class was a lot different than any of the other English classes I have taken at UW or in high school for that matter, and I really liked how open ended many of the assignments were. Even this, the final assignment of the class is to blog about whatever you want! Thanks Christine, and not to bad talk other professors at this fine university, but many of them are far too set in the ways that their classes are taught to allow students to use this much creativity. Aside from the class, we elected a new president in November. I wish all the best to president elect Obama, and here is to hoping he does a better job than Mr. Bush. The Badgers football team did not live up to their lofty expectations, but the atmosphere at the games was still great. Our economy is in the tank, or at least that is what the news will tell you. My feeling is that America will bounce back from this, but only time will tell. This is the end my friends.
P.S. Thanks to everybody in the class. You might not know me or have talked to me but I enjoyed hearing what everyone had to say over the past four months. Good luck in your future endeavors.

My 201 Experience

When I signed up for English 201 my only intentions were to fulfill my CommB requirements. I’m not going to lie; when I heard the title of the class I was a little scared. However, after learning more about the course my interest in the content increased. I love talking, and talking about talking, it’s just great! In my opinion, the best part of this class is laid back environment and fun that we have. It is great to come from a 745am lab and get to sit back and relax while we all chat about our opinions on rhetoric. Another great part about this class is the fact that we got the chance to look deep into the rhetoric of the Presidential election. Politics is a great interest for me and it gave me a chance to hear other people’s opinion while learning more about the meaning behind the words being thrown around. Not only were the discussion and topics interesting, but the readings were great too. Most classes that have assigned novels are long and boring and are followed up by extensive essays that are annoying and pointless. It was great to enjoy the novels we read instead of having to pick them apart in effort to put together another useless book report.
At the beginning of the semester I was a bit apprehensive to dive into a semester long group project that was worth so many points. I know that I usually leave the majority of my assignments until the night before they are due, and knowing that that isn’t possible for group projects is why they make me so nervous. After meeting my cohort I was even more worried about this experience because all of group members suck. JUST KIDDING GUYS! But no, for real, after meeting my cohort I was a bit relieved to discover that all of them were just as into this project as I was. We all get along great and are all dedicated to getting the best grade possible.
As the semester comes to a close, I realize I’m going to miss this class. Not every semester will you come across a class that is so relaxed and laid back. It’s not only that but the interesting topics that make this class so appealing. Thinking about all the fun times and interesting things that I learned in this class, I know next semester when I’m sitting in my microbiology lecture (yuck!) I will be wishing I was in 6110 hanging out with our class!

groupwork...?!

I have never been a fan of doing group projects because most of the time someone in the group ends up being the one stuck with the dirty, last minute work. I am also very stubborn and like group projects to go the way that I envision them but they don't necessarily go that way and instead of feeling proud or even relieved when the project is done, I usually end up feeling frustrated and concerned about the grade.
For this project, we are focusing on the problems that undocumented immigrant students face living and attending public schools in the US. Our group mostly agreed that we wanted to do a project about something slightly more gritty and possibly taboo because it would be more exciting and possibly more engaging too. We started off with subjects like STDs but decided that it would be better to take a local topic that information was much less accessible to people living in Madison. It is so easy to find information on STDs and there are probably many other projects that have been done on the topic. By focusing on a minority group in the US, we will raise awareness about a subject that is socially heavy. The heaviness of our issue must be dealt with in the most objective way possible. We need to make it clear to our audiences that we are not attacking people who are causing legal problems for these students, but informing them of the issues the children themselves are facing and draw attention to the fact that there are people suffering from our issue.
One of the problems with our research was to pinpoint whether or not the students themselves are undocumented or not. From my experience talking to people I work with and from interviews, most of the students effected are not undocumented themselves as it is much more difficult to bring an entire undocumented family into the US without being noticed. This means that the children are born in the US and are therefore American citizens.
I think that by choosing to make a radio show with an interviewer is a good way to address both sides of the topic. The interviewer can pose questions that open a discussion and the group members can address the issues in an informative way without sounding biased. I think as long as responses are backed up with interviewed sources, credibility won't be questioned too much and our project will not be subject to as much criticism.

I.D.E.A Research Project

Our research project, as of know, will be constructing a radio show dialogue. The topic of the conversation will be to discuss important social, political, moral and economic issues regarding undocumented students in public school systems. Please leave any suggestions you have.

Will.i.am - Yes We Can

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

The meaning of any word or phrase can be changed just by the certain emotion, or lack of emotion that is put into it. The genre in which one decides to convey their message can greatly alter the rhetorical effect that it has on the reader. For me, music is a great reminder of my past and often just one song can trigger many memories whether it is of driving around blasting music with my girl friends or of a sad time where I used music to cope with a tragedy. If the message a song delivers stays the same but the style of music changes it often alters the effect the words have on the listener.
As we have just seen in the recent Presidential election, young voters can have a great effect on the outcome of an election. One way to get the attention of young people is through music. Will.i.am created a song that did just that by taking one of Barack Obama’s speeches and turning it into a very powerful and motivating song that reaches out to the younger population about Barack Obama. Will.iam was inspired to write this song after hearing Obama’s speech and took parts of Obama’s words and mixed it with his own.
Like Obama, Will.i.am wants to stress the idea of ‘yes we can’. As the song proceeds it mentions many great feats in American history and follows them up with ‘yes we can’. As he brings up things such as slavery, women voting, and landing on the moon it is inspiring to think about these achievements associated with the phrase ‘yes we can’ because he strategically places this same phrase after he mentions his goals for the near future. As we compare the yes we can additude to successes in the past it makes the listener believe ‘yes we can’ about the ideas Obama has in place for our country.
Another motivating point about this song is the voices heard in the background chanting things such as ‘we want change’ and ‘yes we can’. As I listen to this song it always makes me remember that so many people agree with the things he has to say and it provides a sense of hope for the future. The tone and emotion heard with Obama’s words in the background also inspires the audience and helps convey they importance of certain elements in the song.
If someone were to read this speech on paper, or even if they were to hear the speech in person it would still not have the same effect that the song does. This song focuses on the most important pieces of information Obama would like to convey to the public and compiles them into a creative song appealing mainly to the young voters. When I first heard this song it inspired me and created a positive sense of hope for the future of our country. What is most influential about the words presented is the fact that they are in the form of a song. Different genre’s appeal to different groups of people but this style of music is one that definitely hits home with the younger population.

consistent communication

Group work has never been something I've been good at. Usually someone ends up doing all of the work, or most of it. Usually I find myself taking charge. So far our group project has started on an unsteady foot. While our idea is solid, coordinating everyone is tough and seems, at times, impossible. Our first meeting consisted of distractions but progressive conversation. In a class where being socially aware, sometimes the best ideas come from what seems at first to be pointless conversation. We toyed with the idea of talking about STDs, something that people know plenty about but decided that it could make some people uncomfortable. I personally think that good points can result from discomfort. There are times when pushing someone to their comfort limits is good for bringing out the realities of certain situations. It is easy to ignore painful realities when you don't have to directly deal with them yourself. Then we came up with the idea to research teachers who refuse to teach students who come from families of illegal immigrants. This topic is relevant on a local level but has more national implications.
The second meeting was productive but rushed. We had to repeat a lot of things that we had previously covered in the meeting. It is hard to organize a large group around writing one paper. The natural instinct is to divide the parts up, everyone writes one section. Then we meet and edit it together. When one group member isn't there, it is hard to convey the same types of ideas and feeling in writing. I think the toughest part of working in a group is coordinating time and communicating. When communication is limited is when one group member ends up taking a large portion of the work onto their own shoulders. Although members may not ultimately agree on everything, consistent communication will bridge any gap left open.