How Ridiculously Unfair is the United States Economy - Assignment Example

Ruzhou Qin Portia Jeffries ENG101 10AM 13th May How Ridiculously Unfair is Our Economy? The commencement of global economic crisis in 2008 highlighted some of the important dreadful exposures of the US economic system. Amongst these vulnerabilities, one of the most important one was that financial institutions were not managed and controlled in an appropriate and vigilant manner. The reason behind this was the greed of corporations and also of the highest level decision makers. It was witnessed that the mortgage crises had a great impact on the downfall of the economy just because the people who were in commanding positions were interested to increase their bank balances rather than contributing to stabilize the economy. There were many companies who were providing their CEOs and managers with enormous amount of money even when the company was unable to produce the desired output. Furthermore, AIG one of the popular names in the market, at one end was awarding its executives with millions of dollars while on the other end was accepting the government assistance package (Uslaner 111). There were many people who were allowed to borrow huge sums of money even after knowing that it was not at all necessary as far as their needs were concerned. This reflects the lack of control of the government institutions and their half hearted efforts towards the stabilization of economy for if the Central Bank would have been stricter the situation could have been improved exponentially. Another factor that contributed in the demise of the US economy system was the poor role played by the government after getting thrashed by the economic crisis. It was reported that the President Barack Obama transacted a record $787 billion stimulus package as assistance for the declining businesses. It would have been better that all such faulty systems were discarded rather than supporting them to prevail. This not only worsened the current situation but the effects of which would be experienced in future also. The aforementioned two variables resulted in the mistrust of the people not only to the economic and political institutions but with each other as well. The poor government policies and the greed of the corporates left many people with a doubt in their minds before they get associated with any of the institutions. According to Ulsner, “…trusting people help democracies function better with more efficient bureaucracies and judicial systems” (114). All in all, the inefficient way to progress the framework is one of the most fundamental disadvantages of the US economy system. In order to make things better the decision makers will have to come up with something extra ordinary otherwise there is no way out that US Economic System could get stable in the future. The Economic Crisis The Economic Crisis that began in 2008 resulted adversely in many parts of the world including Asia. The adverse effects in Asia were in terms of unemployment and lack of job security. “At the start of the crisis more than 60 per cent of Asia’s workers were classified as being in “vulnerable employment” (either own account workers or unpaid family workers)” (Kapsos 3). Not many companies were found to react immediately. But there were companies who took certain precautionary measures to overcome the economic crisis. Among these measures downsizing of the company was the most common one. Downsizing was actually an attempt to reduce the expenses of the company by firing some of the employees and by reducing the salaries of the employees by 50 percent. Employees were either asked to work on fewer wages or to leave the job. The employers were well aware of the fact that there were many skillful candidates to work on a single post and therefore the existing employees were always kept under pressure of being fired if they fail to work as per ordered. During the downsizing of the company, investigations were held by the senior management in order to eliminate all the posts that were irrelevant and without which the company would not suffer. After the deep evaluation all the employees under such posts were terminated. The factor of unemployment increased to a great extent in Asia as soon as the economic crisis commenced. . “In the second scenario unemployment in Asia would increase by 15 million, from a rate of 4.6 per cent in 2007 to 5.1 per cent in 2009” (Kapsos 3). This resulted in the immense pressure that the existing employees have to deal with along with their regular responsibilities. This means that the employees who were terminated had to suffer a great deal but the life of the employees who somehow managed to stick to their jobs was not easier either. They were asked to work more than what they were actually appointed for. The immense pressure of the employers made their lives miserable. It was a ‘do or die’ situation, either come up with the best of the work or get terminated. Employees were working days and nights in order to make their employers happy and this even affected their health as they were not allowed to rest and work constantly without any rests or breaks. However, the economic crises have come to an end now, and the situations have started to get better like before. The Right to Occupy It has been quite true that on one end the children in Africa are dying of famishment and starvation while on the other hand the politicians, celebrities, industrialists and actors are making huge sums of money and living their lives in a luxurious manner. The world has been progressing in two opposite phases where 99% of the people are struggling to even get the basic necessities’ of life whereas the remaining 1% are living their lives in such a way that an ordinary person can’t even think of. Keeping these facts under consideration, there are some annoying questions that constantly strike one’s mind. Will we be able to match up with the pace of this fast moving world? What will it take for us to get satisfied and whether Saint Francis chastity and self-denial an appropriate answers to these materialistic luxuries of the world? Was Helen Keller right when she said that success and happiness are achieved by trustworthiness and loyalty rather than cheating? Some people have taken certain steps in order to end these differences between the rich and the poor. They have decided to fight for their rights and make sure they get things which they deserve. They have decided to end the monopoly of the people who are being entertained by the assets that belong to the whole world. They have found a light of hope in Shepard Fairy’s Wall Street Hope poster under which people will come out to streets and demand to fulfill their needs and to bring this one-sided monopoly to an end. The video on which I am doing my research is the interview of Cathy O’Neil. She was a Mathematics teacher before joining the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy the SEC in which she plans to develop a banking system. In the beginning of the interview, she was asked about the reason for her choice to opt Mathematics as her major subject. The reply was quite inspirational as she said that she likes the proper categorization of right and wrong. The answers that she gave in the interview clearly reflected her nature. Viewers would not find it difficult to judge her as a person after watching the video of her interview. Along with her positive nature it can also clearly be concluded that she was to some extent incapable to handle the gray areas in matters. There is a certain possibility of gray area in the Wall Street claiming of the existing business techniques. There are some banks which claim that they are being blamed of certain issues which they didn’t actually commit. Furthermore, some people in the financial institutions have also stated it clearly that they do not know how and by whom the money is being utilized inappropriately. O’Neil even talks about her experiences at D. E. Shaw. In the talks, she also mentioned that the common goal of an American individual is to become rich and it is this one goal that automatically creates a competition amongst the people to achieve more than the other. It is therefore not only 1% of the population who are playing false games but these are the same people who once used to be a part of the remaining 99%. She further tells that it is a desire of every person to live a healthy and prosperous life and to provide the luxuries to the children due to which they keep on gathering the wealth no matter where and how it comes from. But there is a very less probability that the collected wealth would last to entertain the next generation. She then puts forward a strong argument that greed does not occur in order to avoid bankruptcy but greed results when the people wants to attain a strong bank balance due to which they get associated with unnecessary tensions. O’Neil further proceeds the conversation and says that the people who are blessed with sharp minds and smart nature should not use their brains in a negative manner rather they should be working hard to make the world a better place to live. It would be very unfair if the smart ones thrash the dumb people and get benefitted. O’Neil looked very determined towards its goal when she said that she is strictly against the people and communities that are constantly creating violations against the Occupy Wall Street and should be stopped right away. She then brings in the moral aspects that should be kept under consideration in a workplace. According to her it is one of the best qualities of a person to deal with his fellow workers kindly and at the same time show concerns towards one another. This instinctive quality actually makes a human being different from animals otherwise there would be no difference between us and animals. O’Neil also accepted that the money she was making was at the expenses of the poor pensioners and this was something that didn’t make her feel comfortable. She also talks about how money was wasted in Wall Street by providing huge sums of bonuses to the banks which was not acceptable no matter what. And the way she put forward her arguments and justified it would certainly attract the viewer’s towards her side even though they might differ in opinions in some aspects. Since the institutions have inefficient framework, they neglect all the risk reports and offer bonuses to the banks and it is even worse to witness when the government does not take any actions against it. However, the fact that the protestors are more cautious, hard-working and purposefully worthy than those people in the Wall Street could not be denied. The protestors are more rational and it is very unfair when they are not given their rights. O’Neil then tells her about her change of profession from a risk researcher to the member of the Wall Street in order to fix the critical system and to end the controversies in the lives of the poor people. It is very incredible to see a lady to put in such brave efforts to give the poor ones a sight of hope to improve their ways of living a life. Furthermore, Wall Street had accepted the fact that they would not be able to close the gaps in the system which resulted in catastrophic injustices but they will certainly say that the results produced by the system are absolutely wrong and against the law. It is near to impossible to survive in such a world which is full of injustice and biasness. The most outstanding thing about these protestors is their strong will power and determination to achieve their goals. They have a firm belief that they will be able to bring a revolutionary change in the system. People will get what they deserve and no one will be left ignorant. They are very keen to end the monopoly of big banks, narrow the income gaps and avoid any disorder in the future. Moreover, people will be given appropriate education in which they will be able to know about their rights and limitations for if someone is ill-treated they could have the ability and forte to stand and raise their voices against it. Works Cited Kapsos, Steven. The Economic Crisis and Asia’s Workers. Geneva, Switzerland, Geneva:, 2009. ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. Web. 6 June 2012. Uslaner, Eric M. "Trust and the Economic Crisis of 2008." Corporate Reputation Review 13.2 (2010): 110-23. ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. Web. 6 June 2012. Read More