Psychological Effects on Subprime Mortgage Crisis Essay Example for Free

Psychological Effects on Subprime Mortgage Crisis Essay The day of owning a home was a wonderful experience that Janet Wilson discovered after closing on her first home. She’s a single mother with two sons and when her loan officer explained that her mortgage loan would be approve and she felt her dream of homeownership will be reality. The closing costs were at a minimum due to the loan officer explained it would be an easy closing with low out of pocket costs. Janet worked for a healthcare organization for several years and was able to save enough money to buy needed furniture for her home. Janet enjoyed her new home and finally felt the independence and accomplishment in her life. At 45 years old, she waited a long time witnessing others in her family and friends reaching that goal of homeownership. Janet desperately wanted to reach that goal as well as experience the feeling of obtaining the American dream. In three years of homeownership she was able to pay her mortgage with no problem and was able to start to re-decorate her home. Her boys loved the neighborhood and had developed close friends their age. Ms.  Wilson forgot all her about her closing until one day she received in the mail a letter from her mortgage company that her interest rate is being increased. Janet saw her new adjusted mortgage payment and she almost fainted with disbelief. She was extremely concern of why she wasn’t informed of this possibility from her loan officer at the initial closing. Janet called the mortgage company and they showed no compassion that made the ordeal even more stressful. Janet did not know what to do and the fear of losing her dream home and not having a roof over her son’s head made the situation completely worse. After a couple of months passed with the increased mortgage payment in effect, Janet was unable to make the mortgage payment so then a barrage of letters was received about a pending planned foreclosure. Janet could not work, sleep, or eat due to the enormous stress about the horrible thought of having no place to live and becoming homeless. The thought of losing her home and turning her life upside down with the automatic backlash on her credit score brought psychological effects to her mentality. She knew it would be harder to get another residence to live with bad credit score and with her limited amount of income. According to Steve Berger’s article; â€Å"Legislators presiding over the subprime crisis hearings should look in the mirror and pose a few hard questions before assigning all blame to predatory lenders and mortgage brokers (Berger, 2007). Ms. Wilson experience was the fundamentals of many other in the mortgage meltdown. With limited regulations in place when Ms. Wilson took out the mortgage loan, the predatory lenders gain an opportunity to make money on the backs of someone else dream. There a great deal of pundits stating that many are to blame and that nearly three out of every four subprime mortgages originated by brokers were either fraudulent or misleading tactics used to trick borrowers and lenders (Bitner, 2008). In the meantime, Janet Wilson is facing foreclosure and in a difficult position to choosing what to do in her stressful crisis. She is torn between trying to save her home with a tight budget or to walk away due to the limited availability – to avoid paying the increased mortgage payment. Janet is listening to every news update on the government attempt to assist homeowners in the mortgage crisis as the investors were assisted. In addition, to the rise of foreclosures across the country similar to the situations like Janet Wilson, the financial industry must and will change in order to bring the United States economy back on track (Lee, 2003). In the meantime, the homeowner is stuck not knowing what tomorrow will bring or if their home will be taken away due to misleading practices.

Affirmative Action Essay -- Affirmative Action Essays

After you graduate from college, you will be putting in your application for a job that you went to college for. Even though you might be the most qualified for the job you still might not obtain the position. Affirmative Action sometimes causes this because companies have to hire a certain number of minorities relative to the size of the company. This means that if there are no minority citizens available, immigrants who aren’t even US citizens can take the position. This is why Affirmative Action should be readjusted, because it is helping immigrants instead of the people it was meant for, American citizens. The fact is that the current Affirmative Action plan is helping immigrants more than it is helping the American people. For instance, millions of immigrants and foreign visitors are eligible for, and many are actually using, Affirmative Action benefits to grab a head start of US born minorities because they do not have enough US minorities to fill the positions. In effect, many of today’s immigrants are coming to this country and moving right to the head of the line. James Robb, a Senior Analyst of the The Social Contract, a quarterly journal and the author of the study, â€Å"Affirmative Action For Immigrants: The Entitlement Nobody Wanted† came up with a great example of how immigrants are using affirmative action to there advantage. He states, â€Å"Of all US science doctorates awarded in 1993, forty-six percent went to foreigners. There were ten science PhD’s awarded to non-citizen Asians to every one awarded to a US Asian† (Robb). It doesn’t en d there, because after they receive their PhD’s many immigrants will stay in the US to take jobs. This is bad for American citizens who have their PhD’s because they struggle to find jobs, many of which are already taken by people who aren’t even U.S. citizens. It is a big deal that immigrants are using Affirmative Action to their advantage. There is something wrong with giving opportunities to non-US citizens over US citizens. Yes this is a big deal because if you put non-citizens and US citizens in the same job market, you are taking away opportunities from people that have been living here their entire lives. This creates a feeling of hatred between US and non-US citizens, which is the last thing we need. In contrast, there is nothing wrong with giving immigrants job opportunities because this is America, the lan... ...tive action would count if and only if they are minority citizens, which would give American citizens a better chance of finding a job because immigrants wouldn’t be accepted towards the number of minorities companies have to hire. After this subparagraph would be added, the president would then have to sign an executive order stating that although contractors may hire immigrants, only US born minorities would count toward meeting the affirmative action set goals. I think this would then take care of the non-citizen immigrants hiring problem. By reading the facts and opinions of this paper, I believe you will understand that this is a problem that needs to be faced. Affirmative Action is not pulling its weight in what it was initially created to do. Steps need to be taken to right this wrong, so people who deserve a shot, in turn receive a shot. Works Cited Robb, James S. â€Å"Affirmative Action For Immigrants: The Entitlement Nobody Wanted† 1996. http://pwz.netcom~jimrobb/NR-article.html(July,1996) Skerry, Peter. â€Å"Borders and quotas: immigration and the affirmative-action state Available from http://humanitas.ucsb./cgi-bin/mfs/11docs/skerry.html?99#mfs

Gun Control Argument

Gun Control The gun control debate in the US is often contentious and politically divisive. And with upcoming elections always looming in the near future, we will continue hearing a great deal from the media as well as politicians about what should or should not be done about â€Å"too many guns† in our society. Unfortunately, too many Americans do not take time to truly understand the issues and the reasoning behind both sides of the controversy. To help get a clearer perspective of the problem, there are two very short, but well written pro/con pieces, regarding the debate, by Mitch Albom and Thomas Sowell.Each presents his own rationale for what should be done about gun control. According to Albom’s â€Å"Don’t Shoot Holes in Gun Control Bills,† gun control is something that is needed. He cites several episodes between Los Angeles and Detroit where the availability of obtaining a gun is so easy, that people roll up to someone, roll down a window and sta rt spraying bullets. The argument being made here is that with guns being so easy to obtain, anyone is capable of carrying one. In a lot of cases, self defense is not the issue with them.A lot of gun crimes are out of â€Å"hair trigger tempers with a hair trigger weapon. † The big point being made is that most of these violent crimes with guns are a result of someone blowing off steam. It is not only gang members doing the shooting either. One man was cited as not liking a hamburger he received so he threw it at the clerk at the drive through window. She in turn threw a soda at him so he returned moments later and shot her. He states that contrary to the belief that guns don’t kill people, people kill people, that the weapon that kills is the gun being used.It is the weapon that does the killing. There are some very valid points as to how lack of gun control can allow crime to run rampant, but not everyone sees it that way. On the other side of the argument is Thomas Sowell. His essay â€Å"Mass Shootings and Mass Hysteria† claims that gun control is not the cause of violence. He claims when we are allowed to carry guns for self defense, a mass shooting is less likely to happen as it will be thwarted a lot sooner by bystanders as they will take action upon themselves to thwart the attacker.He states people committing these illegal acts are not going to stop just because guns are illegal. When looking into who would stop these people, another person with a gun is the answer. Sowell also cites the flaw of the waiting period, stating the Columbine incident, involved a couple of kids who waited a long time to plan out their attack, nor would the tragedy have been prevented by a program for troubled youth. The kids committing this mass murder passed their psych evaluations. Some people support gun control just because they don’t like guns.He concludes by saying criminals are less likely to commit a crime when they know the person they a re going after may very well have a gun of their own. He wants to compare the statistics to accidental gun deaths and statistics on gun murders being much less where gun ownership is widespread. On a lighter note, to demonstrate the real irony of the issue, a spring 2006 segment of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, entitled â€Å"Bye, Bye, Birdie,† tackled the gun controversy by satirizing former Vice President Cheney’s accidental shooting of his friend during a sporting event.This makes light of a serious issue but the underlying theme is of a serious nature. They bring to the point how this hunting club allows you to shoot animals that truly cannot escape. It is depicting the event with Vice President Cheney as this is where he was with his friend when he accidentally shot him. While it is humorous, when you look at the real issue it does lay out a serious angle. To the intelligent viewer, this can be very effective. They can become engaged in an entertaining fashion but take the serious message from the satire.To the not so intelligent viewer, this may look like a big joke, which can take away from the effectiveness of the message, even if it brings ratings due to the entertainment value. In the end these sources make valid points from their points of view. There are two very different schools of thought and even when satire is involved, it is a very controversial topic. The perspectives are out there. Now it is time for the viewer and reader to take what they wish from it all.

William Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice

Nikki Vietz Ms. Seibel Honors English 12 1 May 2015 Was Shakespeare Prejudice? The premise of William Shakespeare comedy, The Merchant of Venice, is the hostile relationship between Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, and Antonio, a Christian trader. The two gentlemen have a deep history of hatred due to personal injuries and Antonio’s refusal to collect interest on loans. This hatred comes to a climax when Antonio’s friend, Bassanio wishes to borrow three thousands ducats from Antonio so he can travel to Belmont and win over the beautiful Portia. Lacking money to loan Bassanio, Antonio borrows the money from Shylock. Knowing that his ships will be arriving in port within three months, Antonio agrees to part with a pound of flesh if he fails to repay the loan within the three months. Throughout The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare shows his prejudices against Jews, women, and racial minorities. Many would argue that Shakespeare was not prejudice. He just wanted to make his plays more entertaining for the audience, so he purpos efully depicted people’s flaws through comedy. But, deep down Shakespeare was not prejudice. He saw everybody as equal. This is shown in the speech Shylock gave to Salerio: I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew/ eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions,/ senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food,/ hurt with the same weapon, subject to the same dis-/eases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled/ by the same winter and summer, as aShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice Essay1624 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Shakespeare s comedy The Merchant of Venice uses contrasting religions to draw out major themes through the ethnic divides that are exemplified. The play expresses the extreme cultural divide between the Jews and Christians through a legal contract between two men. The rivalry between the two men, Shylock and Antonio is clear from the beginning of the play and only intensifies as it continues on. Modern day readers most likely take away a s lightly different message from the play than whatRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1320 Words   |  6 Pagesghetto, and were treated as inferior to the rest of the city. William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice exhibits the prejudicial attitudes of his era. Antonio, a Christian merchant, makes a deal with Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. Shylock uses it as an opportunity to exact revenge by demanding a pound of Antonio’s flesh if he does not meet his end of the bargain. By pitting the majority of his characters against Shylock, Shakespeare portrays Shylock in a way that discriminates against all JewsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice2269 Words   |  10 PagesSamantha Hansen ENG 314 Brother Brugger 12.15.14 The Question of Shylock It is hard to read The Merchant of Venice without finding at least one character to sympathize with. The unforgettable villain Shylock as well as Portia, Shakespeare’s first and one of his most famous heroines are arguably some of this plays most beloved characters. But, is Shylock really the villain? Or is he a victim of circumstance? Shylock’s insistence for a pound of flesh has made him one of literatures most memorableRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1970 Words   |  8 Pagesthe titles are reflective of the protagonists featured within. For example, the famous titles of Julius Caesar and Hamlet tell the tragedies of those respective characters. However, when it comes to William Shakespeare’s fourteenth play, The Merchant of Venice, it can be argued that Antonio, the merchant, is not who the play is about. In fact, there is not just one character, but instead multiple that fit the description of the protagonist. The main plot, or rather p lots, of the play revolve aroundRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1315 Words   |  6 PagesIn The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare the play is based upon the hierarchy between Christian men and Jewish men. A character by the name of Bassanio borrows money from his friend Antonio, and Antonio borrows the money from Shylock to give to Bassanio. Eventually, Antonio cannot pay the money back because his ships have supposedly sunk. Therefore, he comes close to death because he signed a bond with Shylock stating that Shylock would get a pound of his flesh if the bond was not repaidRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1532 Words   |  7 Pagesuseless dialogue can make readers skip over what seems like a false beginning to a good story. But think about this: what if those seemingly lengthy, extra, useless words were actually important? For example, the opening 115 lines of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice are provide minimal support to the story at first glance. In these lines, Antonio and his friends are discussing the dynamics of happiness and sadness in order to find the root of Antonio’s sad mood. This portion of the play givesRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Merchant Of Venice988 Words   |  4 PagesAs I finished reading Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, I realized that the struggle of the play gyrates around whether justice is truly served and is morality advocated or manipulated by those in authority. The struggle between the principles of justice have caused many readers to question the interaction between the definition of morality and justice. The bond that causes readers to take a closer look throughout the play originates from Shylock’s desire for vengeance and Antonio’s desireRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice1532 Words   |  7 Pagesfundamentalist Americans. The ills of money-lending from the Eastern perspective have been fodder for Western literature for centuries, replete with illustrations that mirror the differences and similarities in East-West cultural norms. In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, money-lending has gone awry. In Act I, Scene iii, the Italian Antonio seeks to borrow 3,000 ducats from the Jewish Shylock, and Shylock intends to charge him interest, which is against Jewish economic-religious principles (BateRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice Essay1275 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is so alike to our financially afflicted world. The rules of law and commerce are subject to deceptive manipulation, fear of the other overwhelms respect for a common humanity, duplicity is the norm, sexuality is a vehicle for ambition, and money drives and wraps almost every action. It is a classic tale that includes important details of the financial crisis in the Unit ed States during 2007-2009. Shakespeare’s Venice, like the New York of his time - and theRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s The Merchant Of Venice2059 Words   |  9 Pagesin The Merchant of Venice resembles a folktale known as â€Å"A Pound of Flesh† (325). Artese supports his supposition with background context and parallels between the two story lines. Literary versions of the pound of flesh story circulated during the sixteenth century and were collected since the nineteenth century because of the plot’s longevity and populairity Shakespeare would have been familiar with pound of flesh stories (326). Human commodification is a central issue in both The Merchant of Venice