Wiki3-2

Wiki 3 - Page 2


 * What do these stories reveal about inequality? **
 * Why is it important for us as citizens to be informed about the crisis of 2008? **

Inside Job and Before Toxie was Toxic completely opened my eyes and helped me understand the reality of our system. I have to admit that before watching Inside Job and Before Toxie was Toxic I had no idea of what happened in 2008 when everyone lost they houses and when this horrible crisis started. Inside Job exposed those who formed part of the bubble which created the crisis that we are living today. This movie exposed how irresponsible the government was when they approved that all banks were deregulated. I believe that government had the responsibility regulate every bank as a way of protecting our society. Inside Job showed me how wall street businessmen believed that they had the control and for that reason they played a game where they knew they will never lose. They took risks because they knew that our society was the one who would always lose. These men are responsible for the inequality that we are experiencing today. Our reality is that rich people are getting even more rich and poor people are getting poorer. They know how to use and manipulate words, words that most of the time convince our society. They know that our society ignores their actions because they can’t understand what they are doing with our money. All the people that lost their houses in 2008 were victims of corrupted people who knew how to manipulate words to make they believe whatever they told them. These home buyers believed them and for that reason in 2008 they lost their homes. Home buyers became the victims of these mortgage frauds just because they weren’t educated something that made them easy targets of corrupted people in the system. Before Toxie became Toxic is a perfect example of how the system plays in a way where they never lose or get hurt. When Toxie was producing money they loved her but once Toxie became toxic they threw away and forgot all the problems that Toxie caused for people. The same thing happened when mortgage frauds occurred because everyone forgot about the victims of the frauds and those who committed the frauds just escaped with their hands full of money. It is important to inform people of how the crises of 2008 happened because they need to know how to protect themselves from corrupt people. They need to know how our system works so that in the future they don’t become victims of irresponsible people like it happened in 2008. We need to educate our society because some of them don’t have the opportunities to learn how the crisis of 2008 started or who caused it. (Marisol Ornelas)

Wow! The Inside Job was a crazy realization on how the rich are getting richer. Literally what these corporate offices were doing was illegal, but nothing got done to fix it. In fact these executives that were robbing everyone out of their pensions, savings, and investments still have not been prosecuted. Unfortunately a lot of them are now working as top dogs in other companies including the White House. How can we think that this is ok? The movie revealed that money controls a lot of things in our country (White House). Yes, we need money to keep the economy running, but these executives spending were ridiculous. Spending money on cocaine and prostitutes are not the way I would want my investments handled. Yet none of these crooks every spent a day in prison for robbing people blind, know that their investments would fail such as Toxie did. Than they bet against them knowing they would fail. These guys made tons of money whether the “people” investments succeeded or not. One man made billions after the market crashed because he insured all his bad loans he sold. That just seems crazy to me. So the 1% still got richer even when the 99% were drowning in losses! It is important for us to know what happened in the 2008 crisis and how it happened. We need to know so we can be better prepared on what it going on behind closed doors. We go to work take care of our families and do the best we can to get ahead, while these Wall Street executives are robbing us blind. We need to keep informed because we cannot afford another recession in our life time. There would be too much at risk, and I feel it would take even longer to bounce back. (JenQuintana)

The stories have revealed inequality in our country by the rich getting even richer and the poor getting poorer. Also, the middle class is slowly disappearing causing a larger divide between the lower class and the upper class. The financial system has been abused by all of the financial advisors involved, including our own government because they’re not regulating Wall Street. The abusers are causing the inequality. Its important for U.S. citizens to be informed about the crisis because if nobody knows anything about it, why would anything change. People need to be apart of the change and to do that we need to be informed and we need to speak up about what we believe in. Some obstacles we’re facing are that our own government is still appointing people from Wall Street to be part of the solution. Why would these types of people want to change anything? They’re the ones making money. They’re the multimillionaires. To make a resolution we need to get people into owning homes that they can afford. Banks need to finance those that can afford to own homes. People who cant afford to own a home shouldn’t be loaned half million dollar homes. I think people being informed like myself can be part of the change. I’ll be honest before this class I had no idea what happened in September 2008. It’s a big deal to me now and I try to share it with all of my friends and family. Obviously most of them knew something about it. Its amazing to me how selfish and manipulative these financial advisors were when making these big decisions which ultimately shifted the entire state of class and equality in America. (Katie Crane)

The inequality in the system is demonstrated by the actions of the controllers of the major financial institutions contrasted against the ignorance of the average middle-class home owner. The financial institutions made it very easy and attractive to middle class who wanted to buy homes. The middle class was unwittingly enticed into risky mortgages that they would not normally qualify for. Within a short period of time, the price of houses exploded, making homes valued three times their worth. At the peak of the housing market financial institutions further enticed home owners to go after equity loans soon after that the housing market crashed. The homes become less than what they were purchased for, and the home owner was stuck with the mortgage balance plus their equity loans and what the house was really worth. As a result, many home owners could no longer afford their mortgage payments. Subsequently, their homes were foreclosed on. Their life savings were lost, and their credit ruined. The insiders, (the controllers of the major financial institutions) that knew how the system worked and what they were doing took advantage of the middle-class home owners who were looking for a better life. All the average America knew was they could get a big mortgage without the high down payment and high credit scores. It is extremely important for future generations to be informed about the crisis of 2008 because knowledge is power. People need to know the facts, so they know when they’re being misled. As citizens we need to look at all sides and not just take what others say just because they are in a position of power. When you’re better informed you avoid the pitfalls that can ruin you. ---Amber Archila

After watching "Inside Job" and reading "Wall Street greed fueling high gas prices" I was able to truly see and understand the motives of big business and those in power. Both of these stories reveal just how the rich get richer by using the money of the lower class. They aren't gambling with their own money, in fact, they are gambling with the lives of those who work hard in low paying jobs and earn everything they have. This in turn has caused the middle class to nearly vanish over the last few years, making the lives of Americans extremely difficult. I feel it's important for American citizens to be informed of the crisis because it's our money that is at stake, which means our livelihood is also at stake. We have the right to be informed about what is being done with our money and/or how it is being used and spent. If we are kept in the dark then pretty soon there is the possibility that American citizens will no longer trust our government of those individuals working on Wall Street. Both of the above sources explain in detail just how corrupt individuals at the top truly are. All the care about is completing their own agenda and putting money in their pocket, which doesn't benefit the working class one bit. We need change and we need it fast if there is any hope for an economic turn around. (Cody Devereaux)

Inequality is shown through the fact that since the crash in 2008 the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. The middle class is basically disintegrating due to the huge gap of inequality between corporations, politicians, government, and the citizens of the United States. It is important to understand what happened and the consequences, we as Americans face now. We need to be able to know how this crisis happened so it won’t happen again. Having the knowledge to protect our money and assets is crucial now. One obstacle we face is the fact that some CEO’s lost their jobs, however, there are still some inside players still involved within the financial system. Another obstacle is that the politicians get so much money from huge corporations that support them and therefore they get richer and gain more power. It is like a never ended circle, and money always stays within that circle. We need to stop the passing of money between the rich and try to spread the wealth in a sense. It is due to the sake of people’s livelihoods that the rich are getting richer. And due to these abuses the inequality among people is growing larger. The video “Inside Job” acts as a bridge between the known and the unknown. It has helped me understand and open my eyes to the problems we face today. People need to be informed so that they can be apart of the change that needs to take place. The “Planet Money’s Toxic Asset” video is another source that really broke down the issues at hand in a way that helped to clarify confusion one may have. We as citizens need to obtain the knowledge necessary, so that if this issue was to ever happen again, we will be more aware and knowledgeable of what to do, and how to avoid it. (Jennifer Landers)

After watching “Inside Job” I was able to get a better understanding of how the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer. All those people cared about was getting richer and more powerful regardless of the consequences. They did not care that in the long run all their decisions would affect the working people who would be forced to lose their homes and money. Planet Money’s Toxie Asset showed how trillions of dollars were lost and people were losing their homes. Many of us remember seeing this in our neighborhoods when a lot of houses were being left empty. As to the rich people the cycle will only continue because there were no consequences for the people that made it happen. All the money is staying within them, the rich, and that’s all they seem to care about. It is important that we are informed because we need to know what is being done with out savings. Unfortunately we have to trust these people with our money and hope that the abuse and inequality in the system stops. Guillermo Rojas

The crash of the financial system still has some gray areas that have not been uncovered today. These stories that we have seen show us about the inequality and abuses of the system because nothing has happen to the bankers in forms of punishment. Think of it was if it was a normal citizen that rob from people and banks they would be sent to prison but not if you’re a banker. This issue was investigated by the FBI in 2004 and nothing was done by it, they knew what was happening but did nothing. As citizens of America we shouldn’t let this act of injustice and fraud be done to us. The sad part is that most people didn’t even know what was going on with the banks including myself. As citizens we all need to ask more questions to better inform ourselves and to hold those accountable for their actions. The thing that we did to do so this never happens to us again is to have a strict system of regulation and punishment. Another thing that we can do is have a checks and balances type of setup where we have different agencies and banks keeping each other in check so no one gets out of line. Chris Park

Inside jobs allowed me to put faces on the few wealthy CEO's who cause the financial crash in 2008. I was amazed on how corrupt those men were, and how little they cared about the millions of people who were being victimized in order for them to make more money. The greed and lack of sensitivity towards those who were affected by the crash was ambitious through the video. There is inequality in the financial system because people were not fully inform or misguided about their financial investments. Most of us still have trouble understanding the ins and outs of the financial system. We place our trust on educated rich people when making our financial decisions and we expect them to be ethical, but the reality is very different, all they want is to profit. Toxie helped me understand the financial crash more in depth. It was very easy to understand how when the financial system saw that Toxie was profitable everyone wanted her, but when it became useless everyone tossed it. There is inequality in the justice system as well because none of those people who committed fraud paid for their crimes. They never weren't obligated to pay any of the money they wrongfully took from millions of people. How can the justice system be equal if we only prosecute and incarcerate those who have no monetary power on financial stability? (Lucero Rivera)