Inspired!

First of all—Congratulation Barack Obama! We have the first black president. And it’s not only this, Barack Obama gives us hope. Although I can’t vote, I still feel the excitement around me. This year is the combination of both crisis and miracles. Despite the fact of mortgage crisis and economic downturn, we have seen the highest voter turnout, especially young voters, and we have the first black president! That means people still have hope and they believe they can do something for change. I’m inspired by people’s participation in the election.

Obama was right that we’ve been through such a long way. His success means more than a president. I can’t say racism or sexism has come to an end. However, Obama’s being elected conveyed the information that African Americans or Hispanics are actually part of our country. We’ve been working on this for decades, and now we are more confident of eliminating racism.
Obama’s being elected gives people courage.

McCain also did a good job though. He displayed great patriotism during the election. Obama and McCain are all for the good of United States in spite of party differences. They are all Americans. And people will remember both of them.

It’s not the end. It’s a start.

More than informed--self analysis post

At the very beginning of this project, the economy in the country was at its worst time. The companies on Wall Street were issuing bankruptcies, and people were losing jobs because of this. Then the stock market experienced the worst drop—national economy hadn’t been such volatile for decades. So I chose this topic, because I felt the mortgage crisis to some extent caused this. I thought I could go back to the starting point of everything just like rewinding a tape, and then I would have a clearer insight of the whole crisis.

That who caused this crisis is a very contentious topic. Those who lost their homes blamed the investment banks for designing risky loans such as payment option ARMs. They blamed banks for selling loans but not telling consumers potential risks. However, others claimed consumers shouldn’t have bought the house at the first place. If they chose to intentionally spend money beyond how much they earned, then they deserve the foreclosure. Finally there are others who blame the government for lacking oversight. It’s hard to decide who actually caused this. There are too many IFs concerning this issue—if a single group hadn’t done one thing, and the other things wouldn’t have happened. I believe that, most of the time, the cause of a disaster was the mixture of many possible reasons. Just as is said, “It was nobody’s fault, it was everybody’s fault.” What we are able to determine is what factor contributes more to the incident.

When I was researching, I saw so many cases about how miserable life could be with homes taken away, especially for those who had already been receiving minimum wage or welfare. In Pasadena, a woman was found dead in a burning house. She did this because she knew she would be evicted from the house. Most of people hadn’t known anything before they found themselves in the predicament. It makes me believe that it’s not mainly consumers’ fault, though some people made a lot of money from speculation. Every company is profit-seeking without an exception. And they couldn’t have deceived homebuyers if there weren’t any loophole in the system. The purpose of running a company is to exploit all the consumer surpluses. If one company profits from one particular investment, and every other companies will try to share them in a competitive market. “If they can do this, why can’t I?” That’s exactly how companies thought. Government should’ve discovered the loophole and fixed it.

Maybe it’s because I am brought up in China, in a country where government plays an important role in people’s life, so I gradually form the idea that government intervention is acceptable, sometimes even preferable. And after I did the comparison between US and China, I found that China didn’t fall into the crisis just because there was enough regulation. The requirement for down payment and the restriction of trading equities between banks all prove to be right choices in the market where housing prices were roaring. Many people think China is over regulated. I agree that Chinese government put too much intervention in some area such as media or even market. I can understand why people think like that, and some their comments are actually right. If I have ever learned anything from this, it will be that we need moderate government intervention during this critical moment. I might have some preconception at first place believing regulation is good. When I was doing the research, I put more focus on the commentaries that were for regulation. But I also understand why people don’t want any regulation. Deregulation is the idea Americans have long embraced, and people had live good lives under free market.

If one out of a million people are experiencing foreclosure, I will still believe free market is good. But now, one in 416 US homes got a default notice. And those people are just around us. I see my friends’ parents losing jobs; I see their college budget constraints. I feel really sorry for them. Everyone was working so hard to pay the loan, and now people lost both their homes and their jobs. This tragedy shouldn’t have happened.

I might not be the expert on this issue. But I’m glad that I was given the chance to look into the mortgage crisis. I was able to make some well-founded comments rather than blindly accuse whoever caused this.

Recommended blogs

Jumping the Fence

This blog deals with illegal immigrants from an objective perspective. Being a Latina herself, blogger Petra has a deeper analysis toward this issue. I can see that she really cares about this issue from heart. People don’t usually pay much attention to the issue of illegal immigrants, neither do our presidential candidates. However, illegal immigrants make a big part of our society. Petra provides us with a lot of precious information we rarely notice. She analyzed the issue from both sides, and brought up her own insightful conclusion. Jumping the Fence is worth visiting.

Homeland Security

This blog is dedicated to discussing national security. Instead of listing a wide range of cases, O bro focuses on airport security. Airport is the gate to United States. And with war on terrors going on, it’s high time we should set up a systematic security process in airport. However, this is no easy task. There are conflicts between security and privacy. Government funding is another problem. We need to think about if airport security should be a priority when there’s great deficit in our country. These questions are all valuable ones every one of us need to think over.

Reenergize Tired Earth

The blog concentrates on alternative energy. This fascinates me because energy is such a big and fundamental issue in our country. It is closely related to everybody on earth. Because we have conflicts between profit and alternative energy, so it’s interesting reading about how the author thinks about this issue. This blog refreshes my thought about energy consumption.

Tips for mortgage crisis

Mortgage crisis is never distant. It’s just around us. A lot of homebuyers are concerning what they can do to avoid such crisis happening as well as how to deal with possible foreclosure. There are pretty much information online. Here I want to share with you some useful tips I concluded.

1. Think twice before you decide to purchase a house

Purchasing a house is a big issue not only to yourself but also your whole family. To avoid a possible price plummeting like this one, you may want to sit down with you family and discuss all the possibilities. You may want to carefully evaluate your family income and job stability, and then decide whether to purchase a house or what kind of house you would like to buy. Besides, it may be helpful to sketch a future plan of paying back loans—how much to pay each month, and how long will it take to pay back all the loans. It’s always safer to spend within your ability. And it’s never too late to decide.

2. Refinance home equity loans

If foreclosure unluckily happens, this is the first choice I would recommend. Although it would be extremely hard to apply a refinancing loan during this credit period, no doubt this is the most helpful one. According to Amazines. Com, “it is important to bolster your credit, provide excellent documentation, and be realistic about pricing and market value in terms of equity or sales prices of listed homes.”

3. Local resources and renting information

If you can’t keep your home, there are a lot people who are willing to help. Talk to local mortgage counselor and ask for their advice. Those counselors are experienced in these cases. The following website offers helpful information in mortgage counseling around the country: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hecm/hecmlist.cfm. The website also has useful renting information (http://www.hud.gov/renting/local.cfm).

4. Remember, it’s not end of the world even your home has to be taken away.

I understand it’s a tough experience to be evicted from the house. I can feel the pain when one did nothing wrong but had to face the foreclosure. But please don’t give up life that easily. It’s a good idea to talk to friends and family members, or talk to people who share the same experience. Love can never be taken away, and it’s way more precious than a house. Stand up and fight the bad situation. Tomorrow is a brand new day.

Extended reading

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/housing-crisis

This is a liberal website dealing with housing crisis. This site contains both information and columnists’ comments. This site will appeal to more democratic people because most of the articles on it are against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and are for government’s intervention.

http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-real-estate-homes.html

Wall Street Journal is a more professional and neutral website. It usually has the latest new concerning the mortgage. Analysis on Wall Street Journal is usually more objective. And because this website has precise evaluation on the mortgage crisis, the articles seem persuasive to me unlike some irresponsibly biased blog posts I found through Google.

http://www.nytimes.edu

This is a valuable site for reliable resources. It may seem more liberal too. But just as Wall Street Journal, it has absolutely accurate analysis.

http://www.ccc.unc.edu/

Want to see how professors in our college working on the mortgage crisis? Here is the link. There are some valuable insights from our professors on this websites. You may not agree with them, but it’s still a good reference.

Illegal immigrants fueled mortgage crisis? What do you think?

I was trying to research some information about mortgage crisis relating to minorities. And then I found that, when it comes to illegal immigrants, a lot of people express their hatred toward them. They claim that illegal immigrants fueled mortgage crisis.

“There’s one giant paternal elephant in the room that has slipped notice: how illegal immigration, crime-enabling banks and open-borders Bush policies fueled the mortgage crisis,” according to Michelle Malkin, a columnist. Because illegal immigrants aren’t able to get a social security number, Bush government approved them to use ITIN (a.k.a matricula consular cards) in order to open bank account and report tax. Those illegal immigrants who could not purchase a house can be able to apply for loans as Americans do now. And that results in denouncing illegal immigrants publicly. As is stated by Michelle Malkin, “the defrauders manufactured and submitted false employment and income documentation for borrowers; most were illegal immigrants from Mexico.” And she said, “This is just the tip of an iceberg.”

For those who blame illegal immigrants for fueling economic crisis, they will do whenever a crisis comes because they hate immigrants. They won’t miss any chance to bash those illegal immigrants, including this one. “They shouldn’t be here in the first place, so they shouldn’t be bailed out,” said Chad Groening from OneNewsNow. Personally I don’t feel illegal immigrants are the main factors of the mortgage crisis. They are just a small part of the country. Most even couldn’t afford to buy a house. And actually, since banks are withdrawing from lending loans to illegal immigrants, they even find it harder to purchase a house. It there have been more regulation, there won’t be any single foreclosure, no matter whose house it is.

So dear classmates, I really want to know how you think about this issue. Do you think illegal immigrants fuel the mortgage crisis?

Implication post

At a critical point like now, it is urgent to get to consent and make the decision—we need regulation, and we need it now. If the problem remains unsolved, there will be serious outcome. First and foremost, we are likely to experience a deflation or recession like the Great Depression. According to VOX, a research based commentary for leading economists, “the rise in uncertainty and banking collapse look like the Great Depression.” Sounds distant to you? The crisis is just beside us. As was predicted by Cleveland.com last year, 1.4 million homeowners would undergo foreclosures in 2008. Because most people who have lost their homes receive little wage, it is likely they lose jobs at the same time. Can you imagine a world where people lose jobs, can’t afford a college education and health care? It is really going to happen if government does nothing about it. During the Great Depression, we have FDR who came up with the New Deal Policy and saved the economy. I wonder if anyone will do the same thing now. Jon Markman, an investing expert predicted in msn.com, people will have to face several differences in the future, including credit crunch, more bankruptcy and change in life style.