The Great Recession and The Policy Response Research Paper

The Great Recession and The Policy Response - Research Paper Example This paper serves to look into the causes of the Great Recession of 2007 as the history books call it and the policy response of President Barack Obama's administration to the crisis. More importantly, I will try to answer the question â€Å"Where does America go from here?† Evaluate the Obama administration's policies to respond to the crisis America is a country whose economy has always been based upon the trust factor. The trust that the other nations place upon the credibility of the name of the country and our ability to pay off our country's debt on time allowed the country function like a family that was living beyond its means. We were a country living off â€Å"massive foreign borrowing, excessively loose monetary policy, reckless lending practices, lax regulation, and other factors†. As a country, we were borrowing trillions of dollars from other nations every year. Such money inflow triggers rapid and uncontrollable economic growth due to the artificial spend ing boom that the country was experiencing. This resulted in a real estate boom that would eventually cause the economy to falter as mortgages began to go unpaid. The United States was suffering from a macroeconomic imbalance that had the rest of the world worrying about America, but the Americans were oblivious to what was happening right under their very noses. Economic experts knew that the needle that would burst the economic bubble was sure to come. It was just that nobody could predict when it would actually hit. When it did hit the economy in 2007, there was no place for anyone to hide financially. The U.S economy was officially in shambles and in bad need of rebuilding. What more should the administration do to continue to mend the economy, create jobs, ease credit, etc.? While the U.S was still fighting a war on 2 fronts and struggling to keep up with its debt payments, a new government took over the White House. Pres. Barack Obama rode the wings of change into the White Ho use with the promise that he would end the Great Recession as soon as possible. Everyone applauded and chose to believe that he could do it. But now, 6 years later, the question still remains about what his government policy really was to end the problem and whether it was effective or not. The response of the new Obama administration was swift and clear. He encouraged the adoption of an â€Å"accomodative federal fiscal policy†. It is a policy that, even with the great recession having ended in 2010, has failed to help reinvigorate the U.S. economy to the point where economic growth can be said to have spurred to a steady basis. In fact, the growth of the U.S. economy at this point remains suspect because of the lack of effective economic and tax programs on the part of the Obama administration. (Bivens, Josh, Fieldhouse, Andrew , Shierholz Heidi â€Å"From Free Fall to Stagnation†). Rather, the Obama government seems to be locked in a battle of political wills with t he Republican party as they hold the U.S. economy hostage, a pawn in their political game of survival, without any clear winner. The loser however, thanks to the Obama administration's less than well thought out plans, is definitely the American public. Let's face it, Washington is going to be in a constant state of political gridlock for a long time to come. But our economy

V for Vendetta Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

V for Vendetta - Essay Example Through his efforts, V discovers a terrible truth about the country’s past, pushing people into a revolution. The movie’s plot and cast play a significant role in enhancing the purpose of the story (Spencer 13). Various scenes are particularly important in exemplifying the movie’s main points. The movie makes a dramatic turn in the scene where Evey is tortured in order to disclose the identity of V. This scene helped defined Evey’s character and progress the story’s plot. The purpose of this paper is to add a character into the scene of Evey’s torture and mesh the new character into the plot so as to enhance the story. The character I choose to add to the story is that of a professional torturer who is called upon after Evey’s initial masked torturer fails to gain the needed information regarding V’s identity and location. In this particular scene, the professional torturer whose name is Lincoln interacts both with Evey and her torturer. The interactions inherent in this scene are pivotal since they show the viewer, for the initial time in the entire film, what life was like prior to the reclamation, as well as how it impacted people’s lives during the transition to the present government (Spencer 49). In the scene, after Evey is caught and tortured by authorities for details on V, the torturer who is among the authorities who caught her attempts to gain information by first immersing Evey’s head into water before threatening her with execution. Lincoln starts by ripping off Evey’s clothes and threatening to allow her former assailants, from whom V had saved her, to rape her. Lincoln is clearly well versed in torturing people; he even has a set of tools, which he defines as the tools of the art of torture. Lincoln lays the tools on a nearby table, obviously with a view to intimidate Evey into disclosing what she knows about V. The lighting of this scene is as grey and blue as that of t he last scene. This represents the present political air of the time (Spencer 51). While the initial torturer wore a mask to disguise himself, Lincoln does not disguise himself, but rather allows Evey to take a close look at his scarred face. In order to further intimidate Evey into disclosing V’s details, Lincoln narrates to her the tale of his last torture victim, a middle-aged woman, almost the same age as Evey who had knowledge of an impending attack on the nation’s leader. Lincoln tells Evey how he tortured the woman and eventually got the information he needed from her before killing her with his bare hands. Part of the dialogue Lincoln and other characters in the torture scene includes: Lincoln: Why put yourself through the trauma of torture if you already know that I always gain the information I need? Evey: If I am still going to die, what is the purpose of disclosing what I know regarding V? Lincoln: Because that information will dissuade me from showing off my new torture tools (Evey remains silent while Lincoln gazes at her) Lincoln: Okay, let me give you a few minutes to ponder on your decision while I have a glass of water with my peers (Lincoln leaves the room and heads towards the masked torturer who turns out to be V) Lincoln: She refuses to disclose your identity and location. What do you want me to do? V: Give her time to think before going back in. Lincoln: Do you still need me to harm her? V: Yes. Only lightly until it is clear she is willing to die rather than give away my identity. Lincoln: Okay. (After ten minutes, Lincoln returns to the torture room) Lincoln: I presume that you have made a decision. Let us start by you telling me of V’s real name Evey: His name is V and he is more of a man than you will ever be (Lincoln laughs sarcastically) Lincoln: (As he pulls out a sharp