Vietnam Experiences + Views Today

Can I just say I dislike reading about war novels? Currently we are reading about the many opinions and realitites faced in the Vietnam War and it makes me so miserable reading about soldier's experiences, not to mention how the words of innocent victims that are not written.


In Marita Sturken's detailed history of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, she mentions people leaving objects ranging from letters, photographs, to medals of honor and much more to show others the personal side of the Vietnam War. By others placing their own experiences of this war within the reach of others, shows two sides of war: the pain and also the humanity that soldiers try to hold on to. In Tim O'Brien's  first chapter of The Things they carried, almost read like a poem. He reiterates multiple times to the reader that the items of the platoon vary between soldiers but keep them alive, and (try) to keep them sane.  One carried hope about a love that could never be, another excess rations to curb his sweet tooth, another stored tranquilizers to remove himself from the fear, and possibly pain. Within these objects, the one cannot label these soldiers as just killing machines, constantly ready for battle. With objects presented to the public via Memorial and also in O'Brien's novel, it shows how soldiers tried to distract themselves from the anguish experienced in combat. These artifacts have also shaped our view on Veterans, seeing them now as strong, brave citizens that had the courage to experience what they had to and try to still keep themselves from being completely desensitized from the outside world.


Personally from reading both articles I sympathize with what these soldiers had to face, for I cannot empathize (and this might be my inner hippie coming out) but there should be a better solution to wars, subjecting people to traumatic events and killing innocent people it just isn't right but alas we have not found other ways of making our relations with other countries better...


This weekend was absolutely insane, I worked almost 18 hours this weekend alone and tried to catch up on sleeping, and now I am faced with a mountain of homework. Don't you hate it when all of your teachers think that weekends should be spend doing EVEN MORE homework? Weekends = fun time. I am silently cursing all of my teachers, (no offense Jeramy).


To a better Monday than the last!
A.B

On to the Next One...

As we end our unit on illegal immigration, I definitely feel more knowledgable on this controversial subject. Learning aboout the conditions and the tribulations these immgrant workers have to face is just terrible. Before we started this unit I felt bad for these illegal immigrants, and how their hard work is not recognized by Americans. After reading so many articles for/against illegal immigrants and what should be done about them, my feelings are still the same, but I do realize that things do need to change. If the rate of illegal immigrants continues to increase in America there will be chaos. Not because these immigrants are dangerous but because we won't have enough food, resources and land for all. To create order in this overpopulated country and world, we need to start helping countries that are not stable enough economically and help them become first world countries. If all countries were self-sufficient and stable, the rate of immigration and emigration would decrease sharply. Most immigrants are looking to build a better life in another country but if their country is prosperous why would they leave? The only problem with this idealistic method is that first world countries do not want this to happen because then the power they hold over these countries will be dispersed but I will not expand on this today, perhaps another post.. 


My opinion on Arizona's SB 1070 however, has not changed.As I said in a previous post, Arizona could have worded this bill much better to explain that their goal is to help deter illegal immigrants from coming into Arizona not to determine who they believe is an illegal immigrant by probable cause and suspicious behavior. 


As an ending thought I will leave you with this: most of these illegal immigrants are minorities, would Americans still consider this topic controversial if the influx of people classified themselves as 'White'? I'm not so sure, but today is not the day to rant about America's long history of racism.


Dear Friday, I can't wait to see you
 A.B

Migrant Workers= Scapegoats

After reading Arizona's SB1070, and others articles that viewed illegal immigrants as the problem in the influx of undocumented workers that are coming to America; I can't help but think they are not seeing the big picture. It is not undocumented workers that are the real problem. It is the employers who are hiring the workers. Employers who want to make a more susbstantial profit hire these workers because they can exploit them by paying lower wages, working longer hours and not give health benefits. Most of the jobs that migrant workers do are very labor intensive. Working outside in 100-degree weather with little (if any breaks), getting paid by the pounds they pick, and threats of deportation, migrant workers have sweatshop conditions in America. Many nativists *eye-roll* complain that these undocumented workers are stealing jobs ffrom qualified American workers. American workers would not stand for the injustices that these workers face and definitely not for under minimum wage. Migrant workers, if anything, are taking the jobs Americans overlook, while they search for better ones. And since we are in a recession, companies are trying to stabilize their businesses and might not have the budget to employ five American workers at minimum wage while they can employ 8 undocumented workers for under minimum wage. Again, I believe undocumented workers are not the biggest issue people should be focusing on. Americans should be pointing the finger at business that are trying to retain profits. Illegal workers are just trying to do what everyone in America is trying to do. Survive.


Today was a pretty good day. Too bad this week won't be...


Hoping for awesome weather this week!
A.B

Arizona: Cracking down or Breaking down?

As geography would have it, the United States borders on Canada and Mexico two major contributors to our country. Canada is a constant joke in our nation and though we export out excellent actors that we now claim as our own. Mexico on the other hand, supplies most of the undocumented workers in this country.


Arizona has passed an Act known as SB 1070 that is trying to restrict and cease the influx of alien workers and undocumented immigrant that are coming into the state. The law presents it self as helpful, protecting American citizens and making police enforcement focus on other important factors in the state, but while reading this bill the tone was more anti-immigrants than protection. In the bill it states that officers of the law can arrest a person (without a warrant) if the officer has probable cause that the said person ha broken the law. But what kind of probable cause? The limits of searching seem infinite, making racial profiling come into the equation, and question who is legal and illegal persons. I think Arizona's law is not really helping the immigrant situation because it makes them in the bill seem like they are carrying weapons/drugs into the state and want to harm citizens but that is not the case. Most illegal immigrants ( I hate using the term alien) come to America to make a better life for themselves and help their families, by doing the work that most people refuse to do. There is definitely a better way to go about immigration laws than to police those who "look" illegal. More to come later.


I hope everyone had a lovely Sunday.
A.B

A Change of Plans is Needed

In the past four years the world has changed. Economically, the world has a slowed down gross production rate from around three percent in 2007, in 2009 it dropped to negative .8 percent. It is now 2011. We need to start changing our changing our plans of development so that we as people of the world can prosper. The global economy has decreased significantly, hurting citizens in different countries by lost of jobs, houses and in some cases, food. With this economic crisis, people changed the way they lived their lives while trying to figure out how they are going to not only survive today but how to rebuild their lives for their future. Though this crisis is no doubt the fault of free-trade and the deregulation of financial institutions, we as a nation, can learn from this grave mistake by taking control back to how banks, institutions and trade is practiced.

             Freedom is deeply rooted into American culture. That is of course how we started as a nation; we wanted freedom from our mother country. We want things done our way, and not have someone hanging above our heads monitoring our every move. Over the past three decades, banks and financial establishments have had an enormous amount of freedom of how they do business thanks to deregulation and free trade. Without government interference, financial institutions have advanced substantially, having multiple corporations in different countries, broadening their client base, and more importantly their pockets. Free trade, which gives a vast amount of products to different countries, also creates competition within countries. By corporations having little taxes on where they create their goods, businesses seek poorer countries that will manufacture products faster and cheaper while therefore creating fewer jobs for their own country. Ralph E. Gomory, a leader of science and technology, stated to US House of Representatives in 2008 that “ In globalization, jobs leave the country altogether and only the corporate profits remain” (Gomory 183). With fair trade and globalization working together corporations are reaping absurd benefits while those who consume and produce said products are left with less than quality product and unfair wages respectfully. With many companies outsourcing jobs, unemployment rates are increasing in America thus hurting our economy, and our standard of living. “This makes for good corporate profits, but it leaves American workers behind” (Gomory 183). If the government stepped in to help regulate how free trade and international businesses are being practiced there is less chance that this recession we are currently in will happen again.

Thanks to deregulation, banks and investors use a system of securitization that compiles debts, loans, and anything that involves regular payments into packages that seem appetizing to buyers, all while not knowing exactly what they are selling. By selling these securitizations and derivatives (contracts based on a certain type of trade), for a low or high-risk payout, financial institutions have made trillions of dollars on selling overpriced mystery bags. Banks have also used subprime mortgages to maximize their earnings by giving low interest rates –initially- to unqualified homeowners. But when interest rates rose and many could not keep up with their payments, banks ended up with essentially voided contracts that held no monetary value, fueling this economic crisis. But all of this could have been avoided if governments regulated how financial institutions can practice their business. People who lost their life savings are (rightfully) questioning institutions values and are skeptical of trusting them again. Joseph Stiglitz, a prominent economist argues that “If financial rules are allowed to vary widely from nation to nation there is a risk of a race to the bottom…” (Sliglitz 157), meaning that companies will have less rules to increase their business (money) against competitors, which will weaken the financial system. Stiglitz also states “We need to restrict excessive leverage and other risky behavior. Standardization of financial products would enhance transparency…[which] could help decide which products were safe for institutions to use…” (Stiglitz 157). By government regulation, we would not only be helping financial institutions stay afloat, we are also helping the people who are investing their savings, making sure that they being protected this time. Within this crisis it has become apparent that banks cannot regulate themselves without major consequences for the people. Having government oversee how banks are performing their jobs consumers will rebuild their trust and the economy.

   Deregulation of financial institutions has caused this global economic crisis, showing how too much freedom can create chaos. With the government not regulating how businesses can practice, banks and financial institutions have grown so big that they lost control of what they were doing and ultimately had to burst. In this recession, people cannot help stimulate the economy because of the “traumatic losses of jobs, incomes, creditworthiness, homes and wealth…” (Schor 210). The government needs to step in and help rebuild our financial system so that we as a nation can further our advancement economically to sustain a better future.

Works Cited:

Johnson, June. "Chapter 4: Trading Financial Risk and Jobs." Global Issues, Local Arguments: Readings for Writing. Boston: Longman, 2010. 138-212. Print.

An Optimist's View on Crisis..

Sorry for the late post, Sunday was not its usual fun day. I definitely tried to do too much yesterday...


Though this crisis has affected many people far and wide, I think there is hope for future generations. This mistake made by financial institutions and banks has made people more aware of themselves and  how they are to spend/save their money. We as a nation need to change the way we do business, we need to remember that consumers make businesses profitable so they should have our best interests first, not profits. 


We also need to strengthen out  the work force in America so that the economy, our living conditions and our prosperity increase. As a college student, many people I talk to that have recently graduated are panicking, and rightfully so. Most jobs are being outcoursed (for businesses to make more profit), or terminated; leaving millions of people who have an education in a certain field nowhere. We need to reward those who are futhering their education by giving them jobs in their respected areas and having them help future generations that will be in their place. 


This financial crisis remined people that money does change poeple, or more appropiately, corporations. Blinded by profits, insitutions directly striked millions of people out of their homes, and savings. Deregulation in fianancial institutions have been in effect for log enough. What we need is a change, that is beneficial to the people, corporations and to the world. But enough on that, as I will post a more thorough post on Thursday talking about how we can break free of this recession.


Having a case of the Mondays.
A.B

Hanging The Public

Merrill Lynch prides themselves on helping the individual and making their first priority the client relationship. Quoting from their website, five abiding principles they stand for are: "Client Focus, Respect for the Individual, Teamwork, Responsible Citizenship, and Integrity." Those might have been the founding principles that built this corporation but after the stock market crash of 2008, shareholders probably thought of a few other words that would describe Merrill Lynch's principles: money hungry. 


In 2007, Merrill Lynch (will be referred to as ML from this point) had an average stock price of $84.88. After the crash, the lowest price I could find was $17.05 in 2008. Since January 1st, 2009,  ML has been purchased by Bank of America, stock has been fluctuating but hasn't dipped below the double digits (yet). 


ML's revenue and profit in 2007 was 70 million and 7.5 million respectively. They were #70 on Fortune 500 Global that year. In 2009, a year after the stock market crash, revenue and profit were 16.8 million ( -73.9% from 2007!) and negative in profits by 27.6 million dollars. What a difference 2 years makes right?


ML did receive TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) Funds from the US government (from taxpayers) to help strengthen the financial market for 2008. How much? 15 BILLION (yes with a B) dollars. But Bank of America also received TARP funds as well so even more billions were acquired...


ML was heavily involved in subprime mortgages after seeing how other financial institutions were making so much profit and wanted to also increase their profit. ML started to bundle and repackage loans, debts and mortgages in loans (securitization) and then sold it to investors for a certain risk, and profit. But as we now know that didn't end so well.


But the most amazing information I found was that ML usually gives bonuses in late January/early February. But on December 29, 2008, 3 days before the Bank of America buyout, ML distributed $4 Billion dollars in bonuses. Quoting from a NYTimes article, "11 of the bank’s top executives received more than $10 million in cash and stock, ....The bonus payouts for Merrill’s 10 highest-paid total $209 million in cash and stock in 2008, compared with the $201 million shelled out to the top 10 in 2007, according to The Journal." Attorney general of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo who was investigating the bank's questionable distribution of bonuses "made it clear that the bulk of the bonuses were paid to a small portion of Merrill Lynch’s 39,000 employees."  Though from the same NYTimes article, "Thomas Montag, Merrill’s head of global sales and trading, received a  $39.4 million pay package and Merrill stock awards valued around $50 millionAndrea Orcel, a top Merrill banker now leading Bank of America’s international corporate and investment banking division, who took in $33.8 million".


Merrill Lynch used to stand for catering to the individual, making their financial future stable but by the articles I read and by the numbers, I must focus on the words used to. Now it seems financial bigwigs are only looking out for themselves and their personal bank accounts.


For more on the shady-ness of Merrill Lynch I found a super interesting article on NPR:
here.


Sorry this post is so late, I consumed a lot of chocolate bunnies today.


A.B

Talk Is Cheap...No, Seriously It Is.

When ever I am in a store with my Mother or Grandmother both look at item they are wiling to purchase and immediately turn them over to see where they are made. Most of the time they put the item back where they came from. Why? It's not because of the price, it's because it is (probably) made in China. Now I not saying that everything that is made in China is necessarily made cheaply, but one cannot deny that many things are. When my parents where growing up, most things were made in the good ol' USA, with a label stitched with our flag on it. Nowadays looking for goods made in America is like looking for a needle in a haystack. In the dark. 


It is no secret that Americans love cheap things. For most big retail chains, (Macy's, Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) their tag line has something to do with low prices, and most places now will take competitors coupons just to get a sale. But while consumers are doing their happy dance on the great deal they just scored, they don't even realize the consequences are staring them in the face. By purchasing cheap goods, US consumers might be getting quantity but they sure as hell are not getting quality. Products produced overseas by workers who are pressured to make garments in mere minutes and are paid very little are not helping anyone but big businesses. US workers are being laid off by the thousands because factories are outsourcing jobs and paying international workers less money while working (unpaid) overtime. 


US workers are being swept under the rug by free trade because everyone wants to save money on goods that will need to be replaced in a timely manner. By not making things in our own respective country we are killing our economy and helping the unemployment rate rise. Now, I am not saying that I also am not guilty about looking comparably at two toasters and buying the one that is cheaper. We all want to save a (few) bucks. I know times are hard, but it's like they say: "You have to spend money, to save money". After reading and writing an essay on free trade this past week I think there are more definitely more options than just free trade. So next time you're browsing around in your local retail, electronic or grocery shop, look or ask (if you want to see an employee sweat) to see if anything is made in the USA. If so, help your fellow (wo)man and yourself by contributing your money to fair labor conditions and rightful pay in America, and help get us out of this stupid recession! 

When's the last time you have seen one of these?

It's the middle of the week. Friday is so close, I think I see it.
A.B

Consuming Labor

I am a consumer. I am not ashamed to say it. I enjoy purchasing goods for not only myself but for others as well. Target has cured many bad days for me if only for a few hours. You know those people in the mall who lure you to their kiosk to try an Organic Sea Salt Scrub from the Dead Sea, that'll make your hands feel 10 years younger? Those people used to love me.I sometime amaze myself how guillible I can be when my friends always tell me  I am a cynic.  Though my family and friends believe I am about three shopping bags away from an intervention, I definitely spend within my budget (mostly).
This past week I have been reading articles on sweatshops and the effects on not only the workers but on consumers and I am seriously considered changing my ways. Now I know that when most people say they want to make a change in lives, it is an grand (and unrealistic) change. Changes don't happen overnight and neither do results.  That's why adjusting a small part of of life is much more realistic and easier to achieve. I know that my interest in apparel is a tough one to manage but if I start to revise my spending on quantity, and start trying to purchase things that are quality, knowing that I am not only helping myself, but also for the people who make them.


I watched this trailer the other day on HBO and found it really interesting. Its amazing that the Triangle Fire revamped the US Labor system but this example should be the standard everywhere, not just in America. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbDoBlUPJUg




Have a lovely Monday.


A.B

Do you know where your clothes are made?

One of my assignments for English was to find out where my clothes are made. Automatically I thought of China, because let's be honest almost everything it seems is made in China nowadays. But focusing on the workers, I found that the condition laborers work in are appalling. Severely cramped spaces, breathing toxic chemicals and working with machines that are highly dangerous without the proper safety equipment. Taking an average of the articles I read, most laborers make 3.45 US dollars a day. Adjusting that wage to the standard of living in America is roughly $1.80 a day, which in damn near impossible to live on in the US, especially since gas alone is 4 dollars (and rising). Finding out how these laborers are living almost the extreme opposite of what many Americans live like is truly saddening. It is  perplexing to think of because many of these brands are designed/ headquartered in the US and made in third-world countries. Makes me wonder if I should be proud to wear some of the thing I do knowing where it is being made..

Hey World, just wanted to say hi..

Hello. Hola. Greetings and Salutations.


I never thought that I would create a blog, being as though I talk too much in the real world as is, but as a requirement in my current English class, I am expected to upkeep a blog talking about current issues and anything else I want to talk about.


 So to start off my first post I will tell you a little bit about myself:

• My major is Biochemistry  (I really enjoy being in labs *nerd alert!*)
• One day (Hopefully soon, I'm getting old..) I plan on becoming a doctor 
• My middle name means 'coral' in Swahili
• I am a fantastic car dancer
• I think peanut butter is absolutely disgusting

This quarter I hope to improve my skills as a writer in my English class and a better annotator. I believe this blog can help me achieve this by my fellow classmates and whoever else stumbles across this by telling me (constructively of course) what I can improve on in my posts.


So I would like to end this post saying, writing essentially a diary that billions of people have access to is slightly unnerving! I am a pretty private person and writing a diary never interested me for a long period of time for I would go back and look at the topics I wrote and they always seemed so trivial.


Let us hope I don't feel that way once this class is over..


Wishing you a Monday better than the last


A.B