The Nader Page has had two new updates since I last blogged: "Closing the Courthouse Door" and "Rolling the Dice on Derivatives" Each of these blogs has entirely different focuses.
"Rolling the Dice on Derivatives" discusses financial derivatives and their ability to greatly affect our economy. At first, I had absolutely no idea what derivatives were (I was stuck thinking about calculus). Then, I found this blog which explains very well what derivatives are. I can't tell who the blog is written by (they go by the name of George Washington on the blog), but it matched the information I was finding in other places almost perfectly and said it in a much clearer way. Basically speaking, derivatives (at least the ones making the news now) are loans that have been broken up and sold off to multiple institutions. For example, one mortgage could be divided between multiple banks/companies with one company getting the interest payments and the other getting the primary payment. Derivatives recently took a downward dive as a result of the mortgage crisis. The magnitude of these derivatives is undiscussed by the media and unknown to most of America. Basically, if the derivatives go sour, we end up in an instant depression. The Nader Page discusses how deregulation led to this plummet. Honestly, I can't say either way whether this is right or wrong. Our economy is very complicated, and derivatives are no exception. After reading the blog, I would tend to agree that deregulation played a large role in the derivative fall. However, this blog was not exactly un-biased, so I wouldn't bank too much on my opinions as of now.
The next entry, "Closing the Courthouse Door", discusses Bush's "attacks" on consumer safety. Again, I am relatively uninformed on this topic. However, I found this video to be a great example of an area where greater consumer safety laws could be implemented. The Nader Page clearly has very strong opinions when it comes to the Bush administration's policies. The blog accuses the administration of "damage(ing) Americans’ cherished constitutional right to trial by jury." Apparently, the Bush administration has been siding with corporate lobbyists and insurance companies in passing legislation that keeps the companies from being laiable for dangerous products. If this is true, I would agree with everything the blog says. This is a fundamental infringement on our right to fair trial and equality and justice. However, it is difficult to tell if these allegations are entirely true with just this one biased source to consider.
The next entry, "Closing the Courthouse Door", discusses Bush's "attacks" on consumer safety. Again, I am relatively uninformed on this topic. However, I found this video to be a great example of an area where greater consumer safety laws could be implemented. The Nader Page clearly has very strong opinions when it comes to the Bush administration's policies. The blog accuses the administration of "damage(ing) Americans’ cherished constitutional right to trial by jury." Apparently, the Bush administration has been siding with corporate lobbyists and insurance companies in passing legislation that keeps the companies from being laiable for dangerous products. If this is true, I would agree with everything the blog says. This is a fundamental infringement on our right to fair trial and equality and justice. However, it is difficult to tell if these allegations are entirely true with just this one biased source to consider.
1 comment:
Very interesting Saul. I had never heard of derivatives when referring to mortgages and it was interesting to hear about the fall of them. You said maybe this is another political bias to consider. I also ran into this with Senator Harkin. It was interesting to see how the Nader administration talked about Bush's policies and how to change and about the fall of the economy. Well said. It was good getting another perspective on some of the main topics in our world, and from the view point of one of the lesser known presidential candidates.
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