The End.

This is the best way I ever could have imagined ending this blog: meet the new First Family of the United States of America.

Reflection on My Blog and the Election

I believe I have reflected on this blog project in my self-analysis post, however there are a few other areas of relevance I would like to expand on via this post. I thought the idea of a blog project was novel, because I've never been asked to do a project even resembling this, although I knew it would be frustrating because I would, in part, have to depend on my fellow classmates in order to be successful. Now, this is nothing personal, because I DO love my fellow classmates, but there's nothing more in life that I hate than having to rely on other people, which is what, in a way, this project has involved. While I have learned an immense amount on my subject, as well as the various other topics that members of my English class have chosen to blog about, I'd rather write an essay any day!

And while there is no doubt in my mind that the internet is a powerful tool, capable of reaching the multitudes of people across the globe, I'd much prefer to blog about fashion or music than politics. I feel like, had I felt more passionate about my topic, I could have had a much more interesting and successful blog. So while I AM very excited about the prospects of blogging, because it is truly exciting to see people commenting on your entries, there is no way I will blog on a topic like this again.

Now, on to the election! IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY VOTED, PLEASE GO OUT AND DO SO! While in my ideal world everyone would vote for Obama, I would honestly be just as pleased if people just go out and vote. Period. Make your voice count! This is undoubtedly the most exiting election this country has seen in a good many years, and regardless of who wins (fingers crossed for Barack!) this has been an immensely historical election. I've saved my "I Voted" sticker and will keep it for the rest of my life, and show my children/grandchildren when they read about November 4, 2008 in school decades from now!

Extended Links Posting

While I do occasionally post links from blogs, but only those I deem to be reputable, I get most of my links from the 'normal', 'everyday' websites. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

The New York Times

The Washington Times

CNN

BBC

The Washington Post

The LA Times

MSN

While I would like to be able to provide an 'extended' reading list for my followers, the places I acquired most of my information are from well known sites such as the ones listed above. All of these websites offer factual and up-to-date reports on the current housing market crisis and what is being done to fix it. For more opinionated readings, I would recommend reading blogs; some blogs that I recommend are on my blogroll, located on the right-hand side of this page towards the bottom.

Corrente Wire This blog has postings from 8 bloggers, men and women from around the country, and it uses humor to address a plethora of political/economical issues, including the housing crisis and what various politicians in Washington plan to do about it. I like this site a lot because there are always several posts a day, it is entertaining, and it looks at a wide range of topics.

What I've Learned Through this Blog

The whole purpose of entering college and doing school projects, such as this blog that was required for an English class, is to grow as a person both creatively and mentally. Therefore, the point of this project was not to do it for a grade, although on the surface that would indeed be the reason behind it; we, the students, should have both learned and expanded our minds as a direct result of this blog project.

So, what have I learned? How has my understanding of the issue grown and evolved? How has my new knowledge shaped my understanding of the subject? How has my opinion on said subject evolved? These are some of the questions I asked myself so I could fully consider how this blog has affected myself and my thinking.

In choosing my topic, the way the bailout money is to be spent to fix the housing crisis, I have most definitely acquired a new wealth of information with every post I've made. However, despite simply absorbing facts I've read, my perception on the issue has changed: I'm now much more aware of how complex the problem is, and how interconnected my problem is to other fields, such the as political and global aspects involved. Not only does this problem cross the perspectives of politics and economics, but of time (as politicians are looking into the past, plans like the HOLC, to try and find solutions that can be applicable for today's crisis). I'm now much more aware of how the issue of the mortgage meltdown is an absolutely crucial issue that needs to be solved, because it affects both the United States' economy via the Stock Market, which in turn affects other world economies and other world markets, which in turn come back and affect the US. The world's economies and markets are very much like a food web, where one imbalance can easily throw off all other aspects, as they are all interconnected and interdependent on one another.

The thing that most surprised me, pleasantly nonetheless, is how through blogging on this issue I've gleaned a bit of hope; although the situation that the United States is in is indeed bleak, lawmakers and politicians are doing everything in their power to fix the housing crisis. I have gone from not being knowledgeable and automatically having negative connotations about the bailout to feelings of optimism, learning that fixing the housing market will in turn help the Stock Market rebound and provide a better buffer for the ever roughening economy. And while sides may hold differing viewpoints on how to go about finding a viable solution, all can agree on the important points that 1) the homeowners need a quick, yet reasonable, solution and 2) fixing the housing market is one of the most crucial steps to helping the United States rebound out of its current situation.

This About Sums it up..

"We just let things get completely out of hand," he said of his own party's rule in the past eight years. Spending, the conduct of the war in Iraq for years, growth in the size of government, larger than any time since the Great Society, laying a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America, owing $500 billion to China, obviously, failure to both enforce and modernize the [financial] regulatory agencies that were designed for the 1930s and certainly not for the 21st century, failure to address the issue of climate change seriously."

- John McCain on George W. Bush's presidency, in a new interview with The Washington Times

Class Links

Three classmates' blogs that I highly recommend, and will no doubt follow more closely from this point onwards:

Crime and Punishment

This blog provides a multi-faceted look at the criminal justice system, who exactly inhabits it, and the various problems and solutions posed by this system. The author ponders the question of rehabilitation, including when, why, and if it could be beneficial in helping reform criminals and returning them to society as productive, and most importantly, non-threatening individuals. She gives extremely fascinating details on the lives these incarcerated people lead, the chances of success they have once they leave their confinement and the various views of the two Presidential candidates on the matter of criminal rehabilitation.

A Shot in the Dark

I like this blog because it presents an issue that has been lost in all the turmoil of the economy and the Presidential election. Usually the issue of gun control, and the various interpretations of the 2nd Amendment, are more publicized areas of the election, as views on this controversial subject has often gone hand-in-hand with defining one's stance as a Republican (pro-right to bear arms) or Democrat (traditionally against the right to bear arms). There are also some interesting articles brought up, such as one that links gun control to ideas of women's rights, and how the two are interconnected.

The Iraq War

This is a blog that I most definitely recommend reading, although I am slightly biased in saying so because I agree on many of the things the author has to say. The point of this blog is to bring the War in Iraq back into the light, as the subject, which has in no way lost any importance or significance in my eyes, has slowly drifted into the background as thoughts of the economy, the housing crisis and the Presidential race have moved to the forefront. This blog exposes the miss-steps, fumbles and straight up lies of the Bush Administration as well as the fact that we have been told, for far too long, that our troops would be brought home, but with little to no follow through in the matter.

How College Students Will be Affected by the Housing Crisis

So earlier in class someone brought up a very good point when they inquired as to how they might be affected. Not in a global or economic sense, but in a personal sense.

The credit crisis, brought on by the failing housing market, has made it harder for families to borrow money for student loans. This has not been too much of a problem this semester, but only because students, so far, have managed to find alternatives and their finances were in order months ago, before the credit crisis and the economy took a turn for the worst.

Many families, which are barely scraping by while managing to put their child[ren] through school, are now being faced the possibilities of layovers, which would make putting their kids through school, without the help of student loans, nearly impossible. Federal loan volume has already increased nearly 10% from last year, and if this trend continues state agencies, that provide loans to college students, will begin to run out.

We must, as students and as citizens, face the reality that with so much of the United States' money going to things like the War in Iraq and the newly passed Bailout Plan, little money will be left for things like education.