Author Archives: melanie.ngo

05/15/11

Obama’s Financial Reform : CPA

In Obama’s Financial Regulatory Reform program for the nation, a bill was passed to create an agency that would protect consumers from abusive lending practices, set rules for trade, and take steps to ensure that the failure of a couple of large banks/investment firms would cripple the economy. This agency is called the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA). In this case, Obama is tightening government control over trade and the banks to ensure that the economy doesn’t completely topple over.

Contrary to this, Reaganomics spoke of “economic freedom” and proposed an “economic Bill of Rights.” Reagan wanted to combat poverty and dismantle regulations as well as reducing taxes. Reagan did not have to deal with a failing economy the way that Obama did when he entered the presidency. Therefore their financial regulation policies were much different due to these different situations.

 

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/credit_crisis/financial_regulatory_reform/index.html?scp=8&sq=government%20regulation&st=cse

05/10/11

New Immigration

 

While America had been continuously growing more and more diverse, it was in the 1990s that the nation saw another large wave of immigrants come into the country. Whereas previously America’s immigrants had primarily from Europe, half of the immigrants coming into the country during this time came from Latin America and the Caribbean. The other half consisted of immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Only 10% of the immigrants of this time came from Europe. Also, for the first time in history, women made up the majority of the immigrants coming into the country. This reflected the decline of factory jobs that previously attracted so many male immigrant workers to the country as well as the spread of employment opportunities in openings typically filled by females.

Immigration not only changed regarding the countries that immigrants came from, but also regarding the behavior once they moved to the United States. Previously, most immigrants became inhabitants of the more urban areas and cities. However around this time, immigrants rather moved into outer neighborhoods and suburbs.

05/1/11

Protest Through Media Then and Now

In the first song “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye, Gaye protests the war and violence regarding the Vietnam War. This song was released around 1970. Gaye uses the inspiration for this song from his brother who served in the military and fought in the war. His co-writer also added his own experiences of witnessing police brutality against war protesters on the west coast. The second song, “Words I Never Said” by Lupe Fiasco is a song protesting the ongoing war on terror as well as much of the ignorance that Fiasco feels exists in society today as a result of media and government dishonesty. Both songs express protest through their respective lyrics. However, Gaye’s “What’s Going On” has a more peaceful and soothing sound to it, a reasonable protest. Whereas Fiasco’s “Words I Never Said” has a strong direct message for the public.

 

04/26/11

The Black Movement

Black riot in the 1960s

In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement concerning African Americans continued to grow. This is a battle that blacks in America had been fighting for years, and while there was some advancement through various legislation, there was still great unrest in the black community. Violent outbreaks began in black ghettos; these conflicts involved angry blacks and mostly white police. They first broke out in Harlem in 1964 and began happening in various ghettos such as Los Angeles and Detroit. This violence was so widespread that many citizens feared a racial civil war would come out of it. While government recognized the riots and outbreaks, there were no outright proposals for any kind of change.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The unrest that caused this violence spurred from the rampant legal segregation that had existed. During the 1950s, many began to fight it, no longer able to deny its injustice. However, it was in the 1960s that opposition began to turn so violent and recurrent.

04/12/11

A Woman’s Ideal Life

Although during the 1950s, women began working more outside of the home and began to expand their horizons regarding the roles of modern-day women, the suburban lifestyle movement dominated. In the ideal suburban family’s household, the male still held the most authority and was considered to be the representative of the household because he still made the most money. A suburban female was supposed to be a stay-at-home wife. Various media pushed and glorified the married life for females. Marriage was portrayed to be the top priority for women. Advertisements portrayed wives working at home and doing household chores as extremely happy in the stay-at-home role.

04/3/11

Civil Rights During the Truman Era

During Truman’s presidency, he focused much of his attention on the civil rights movement in America. While this seems like a good thing, the timing was wrong. Truman’s attempts at enacting civil rights legislation did not receive much popular positive public response. This was a time during the anti-communist movement during the Cold War. Some of Truman’s civil rights movements included something called “To Secure These Rights” which was a document that called on the federal government to assume the responsibility for abolishing segregation and ensuring equal treatment in housing, employment, education, and the criminal justice system.

I think that American society would have eventually come to enact some of this legislation because eventually people would come to realize that they are not being treated fairly and begin to fight for that right. Such legislation is definitely important to me because as an Asian-American in society, which some may consider a minority. Despite the efforts put in by Truman and other presidents to provide equal rights for all minorities there are still some setbacks today that many have to face. It seems that the civil rights movement is a fight that will never end.

03/18/11

A New Deal means a new hand.

This political cartoon regarding Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal was published in March of 1933. The source does not indicate who the artist is, but his signature is left on the cartoon. This political cartoon is called “hope.” The cartoon shows how nobody really knew what kind of impact FDR’s New Deal would have on the nation – it was like dealing out a deck of cards, you cannot be sure what you’re going to get out of it. Many felt similarly with the programs FDR included in the New Deal. These programs were designed to boost the economy and help its people. However the dire state that the economy was in made people skeptical on whether or not these programs would really work.

03/13/11

 

This picture depicts the great amount of homeless men who had to wait on line for free dinner at a lodging house in New York.

 

Not only adults, but also children suffered during the Great Depression.

When the Great Depression struck the nation, it affected everybody. Unemployment was at an ultimate high  and most people did not have enough money to afford the basic necessities. In the first picture of homeless men lining up for a free meal in New York, we can see the extent of the economy’s failure. Hundreds of men are lining up for a free meal. It seems as if everyone felt the pain and setbacks of the Great Depression. In the second pictures, children are holding up signs on the lack of jobs available for their parents. Both of these pictures depict how the Great Depression had a strong impact on everyone’s daily lives.

03/1/11

Preparedness

When the first world war began, America initially declared itself as a neutral country while the fighting was going on in Europe. America was made up of people who immigrated from many different nations, some of which were involved in the war. Therefore during the time of neutrality, many different Americans had ranging opinions on which side the United States should back up. Although America was neutral, there were instances in which Americans were involved in altercations during the war. This pushed Wilson toward a policy of preparedness, expanding the American army and navy in case of war. This allowed American ships to travel freely without becoming involved in battles.

Foner covers the topic of Wilson’s policy of preparedness briefly. I feel as though he should have expanded on it more, such as the actual practices enforced to expand America’s navy and army. However I feel that it the brevity of the topic was somewhat appropriate considering there are other important parts of the war for him to have covered.

02/22/11

Immigration to the Land of Opportunity

This is a picture of Hungarian immigrants taken from an article of the New York Times in 1905.

This is a picture of immigrants in their homes.

These two pictures show the hard lives of immigrants. In the first picture, we can see that these immigrants have probably just reached land. They appear to be disheveled, tired, and in rags. There are no visible pieces of luggage or suitcases or anything that would indicate extra clothing or supplies. They are only there with themselves, ready to work and hoping to make a decent living in a new country. In the second picture, we can see what it was like at home for some immigrants. The second picture depicts male immigrants taking time out of their day for a casual card game. It is obvious how little room there is in that apartments. Conditions for immigrants were tough, and many were simply not able to afford a large roomy apartment. Many times, numerous immigrant families had to live in one apartment. We can see from the second picture that the furniture int he apartment and other things are all cramped up in that tiny space.

02/13/11

Progress and Poverty

Progress and Poverty by Henry George was published in 1879. It brought to light the economic conditions that existed in the Gilded Age. The Gilded Age was supposed to be a time of economic growth and reform for everyone in the nation once the Civil War was over. However, this was not the case and many were unsatisfied and unhappy with the economic situation; Henry George was one of these people.

In this book, Henry George not only brought attention to the unequal distribution of wealth during the time, but also proposed his own ideas and methods for a solution to this inequality. He was not the only one to create such a publication. During the time, there were many who were unsatisfied with the unequal distribution of wealth and had their own unique ideas on ways to fix the problem. However, Progress and Poverty received much public attention because of the fact that his explanations of the current economic situation were clearer than others and also because many agreed with his ideology that the current economic situation was one that should have been left in the times before the war ended.

02/7/11

History is Memory.

In the review of David Blight’s “Race and Reunion,” Eric Foner brings to light the interesting and unique aspects of the book, setting it apart from other books written about the Civil War. However, personally while I feel that I would be interested as to see for myself why exactly Foner believes that Blight’s book is worth reading and why it stands out from all the rest, I feel as if I wouldn’t enjoy it. Although it is certain that there is much I do not know regarding the Civil War because you can only learn so much from reading a couple of textbooks, I feel as though, from the way it is presented in this review, that I would not be able to view it as literature, but rather as a textbook.

From this review, I have learned that memory is what makes up a large part of history. Without memory, we would not know as much about our history as we do today. However, what is tricky about this fact is that lots of times, memory can be subjective or incomplete. Granted, historians do not rely on only one source but rather a plethora of sources so as to see what matches up and can be considered valid and certain. Memories can definitely be politically motivated. Many moments in history are caused from political distress or events. A relevant example to this article is the Civil War itself. Those who took sides had to have some political motivation that lead them to make that decision. Politics is a huge part of society also, it is only natural that it can affect everyone when discussing a national conflict.

02/1/11

You are being recorded!

Technology has advanced immensely in the past few decades, and as a result society has become more and more reliant on it. Along with the advances in technology came changes in other various aspects of society such as communication and government. Not a day goes by that people do not use the Internet or technology somehow, whether it is to send an e-mail, update their status on Facebook or Twitter, post something on their blog, or even check the news. People use technology to spread information and post their opinions on controversial topics. It is only natural that because of this change, the way that historical evidence is gathered, as well as the medium of historical evidence, changes also.

Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Wikipedia are all used by normal, everyday people to transmit personal and general information. It is no secret to the government and the rest of society how influential these websites can be to the public. Therefore the government takes full advantage by apparently archiving the “tweets” posted by every user on the newly popular Twitter, a website where people can “tweet” random thoughts as long as they remain under 140 characters. Many would ask what the purpose of this is? Does the government really care about our random everyday ramblings? The question of whether or not this violates privacy laws is raised in this situation, however the fact that we post these things online make it automatically public. Not only does the government take advantage of the world wide web, but so does society and its people. Recently, WikiLeaks, a site that is not run by the government, released government documents regarding foreign policy. In many cases this shows how normal everyday people take advantage of technology by publicly posting government documents. Both the government and its citizens make use of the advanced technology presented to us today which is why the different aspects of historical evidence has changed.