05/13/11

Eligibility Standard for “Companies that are Too Big to Fail”

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/05/12/business/100000000816342/bernanke-takes-on-too-big-to-fail.html

 

Barack Obama has signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumers Act in July 2010. This law allows the government to oversight and regulate financial companies that are critical to the economy; however, the government finds it difficult to determine the eligibility standards for the companies. At this point, the regulators have decided that any banks with over $50 billion worth of assets will automatically fall under the standard for additional regulations, but as for financial firms, such as hedge fund and insurance companies, the regulators will need more information and guidelines to determine the standard. The government claims to formulate the standards by this summer, while the deadline for the grand decision is January 2012.

 

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act, which increases government regulation and eliminate certain economical freedom, is opposite to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which gave financial more freedom by allowing them to consolidate. The Gramm-Leach-Blieley has repealed the prohibition of combining insurance, securities, and banking by the Glass-steagall Act of 1933. By eliminating such restriction, the US economy has move a tiny step closer toward a free economy. However, the US economy has taken a larger step toward government regulated economy after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act.

 

 

 

Article Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/business/13regulate.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=government%20regulation&st=cse

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.