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Government intervention regarding welfare economics
C.S.Lewis Essays
C.S.Lewis Essays
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In the essay “The Mansion: A Subprime Parable,” Michael Lewis unfolds the real face of the American dream. He talks about his own personal experience in his look out for a house and his struggle with the house he rented. Most Americans have bought houses they cannot afford. Banks offered loans, they have lent mortgages that many don't have enough financial resources to pay them back. Agents have falsely guaranteed that real estate prices will be in constant rise, they promised them that there will be no declination in prices.
There is no space for argument when saying that agencies, mortgage agents, and various big organisations are to be blamed for this disaster, but they're not the only ones to be blamed for the entire issue. More than half of the blame, according to Lewis, goes to American citizens. In reality, most Americans are blinded by their lack of satisfaction and greed. They desire the luxurious way of life, Americans tend to look beyond their financial capabilities and power in search of unnecessary materialistic objects, such as overly large houses.
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The greed and desire for such extravagance comes from their deep want to brag to people in their circles and claim that they are extremely rich and well off.
This is especially right when when it is related to the matter of renting or owning houses. Americans strive for houses that are much larger than their need and far out of their financial limits. In fact, Lewis mentions in his essay that it was his case too, he sought a house that he couldn't handle the house. In the “The Mansion”, Lewis admits his mistake at choosing a house, he acknowledges the influence the house had on
him. Lewis takes a bold step, when he admits the outcome of his materialism behaviour, he also mentions the situations others had gone through too. Although a lot of people had not been as lucky as he was, because in the end Lewis returned back to California and could actually afford a house without depleting his financial resources. His hometown, New Orleans’ real estate business wasn't doing well after the hurricane had struck. He decided to go back to New Orleans When he was offered a very tempting rental agreement by an agent on the mansion he had appreciated as a child every time he walked by. In conclusion, Lewis was born into an upper middle class family, he had what he wanted and wasn't short on anything. He was growing up with the fact nicely, without any complains or uncertainties. As an adult, he become more aware of the complexities that comes with the classifications. It is important to understand people’s unyielding passion to possess more. There will never be any stop or rest for most Americans unless they become contented with what they have. Greed and showing off will only keep a person walking in a never-ending loop.
The Biltmore Estate is located in Asheville, North Carolina. It is the largest privately owned home in the United States. It was privately owned by George Washington Vanderbilt and his family. The house was designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Frederick Law Olmsted designed the landscape. The Biltmore Estate had a major role in the development of the creative architecture of the era and is well known for being America's largest home.
The real costs of home ownership Because of the high prices of homes in the United States, people often focus on only the buying price when considering the costs of owning a house, and neglect many other aspects of home ownership. A house is not your regular item that you buy, store or use for a limited amount of time. Houses come in a package with upkeep costs and taxes, and it’s wise to take these into account when analyzing your finances. The average cost of a house is estimated to be around $200,000 in 2013. As such, it’s no wonder people are distracted by such a significant amount and overlook other aspects.
The title of the book, ‘A Painted House’ is based on the actual farmhouse in which the Chandler family resides. It was an old house. It was a fine house that had never been painted. For this particular family, paint - like eating meat with every meal - was a luxury. It was not a requirement to have a painted house. It was not a sign of laziness as the reader might initially expect. It was a sign of being frugal with money. In this bold example of persevering and never giving up, Mr. Grisham demonstrates to the reader that ’one can’t have everything’.
“The housing market will get worse before it gets better” –James Wilson. The collapse of the United States housing market in in 2008 was one of the most devastating moments for the world economy. The United Sates being arguably the most important and powerful nation in the world really brought everyone down with this event. Canada was very lucky, thanks to good planning and proper preventatives to avoid what happened to the United States. There were many precursor events that occurred that showed a distinct path that led to the collapse of the housing market. People were buying house way out of their range because of low interest rates, the banks seemingly easily giving out massive loans and banks betting against the housing market. There were
While everyone has a different interpretation of the "American Dream," some people use it as an excuse to justify their own greed and selfish desires. Two respected works of modern American literature, The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, give us insight into how the individual interpretation and pursuit of the "American Dream" can produce tragic results. Jay Gatsby, from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, built his "American Dream" upon the belief that wealth would win him acceptance. In pursuit of his dream, Gatsby spent his life trying to gain wealth and the refinement he assumes it entails. Jay Gatsby, lacking true refinement, reflects the adolescent image of the wealthy, and "[springs] from his Platonic conception of himself" (Fitzgerald 104).
Having a house and having a home used to coincide. Families used to live in the same house for generations, but now the sentimental value of having a house has changed. As Quindlen puts it, “There was a time when where you lived often was where you worked and where you grew the food you ate and even where you were buried. When that era passed, where you lived at least was where your parents had lived and where you would live with your children when you became enfeebled” (Quindlen 215). However, over time even that changed. Now we have grown to live in a house and then move on like it was nothing. Sentimental value for a house has dwindled. Quindlen demonstrates that “suddenly, where you lived was where you lived for three years, until you could move on to something else and something else again” (Quindlen 215). However, for those without a house, they would give anything to have that sentimental feeling that used to come with having a house. But that’s just the problem; for most a house and a home no longer coincide. We can own a house but not have a home, or vice versa. After all, “Home is where the heart is. There’s no place like it” (Quindlen 214). People can have a home without having a house. A home simply means having a family,
In the 1920s, a home was considered having wealth. Imagine all of the stress we will lose if we did not have to worry about things
Not everything that is expensive is better. Rich people can get everything they want, but middle class people need to think if they need it, or they can find the same thing cheaper. Most people try to find cheaper things, but some buy expensive things, because they think that it will help them to feel that they are rich. First, people buy those expensive things, and after that they are in debt. Expensive things need a lot of money, but people don’t have them, so they use credit cards to buy for that. According to the article “All that glitters is not gold” says that auto exhibition 32% of attendees bought a car and 56% of attendees reported they were going to buy a car in the near future. It shows that that people don’t have money, but they saw that other people bought the car, and they want it also. My parents just last week bought a new car, because our old one broke. My dad said that everyone has big, and new cars, so we need to buy a costly car like other people have. I thought that it was a stupid idea to look at expensive car, but anyway he found a good car, nor costly, nor cheap car. It is middle cost, and it is a wonderful car. Running after expansive things people forget to look of prices. They forget that they will need to pay for that thing for many years after they buy
In “The Big Short”, this movie about the economic collapse of 2008 in America highlights how Americans of all racial backgrounds were hit hard when the housing market collapsed. The film provides a very compelling argument and describes how the market crashed because banks began to give out more unstable loans out to people in order to sell more properties, which eventually led to the housing market to be built upon millions of risky loans. This practice grew until the housing market became too unstable because of all the risky loans and resulted in an economic crash. The housing market collapse led to millions of Americans to lose their homes because of foreclosures and led to massive amount of homelessness and unemployment since the Great
Economic troubles can be prevented through access to affordable and adequate housing that is within the means of an individual’s income. With advances in production and design, the American Dream can become a feasible reality for all Americans.
Individuals like the two young and rambunctious mortgage consultants portrayed in the film gave loans to anyone and everyone that could sign the paper, regardless of the recipient’s ability to pay the loan in full. It is doubtful that all consultants fully understood the ramifications of their actions, but undoubtedly the overall disregard for consequence was the start of the collapse. Mortgage consultants mislead and tricked people into loans they could never afford by playing on their desire to live the American dream. Distributing adjustable rate loans to individuals without jobs, without collateral is unconscionable. Unfortunately, from their perspective they were helping these individuals. In a twisted way, these consultants were acting ethically from a utilitarian point of view. The consultants won because they received utility in the form of a bonus for distributing the loans, and the loanee won because they could now afford the home of their dreams. What the consultants didn’t consider in their calculations were the long term results and utility of their actions, unethically building the flawed foundation of the housing
Who hasn’t wanted the “American Dream” of the perfect family with a dog and of course a home? For decades property ownership has been an essential status of importance. Aristotle argued in Politics, “the greater the number of owners, the less the respect for common property. People are much more careful of their personal possessions than of those owned communally; they exercise care over common property only in so far as they are personally affected.” I believe around ten years ago before I was married I read about the housing market and how important it was for people to buy houses now. The market was hot then. The opportunity and the dream of homeownership was a must until the drop between 2010 and 2014. People rushed out before then
(Murphy, 2008) The US banking sector was first hit with a crisis amongst liquidity and declining world stock markets as well. The subprime mortgage crisis was characterized by a decrease within the housing market due to excessive individuals and corporate debt along with risky lending and borrowing practices. Over time, the market apparently began displaying more weaknesses as the global financial system was being affected. With this being said, this brings into question who is actually to blame for this financial fiasco.
Buying and owning your home is part of the American dream. Although the dream itself has since changed, the home still remains the main focal point. Today owning a home doesn’t necessarily mean a house. People now buy duplexes, cooperative apartments, and condominiums. For some families it could take up to a couple of generations before it’s able to have the capabilities of buying a home. To many people it means a certain achievement that only comes after years of hard work. It is a life altering decision and one of the most important someone can make in their lifetime. The reasons behind the actual purchase could vary. Before anything is done, people must understand that it’s an extraneous process and it is a long term project.
The housing market crash was a response to a chain of businesses and people who believed that the old laws of banking were no longer important. Banks were no longer required to hold on to mortgages for 30 years which gave them the ability to sell off to other companies, without concern for the mortgage holders. David Harvey, a renowned geographer, warned us of this problem, stating that “labor markets and consumption function more as an outcome of search for financial solutions to the crisis-tendencies of capitalism, rather than the other way around. This would imply that the financial system has achieved a degree of autonomy from real production unprecedented in capitalism’s history, carrying capitalism into an era of equally unprecedented dangers” (Coe, Kelly, and Yeung, 2013)