Home for Thanksgiving Rewrite

This Thanksgiving was a lot different than the previous Thanksgivings that I have had. This time was the first time that I did see some relatives in quite some time. When I was in grades 1-12 I would always see my family from around where I lived quite often. Now since I have moved on to college, and do not live that close to home, seeing my aunt, uncles, cousins and grandparents that I have not seen in a while felt different. I felt more mature and was able to talk to my relatives more as an adult. I was happy to see my relatives but at the same time did not feel like a little kid anymore. I used to go run up to them and just ask for things but now seeing them after going through almost a semester of college I felt like my role has changed.

I have felt more like an adult and mature because I have gotten to see and have many experiences from students from around the world. These experiences have given me a sense of more maturity and have felt more comfortable to talk with relatives about more personal issues. My relatives went to college and have been through some of the same things I am going through. Being able to talk to them about my college experience so far was something that felt great and I am happy that I did. I talked to them more about like what they experienced during their freshmen year, roommate conflicts, fraternity things, academics beyond freshmen year, the tests they took, bad professors, good professors, and the social aspect of college.

For Thanksgiving did you talk to any of your relatives about some of the same things that I did?

Comment

I did make a comment on CEC's blog on November 29th about the Wal-Mart employee who did get trampled.

Home for Thanksgiving

   This Thanksgiving was a lot different than the previous Thanksgivings that I have had. This time was the first time that I did see some relatives in quite some time. When I was in grades 1-12 I would always see my family from around where I lived quite often. Now since I have moved on to college, and do not live that close to home, seeing my aunt, uncles, cousins and grandparents that I have not seen in a while felt different. I felt more mature and was able to talk to my relatives more as an adult. I was happy to see my relatives but at the same time did not feel like a little kid anymore. I used to go run up to them and just ask for things but now seeing them after going through almost a semester of college I felt like my role has changed. 

     I have felt more like an adult and mature because I have gotten to see and have many experiences from students from around the world. These experiences have given me a sense of more maturity and have felt more comfortable to talk with relatives about more personal issues. My relatives went to college and have been through some of the same things I am going through. Being able to talk to them about my college experience so far was something that felt great and I am happy that I did.

     For Thanksgiving did you talk to any of your relatives about some of the same things that I did?

Voting

     I know the Presidential election has already ended but I would like to speak about my first time voting for the President. I did vote in the earlier primary elections but it did not really feel like I voted. When I was growing up I always looked at voting was when we would focus on voting for the President and then the other positions on the ballot did not mean that much. The media puts a lot of attention to the Presidential election that I did not really know anything about any of the other candidates. 

     The first time that I cast my ballot for the President of the United States of America was when I felt like I really voted for something that meant a lot. I am sure that the candidates for the State Senate, The House of Representatives and all of the county positions mean a lot but I did not feel like I made a difference when voting for those persons. I also voted on the early ballot voting which had the purpose of voting when the lines were not long. I did not get to experience the long lines that I have herd about and seen from watching the news. When I casted that ballot my mother took a photo of me voting in one of the most important elections in our nation and in the world. I say the world because from all of my travel experience and from watching the news on the day of the election and the day after the election. I have had people ask me about the United States President in countries on different continents but I would not really know anything about the President or Prime Minister from there country. 

     When I voted for the President of the United States my vote felt like it meant something because everybody around the world would know about it and I felt accomplished because I felt like I was making a difference by voting in my first Presidential election. What is your take on this?

Miz Alice and more

When I was reading this story Blue Highway by William Least Heat- Moon, was trying to draw the conclusion from what Miz Alice might be going through to something that I might have been going through as well. Do you see anything that is similar to Miz Alice Middleton's life that can be relative to your life?

My answer is that there is not too much from what I have been through. I know that Miz Alice was living on an island that did not really have any modern appliances for the sixty years that she was living there. I think that the amount of people moving towards that area had a big influence. There were not too many people living on the island with Miz Alice Middleton. Her way of schooling was quite different than the type that I had growing up. I also see that less and less people were going towards her method and falling towards the norm. The new generation is full with new things in terms of technology and more people live in the modern society. I say this because that island finally had, "Carried mail and medicine, the sick and dying. Brought news, food, gas, firewood. Even ideas, I deem (397)." This island was not that similar to anything that I have experienced.  I do see something similar in that going to foreign countries I see that there are nowhere near as technologically advanced as we are. They are getting there but it is a process. But, with my personal life, I do not see any of these similarities. I live in a nice area and if anything I see what is happening to Miz Alice in some places but not too many.

Blue Highway Post

Question: What influence has the Island Belle had on Smith Island?

Answer: The Island Belle has helped change the social pattern of Smith Island. Before the Belle came the island that Miz Alice lives on, it was only visited during one time of the year- Christmas. The Belle had the impact of making the island more developed than it was in the past. The Island Belle is just a gas boat. It brings people back and fourth on the island. This little boat has made the island accessible to people and there were many new accessories that were brought to the island. The Island Belle no longer made Smith Island  unique to just Miz Alice Middleton but opened it up to others. 

Post

I made a comment on Chelsea's blog about Friend's Forever on October 30th, 2008 at 11:27 PM.

Mac's Place

     Where would you rather go out to eat a meal when you are on campus? The two places that I go to are Umphrey Lee Center and Mac's Place. Now why am I writing about this. I am writing to show how much better Umphrey Lee is than Mac's Place. Now you may have a totally different opinion than me but that is okay. I welcome all opinions.  

      Umphrey Lee is my place that I would rather go to eat when I am eating a meal on campus compared to Mac's Place. At Umphrey Lee I enter and I always find that the person who is swiping the ID cards is always welcoming me in a polite way. The staff at Umphrey Lee is are always working hard and the food is always fresh. If anything of any type runs out I find someone to replace the item right away. Whenever I may have a complaint or complement about the food or something in Umphrey Lee I always get served and in a good manor. From what I have explained above you would be under the influence that Umphrey Lee is a great place to eat at.

      Besides Umphrey Lee there is another place where food is served on campus. This place is called Mac's Place. It is located in the McElvaney Hall on the south end of campus. Whenever I enter that "place" I come out upset. The line is always long, the plates are greasy, the service is awful and the selection of food is limited. We can only get two sides and the choices are not to the healthiest of options. The most important thing that I have noticed is the service at Mac's Place. I think that it is nothing compared to Umphrey Lee. Whenever I go to the counter to order something like a chicken sandwich I get a nasty response. From about five or six people who have cooked for me there have all treated me like absolute garbage and the people at the check out desk treat me the same way. I am only going in there to get a chicken sandwich and I get treated like garbage. 

       I know that the employees at Mac's Place might not like their job but I think that I should be treated with some sort of respect when I come there. I have the intention of coming there for a decent meal. The end result is that I get to eat on a greasy plate, can only pick out certain things to eat and get treated like trash. I have asked many people around campus and they have the same opinion. Does this happen to you? If it does we need to let the SMU dining services to know because the problem is only on the way to getting worse if nothing happens.

What caused this financial crisis edit

If you have read any newspaper, watched any news station or listened to any talk radio station, there has been a lot of talk about the financial crisis that our economy is currently in. I explained in an earlier blog about what happened with the American International Group (AIG) and if they failed that we could have already been in a depression. Now what the average person wants to know is how did we get to this spot that we are currently in and what can we do to get out of it?

There are many different issues that could explain where we are today but one big issue that surrounds all of the financial worries on Wall Street have to do with the two biggest mortgage lenders in the United States, Freddie Mac (FRE) and Fannie Mae (FNM). Freddie Mac is a company that engages in mortgage purchasing and credit guarantee and portfolio management in the United States. Fannie Mae is the primary mortgage liquidator to help insure mortgage companies, savings, loans, commercial banks, credit unions, state and local housing financial agencies have enough money to lend to home buyers. In short, these two companies insure loans made by banks and mortgage companies.

George W. Bush made a speech on Thursday September 25th, 2008 on national television that helped explain to the average person across the United States about what is going on. In short, there were plenty of foreign investors outside the United States interested in investing in the United States because the United States is a safe place for business. All of the money that has come in from these outside investors, with low interest rates, made it easier for people to get credit to help families borrow money for whatever they may please. These loans helped people open businesses and as a result more jobs became available. The negatives come in the housing market. With easy credit and the assumption that the price of housing would rise, mainly in Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada. The mortgage lenders like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae lent out loans that some people would not be able to pay off. These institutions were under the assumption that people could pay off their houses when they would sell in the future. As it turns out this did not occur.

The number of houses that were being built continued to increase and soon there were not more houses out for sale than people willing to buy them. This creates a problem because the supply exceeds the demand and as a result the price of houses dropped. So people who wanted to try to refinance or sell their homes at a higher price would not be able to do so. The people who owned homes would not have enough money to pay off their homes because of the bad loans that were given out. In the mortgage industry today the mortgage companies package mortgage back securities that are sold to investors worldwide. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are the leading purchasers of these securities.

These two companies are financed by Congress so many believed that they can borrow large sums of money. There were a lot of questionable investments that took place. This lead to a domino effect and many companies that had ties to these investments, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, collapsed. The next company that could have collapsed would have been Merrill Lynch (MER) before they got bought out by Bank of America. The Japanese helped Morgan Stanley (MS) stay afloat and Goldman Sachs (GS) was saved by Warren Buffett.

The US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, proposed a $700 billion dollar plan to help rescue our financial institutions. This plan mainly says that the US Government is going to try to purchase all of the financial institutions so called "toxic assets". I think that this is the best way for the financial system to get restarted again. The only thing is that we need an outside investor to express alot of interest in our nation. This is what happened in the late 1990's when the Saudi Prince Al- Waleed bin Talal invested $500 million dollars in Citigroup.The only question is know who is going to invest in our country now? Who is willing to take a chance to invest in such difficult times around the entire world? That is what I think the people on Wall Street and in Washington D.C. should be thinking about. It worked then but who is going to help us out now? That is to be determined but I am thinking that some investors from the United Arab Emirites or Kuwait might be up on that list. That is my opinion but I do not have any idea as of right now.

I commented on Kelevra's blog about the French, Yankees and some guy named Drucker.

Going back home

During fall break I went back home. It has been my first time back home since I came to SMU. It felt so odd because when I got home it felt like I never left. Everything that was at my house was still the same the only thing was I did not stay that long. The thing is that I did not really feel the comforts of home when I went back. My new home was my dorm room. I have most of my stuff there and the people that I have spent alot of time were at their homes.
Most of my friends from high school were at their colleges or universities and did not have a fall break. I went to the main university in my state for a football game over the weekend with my friend. It was alot of fun. When I got back I just went to my friends house and spent very minimal time at my home. Over the break I saw my family and just did other activities not at my home over the break. Then before I knew it I was back in Dallas.
I came in thinking that I would spend alot of time at home over the fall break but it did not feel like home when I went back home. It felt like I was just on a short vacation at a place I have been to many times.
How was your fall break and did you feel the same way?

What Caused This Financial Crisis

If you have read any newspaper, watched any news station or listened to any talk radio station, there has been a lot of talk about the financial crisis that our economy is currently in. I explained in an earlier blog about what happened with the American International Group (AIG) and if they failed that we could have already been in a depression. Now what the average person wants to know is how did we get to this spot that we are currently in and what can we do to get out of it?
There are many different issues that could explain where we are today but one big issue that surrounds all of the financial worries on Wall Street have to do with the two biggest mortgage lenders in the United States, Freddie Mac (FRE) and Fannie Mae (FNM). Freddie Mac is a company that engages in mortgage purchasing and credit guarantee and portfolio management in the United States. Fannie Mae is the primary mortgage liquidator to help insure mortgage companies, savings, loans, commercial banks, credit unions, state and local housing financial agencies have enough money to lend to home buyers. In short, these two companies insure loans made by banks and mortgage companies.
George W. Bush made a speech on Thursday September 25th, 2008 on national television that helped explain to the average person across the United States about what is going on. In short, there were plenty of foreign investors outside the United States interested in investing in the United States because the United States is a safe place for business. All of the money that has come in from these outside investors, with low interest rates, made it easier for people to get credit to help families borrow money for whatever they may please. These loans helped people open businesses and as a result more jobs became available. The negatives come in the housing market. With easy credit and the assumption that the price of housing would rise, mainly in Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada. The mortgage lenders like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae lent out loans that some people would not be able to pay off. These institutions were under the assumption that people could pay off their houses when they would sell in the future. As it turns out this did not occur.
The number of houses that were being built continued to increase and soon there were not more houses out for sale than people willing to buy them. This creates a problem because the supply exceeds the demand and as a result the price of houses dropped. So people who wanted to try to refinance or sell their homes at a higher price would not be able to do so. The people who owned homes would not have enough money to pay off their homes because of the bad loans that were given out. In the mortgage industry today the mortgage companies package mortgage back securities that are sold to investors worldwide. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are the leading purchasers of these securities.
These two companies are financed by Congress so many believed that they can borrow large sums of money. There were a lot of questionable investments that took place. This lead to a domino effect and many companies that had ties to these investments, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, collapsed. The next company that could have collapsed would have been Merrill Lynch (MER) before they got bought out by Bank of America.
The US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, is proposing a $700 billion dollar plan to help rescue our financial institutions. This plan mainly says that the US Government is going to try to buy back 10,000 mortgages each day. This would cost the tax payers alot of money. This bill is going to have to be passed or else many bad things could occur. The stock market could go down and go down fast. This is because the market does not like uncertanity so the people who have the most power would sell their stocks.
Now you know what has caused this financial crisis and what we have to do to get out of it.

Financial Crisis

In the past week our government could have just saved our entire economy from ending up in a depression. On September 15th, 2008 the Dow Jones Industrial Average, this is a index fund of the 30 largest companies, fell 5%. This was because of bad news about the fourth largest investment bank in the United States, Lehman Brothers Holdings, having to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the next day. This is the largest bankruptcy in US history.Earlier in the year the fifth largest investment bank, Bear Stearns, was on the verge of going bankrupt until the Federal Reserve Bank of New York gave them a emergency loan and JP Morgan Chase bought the company out at $2 per share. Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy was not as big of a concern compared to what could have happened to the American International Group (AIG).

The American International Group is the world's largest insurance company. It is 18th largest company in the world. American International Group helps provide insurance, financial and investment products to businesses and to individuals in 130 countries around the world. The American International Group is the largest insurance company for aircraft companies in the world, insures many telecommunication companies, insures ports around the world that may have exposure to natural disasters and own Ocean Financing which is the United Kingdoms that has exposure to the housing market. In short, if something happens to a business and they need insurance, AIG helps provide insurance.

For certain individual households a lot of people may use Allstate, State Farm or some local insurance company. The American International Group had reported a lot of problems on their balance sheet. This is just a financial document that shows the financial condition of a company. In the business world this is an extremely important document because the balance sheet shows many things such as what a company owns and what they need to pay off in the short and long term. AIG was in a lot of trouble because of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. AIG had some financial concerns when it came down to its mortgage backed securities. Investors were concerned because they reported worse numbers than Lehman Brothers who filed for bankruptcy earlier that week. The big investors then started selling AIG so fast that they almost went bankrupt. 

On Wednesday September 18th, 2008 AIG's stock price went all the way down to $1.25. That is about a 96% drop in one year. Investors were very negative on their future and did not just start selling AIG but investors started to sell the financial stocks at fast rates. The financial stocks make up almost 20% of the entire stock market. If this sector has huge declines then most of the sectors that have anything to do with the financial stocks will get hit hard. So on Wednesday the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the largest index fund, fell more than 5%. Investors were very worried about AIG because if  they declared bankruptcy our economy might be forced into a depression. If you thought that the two declines during this week then you would have missed some that would have been catastrophic. 

A few hours after the stock market closed on Wednesday September 18th, 2008 the US Treasury reported that they would provide AIG with an $85 billion dollar emergency loan for 2 years. With this loan the US Government would control 79.9% of the largest insurance company in the world. If this had not happened then there is a possibility that on Thursday September 19th, 2008 if you went to an atm and wanted to withdraw cash there might not be any cash that would have come out. 

The United States Government did so much in these past few days, especially the Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, than President Franklin Roosevelt did in his time during the Great Depression. 

Tell me what you think about this economic crisis that is currently going on.

Posting on another person's blog

I made a coment on NOLA girls blog, "Will My Home Still Be There?" I also made a coment on Thryston's blog, "How To Save A Life."

Why the price of oil is heading lower.

As the weather was getting better across the United States the price of oil started to increase at a fast rate. Many people were complaining about how high prices were at the pump. On July 11th, 2008, the price of crude oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, now owned by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, at an all time high of $147.27. As of September 2nd, 2008, the price of crude oil finished the trading day at a 10- month low at $109.23. When I first found out that the price of oil was on the decline I was a little bit confused because alot of stock and energy analysts said that the price of oil was going to increase above $150. The largest investment bank in the world, Goldman Sachs, made a prediction that the price of oil could go up to $200. I was very interested to see why the price of oil went down about 26% in just over one month, so I did some work about why oil went up and down so fast.

A few reason why the price of oil has dropped so much is over a month is because of declining demand in the United States and abroad by using some alternative sources to oil, and because of an increase in the US dollar. As the price of oil increased, the average consumer began to spend his or her money more wisely which led to consumers making adjustments on what they were spending at the pump. Also, when the United States dollar was traded on the foregin exchange market (forex) in for another currency such as the Euro, then the return that you would get back is in the foreign currency would be worth more than trading in the foreign currency in for the United States currency.

Another reason why the price of oil went up so much and is now coming down is because during the summer more people tend take vacations using their cars and other sources of transportation that may use alot of oil. In the winter a lot of students have school, and the weather is not always that good in the Northern Hemisphere as in the Southern Hemisphere. This have the effect of less traveling that would occur. Companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips can raise the price of gasoline that people pay at the pump so much because there is not a clear effective alternative that was non petroleum based that would fuel cars that well. This means that drivers would have no choice but to refuel their cars with gasoline at gas stations. As a result of the raise in gas prices, Exxon Mobil earned a record $11, 680 million dollars of net income in the second quarter of 2008. That is the most any company has ever earned in one quarter. Also, not as many people travel when students are not in school. As the summer starts to end the price of oil should continue to drop because not that many people are going travel across the country and the oil companies can lower prices so they will not have the consumers look for as many alternatives.

The reasons that are listed above are my opinion on why the price of oil is on the way down and the price that you are going to pay at the pump should be on the decline.