http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1887728,00.html
Please post commentaries on items you specifically agree with and disagree with taken directly from the article. In addition make connections to other students commentaries.
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In addition, go on to following video and watch.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29954853#29954853
Comment on it.
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ReplyDeleteThis Article is very informative. Anderson’s theory about The Great Recession has its positives and negatives. As stated in the article “We saw what was happening for years, for decades, but we ignored it or shrugged it off, preferring to imagine that we weren’t really headed over falls.” America has made some bad decisions and over the course of time with our old president Bush, we come to land on this Recession but not only can we blame it on the banks but ourselves (the people who can’t control their own money and live off loans) as well.. The example used in this article of obesity is completely true but obesity is not the worlds fault, it’s your own responsibility to let yourself get fat. Agreeing with Beverly’s post America can achieve its formal greatness. This country has fought to be what it has become today and although we have a recession that might take us a few years to recover, America will be a changed country now that we have an African American President with his head screwed on right and hopefully strong enough to lead us in the right path.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, the video on MSNBC I believe Mr. Steinberg is absolutely correct when stating that there are over 2,000 four year colleges in this state and students choose the same 50 because that were the challenge is. This video is very informative and helpful for juniors graduating the year of 2010 as well as the underclass men and our parents. Agreeing with Mr. Steinberg, Parents should just relax as well as the students because in the end we all will get accepted to a great school and pursue our career in whatever it is we want.
Natasha H.
Per 1.
The essay "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America? " written by Kurt Andersen contains common knowledge everyone should already know about, since the outcome will shape the future of our generation and several to come.
ReplyDelete“This is the end of the world as we've known it. But it isn't the end of the world.”
Nonetheless, I agree that this is not the end of the world however the world will change. The United States of America is important towards the survival of numerous other nations. I have been able to experience this first hand. The United State’s housing industry hasn't been as successful; this in turn affects Canada which provides most of the wood used to build houses all over the U.S.A.. Canada has several small towns which survive by selling wood, since the only jobs available in these towns are lumber jacking. Now that the housing business isn't thriving as it was several years ago, all of these people are losing their jobs. This causes these city's to disappear, this shows how the U.S.A affects the world. This proves Mr. Andersen’s point of how the U.S.A. will have to change and the whole world will have to change as well.
“America isn't going to expire either.”
Furthermore, I agree with Mr. Andersen that the U.S.A. will not cease to exist. The U.S.A. has gone through a crisis quite similar to the one we are experiencing now which led to a depression. The years before the great depression are identical to what we are experiencing now. The U.S.A. survived the Great Depression; since we are experiencing the same events that were experienced in the 1920s, the U.S.A. will survive this one as well.
Personally I did not find the video at all helpful since it was too general. For example in the video they mentioned that financial aid was readily available however, they didn’t prove this or give more information to the viewer regarding the subject. The only statement I think would be useful to the viewer is the last one which tells the viewer to relax. Just because you aren't the best in academics doesn't mean you wont be as happy or successful as someone who is. There is more to life than academics.
Steven E.
Period 4
To commence, Kurt Andersen, the author of "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?", does a fantastic job in keeping the reader’s attention especially by making comparisons or allusions to things that almost everyone knows about. For example, “In the Road Runner cartoons, after each fall, the coyote is broken and battered but never dies,” which expresses the authors idea that the U.S. will not die. This is pretty accurate considering how Americans are always striving for the best and this “Great Recession” as Andersen calls it, serves as a wake-up call.
ReplyDeleteMost can agree or at least will agree in the future, with Andersen’s point about how “This is the end of the world as we've known it. But it isn't the end of the world.” This statement is rather true because America has been on top for a long time and people have really been blinded with the idea that it will always strive no matter what even with warnings over the past quarter century. “We saw what was happening for years, for decades, but we ignored it or shrugged it off, preferring to imagine that we weren't really headed over the falls…The median household income has been steadily declining this century ... but, but, but our houses and our 401(k)s were ballooning in value, right?... We all clapped our hands and believed in fairies.” These short lines tell exactly, even with a bit of humor in a serious situation, what has been happening for a long time. In addition, Andersen does a great job in showing how America has lived for the past 20 years by introducing into the article Homer Simpson, a “spot-on caricature of the quintessential American: childish, irresponsible, willfully oblivious, fat and happy.
In regards to the video about college admissions, it simply should have been longer and less rushed so as to supply the viewer with ALL the critical information they need not just a part of it. However, a couple key points were made. One being, that a student shouldn’t lose hope of going to a college, if accepted, because scholarships or grants won’t cover a majority of tuition. Grants are actually offers and they CAN and SHOULD be appealed to be able to receive more money. These grants are from the government not from the actual college or university. This brings into perspective the second key point made on this video, universities are DEMANDING that administration work hard in order to be able to deal with financial aid. The Dean of Admissions at Harvard even said that their offices would be open from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. just for appeals. To reiterate for those who didn’t know, this video also shows how important it is to be well-rounded because, as the guest said about the college that he personally followed for a year to see how the admission process was, there were 10 applicants per 1 seat in a classroom and it comes down to how a human being relates more to a certain applicant than to another.
Sebastian P.
P.1
The essay "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America? " written by Kurt Andersen, gives a recapitulation of what happened in America from 1920 to 2008. The article talks about how the 20’s was the time of opportunity in America and how people took advantage of it, but they didn’t know how to invest their earnings, they didn’t know how to keep up with that chance they had; instead, they spent all their money and lived aristocratic lives (the American Dream).
ReplyDeleteAndersen has a very good point in this article and his question “Is this crisis good for America?” seems to be answered with “yes”. Americans are accustomed to live with no worries since the 50’s, and they knew this was coming, but everyone just kept putting the issue aside and hoping that it would fix by itself. No one really wanted to accept the problem; capitalism and excessive american consume created this whole problem from the 50’s till now. The American Dream was really a nightmare for years to come. Now, debts and given away money created the stock market to crash, but as Andersen says, “But as we gasp in terror at our half glass of water, we really can — must — come to see it as half full as well as half empty.” America is not gonna disappear, but we are definitely going to change our way of living and thinking, we are going to start working hard and forgetting about the stupid American Dream, because not many people in the next two or three generations are going to be able to enjoy that dream.
The msnbc video talks about college admissions, but the curious part about it is that it really doesn’t give that much of information, instead it acts as a propaganda to the blog “The Choice”. Surely, the blog has a lot of useful information, but the video doesn’t. It shows a senior girl and her mother talking about the same thing we all have heard before, and the good thing is that the guy that is being interviewed tells the people to not worry and gives cheers to the teenagers that are going through the process.
Luis Carducci
Period 1
If everyone in the United States were to read this article and understand what it is trying to point out I believe that America as a whole would be able to come out of this “addiction”, that Kurt Anderson personifies as the recession we are in, and move toward a better future. I agree and also am intrigued by the comparison with the story of the grasshopper and the ant being connected with the United States. How the U.S. is a mixture of both. I agree with this because even now there are people that are moving to become more like our “inner ant” and, so to speak, store food for the bitter winter that is ahead, but there are also the wild and crazed “grasshoppers” that refuse to listen and live in ignorance to what is going on around them. Kurt Anderson point out a lot on how to rebuild American in the “Three-Step Program for America” which includes: Admit that we are powerless over addiction to easy money and cheap fossil fuel and living large that our lives had become unmanageable. Believe that we can, individually and collectively, restore ourselves to sanity and normal living. Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and be entirely ready to remove our defects of character. He compares America to a Glutton who must live on Buying and Borrowing money, and says that “we can't quit; we just have to teach ourselves to buy and borrow in moderate, healthier ways.”
ReplyDeleteThe MSNBC video was somewhat helpful, though it was a little bit short, and did not go into deft about a lot. Nancy the mother of the child explain a little bit about the financial aid-plan and it being readily available. I believe this opinion is very biased because that college may have had very easily accessible information for financial aid programs, but they do not take into account to how this may vary with other college. In my opinion I believe that this college does seem biased for the most part.
After reading “The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?” It was very informative and explained the Great Recession in great detail. Throughout the article there were a couple of quotes that I agreed with. Kurt Anderson wrote, “America isn’t going to expire either.” This quote shows the hope that a majority of Americans have in their country. Even though we are going through tough times, we know that in the end we will have the ability to survive through even tougher times. He also wrote, “...we have been repeatedly wont to abandon prudence and the tedium of saving and building in favor of the fantastic idea that anybody, given enough luck and liberty, can make a fortune overnight.” This quote revealed the laziness that some Americans carry. They feel that the American Dream is to be lucky and to achieve wealth somewhat illegally.” From the article, it is seen that America has to have hope in order to survive. At a glance, Americans need all the things that money can buy causing a deeper recession in the economy. The deeper America is in a recession the more hope is seen throughout Americans.
ReplyDeleteThe video on msnbc.com was quite informative and helped in explaining different aspects that are involved in applying to college. Out of the many aspects this specific video focused on the financial aid packages that are readily available. It also gave many students some kind of hope because they seem to stress out over smaller things throughout the process. Every student needs to take the time out of their schedule and relax for at least 10 minutes; if this is not done they will remain anxious the entire time.
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ReplyDeleteKrystal T.
Period 4
Fransic Corral made a great point when he stated,"If everyone in the United States were to read this article and understand what it is trying to point out I believe that America as a whole would be able to come out of this “addiction”, that Kurt Anderson personifies." Americans need to open their eyes to the problems that our lifestyles have caused. Then, rather than reminiscing over the "Great Recession" as Kurt Anderson calls it, Americans need to be optimistic and look towards the future for planning.
ReplyDeleteIt is like Kurt Andersen was attmepting to portray with the Ant and Grasshopper analogy, if Americans do not change our habits soon, or if Americans spend all of the time bickering whose falt it was rather then correcting our mistakes, and planning for the future, America will indefinately be stuck through another "winter".
The video on MSNBC was extremely informative in the sense of college admissions and enlightened once again what was stated from the Vanderbilt admissions video; Your admission to a college can come down to a few personal questions in which it decides whom out of possible ten people fighting over one seat will win. The information regarding financial aid was also heart-warming as they stated that colleges are assisting families with coping during these hard financial times by having financial aid packages to become more accesible. And as Krystal stated, people need to ake a few minutes out of their busy college admissions processto relax and reconciliate.
Brandon S.
Period 4
"The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?" was certainly an interesting read. One thing that caught my eye was Mr. Andersen's comparison of America to Wile E. Coyote. He wrote that while Wile E. Coyote never learns from his mistakes, America grows wiser when it enters periods such as the one it is in currently. That is not correct, as this has been happening for the entirety of America's existence. That is, America has been through numerous "Panic of XXXX"s, depressions, and recessions yet they are recurring in every century. America may grow wise for a decade, but once it is back into the prosperous age, all that wisdom is lost to avarice and rapacity.
ReplyDeleteThe video was intriguing because of the fact that the same 48 schools get all the focused attention. Other than that, however, the video did not have much information in regards to helping out students with questions about getting into college and other such questions. Beth and her mother also did not have in-depth information either, and only stated things that many people already know. Besides, not every college has the same process of financial aid; some colleges may make it difficult to obtain information about it. One aspect that is agreeable is that students and their parents should simply relax, as stressing over the matter will not change anything.
Kayl K. P4
Considering the crisis the United States is in and the economic downfall we are rapidly creeping towards, the article written by Kurt Anderson is perfectly relevant to contemporary times. Anderson begins by stating how oblivious Americans have been as to the up and coming potential economic depression, and cites specific historical events to prove his point. Kurt Anderson makes a strong point when he cites that the U.S. auto industry has been in trouble for more than 25 years and the average household income has slowly been declining. He also makes a powerful argument when he compares Americans to the metaphor of ants and grasshoppers. In order to put the nation back in order, we must let go of our partying, gambling, and utterly optimistic grasshoppers side, and become the disciplined ants.
ReplyDeleteAs for the second point, the video by msnbc was extremely interesting and informative; it contained information that any student in their junior year must know and consider when beginning the application process. The guest speaker discussed the idea of “repealing your financial aid”. I doubt many people nationwide know that one may repeal their loan which can eventually make the decision completely different. The idea of college is perpetually drastic and must be taken with caution and intricate dedication in order for the outcome to be as ideal as possible. However, as Kayl K. mentioned in the post above, it is essential for students and parents to relax and just simply get things done correctly; worrying will not change the outcome of anything.
The essay "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?" written by Kurt Andersen is informative as well as thoughtful. People can agree and disagree with items stated in the article.
ReplyDeleteTo commence, the title of an article is a descriptive heading or caption of a text. The title of this article is asking “Is this Crisis Good for America.” The answer to this question is no because no crisis can be good, at least not in the present moment. Today in the United States of America, many individuals are suffering for the economic crisis that is going on. People are losing their jobs, houses, cars, etc. On the other hand, the article also has many positive aspects. The author uses a story of an ant and a grasshopper to describe Americans. Andersen said, “The ant is disciplined, the grasshopper parties as if the good times will last forever.” He then proceeded to say, “Americans are, bless us, energetic grasshoppers as well as energetic ants, a sui generis crossbreed, which is why we've been so successful as a nation.” His opinions are very valid because Americans know how to have a good time but also take responsibility when it is time to be serious. Furthermore, relating to Steven’s blog I’m in agreement with his opinions that “America isn't going to expire either.” America is changing because of the economic crisis; however, it has become such a powerful nation across the world that it will not be forgotten.
The video on colleges is about Jacques Steinberg advising students and parents about college admissions. The advice he gave to parents going through the process is to relax because their children will be accepted somewhere terrific. Steinberg also said that there are about 2000 four year colleges but Americans keep focusing on the same 48 making it harder and more competitive to get in. In conclusion, the video repeats information that most students already know.
Joanna B
Period 1
Kurt Andersen’s article titled “The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?” depicts America’s current economic situation and provides suggestions and inputs to a better future for our nation. Within the article the author makes reference to the old folk tale of “the ant and the grasshopper” and cleverly compares these symbolic characters to Americans. It is true that America has qualities from both these fictitious characters and we need to learn how to “awaken our inner-ants”. Anderson also provides helpful advice to America. He says, in reference to our spending and borrowing, “The new America must be about financial temperance, not abstinence.” This allows our country to better itself in a healthy manner. According to the author, America needs to start spending again. He states, “Yes, we must start spending again, and we will. We don't need to turn ourselves into tedious, zero-body-fat, zero-carbon-footprint ascetics, but even after the economy recovers, deciding to forgo that third car or fifth TV or imperial master bathroom or marginally cooler laptop will come more naturally.” In order for America to pull out of this crisis we need to let go of our habits of frugality.
ReplyDeleteThe video seemed a bit too general for the inquiring student trying to get into a college. It provided some helpful advice but nothing too specific. However they did touch on the financial aspect of the problem which is what is worrying the majority; however, they could have provided a bit more information.
Michael R.
Period 1
The article “The End of Excess: Is the Crisis Good for America?” is an extremely informative article. Kurt Anderson, the author, believes that whatever happened in the past is going to occur again sometime in the future. His way of thinking that the Great Recession will have a long lasting affect on many people is something that we all have to face. “American will probably spend the rest of our lives dealing with it’s [the Great Recession] consequences — in economics, foreign policy, culture, politics, the warp and woof of our daily lives. Also, Anderson states that “the average American gained about a pound a year, so that an adult of a given age is now at least 20 lb. heavier than someone the same age back then. In the late '70s, 15% of Americans were obese; now a third are.” This is something that everyone has to take into deep consideration and realize that our standard of living greatly differs from that of other countries’. Luis mentions how Americans’ have become so used to living with high standards that a majority of the items that an average American family owns is not really theirs, due to the fact that is becoming so convenient for everyone to take out loans from the banks. As a result of this, people consider themselves to be “living the American Dream,” when truly this is not the case.
ReplyDeleteThe video on MSNBC.COM is also very informative. There are around 2000 colleges in this country but mostly everyone wants to go to the same 48 schools. This is something that makes it more competitive for college-bound students getting ready to apply for a four year institute. On the positive note, mostly every family is awarded financial aid; however, some people believe that they are being awarded too little. You can always go back and appeal the amount of financial aid given to you. Being in a recession, this is something that benefits every single family. Remember, these are human beings making decisions about you Steinberg says that parents and children need to relax when going through this process. In the end, everyone is going to be accepted into a college or a university.
Jonathon L
Period 1
The article, “The end of excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?” is one which relies more on values and rhetoric instead of relying on facts. Historically, the essay is extremely accurate but I felt thrown off by the juxtaposing mix of economics, politics, and pop culture presented in this essay. This is a beginning of a new era, historically the odds are in our favor. AS we elected president Obama and have shown a more leftist approach to government , many are warning that this shift is “UN-American”. But America is based on democracy and democracy calls for what the people want, and if the American people want to abandon th current status quo of domestic policy, anyone denying them that right would in fact be the one who is “un-American”.
ReplyDeleteThe theme of the essay reflects on the necessity of The American people to search for the true American spirit. Americans will always want to be on top, but we must know as a nation, when we can no longer handle the responsibilities of our supremacy. As china rapidly trails us to pick up the baton of hegemony, as we as the American people must decide whether or not we are ready to give it up. Because we can not claim to be the best country in the world, if we can not manage our very own citizens.
The video gave me a more optimistic look of college admissions, one very forsaken . There are 2000 universities in the United States, hence statistically, getting into a college isn't that difficult. Getting into the college of your choice, now thats a different story.
Saif H.
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
The article “The End of Excess: Is the Crisis Good for America?” is very informative. The author, Kurt Anderson, believes that Americans were provided with various warnings before the economic downfall and we ignored them. "We saw what was happening for years, for decades, but we ignored it or shrugged it off, preferring to imagine that we weren't really headed over the falls." This quote makes it seem like the American population was in complete denial and didn't believe that the economy could get this bad. This article was a very accurate representation of America's history but, the popular culture connection wasn't strong enough to support the severe downfall. Anderson states, "The popular culture tried to warn us. For 20 years, we've had Homer Simpson's spot-on caricature of the quintessential American: childish, irresponsible, willfully oblivious, fat and happy." This description of Homer Simpson is a stereotype that cannot be used to describe Americans. Of course, some people may perfectly fit this description but, a large majority of Americans are hardworking and ambitious. On the other hand, Michael R. addresses a great point that Anderson is trying to provide America with advice. Anderson says, “The new America must be about financial temperance, not abstinence.” If Americans can follow this motto they will better themselves in a controlled manner. The author also believes that America should start spending money again instead of abstaining from it completely. When Anderson states, "In the Road Runner cartoons, after each fall, the coyote is broken and battered but never dies. America isn't going to expire either." This quote depicts an excellent comparison but, at the same time how can one compare America's status to something as infantile as a cartoon?
ReplyDeleteThe video on colleges isn’t a very beneficial video for students to view because the information that Jacques Steinberg provides is information that most students are already well aware of. On the other hand many parents are unaware of today’s admissions processes. For these parents this video would be beneficial. Parents and students are advised to relax and take it easy. I found it really interesting that there are so many four year colleges out there but, students only focus on about 48 of them. This focus will obviously make admissions more difficult.
Taylor C.
Period 1
"The Times" article "The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America", makes a several valid points in the article. As America becomes more indulgent in consumerism it's affecting our health at a steady pace, "In the late '70s, 15% of Americans were obese; now a third are."
ReplyDeleteAndersen also mentioned towards the end of the first page of the article that "After decades of talking the talk, now we're all obliged to walk the walk." This statement is very valid when it comes to how most adults in America act today. If they can't afford their mortgage then stop buying so many clothes. If people really want change, they have to make a real effort. Even Obama has mentioned this in several speeches. He alone cannot change the economic panic, but Americans have to be as hands-on as possible.
The MSNBC video was helpful. The fact that a majority of students applying to college are applying to the same 48 colleges is a bit overwhelming. It shows how fierce the competition is becoming.
The financial aid portion of the interview revealed that some schools, particularly Harvard, actually gave the ability to grant appeals to those that were denied financial aid. This gives some hope to students that have what the school is looking for, but not necessarily the money.
The last segment of the interview dealt with the competition between students. It became clear that students should supersede their efforts to meet their "dream college" requirements. That way they will stand out from their competitors and most likely be accepted.
Tiffany V.
Period 1
Kurt Anderson, a novelist, host of public-radio program, and former columnist for TIME, wrote “The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America,” which gave readers an enormous amount of information about the United States. Though Anderson made numerous points and issues that one would strongly agree with, there were still several issues and topics in his essay that would leave the reader in great disagreement.
ReplyDeleteThrough Anderson’s essay he writes to show he feels that America goes through periods of hard times, yet those hard times or even times where we as a country did fail have aspects that are good about them. “Recall, please, the national mood in the mid-‘70s: after the 1960s party, we found ourselves in a slough of despondency, with an oil crisis, a terrible recession, a kind of Weimarish embrace of decadence, national malaise – and at that very dispirited moment Microsoft and Apple were founded. The next transformative, moneymaking technologies and businesses are no doubt coming soon to a garage near you.” Anderson shows here, how even though the country was going through some sort of depression and hard time, Microsoft and Apple were created which was a major and great thing that happened to us despite the hard time. In agreement to his last sentence, stating that this is coming soon to a garage near you” is very true. With the difficult time we are experiencing, sooner or later there will be a change, or creation of something that will help us out greatly and have a major impact on our life. This is very similar to what Mark Twain is supposed to have said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” This can be related to what Anderson said; the US is experiencing a similar economic crisis as we did in the 60s, and over time the world will most likely see a repeat, yet in a way that is not exactly the same. Meaning that we will see similar companies forming; however, the new companies that emerge will not be Microsoft or Apple.
However, not everything stated in “The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America” seems to be necessarily true. One part of his essay, even though is not one of his major points he is trying to portray, one can greatly disagree with. “Hollywood is dong fantastic box-office business, thanks to insanely unserious movies like ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’ and ‘Madea Goes to Jail’…And again, history is encouraging in this regard.” The way Anderson writes this makes one feel that he feels that unserious movies are bad, and is the only reason why Hollywood does so good. One can argue that, yes unserious movies have a lot of success, but serious ones do as well, such as “Titanic” and “Pearl Harbor”. The reason though for history encouraging this is due to the way the unserious movies let one escape from the reality of the difficult times one can be experiencing.
Agreeing with Beverly, it is indeed really hard to believe what Anderson says about people today. Like she said as well as Anderson, the American obesity rate reached the highest with a third of all Americans being obese compared to 15% in the late ‘70s. Another point that was hard to believe was how in “the late ‘80s, only Nevada and New Jersey had casinos, but now 12 states do and 48 have some form of legalized betting.”
The website www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29954853#29954853, which displays a video called “The Choice”, gives someone a great insight on what to do for college. One part of information which was quite interesting was how there are less than 50 colleges that people focus on. For these colleges, people think that they are the only ones that are good and they will receive the best education; however, the video shows us that most colleges will give you a great education. In addition, based on the demand to go to these colleges, it is harder to get into them, so by not getting in doesn’t mean the end of the world. By talking to the mother and daughter, it made one nervous due to all the research needed to be done in order to find the best college, financial plans, and such. The journey of picking the right college is scary and long, but in the end it is really worth it.
-Ashley F
Period 4
Kurt Andersen's essay titled, "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?" demonstrated with well-presented facts how America has fallen into the attractive force of the booming economy that began in the 1980's. With all that began with President Ronald Reagan society has fallen into a massive trap that the appealing aspects of the booming economy presented. All of the things that have actually caused problems in today's America resulted from the easy and fast progress of the economy back in the 80's all the way to present day. For example, today’s obesity problem can be connected to the cheaper and easier ways to obtain these harmful products. “And we started living large literally as well as figuratively. From the beginning to the end of the long boom, the size of the average new house increased by about half. Meanwhile, the average American gained about a pound a year, so that an adult of a given age is now at least 20 lb. heavier than someone the same age back then. In the late '70s, 15% of Americans were obese; now a third are.” In addition, many fraudulent activities and non-ethical methods have substituted our ways to interact with each other. Now nobody can’t trust anybody, especially with the crisis as it is. Not very long ago people like Bernie Madoff got incarcerated for ponzi schemes that just tare up trust in today’s society.
ReplyDeleteThe MSNBC video, which dealt about college admission tests, was very interesting. It is true that the competition to get into the good and most recognizable colleges has been progressing harder and harder. However, there are millions of other places people can apply and they’ll definitely get in. Financial aid, on the other side, is really important in the college admission process. These 48 colleges or so, as the video mentioned, are now providing the perfect keys to attend their college. Now that the video clarified some doubts, the process seems much easier.
Lucas Baistrocchi
Period 4
The essay “The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?,” by Kurt Andersen, does not intend to give new information to people; it’s purpose is to show the reader how change has always come along, and now is a time to change once again. Regarding the writing style, it’s noticeable how the author implements a vast amount of allegories and comparisons that make the essay more appalling to the reader, and at the same time easier to transmit the desired message. The following is an example of a parallel drawn by Kurt Andersen to portray the result of America’s failure and how it can fall, but never die. “In the Road Runner cartoons, after each fall, the coyote is broken and battered but never dies. America isn't going to expire either.” This parallel deals with the economic crisis that America is going through now, and it reflects upon the idea that Americans should stand back up, and like the coyote keep on trying to succeed; nonetheless, to achieve this success American’s must first change their way of living. By analyzing the title, “The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?,” it’s visible that the author considers this crisis to be just a wakeup call for Americans. Differing with Joanna in this point, this crisis can be good for America, because it’s function is to ultimately change the American’s way of life, and by doing this people will become more conservative and secure when it comes to economic decisions. Another interesting statement made by Andersen is that China is in fact the “new America.” This is completely true, for the reason that China is now industrialized and has all the necessary factors to transform itself into a world power. Still this does not mean that China will be more become more powerful than the U.S. in the near future.
ReplyDeleteThe most important idea that can be drawn from this essay is that change within the American way of life has to occur, and the faster it happens the quicker the crisis passes. As it is explained by Kurt Andersen each decade has had a signature event that lives on through as the most important event of those ten years. If we want to overcome the current problems, then this decade should be marked by the “change”.
Concerning the video “Surviving the College Admission Process”, as Steven and Sebastian said, it had vague information. The topics explained were too general, in fact it could be considered to not have any important information at all. Moreover, the time span of the video doesn’t allow any relevant information to be transmitted to the viewer. The only important batch of information that can be useful is the website they talked about “The Choice”; which provides information and forum sites for student and parents about the choices to take when picking a college.
Oscar B
Period 4
The article The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America? was very positive towards America’s situation right now. It mentioned that America has survived previous economic downfalls and that we can survive another one today. Kurt Andersen mentioned diverse ways that the American people have to change their ways of thinking and actions. My favorite illustration he used was the ant and the grasshopper illustration. He says, “It’s time to ratchet back our wild and crazy grasshopper side and get in touch with our inner ant, to be more artisan-enterpriser.” Here he is making a very intelligent point, we have to take the initiative, like he said, and start doing what our country needs from us. We can’t always be looking at what other successful people are doing. The citizens of America have to get up from this downfall and make the country how it was before, if not better.
ReplyDeleteKurt Andersen made another great comparison that he made was that the American people are recovering from an addiction that we had. We went crazy and we lost control of how we were spending our money. We were living large and we forgot how really things work in reality. The solution to an addiction would be to stop what we were doing and not do it again, but he states the smart way to stop this addiction without really stopping by saying, “since as economic creatures, we can't quit; we just have to teach ourselves to buy and borrow in moderate, healthier ways. The new America must be about financial temperance, not abstinence.” Again, we have to modify our way of thinking and making decisions with our money. We can’t stop spending because then that would make the economic crisis worse. We have to be realistic with our money and get out of our heads that we could get rich in a blink of an eye. We have to work for our money like the ant from the illustration.
I agree with my classmate Ashley. I disagree with his views about not serious movies. During these hard times we need our entertainment to get our heads cleaned off for a while. We want to have fun and laugh so we don’t die of depression because of our situation. Besides like Ashley mentions there are plenty of interesting serous movies to watch so he shouldn’t complain.
The video was interesting to watch. It got me more relax because it taught that everyone that is applying is going to get accepted to a dissent college. That it is human nature to apply to where everyone else is applying that is why the completion is so rough. This is a new perspective to ponder about. As juniors we should start searching about colleges that offer what we want to study but that are not that famous. That way we have a safe backup school just in case our dream school rejects us. It was also a relief that a parent and daughter agree that financial aid is easy to find and to fill out.
-Carolina Celis Period 4th
"To be or not to be, that is the question"; a phrase that has been abused in use, yet, it can be applied to many aspects of life. In the article titled "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?", Kurt Andersen compares both the present crisis with that of the 1920's. At both of these times, one could be pessimistic or optimistic towards the abuse of confidence of the Americans when the word "MONEY" was brought to the table.
ReplyDeleteSuch enormous crisis can be compared to The Great Depression; it makes people aware of the manner in which their money was being spent, and, even though those moments were marked by arduous faces and sentiments of embellished tears, the outcome was brighter, futuristic, and lack of aloofness. Now a days, everyone alludes to The Great Depression as times of resentment and precious consideration to money, wealth, and power.
The same end result will probably apply to today's sufferings; public schools are devastated by governmental disinterest, teenagers are worried about limited college funds, and professionals in education's arms are gradually being shortened when time comes to give out scholarships, all these cases are just typical reflections of factors from The Great Depression. Maybe the final product will be similar to that one of those atypical moments of crisis during Reagan's administration.
When visiting the website http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29954853#29954853, also citing a video called "Surviving The College Admission Process" is a supporting tool when the moment comes to open the mailbox and finding out the college one got in to. Waiting for responses can seem as an infinite time, yet, it is important to be patient. John Steinbeck gives the recommendation not to stress about future college applications, instead, have a confident mind and work hard to achieve remarkable goals.
Victoria Hernaiz.
Period 4
The article, “The End of Excess” Is this Crisis Good for America?” written by Kurt Andersen is informative, it emphasizes on how long ago the nation saw this crisis coming, yet decided to ignore it and shrug it off. Andersen says, “Preferring to imagine that we weren’t really headed over the falls.” Anderson’s way of writing is very unique because it clearly states the meaningful mistakes that were made, yet it contains that optimist attitude and presents solutions to the Great Recession that America is undergoing.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, the title of this article is very significant, “The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?” it is valid that after reading this article on might conclude that on the long run this crisis can be good for America. Even though it is a time of struggle, America has learned a valuable lesson, which will help it become a stronger and more successful nation. Andersen states, “The economic emergency helped ensure his (Obama’s) election has pushed the fact of his race.” So besides the obvious negative impacts of a crisis, this may have a long term positive impact on Americans. For too long America has been living like the grasshopper, partying and living the good life. Now the winter ascends and it’s time for America to release the ant within them and face the consequences of their irresponsible actions, the Great Recession that excessive spending and borrowing have brought.
Andersen is very wise and accurate about the things he stated in his article, making it difficult to disagree with such truthful facts. As stated by the students above (Joanna and Steven), there is no doubt that America will overcome this recession, thus rising to power again, if that does not happen America will always be remembered for its number of great accomplishments, and for the nation it has proved to be.
The MSNBC video, “The Choice” was very helpful and served as a wakeup call to many students who as well as a great number of students, take for granted the large amount of 4-year universities, that instead over stress over the same 50 most competitive schools in which they want to get accepted. Jacques Steinberg advises students and parents about college admissions, he emphasizes that parents going through the process should relax because their children will be accepted somewhere terrific. For the upcoming couple of years, graduating students will have a harder time getting financial aid, because both parents and colleges are being affected by this Great Recession.
Alma Ricart
4th Period
The essay “The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?,” by Kurt Andersen was a different type of article that we are used to. OScar hit the nail on the head when he said, "does not intend to give new information to people; it’s purpose is to show the reader how change has always come along, and now is a time to change once again" regarding the purpose of the article. The article clearly states, "We cannot just hunker down, cross our fingers, hysterically pinch our pennies, wait for the crisis to pass, blame the bankers and then go back to business as usual." This statement is absolutely true, many people in America are waiting on their bottoms for President Obama to fix the economy, when really they should be jumping in the same vessel as him to help. The article constantly mentions how over the past 15 years we have reduced crime in New York and such things all the way to electing a black president; it is basically telling the reader that change has always come and this time change will be a bit different and harder. The subtitle "Begin Again" is followed by a section that describes that this crisis isn't the end of the world, the people only see it like that because we do not know anything other than that. The author was totally out of place to say that kids are the one that are the best off, that was totally ridiculous. Although kids and teens do not get affected as hard as adults with the crisis, the kids' and teens' childhood will be remembered with corruption and chaos not the happy childhood to look back at.
ReplyDeleteThe article wants us to be left with the point that no matter what happens, America has established such a high reputation that it wont be put aside even with the current crisis. Bringing in both Joanna's and Oscar's comment on whether or not this can be good for America: the crisis can be bad because as an economic point we are going down the drain and it will be very hard to dig out of a very deep hole, however, it can be good for America because it will bring more common courtesy and strength within people.
The video "Surviving the College Admission Process" was a very useful and helpful video clip. Finding out about the new website "The Choice" was extremely interesting. Unlike Oscar suggested, the video was not that vague. It did help a plethora due to the fact that it explained the recent stand in financial aid which is a big issue concering the nation right now so it was great to hear about the current update on that and how it is going to get more and more competitive with mor student graduating from high school. Although it was a short and brief video clip, it definitely served its' purpose and helped.
Carla Q.
P.1
“The End of Excess: is this crisis good for America?” written by Kurt Andersen, is a very crucial piece of writing that explains what happened to America from 1920 to 2008. This article is a perfect example to how Americans have become more demanding and filled with less worries. Americans nowadays are only thinking about the present, not how there decision is going to affect the future.
ReplyDeleteAndersen seems to agree with the title of this article, “Is this crisis good for America.” In one way I totally agree with him. The crisis could be good for Americans because maybe they could learn from it and not commit the same mistake again. On the other hand, I disagree with the title of the article because I don’t think that the crisis is good for America, because no crisis is ever good.
The video on msnbc about College admissions and “The Choice,” wasn’t a real eye opener for me. It talked about how the competition is getting mor tough and that its getting harder to get into colleges nowadays. The only thing that I learned from it was that I need to relax more about it.
-Thomas Worthington
P. 1
Kurt Anderson of Time Magazines states "Even smart, proudly rational people engaged in magical thinking, acting as if the new power of the Internet and its New Economy would miraculously make everything copacetic again. We all clapped our hands and believed in fairies." This quote is mentioned in the article "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good For America?" and which i agree almost 100%. When computers started being mentioned and developed in America, everyone wanted one. When Internet was brought upon by many computers owners, everyone wanted it. Americans depend on to many things which causes then to be dependent and not self-reliant. Every American saw this coming one way or another and yet noone does anything about it.
ReplyDeleteI didnt disagree with anything of wht Anderson mentioned in his essay, I pretty much agreed with everything he stated.
The video that was just watched by myself was pretty informative and mentioned quite a massive amount of advice for college. These videos are great considering the fact that many of us are going away to college and which college is right for each individual student. It mentioned something about that its harder for students now with the economy and nation right now which was very helpful because it updated myself and other watchers what to expect later in the future. This video was interesting and am pleased with how much information was mentioned in a short span of time.
Rudy Lavecchia
P.4
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ReplyDeleteThe article "The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?" points out many excellent points on the current situation of our country and it's citizens. I strongly agree with the topic regarding when this recession truly began. Many people believe that Bush is the sole person that caused the recession and that it began during his term. These accusations are completely false considering our economy has been on a decline since the late 1980's. The article states that we have ignored the fact that our economy was "headed over the falls" for decades. The article makes the well-supported fact that American citizens are of utmost blame for our current economic situation. People continued "living large" even when they could not truly afford the lifestyle in which they grew accustom to. American's are to blame for this crisis not any single political figures.
ReplyDeleteThe video on MSNBC about college admissions and the process really helped me understand how many students are in the same situation that I am. It talks about how difficult the competition is becoming, and how the colleges where most students want to go is where the competition is often the toughest. I don't necessarily agree with their suggestion to relax because it is very important to have a successful junior year academically. Overall, I found the video to be helpful.
- Morgan Stewart
- Period 4
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ReplyDeleteThe article, "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America? " written by Kurt Andersen, was very informative about our world and what’s happening in it. “We saw what was happening for years, for decades, but we ignored it or shrugged it off, preferring to imagine that we weren’t really headed over falls.” This quote is exactly what happened and it shouldn’t have. America made bad choices but that doesn’t mean we can’t fix it. The article also states that “During the '80s and '90s, we were Wile E. Coyote racing heedlessly across the endless American landscape at maximum speed and then spent the beginning of the 21st century suspended in midair just past the end of the cliff; gravity reasserted itself, and we plummeted.” I agree with this statement completely. We could have fixed this problem when it began or never let it happen in the first place. Like Steven said, the U.S is important to many other nations. The world isn’t going to end with all the problems we have. Were trying to fix them now and it will take a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe video about college admissions was informative, but didn’t really help that much. Almost everybody knows how bad the economy is and that you will be fighting for a spot to get into the college of your choice. The people that don’t know that, this video should have woken them up and got them to start taking college more seriously. It is getting harder and harder to get into college every year. What you are supposed to do is learn to relax more. The video also states that because of the economy right now it is harder to get good financial aid in any way.
Danielle L.
P-1
Like many i agree on this article beign very "informative" and i think that it shows us a little of reality for those who arent really involved in whats going on in today's economy in the United States.
ReplyDeleteIn the article "The end of excess: is this crisis good for america?" by Kurt Andersen he states "It's as if we decided that Mardi Gras and Christmas are so much fun, we ought to make them a year-round way of life. And we started living large literally as well as figuratively". I agree with this quote because i think that we now live in a world that we want more and we will always want more than what we have and we arent concentrating on the things that really matter but more on the fun thats actually in a way harming us. Even though we have known for a while that we are coming into a crisis we live in the present and dont think about the future we let things go by and this article knows how to show this perfectly " We saw what was happening for years, for decades, but we ignored it or shrugged it off, preferring to imagine that we weren't really headed over the falls"
On the video about the colleges, a subject that i am terrified of, i dont think it was that informative with only the fact just like thomas said i learned that i needed to relax. I am well informed that college is now a hard subject because of the economy and crisis going on now. It did bring up something really interesting there are 2000 colleges to pick and people choose only between 48 which of course makes it a lot harder to get accepted into the ones you want. The video like i said before did help me though and telling me to just relax and take my time on choosing wisely the colleges and advantages and disadvantages.
Claudia Muller
Period 4
The Time Magazine article titled "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America? " written by Kurt Andersen, is a very grand flashback of our good and bad times. The article exposed how we took advantage of the good times, the boom of the stock market, and how we deny our bad time, the recession and increased prices. Just like the previous bloggers I will once again agree with the authors comparison of the Andersen’s theory to our present situation.
ReplyDelete“We saw what was happening for years, for decades, but we ignored it or shrugged it off, preferring to imagine that we weren't really headed over the falls. The U.S. auto industry has been in deep trouble for more than a quarter-century. The median household income has been steadily declining this century ... but, but, but our houses and our 401(k) s were ballooning in value, right? Even smart, proudly rational people engaged in magical thinking, acting as if the new power of the Internet and its New Economy would miraculously make everything copacetic again. We all clapped our hands and believed in fairies.” I agree with the fact that as Americans we really need to wake up and smell the coffee and we need to step out and look in the big bad worlds eyes because we were the cause of the recession and we will be the ones to come out of it. The bottom line is that we can’t just sit around crossing our fingers and hoping for the best because if something bad happens it affects everyone and when something good happen it also affects everyone so therefore we should be making it a group effort to make things happen in our favor.
Another part of the text which I strongly support is, “And no other nation assimilates immigrants as successfully as the U.S. The sooner we can agree on a coherent national policy to encourage as many as possible of the world's smartest and most ambitious people to become Americans, the better our chances of forestalling national decline. The waves of exotic foreigners who arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries were unsettling, but previous generations got over it, luckily, since those newcomers were instrumental in forging the American Century.” This country’s roots are immigrants who came from their countries and adopted the American land and dreamed to make the land the land of opportunities. The 20’s was an era of new life forming when different immigrants came to the U.S. and gave life to our present as it is. Thus, we should again encourage immigration and diversity hoping to use it as a torch that will show us the way to a better future.
“We are in a state of shock,” but who is to blame for our sudden shock when everything has been in such unbearable condition for quite a while but we just seem to want to notice and now when it really boils down to home foreclosures, the fall of the stock market, bankruptcies of certain businesses, people losing their jobs and more we begin to understand our situation, the party is over and the clean up needs to begin in right time so everything can get to normal. This brings me to another agreement with the article as the author stated this state of affairs in a story of the ant and the grasshopper. “It's time to ratchet back our wild and crazy grasshopper side and get in touch with our inner ant, to be more artisan-enterpriser and less prospector-speculator, more heroic Greatest Generation and less self-indulgent baby boomer, to return from Oz to Kansas, to become fully reality-based again.”
“"History doesn't repeat itself," Mark Twain is supposed to have said, "but it rhymes." Does America in 2009 rhyme with the Britain of 1909? Back then, the British were finishing a proud century as the most important nation on earth — economically, politically, militarily, culturally. But the U.S. was coming on fast, having already overtaken the Brits economically.” This is the only part of the article which I disagree with because history most defiantly does repeats itself just because it didn’t repeat itself in the certain circumstance stated in the article of the 1909 British and the WWI Americans; history repeated itself in American history. During the late 1920’s the stock market did in fact crash and there was also a time when life before the stock market crash the average American life was euphoric. This repeated it’s from the 1980s till today.
Over all, America will defiantly once again rise up against all odds and prove that foundation and unity stronger than ever before.
The video at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29954853#29954853 was a short but informative video. The video gave an over all look at the number of students that are going through the same stress as I am and it also stated many facts such as the students apply to the same 4 year colleges (25 top of the list universities applied to) each year when there are over four thousand colleges which can be applied to as well. The video also made it clear that even though applying to college is the most hectic and stressful part of high school it still can be looked at in a positive way because you will get into college some where because majority of the colleges accept students who apply. I do agree to the fact that students shouldn’t go ballistic over applying to college and should relax and take a deep breath but students should at the same time not loose track of time in high school and should continue to put forth effort to excel academically. The video was a sort of relief to have watched for the reason that it gives you a green light that you are going to college, even though students know this they want to hear it from someone of the authority.
Sahar J.
Period #4
The article I read was extremely informative; yet, as Stephen wrote, it is mostly common knowledge that has been pressed in the news lately since are economic decline. This information should have been brought to the attention to most of my fellow classmates, since it will have a tremendous effect on us in the near future. This extreme plummet of our economy, as mentioned in the article, will in fact change our world as we know it. The population will have to adapt to the situation and work for a more efficient economy. This economic downfall is going to get worse before it gets better. (Side note: One metaphor used to compare the economy which I enjoyed was that of the Road Runner.)
ReplyDeleteAs for the video I watched, it incorporated both college and the economy. Many students today, have an increasing stress for receiving an education than the past years. The video made me aware of the offers of financial aid and how readily available it has become. Colleges do make an effort to financially help those directly affected by the plummeting economy. That segment has created hope for many individuals seeking an education and in need of financial aid.
`Kristian Shaffer
Period 4
The article entitled "The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?" was extremely enlightening and informative in relation to the recent history of the United States from an economic stand point, and how things might be fixed. Kurt Andersen wisely in this article wisely recalls the story regarding the ant and grasshopper, "The ant is disciplined, the grasshopper parties as if the good times will last forever — and then winter descends. Americans are, bless us, energetic grasshoppers as well as energetic ants, a sui generis crossbreed, which is why we've been this successful as a nation." I thought this was an incredibly interesting way to say that Americans have the ability to have fun and reap benefits, but also are able to obtain these benefits through hard work. In addition, I also wondered if these values remained true in this day and age and if that has to do with our current economic situation. Overall however, I agree with Andersen's remark. On the other, I almost completely disagree with the comment made by Rush Limbaugh. He stated that if we finally manage to achieve something like universal health care, it would mean "the end of America as we know it." I believe this comment was made out of closed mindedness and the inability to accept change. In my opinion, this concept is helpful in the evolution of America. The country must evolve in order to survive.
ReplyDeleteThis video provided by MSNBC was a very informative look at college applications and the applying process including things like financial aid. It is interesting to me that they refer to the "48 core group of colleges" because that truly is the main part of college admission that causes the most stress among the people.
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ReplyDeleteThe article "The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?” written by Kurt Andersen, describes how America has changed throughout the last several decades, and how, since of last year, we've our economy has been plummeting and been living in a recession. Anderson believes that the people of America have been living "...as if we decided that Mardi Gras and Christmas are so much fun, we ought to make them a year-round way of life." By this he means we have been living our lives as we pleased and avoided serious issues that have led to the current downfall of America. For example, Anderson uses the facts such as the average size of an American has doubled since the 80's and the average weight of an adult has increased by 20 pounds. "In the Road Runner cartoons, after each fall, the coyote is broken and battered but never dies. America isn't going to expire either. But unlike him, we will be chastened and begin behaving more wisely," is an excellent quote by Anderson. When he says that we will begin behaving more wisely, it's not a matter of whether we will or not, it's a matter of when we will start and how long it will take to start improving the problems we've been stacking on each other. As for the question in the title, “The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?” the answer should be yes. The American population will come to see how they’ve corrupted our economy and country as a whole and will hopefully change their ways for the common good of the country.
ReplyDeleteThe video “Surviving the College Admissions Process” was an extremely informative video. It explains how the competition for getting into a college is continually increasing. It also describes about the financial aid that can be used for colleges due to the way the economy is right now. The blog “The Choice” is mentioned in the video. “The Choice” is a blog that can be used to help with the college admissions process and how to survive it.
Ryan H.
Period 1
“This is the end of the world as we've known it. But it isn't the end of the world.” is the quote that most people, including myself will agree with as stated in the article "The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?”.
ReplyDeleteThe article is very informative about not only the bad times, but also the good ones in America. Fixing our economy is not something that will happen overnight, but will take quite a long a time to recover from.
The video didnt stream very well on my computer, I could only see parts of it. But from what I could watch, it did give me somewhat of an understanding of financial aids in colleges. Knowing a lot of seniors this school year, and I know that next year, I will be in the same stressful position as them. I also thought "The Choice" blog was very interesting, I had to check it out for myself
Steven Marcano
Period 4
After reading the article "The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good For America?" from the Time magazine, one can come to various conclusions. The most apparent one would be the fact that americans like to live a high quality life, and end up spending money they do not have. America's luck ran for quite a while but like everything does, it eventually came to an end. The one thing that has yet to make any sense is the fact that even after it is obvious we are hurt economically, you still see people driving around in expensive cars which they cannot really afford. the idea of showing off and impressing other people takes over the mentality of doing things correctly, and allowing yourself to indulge only as far as your bank account allows.
ReplyDeleteThis article ends with a very mind-shifting sentence, "This is the end of the world as we've known it. But it isn't the end of the world." This is completely true, our life has changed and we need to learn new ways to live our lives to the fullest, but at all cost this does not mean the end of the world at all. Things can only get better from here.
The video on msnbc was a good way form e to end my spring break. For the past week I have toured colleges all across California to able to make the correct choice of which one attend. I found it to be a great coincidence that we where requested by Mrs. Ojeda to view this video right after I had come back from this particular trip. It really put my nerves at ease and will definitely play a huge role on how i handle the situations that come with enrolling for college.
Emanuela V. P-1
Kurt Anderson is a known novelist from Omaha, Nebraska. In his writing “The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?” there are many informative ideas given. Anderson speaks of the ideology of Americans, and how if we change our living habits the United States wouldn’t be on the economic decline. He states fact such as how the United States economic growth has decreased since the 1980s, and how Americans need to change there lifestyle in order for the economy to once again prosper. Anderson does not seem to give a biased point of view, but instead he informs the reader, especially the young ones who weren’t around for Reagan’s Presidential term, of the wrongdoing in the American lifestyle. Anderson recognizes the United States won’t always be in a recession, and he sends the message that Americans must keep the habits gained during the recession afterward. He states this when he writes “but even after the economy recovers, deciding to forgo that third car or fifth TV or imperial master bathroom or marginally cooler laptop will come more naturally.” He recognizes that Americans will once again go back to spending an immense amount of money, and this will lead to another recession. Instead Americans must take this period of time as a learning experience, and become a better country when the recession is over.
ReplyDeleteThis video on MSNBC was very informative. It spoke of how any student can get into college, but society is concentrating on a small percentage of these. This video was very informative since it relieves high school students into recognizes that they can get into college. Students can always pursue a higher education and it is necessary in order to live in the American society. Students don’t necessarily have to go to the 48 popular colleges because there are over 2,000 in the country, but any student can receive a post high school education.
Arash A.
Period 4
The title "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?" captured my attention immediately because by the beginning of 2009,I questioned the recession's reasons and began to wonder aboutthe cultural and social effects that this bottomless pit will bring to the way of life of Amercians.
ReplyDeleteThere are many points brought up in the article that I agree with, including the question in the title itself. Is there any "good" in this economic crash? Who is anyone to say individually what is the best for America, but I find that by being drastically woken up from the excessive lifestyle that we as Americans are used to, we might someday realize that nothing in excess is good. Maybe, but only maybe the lifestly will change for the better. The allusion to the Roadrunner was especially a strong visual depiction of the situation.
On the other hand, the video talks about human beings making decisions for other human beings when it comes to the stressful process of college application and acceptance. It is definately something that grows more every year as more high school students graduate and pursue their future through a college education. This video can also be related to the economic troubles of the nation and how it is worse for people now because of scholarship reductions and other limiting factors.
Jose Maldonado Period 1
The article, “The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?” makes a point that many people failed to see. It does seem that America has been in a state of unrealistic thought process and not very good decision making. The fact that the Dow Jones Average had increased by 1800% in just about three years is unbelievable. However this period of recession, almost depression, was not really seen by anyone. It is insane to think that, we all saw this coming and yet did nothing to prevent it. Although the author does make a valid point by saying that, “we all clapped our hands and believed in fairies”, it is clear that if America believed in this so called “fairies” it is because there wasn’t anything else that made sense to believe in. What were we supposed to do, act as if “instant gratification” was a bad thing? Our house prices going thru the roof was a tragedy? It made no sense at the time because that dream world we lived in seemed to be as solid as the ground we walk in today. Now people want to start by saying that this could’ve easily been avoided and that we deserve this. When in all reality we had the same chance at avoiding this as a sitting duck has of not being shot. And don’t blame pop culture or “Homer Simpson” for that matter. When in all reality this was a direct effect of a badly managed and monitored government.
ReplyDeleteFelipe Vidal
Period 1
Sorry to be a little late, but I was out of town! :)
ReplyDeleteIn the article “The End of Excess: Is the Crisis Good For America?” the author, Kurt Andersen, makes some excellent points. To compare the average American to Homer Simpson is cruel and genius. To use American obesity as a metaphor for its spending was, without a doubt, amazing. As a matter of fact, most of the first part of his article, describing how American got into this recession, is well developed, and, aside from his rather personal tone throughout the piece, very much agreeable and true. Because my classmates have already commented on those aspects I will only add that it is rather funny how most of the comments read “American citizens are responsible” and yet, none that I saw said “we are responsible.” Is that a fact already stated in the sentence? Did our generation make no damage? Or are we washing our hands and pointing fingers so that we don’t have to change our consumer way of life? I will say that we put the economy where it is.
ReplyDeleteJust as true as the first part, the middle and last are not. Kurt Andersen, although very realistic about the past, is much too optimistic on the future. Phrases stating that we will start behaving more wisely, that this is a sobering wake-up call; comparing Obama to Jesus, Brittan to U.S and China; and the very obvious anti-socialistic tone are just a few of the things that are disagreeable. Humanity has never learned from its mistakes, why would it start now? A drunk will always b a drunk; and, about history being cyclical, I would be the first to agree, but that would mean that World Wars would be coming. The Cold War is over and yet communism is still witch-hunted in the U.S. Aren’t we the one in a crisis right now?
The video is too brief and broad to really comment on. The blog could be important but it was barely mentioned, other than that, it only makes people more nervous about getting accepted instead of giving solutions or ideas.
Nicolas S
Period 4
“The End of Excess: Is the Crisis Good For America?” is an incredibly informative article that sums up the debacle we have found ourselves in but also it speaks of the lighter side of this fiasco, that this was a wake-up call for America and that it woke us up from a dream of a false sense of security due to the child-like thinking that because of the internet and the rationale that the economy “always rebounds”. Andersen explains that “The Great Recession” is a much needed reality check as well that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but that we need to be able to fix our car to get there.
ReplyDeleteA loved metaphor that Andersen said was that,
“during the '80s and '90s, we were Wile E. Coyote racing heedlessly across the endless American landscape at maximum speed and then spent the beginning of the 21st century suspended in midair just past the end of the cliff; gravity reasserted itself, and we plummeted.” But just as we can plummet off of the cliff, we can climb right back to the top.
Rush Limbaugh stated, "This is the end of America as we know it.” Andersen wittily replied, “This is the end of the world as we've known it. But it isn't the end of the world.” Almost everyone can agree with this statement,
The MSNBC video, “The Choice” was really informative. The video focuses on the fact that there are many four year colleges/universities but, that majority of the population demands the acceptance of the same 50 schools, making the competition more intense. On the other hand, the video seems to try to make you more frightened at the fact that the competition is stiffer but as well the video try's to make you feel hopeful and vaguely comfortable with the last sentence "Take a deep breath".
Martin Perry P-4
Within the article "The End of Excess: Is this Crisis Good for America?" written by Kurt Andersen, I thought that Anderson’s theory about The Great Recession has it's flaws and advantages. As stated in the article It shows that America has made some indecent decisions for not being able to reach it's economic standards. With America's issue on obesity, it is not our own country's fault that it has led to what it is today. It is our people's fault that what they have chosen to eat, has made the majority this way.. Although our country could be selling healthier items.
ReplyDeleteWithin the video on MSNBC, I agree that Mr. Steinberg. For some reason, students around the United States seem to pick the same 50 schools within our nation. They do it because they like a "challenge," and want to be apart of the best of the best. This video is very helpful and imformative for the future of what lies ahead of our high school years, and what to expect. Although, it kind of does scare me, a lot.
Paulina G
Period 1
(Sorry this was so late! I did not even see this blog when I went straight to view the Great Gatsby blog. I thought it was the only blog to be completed and did not see this one!!)
In “The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good For America?” by Kurt Andersen, he talks about the current lifestyle we are all living as a nation. He gives statistics with different income savings that families made a few decades ago and also the statistics of obese people versus that of us now. I agree with his viewpoints on certain things, such as when he writes, “In the Road Runner cartoons, after each fall, the coyote is broken and battered but never dies. America isn't going to expire either.”But I also disagree, or more accurately don’t like how he approached the topic. He berated America for behaving the way it does, giving examples of pop culture references such as Homer Simpson, Wall-E, and the Coyote from the old Road Runner cartoons, which to me, seems to be just as juvenile as those cartoons themselves. He tries to tackle a serious topic as if he is talking to unintelligent people, but tries to save it by sprinkling a little bit of facts here and there to try and hide his pompous role in riding this. He also tries too hard to act as preacher, just throwing warning after warning and calling us fat slobs who do not save money. In my opinion it is a good topic, he just slit his own throat by trying to spoon feed it to us with unnecessary allusions and analogies to cartoons.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the video on MSNBC, I found it very helpful, but also very sad that everyone tries to plug into the same colleges and universities just because those are the most well known. I hope people try to go to those other schools that not so many people know about and shed some light on, because as has been with my personal experience, it is usually the neighborhood café that has better coffee then that of large chain franchise stores. The same is with these universities, why pay $6 for a cup of coffee when you can get the same quality with a more home-ish feel for $3.
the above was posted by Brandon M. P4
ReplyDelete