Sociology Questions: Behold the dreamers

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“Inside Job” Documentary Analysis

Feelings about the events depicted in the film.

After watching the film, I feel outraged about how common citizens have had to suffer under the governments and banks that are supposed to protect their interests. The governments, for instance, always advice citizens to invest in banking and this means receiving salaries through banking systems, paying school fees through banks, and also obtaining loans from banks. Citizens often agree to work with banks and this means that the banks get a lot of profits from banking citizens. Governments also operate with the aid of finances from citizens. The taxation of citizens is what makes governments run smoothly. In fact, a large percentage of government revenues are from citizens’ contributions. From this scenario, it can be clearly seen that the financial aspects of banks and governments are fully rooted in the citizens of a country. Therefore, anything wrong done to citizens will definitely affect this financial aspect. It is, however, shocking to discover that even with this knowledge, governments and banks worked together to bankrupt common citizens in the name of benefiting a few top management individuals. This is an act of selfishness that shouldn’t be tolerated by top officials (who are actually aware of the consequences of any action that will impact the finances of a country).

Organizations that should have been held accountable for the financial crisis

First, financial advisors should be held accountable for the financial crisis that occurred. Financial advisors are tasked with providing sound advice to governments and banks about the consequences of each financial move. They already have the knowledge (backed by extensive research) on how the financial systems function and thus, they can easily identify a crisis and prevent it before it occurs. Instead of providing sound advice, they chose to work with the banks and governments to illegally steal/borrow huge sums of money from banks leading to their bankruptcy. Their fault came in when they tried to cover up these illegalities and make them look like something normal and legal. Therefore, they slept on their work and watched many citizens suffer while few individuals became extremely rich during the crisis. Academic institutions should also be held accountable for the financial crisis that occurred. This is because they have good extensive financial research yet they didn’t utilize it to prevent the economic crisis from occurring.

How the financial meltdown affected the lives of people

The financial meltdown affected the lives of people, especially the common citizens who didn’t gain a coin from the crisis. First, the meltdown led to a buildup of loans over a very short period of time. This meant increased taxation of the citizens so that the tax can be used to service government loans. This, eventually, led to high costs of living and reduced income among families. The people who worked in banks were also affected in that they lost jobs once the respective banks were declared bankrupt. This led to the loss of income and such individuals were unable to sustain their families in terms of not being able to pay for school fees and providing basic needs for the family. The loss of jobs consequently led to increased poverty levels among individuals, and, with poverty, comes food insecurity and increased crime rate issues. Therefore, the lives of people were negatively affected socially and economically.

Alan Greenspan’s ideology about free markets

I disagree with Greenspan’s ideology on free markets. Greenspan, in this ideology, claims that governments should not interfere with the financial and economic markets. Instead, they should allow investors to invest wherever they wanted. I disagree with this idea because it tends to create oppression and inequalities between the rich and the poor. The ideology tends to favor the rich over the poor, as they have the financial capacity to run the economy of a country. Therefore, in a free market, the rich will continue being rich and the poor will become poorer. Also, in a free market, people may obtain wealth from illegal activities such as the selling of drugs, prostitution, and human trafficking. If not controlled (as in the case of free markets), it will lead to an increase in corruption and illegal activities which will, eventually, lead to an economic crisis.

The meaning of ‘It’s a Wall-Street run government’

The phrase ‘it’s a Wall Street run government’ to me, means that the government is only controlled by a few selected persons who make the most important decisions. Therefore, such decision-making doesn’t factor in the voices of the poor and the common citizens. This is especially true when making decisions on big issues such as elections and financial aspects of the government. Such decisions, once made, are imposed on the citizens and they will have to comply in order to remain in good terms with the government. In a Wall-street run government, therefore, only top officials have a voice. The decisions may be good but, sometimes, have negative impacts in the long run, for instance, financial crisis.

Key financial players in the administrations of US former Presidents

In the administration of former President Bill Clinton, Glen Hubbard (chief economic advisor and the dean of Columbia Business School) and Lawrence Summers were the key financial players. President George W. Bush had Charles Schwab and John Hope Bryant while President Barrack Obama had Lawrence Summers and Alan Krueger as their key financial players.

Thoughts on unregulated markets

I think that unregulated markets are profitable in the short-term but have negative consequences in the long run and these consequences tend to affect a larger population, especially the poor. Thus, it is not advisable to have unregulated markets in a country that has populations that express diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, religions, and different economic classes. This is because unregulated markets give power to very few wealthy individuals to control the economy of a country. Such individuals are well-loaded with cash such that with time, all economic activities will be carried out according to what they say. Although this will generate revenue, unregulated markets will close opportunities for other small investors. It might also lead to increased crime especially in instances where the crime generates more funds (such as the selling of drugs).

Analysis of the financial crisis using sociological imagination

The sociological imagination concept usually allows people to think out of the box about certain issues in order to attain a different understanding. It is like finding a deeper meaning out of a certain situation. Analyzing the financial crisis using the sociological imagination concept, one can explain that the financial crisis was an attempt by great minds to utilize their powers to control the financial systems of the United States while still operating in a regulated market that is characterized by taxation, laws, and policies. The crisis can be seen as an attempt to create an unregulated market situation within a regulated system. This is because everything was done to perfection to an extent that the flaws in the financial system wouldn’t have been recognized, were it not for the financial crisis that occurred.

Analysis of financial crisis from functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives

From the functionalist perspective, the financial crisis was a latent function. The plan was to go on to completion without any flaws being realized, that is, the illegal enrichment of top managers in the financial system in a well-planned manner (such that no illegalities arise) through utilizing the banking system. However, the financial crisis was a latent function that was not to be discovered. If the financial system worked together with other sectors, the crisis wouldn’t have occurred. That is why banks collapsed but their top managers continued getting rich rapidly. From a conflict perspective, the financial crisis portrays how few knowledgeable financial individuals can manipulate the financial system for their own gain, that they earn millions while those under them continue to suffer. Such top officials only have their own interests at heart. From the symbolic interactionist perspective, the financial crisis occurred because the top individuals were not affected. Top managers continued to gain profits and thus, they didn’t see any reason to address the financial crisis yet banks were being declared bankrupt leading to their closures. Thus, since they didn’t get affected negatively, dealing with the financial crisis was not a task that top managers could partake in.

The general profile of persons who received subprime mortgages

Persons who received subprime mortgages were generally considered to have very low credit scores and the characteristics of not being able to repay their loans. Therefore, it was difficult for such individuals to meet the standards of being allocated mortgages. With subprime mortgages, the interests were higher given the risk of lending to persons who will most likely fail to pay back or will be completely unable to pay back. Some of these persons even had pending loans while applying for mortgages.