RJA #15b: Reflection on What You Learned

This class has taught me a lot. I have learned a lot about the web, because I am pretty technology illiterate. I have learned a lot about research, and how to separate good and bad sources from the Internet. I also have learned how to make a argumentative paper, and to conduct field research and my own tables and graphs. I think this will help me the most in my future school writing. Also I think it helped me immensely in research itself. Professionally I learned how to back up an argument, if I ever needed to. I also learned MLA and APA styles of writing and how to make a bibliography. Overall, the things I learned the most are how to write a good research paper, and how to do good research on the web.

RJA #15a: Word Cloud

Here is my wordle

RJA #14: Annotated Bibliography, Part 2

Bartlett, Bruce. “Who saw the housing bubble coming?” Forbes. 02 January 2009. Web. 11

November 2009.

This article is about the predictions that were made before the housing market crashed. It notes which people predicted the housing bubble to burst. It also notes that not many people were listening when the economists and financial analysts were predicting the housing bubble to burst. It also summarizes how the bubble inflated and also how it burst by everyone believing housing prices would only get higher and higher. It also talks about the trend in the housing market that had everyone buying property as investments, because numerous people were profiting from doing this. This article was very helpful to back up my argument.

Case, Karl E., and Robert J. Shiller. “Is there a bubble in the housing market?” Brookings papers

on Economic Activity. No.2 (2003): Web. 20 November 2009.

This Journal article was very informative on the basic information on what a bubble is. It also went into detail about the housing bubble that was happening in the United States. It touches on the inflation problem with the housing prices and also the increase in home ownership and investment. It also informs on how bubbles get inflated with peoples expectations of housing prices to rise. This article was helpful in explaining the housing bubble for my paper.

Catts, Tim “FDIC’s troubled bank list grows to 305”. Daily Finance. 27 May 2009. Web.

19 November 2009.

This article is about how the banks fell and fell hard after the housing bubble burst. It is an article about how the many banks that were in "trouble" due to defaults on home mortgages and the economy overall. I used this article for my argument in my paper. My argument that banks were not at fault in the housing market crash, and that if anything banks suffered just as much as homeowners and investors.

Dubner, Stephen J. “John Steele Gordon on the Financial Mess: Greed, Stupidity, Delusion-and

some more Greed”. Nytimes.com. 22 September 2008. Web. 15 October 2009

This article is from the New York times and is by John Steele Gordon, a specialist in financial and business history. He goes into detail about how the financial mess happened. He talks about everyones greed in the housing boom, but especially the corrupt relationship between congress and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He also talks about the delusion everyone had about the housing prices and the bubble. This was a very helpful article on my stance of greed being a major cause of the housing market crash.

“Equity”. Investopedia. 1999-2005. Web. 20 November 2009.

This was an encyclopedia online on investment jargon. It gave a clear definition of equity in terms that would help any reader to understand what equity was. I used this so that the readers would understand what equity was so that I could go into depth about the problems with equity and the housing market and what role it played.

Kearl, J. R. “Inflation, Mortgages, and Housing”. Journal of Political Economy. Vol. 87 No. 5

Pt. 1 (1979): 1115-1138. Print.

This was a Journal on inflation and housing. I used this Journal article because it was informative on the inflation and the impact it has on the housing market. I used this for my argument on inflation being another cause of the housing market crash. This is a Journal article that explains the basics of inflation and housing. I used it to show how inflation played a part in the housing market crash.

RJA #13b: Annotated Bibliography, Part 1

Sowell, Thomas. The Housing Boom and Bust. New York: Basic Books, 2009. Print.
This book by Thomas Sowell give good information regarding the Housing boom and bust and the causes of the housing crash. This book gives detailed information on what actually happened before, during and after the housing boom and bust. It goes over a lot of the political things that went wrong that fueled the housing boom, and also gives ideas on how to deal with this in the future. This text is very helpful in understanding a lot of the "underground" reasons and causes of the housing boom and bust. Thomas Sowell is also a scholar from the Hoover Institute, and teaches economics. This text is very helpful with my research because it backs up the fact that the Government is a main cause of the housing bust.

"Who's to blame: Washington or Wall Street?" www.newsweek.com. Newsweek. Mar. 21, 2009. Web. Oct. 15, 2009
This is a page from the Newsweek site and it is a debate between John Gordon, Niall Ferguson, and Nouriel Roubini. It is a back and forth debate on who's to blame for the Housing bust. Overall, the blame is shared between Washington and Wall Street, but there is stronger arguments blaming Washington. This was a good article to read, because it gives a couple different views from good resources. I found good quotes to support my argument that Washington was to blame for the Housing Boom and Bust.

Billitari, Thomas. "Financial Bailout: Will U.S. and overseas action stem the global crisis?" http://www.cqpress.com/. CQ researcher. n.d. Web. Sept. 17, 2009.
This article is from Thomas Billitari, and it gives a lot of background information on the housing market, Fannie and Freddie Mac. It goes over the facts and what went on before and during the economic crisis. This is a good article for basic knowledge to introduce my paper. It helped me to form my introduction.

"Committee: Fannie and Freddie ignored warnings". www.msnbc.com. Msnbc. Dec. 9. 2009. Web. Nov. 3, 2009
This article is regarding documents released by the house regarding warnings, letters, emails, that was sent to Fannie and Freddie warning them of risky loans. This article goes over the failure to regulate during the Clinton era, and brings light to the argument that there was failure to regulate in the housing boom and bust. This article is very good for my research paper.

RJA #13a: Field Research Report

I did a survey, and I surveyed 20 real estate professionals with the following questions: (the results are in bold next to the answers)


1. Banks are the cause of the housing crash.
-Agree 80%
-Disagree 10%
-Neither 10%

2. Mortgage Brokers are the cause of the housing crash.
-Agree 50%
-Disagree 50%
-Neither

3. Real Estate Agents are the cause of the housing crash.
-Agree 10%
-Disagree 90%
-Neither

4. Home Buyers are the cause of the housing crash.
-Agree 40%
-Disagree 40%
-Neither 20%

5. Washington caused the housing crash.
-Agree 80%
-Disagree 10%
-Neither 10%

6. Media/Government persuasion, to buy homes, caused the housing crash.
-Agree 70%
-Disagree 20%
-Neither 10%


7. Based on what you have witnessed with the housing market crash who would you put the blame on the most?
-Washington/Fannie Mae Freddie Mac 70%
-Home buyers
-Lenders/Mortgage brokers/Real estate agents 30%
-Media/Government Persuasion


8. What do you think fueled the crash most?
-Greed 25%
-Media Persuasion
-Failure or regulations 50%
-Pushing the banks to sell loans
-Sub prime 25%
-Other_______________

RJA #12c: Introduction Check

I checked and commented on the following introduction blogs: Tyler and Zach

RJA #12b: Presentation Plan

My presentation plan is to present information regarding the three causes of the housing market crash. I will introduce the topic first by going over basic information and knowledge of what happened resulting in the housing market crash. I will go over the greed, regulation failure and misuse of media/government persuasion, that resulted in the housing market crash. For greed I want to go over greed of the politicians, and also the greed of the American home buyer. For regulation failure I want to go over what went wrong with fannie mae and freddie mac. For misuse of media/government persuasion I want to go over the so called "American Dream" that was being pushed and lured in buyers. I also want to present my survey results that I got from surveying real estate agents. I want to also bring up the oppositions of blaming the real estate professionals ie; brokers, mortgage, bankers.