RJA #10b: Argument

My Argument consists of the fact that I think Washington is to blame for the housing bust. The three main reasons for this is Greed, Regulation failure, and Media/Government Persuasion.
Greed
They wanted to inflate the housing market and they wanted housing prices to inflate. They were looking for fast money so that they could get overseas investors in on the housing craze.
Failure to supervise
Being professionals and running the financial state of our Nation, Washington should have seen this coming. Washington should have seen what would be to come. They did absolutely nothing to stop what was happening, and not only turned a blind eye, but also pushed fast forward.
Media/Government Persuasion
Washington used banks and made loans available to people that should have been warned. Using the banks and allowing for zero down financing, no documentation, lured home buyers into buying more house then they should have been able to. Also lowering the interest rates made the illusion that anyone could afford anything.

Arguments
The arguments that are present against my research paper thesis is that Real Estate Brokers, Mortgage Brokers, and Banks are to blame for the housing market crash. My argument is that these professionals were there to help sell homes and loans, but they did not fuel the push to sell the American Dream. The government is in place to regulate housing inflation, interest rates, fannie and freddie mac. It is not the professionals jobs to keep the economy safe. Washington was being greedy and turned a blind eye on a lot of regulations that should have been in place. There were people predicting and warning the government with what would happen with Subprime. I also think that the professionals, if they knew any better, would have prevented all of this because they are suffering immensely after the crash.

RJA #10a: Thesis Statement

My research question is; what caused the crash of the housing market? For my thesis statement I have broken this question down to an argumentative paper. My claim is that the housing crash was caused by Greed, Regulation failure, and Media/Government persuasion. Using these ideas I have come up with my thesis statement.

The housing market crash was caused from greed, regulation failure, and misuse of media/government persuasion.

Extra Credit Assignment Zakta

Here is my Zakta Guide

RJA #9: Evaluation of Sources

Housing Boom and Bust-Book Source
Author: Thomas Sowell Publisher: Basic Books Date: 2009
Author: Thomas Sowell, Scholar Credibility: The Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has a PH.d. in Economics from the University of Chicago. His book is published by Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books group.

Who's to Blame: Washington or Wall street?- Periodical
Website: http://www.newsweek.com/id/190342 Published Mar 21, 2009
I know that Newsweek is a credible magazine, and I know that this is there correct website. Also this is credible because it is a debate with two sides, and it is not biased.

Website: http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/073/housing.html
Source: Internet Author: Peggy J. Crawford, PhD, and Terry Young, PhD
Credibility: I think this is really credible, because it is from Pepperdine University and it is a business report. They both have PH.d's and they have a lot of citations for this article.

Website: http://www.bepress.com/ev/vol3/iss4/art1/
Source: Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research
The Berkley Press, the new standard in scholarly publishing
Citation: Baker, Dean (2006) "The Menace of an Unchecked Housing Bubble," The Economists' Voice: Vol. 3 : Iss. 4, Article 1.

Periodical: Science Direct
This is an article that is from the Auraria Library and it also cites works and the Author.
Author: Hitoshi Saito
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., 2-1-2 Muromachi Nihombashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0022, Japan
Received 5 April 2001;
accepted 15 May 2001. ;
Available online 15 April 2003.

Periodical: Science Direct
This is also another article that is from the Auraria Library and it also cites works and the Author.
Author: Kyung-Hwan Kim
Department of Economics, Sogang University, CPO Box 1142, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Received 21 December 2003.
Available online 11 November 2004.

RJA #8c: Multimedia

Resource searched or tool used: Blinkx.com, Video search
Keywords used: News + Causes of housing market crash
Search strategies used: Keywords
Date of search: Oct 8, 2009
Number of hits: 74,000
Relevance of hits: 4

RJA #8b: Social Media

Resource searched or tool used: Feed mill, Social Media Tool
Keywords used: Housing bubble crash
Search strategies used: Keywords
Date of search: Oct 8, 2009
Number of hits: +100
Relevance of hits: 3

Resource searched or tool used: Icerocket, Social Media Tool
Keywords used: Causes of the housing market crash
Search strategies used: Keywords
Date of search: Oct 8, 2009
Number of hits: 39
Relevance of hits: 3

RJA #8a: Websites

Resource searched tool used: Bing, Search Engine
Keywords used: Housing, Crash, Causes
Search strategies used: Housing + Crash + Causes - Depression
Date of search: Oct 8, 2009
Number of hits: 17,635
Relevance of hits: 2

Resource searched or tool used: Meta/Mulit Search
Keywords used: Housing Crash + Causes -Depression
Search strategies used: Keywords
Date of search: Oct 8, 2009
Number of hits: 18,324
Relevance of hits: 3

Resource searched or tool used: Infomine, Directory
Keywords used: Housing cause + Crash + Bubble + Bust
Search strategies used: Keywords
Date of search: October 8, 2009
Number of hits: 622
Relevance of hits: 3

Resource searched or tool used: Incywincy
Keywords used: Economy + housing market crash -Depression + Causes
Search strategies used: Incywincy and Keywords
Date of search: Oct 8, 2009
Number of hits: 662
Relevance of hits: 3

RJA #7c: Field Research Plan

For my field research I am going to create a survey for Real Estate Broker. I am also going to be interviewing a couple of Real Estate Brokers. I think that they will be a good source of information, because they have been through the ups and downs of the market. For the survey I am going to include questions regarding what they think the cause of the housing market bust was. I am also going to ask them when they think the housing bust started. With my interview I want to find someone that has been in the business for a while and get their professional opinion on the housing bust. I plan on doing this within the month of October.

RJA #7c: Field Research Plan

For my field research I am going to create a survey for Real Estate Broker. I am also going to be interviewing a couple of Real Estate Brokers. I think that they will be a good source of information, because they have been through the ups and downs of the market. For the survey I am going to include questions regarding what they think the cause of the housing market bust was. I am also going to ask them when they think the housing bust started. With my interview I want to find someone that has been in the business for a while and get their professional opinion on the housing bust. I plan on doing this within the month of October.

RJA #7b: Internet Research Tool Test

Resource searched: Newsvine from Keotag
Keyword: Housing Bust
Search strategies: Newsvine, MSN, Yahoo
Date of search: 10-01-2009
Number of hits: 3
Relevance of hits: 2

Resource Searched: Google from Keotag
Keyword: Housing Boom and Bust
Search Strategies: Google AND
Date of search: 10-01-2009
Number of hits: 20+
Relevance of hits: 2

RJA #7a: Internet Research Tools

I use Google mainly when I search the Internet. I use Google from anything to finding restaurants, dentists, research, etc. I use Google, because it was the search engine that was the easiest, fastest, and had the most results. I really like Google, because I always find what I need on the first page. I do not like Google because they have too many databases. Whenever I search on Google I get a lot of results that are irrelevant to what I am looking for. However I am lazy so the fact that Google is the easiest and fastest outweighs the negative.