A “Financial Crisis”, an “Economic disaster on a scale few nations have ever experienced”(1), the “Great Recession”, the “Lesser Depression”, the “Long Recession”, the “Global Recession of 2009”(2) and the “Financial Implosion”(3) are all expressions used to describe the economic situation the United States found itself in 2012. Louis Michael Seidman, a Harvard graduate and Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitution Law at Georgetown University Law Center, referred to it as “fiscal chaos”. It is Professor Seidman’s belief that the cause of this great chaos is the “archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions” of the Constitution. Seidman wrote an article in the New York Times entitled, “Let’s give up on the Constitution”, and argues, due to his personal philosophy, that the Constitution should be abandoned. (4) Seidman fails to acknowledge poor fiscal banking policy, lending to non-qualified borrowers, government bailout of private corporations or perhaps the repeal of the Glass Steagall Banking Act (5) as the sources contributing to the financial crisis. Instead, he places the entire blame on the founding fathers. In spite of Seidman’s ridiculous quibbles, the Constitution should be up held to maintain both the solidity and freedom the United States offers its citizens.
Seidman uses a senseless scheme of “constitutional disobedience” as the footing for his beliefs. (4) He misinterprets history to try and prove his erroneous theory that “the Constitution itself was born of constitutional disobedience.” For example, the Constitution Law Professor purports his assessment of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words as fact when he said, “Franklin D. Roosevelt professed devotion to the document, but as a statement of aspir...
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6. "Franklin D. Roosevelt: Address on Constitution Day, Washington, D.C." Franklin D. Roosevelt: Address on Constitution Day, Washington, D.C. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. .
7. "Let’s Give Up on Professor Louis Michael Seidman." RedState. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. .
8. "Megyn Kelly Grills NY Times Op-Ed Author Who Wrote That U.S. Should 'Give Up' On Constitution." YouTube. YouTube, 04 Jan. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. .
9. "CBS Anti-Constitution Network." Greg Hunters USAWatchdog. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. .
One’s ability to analyze the motives of the Framers necessitates some understanding of the sense of national instability instilled in the US its first form of government, the Articles of Confederation in granting little power to the central government; in particular, focusing on the economic turmoil and it’s effects on the Framers. In his analysis of America in the Articles, Beard comprehensively summarizes the failures of the Articles as compromising to the “national defense, protection of private property, and advancement of commerce,” (Beard, 36) in the US. Additionally, Beard utilizes these indisputable truths to establish a case for what he believes to be the self-interested influences that urged the Framers to craft an undemocratic Constitution. As Beard puts it, the state centered control of the US under the Articles caused the economic
In this paper we will discuss the different point of views on the revolutionary war period that lead up the creation of the constitution between Howard Zinn and Larry Schweikart. It is true that the constitution as created by the rich, however the rich were more educated than the poor at the time, making them the reliable leaders of the society. This said, the rich might have tweaked the Laws to their slight advantage. Schweikart explains the creation of the constitution in order to fulfil the needs of the population. However Zinn emphasizes the fact that the government is controlled by the elites who benefit the most form the foundation of the constitution.
Beard, Charles Austin. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1998. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed February 23, 2014
Washington, George. Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States. Washington: [U.S. G.P.O.], 2004. Print.
The Constitution of the United States is one of the most iconic and important documents of all time. However, when it was first generated, its writing and ratification caused some major concerns. The purpose of the Constitution was to address the great number of issues of a new nation. To be more specific, the Constitution was meant to resolve the political, economic, and social problems of the country. Nevertheless, the document spurred much discussion and concern over people’s rights, the economy, and political corruption.
While the government of the United States owes its existence to the contents and careful thought behind the Constitution, some attention must be given to the contributions of a series of essays called the Federalist Papers towards this same institution. Espousing the virtues of equal representation, these documents also promote the ideals of competent representation for the populace and were instrumental in addressing opposition to the ratification of the Constitution during the fledgling years of the United States. With further reflection, the Federalists, as these essays are called, may in turn owe their existence, in terms of their intellectual underpinnings, to the writings of the philosopher and teacher, Aristotle.
Many argue that Reagan “enacted irresponsible tax giveaways for the rich…[starving] the federal government of revenue [which] led to unprecedented deficits.” There is no doubt that “today’s budget deficits [can] impoverish our descendants.”1
Through the years many changes have taken place, and technologies have been discovered, yet our Constitution remains. Some say that the Constitution was written for people hundreds of years ago, and in turn is out of step with the times. Yet its principals and guidelines have held thus far. The framers would be pleases that their great planning and thought have been implemented up until this point. However this does not compensate for the fact, that the we the people have empowered the government more so than our fore fathers had intended. Citizens were entrusted with the duty to oversee the government, yet so many times they are disinterested and only seem to have an opinion when the government’s implications affect them. As time has changed so has the American people, we often interpret our freedoms in a self serving manner, disregarding the good of the whole and also the good for the future. Thus there are no true flaws in the Constitution, it appears that the conflict emerges in the individual and their self, and poses question when we must decide when to compromise the morals that our Constitution was founded on, or when to stick to what we know is right and honest.
"Franklin D. Roosevelt - American Heritage Center, Inc." Franklin D. Roosevelt - American Heritage Center, Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. .
3. Beard, Charles A. "An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States". American Politics. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, MA. 1999. (Pages 27 -- 33).
The imperious Fed, much like the English Crown two centuries ago, formulates and carries out its policy directives without democratic input, accountability, or redress. Not only has the Fed's monetary restraint at times deliberately pushed the economy into deep recession, with the attendant loss of millions of jobs, but also its impact on the structure of interest rates and dollar exchange rates powerfully alters the U.S. distribution of national income and wealth. Federal Reserve shifts in policy have generated economic consequences that at least equal in size and scope the impact of major tax legislation that Congress and the White House must belabor in public debate for months.
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano. “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation.” US Capitol Building, Washington D.C. 8 December 1941.
The national debt is usually a frightening topic citizens of any country, however, in the United States, twenty trillion dollars of national debt is one of the major fears of the economy. Along with this fear comes every politician claiming to be the person to lower this astronomical debt to ease concerns in the modern American economy. In Hamilton’s Blessing, John Steele Gordon tries to alleviate these concerns by showing a plethora of benefits and good the debt has been able to do throughout the history of the United States. The central premise of the book and the main guideline for John Steele Gordon’s thinking is that the debt was used to save the Union in the 1860’s, the American economy in the 1930’s, and the wellbeing of mankind during
Disobedience to laws and governments that we the people see as wrong is a deep-seated part of our culture. It hearkens back to the Revolutionary war which the colonies used to create this great country from a previous government that the people saw as tyrannical. But this kind of disobedience, even being somewhat rare, can be seen in many cases throughout history. A step up from this is civil disobedience. Civil Disobedience can even be found as far back as Jefferson's time when he would advocate for "threat of revolution" and forms of changing the government that were placed in the constitution like "elections, amending process" and more (Rebellion, Revolution, and the Constitution). The same document even cites him as believing that unsuccessful
The "subprime crises" was one of the most significant financial events since the Great Depression and definitely left a mark upon the country as we remain upon a steady path towards recovering fully. The financial crisis of 2008, became a defining moment within the infrastructure of the US financial system and its need for restructuring. One of the main moments that alerted the global economy of our declining state was the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on Sunday, September 14, 2008 and after this the economy began spreading as companies and individuals were struggling to find a way around this crisis. (Murphy, 2008) The US banking sector was first hit with a crisis amongst liquidity and declining world stock markets as well. The subprime mortgage crisis was characterized by a decrease within the housing market due to excessive individuals and corporate debt along with risky lending and borrowing practices. Over time, the market apparently began displaying more weaknesses as the global financial system was being affected. With this being said, this brings into question about who is actually to assume blame for this financial fiasco. It is extremely hard to just assign blame to one individual party as there were many different factors at work here. This paper will analyze how the stakeholders created a financial disaster and did nothing to prevent it as the credit rating agencies created an amount of turmoil due to their unethical decisions and costly mistakes.