Blog 19

        Today I read an article simply titled, Greed. I found this article to be much more useful than the one I read yesterday. It started off by saying how headlines today are full of stories of individual greed. It was arguing how there in a increasing awareness of personal greed at the top, such as Ceo are getting outrageous incomes for not doing much of anything. It also gave an example of Opes Prime and their story. The Opes Prime story seemed to be confusing to me but, after the story the explained a little of what was going on. One of they things that they mentioned how Opes Prime was manipulating and risking the investments of many for their own gain and for the gain of their buddies. They were also arguing how Opes Prime and similar companies provide the stage for which greed and corruption can flourish. It also argued how we are living in an “what if” society but the way they explained that part just ended up confusing me. This article also described a couple different forms of greed. Greed for money, material goods, sex, power was some of the examples they gave. They also argued that there is a difference better wanting something because you need it but it is greed when you take more than you need. They were arguing how we take as much as we can like it won’t be there anymore. One of the examples was how we have been doing things such as, destroying forests for papermaking. Our greed is making us ignore environmental factors even though we know it is bad. That was an example in their argument that companies are denying or ignoring the negative effects of their actions. Overall I thought this article has bits and pieces that can be used but it wasn’t that great. 

Blog 18

          The article I read today wasn’t as helpful as the other so far have been. The author was making a point on how history shows that Americans have been misused money and short-term greed and power over long-term prosperity.  He supported his idea by talking about how America is looking for a short-term fix to the economy over a long-term fix. It also talked a little how the Bank for International Settlements warned that years with loose regulations of free market, greed, and power would lead to another decline. Other than that I did not find the article too useful. It did give me a real world example of the Lehman Brothers but that is pretty much all they talked about. I really expected this article to contain a lot more useful information but it didn’t. I really would like to find an article about a person or a group’s greed and how that affects eceryone. The article I read yesterday included some of that information and I would like to find more. I think information like that will help me write my paper more than anything. Most of the articles I have read so far have been dealing with politics and everything and I would like to find on about a common person and their greed and the after affects of it. Although the Pete Rose article had that in it but it was more about how the decision affect himself and not the people around him. That has been my favorite article so far. I am really interested in sports and I know a lot about it so the Pete Rose story will be a big contributor to my paper. 

Blog 17

           Today I read an article about greed on Wall Street. This article really helped me see just how much greed can affect the stock market. One of the arguments in this article was how greed was one of the key contributors to our recent economic decline we have experienced lately. It talks about how the greedy bank investors, lobbyist, and corrupt politicians and their greed is a big factor in the economic meltdown. Just the first paragraph showed how dangerous greed can be. Greed of individuals has caused economic problems for the entire United States and even other countries that were hurt by the recent economic downturn. It just seems crazy to me that individual greed can cause harm to an entire nation. Although greed isn’t the only reason for the downturn but it played a big role in the so-called “depression”. The recent depression wasn’t the only topic of the article. It did talk so about greed on Wall Street with investor which kind of ties in with the depression. But It also talked about how people have been greedy in Wall Street and in other economic areas for as long as they can remember. Reading this article kind of alarmed me and made me somewhat mad. Reading about how investors, who already have way too much money, were a major contributor to the economic downturn. It also shows just how dangerous greed can be and how it affects everyone. Now that I have read this article I have found some good real life connections for my paper. 

Blog 16

         I am doing my paper on greed. The article I read today was about one the best MLB players to ever play the game, Pete Rose. As many of you know how Pete Rose’s greed put a bad name on himself and a ban from the MLB. Although that is a misconception, he is not actually banned from the MLB but “permanently ineligible list”. The article talked about the huge mistake he made and how that has seem to put a damper on his career. Pete Rose had amazing stats and should easily be in the Major League Hall of Fame. But some poor decisions has made him the greatest to the stupidest. Pete’s greed lead him to bet on games when he was managing the Reds. Some people might think that isn’t that bad but think about it, he was betting on games he was playing in. If he want to some quick money why not just bet on a game you are managing and fix it. His greed for money turned into an addiction and it has made himself look like a fool. Pete Rose played in the MLB and was one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He was being paid outrageous amounts to play and manage the Reds so why did he need more? Greed. He let greed control him and look what it has done to him. This happened over 30 years ago and it still haunts him to this day. This is just one example of how greed can make you do crazy things and you see how bad the outcome can be.

            

Blog 15

          For my paper I am writing I am looking for some information on greed. I want to find why it exists, what it is, and why people are greedy. I want to be able to explain why people are greedy and just to get a better background of everything to do with greed. Not only that but I also want to read some article about actual real life stories of greed. That can help me get a better idea of the greed concept and it will also give me an idea of how it affects people; not only the person but the people around them also. One example I can think of is Pete Rose and him betting on baseball games. I think this is a good example of greed and it will help connect with anyone that enjoys sports.

1.    Hansen, Laura L.; Movahedi, Siamak. Sociological Forum, Jun2010, Vol. 25 Issue 2, p367-374, 8p

2.    Harris, Jaime C.. New York Amsterdam News, 1/8/2004, Vol. 95 Issue 2, p42-42, 1/3p

3.     James, Eshanda A.. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, May2010, Vol. 2 Issue 1, p415-429, 15p

4.     Long, Susan. Psychodynamic Practice, Aug2009, Vol. 15 Issue 3, p245-259, 15p

5.     STANDEN, JEFFREY. Nine: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture, Spring2010, Vol. 18 Issue 2, p134-140, 7p

Blog 14

           For my analytical research paper I chose the Ariel episode in the Firefly episode. I chose this episode because it was one of my favorite episodes that I watched. Not only that but it worked almost perfectly with the topic I want to write about. I am going to talk about how greed can make a person do really stupid things. Jayne in this episode works perfectly with that. Watching the episode for the second time helped me understand the show plan better and it helped me generate some ideas for my paper. For those who have never seen the episode, a crewmember makes a stupid decision because of greed. He is offered a large amount of money for turning in two fugitives that are on their ship. He agrees to a deal and put himself and his entire crew in danger. Throughout the series Jayne is making poor decisions because he is greedy and because he only thinks about himself. To someone who has seen the show should not be surprised by what Jayne did because he has done it over and over again. Not only does this connect to Jayne but also this has many real world connections. Just as a general example, think of all the people who are in debt over their eyeballs because they are greedy. They keep spending money because they want something and they end up getting in trouble. That is just a simple and general example of how greed can get you in trouble but there. There are countless real world examples of where someone’s greed gets him or her into some type of trouble so I don’t think my topic will be too tough to write about.  I don’t want to talk about what I am going to put in my paper because so everyone can come up with their own ideas for their paper. 

Blog 13

            Today I watched the Trash episode of the Firefly series. Today’s episode showed just how stupid Mal can be. In today’s episode one of Mal’s old war buddies introduces him to his wife, which is, none other than Mrs. Reynolds. So long story short her husband leaves her and it is just her and Mal. Mal tells her many times to start walking and to leave him alone but she convinces him to let her get on Serenity. I cannot believe he would let her get back on the ship after what she did earlier in the season. Then Inara talks to Mal about how she can’t get work because he is laying low and insults his work. So to prove her wrong he goes to “Mrs. Reynolds”, because she mentioned that she had an easy job worth a fortune. So he goes and lets her out of her crate and she explains the job to the rest of the crew. As the whole crew is dumbfounded why he trusts her, she explains the plan. The job is an artifact worth a fortune that will be stolen but it is coded so they can’t get the artifact out the door. So they come up with a brilliant plan to put it in the trash and reroute the trash bin to a place where they can meet up with it later and recover the artifact out of the trash. So she has all the door codes and everything and she keeps up on her deal. But then we find out she is married to the guy they are stealing from.  So the guy lets Mal steal the artifact but he calls the feds on them. The thing is why didn’t Mal just leave her there to be caught by the feds and just escape for himself. But they do end up escaping and this is where Mal’s stupidness really comes in. She makes him think that she is all sad and he tries to comfort her and she end up getting his gun and takes over the mini ship. So she strands Mal and goes to get the artifact for herself. Luckily Inara got the artifact before she got there and everything worked out but I still cannot believe how Mal trusted her. Of course another example of Jayne’s greed came into play again today. As he is layi g on the Doctor’s table the first thing he asks is, if they got the job done and if we got the money.