Obamas 2008 Cooper Union Speech - Essay Example

Obama’s 2008 Cooper Union Speech In 2008, Barack Obama believed that America needed renewal. This, to him, could be done with educating youth and through energy independence. Obama saw that there was a divide between corporate self-interest and promoting humanity. He also saw that America had problems with imbalance between those with wealth and power and the regular citizen. This was a time period where the country was experiencing large economic problems from the financial crisis. This crisis was built on investor greed, poor corporate management and unethical housing loan activities.

Obama, in 2008, had a plan to renew America by forcing penalties on poor and greedy corporate leaders, giving consumers housing related tax credits, and create new regulations that make sure financial institutions do not take on high levels of risk, however this renewal strategy has not been fully effective. Obama saw that tighter regulation would prevent financial institutions from taking opportunities away from regular, middle-class citizens. He felt that a deregulated environment had been a reason to why investment companies and commercial banks took on far too much debt and there was no system in place to make sure they had enough capital reserves.

This is because risky asset-backed securities and derivatives were off-balance sheet transactions. He wanted a crackdown on market manipulation that was causing many companies to experience fast drops in their stock values when short-sellers were using unethical methods to drive down stock prices for their own gain. Obama also saw that building a type of best practice risk management system for banks and for the general economy would renew America. He sees that this change in risk management and a change of corporate leadership attitudes would reshape the economy for the 21st Century and give middle-class consumers more protection against another financial crisis.

Many regular citizens lost their jobs and lost their wealth as a result of unregulated investment institutions and Obama saw renewal as a means of putting these stakeholders first. He seems to see that the division between the wealthy and the less-advantaged is taking away the American dream. Therefore, by making sure that corporations and investment firms are held accountable for their actions, it will make sure that middle-class consumers can again seek the American dream without being victimized by an economy damaged by greed and poor government oversight.

Again, this 2008 view of renewal was founded on a much damaged economy that had occurred because of irresponsible business and government behavior. Today, the economy has stabilized from the 2007-2010 economic recession, but at the time it was on the forefront of everyone’s consciousness. Many companies still have off-balance sheet risky financial transactions and there is still limited governance and regulation for these firms. While his renewal plan seemed ambitious, companies and private investors still use strategies that pose risk to the entire financial system.

Some of Obama’s renewal strategies have come to pass, however the American dream has not been recaptured as a result and middle-class Americans still struggle with achieving wealth and power.