60 thoughts on “Blog #110 – Oral Interviews about the Great Recession”

1. Nikki Barnas June 4, 2018 at 7:20 pm

   To further indulge into the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and the prominent ways the faulty mortgages impacted families, I chose to interview my dad, David, who was 42 years old at the time. Due to his public relations position currently located at GM, he experienced the affect the crash had on the automobile industry firsthand. To dig deeper into his automotive perspective of the crash, I asked him what his strongest memory was of the Great Recession (question #1). After briefly filing through former memories orbiting the crash, he discussed the tedious memories regarding how he had to drive 80 miles a day to Saginaw, accompanied with 80 miles back, as Chrysler, his former job, had gone bankrupt and he needed a replacement. Saginaw was the only place that contained an opportunity, and my dad was eager to accept despite the remote location. He illustrated the work he was engaged in through Saginaw, which included trying to launch a company. David expressed gratitude when he told me how fortunate he was that GM got a bailout from the federal government, so his smaller Saginaw-rooted company was pulled into GM and then sold off to a Chinese company. His two years in Saginaw was terminated when he was ask to join GM in 2010, thus launching his General Motors career that has spanned over the past eight years. Because he already briefly discussed the looming failure of GM and how the bailout impacted him, I inquired him to elaborate on it through asking how our family felt about it (question #2), although I already anticipated the answer. He again reiterated how the bailouts worked out perfectly for our family, as he was able to get a job at GM. He elaborated on why GM received the bailout through emphasizing how the failure of GM would conclude in the termination of a major automobile supply base, which could have branched out into other potential consequences that included the failures of other automotive companies.Therefore, bailing out GM was the national interest to the welfare of the economy. To continue, I was curious to ask him how it impacted his child’s lives, which includes my sister and I (question #3). He discussed how our family would have coped with the crash if it had dragged on for longer, which included moving to New Jersey in pursuit of a job working for BASF. Or, a less drastic move would have been moving farther up north near Pine Knob, so his voyage to Saginaw would be less arduous. However, he tried to minimize the effect the crash had on us through taking the remote Saginaw job. After hearing about how he manages the Great Recession with his profession and family, I asked if he was aware of crash buildup, which consisted of sub-prime mortgages being conducted at the time (question #4). He responded with a hesitant no, and elaborate on his position. He explained how our family was locked in a 30 year house loan, and therefore not really aware of subprime mortgages; he emphasized how no one really knew in the buildup it would be so bad and result in the Great Recession it evidently became. He indulged into the cavernous impact the subprime exchanges had on the auto industry; because people lease cars, interest rates and credits deeply impacted the industry. Therefore, the crash resulted in a major withdrawal of auto purchase, as products sold dropped from 17 million to a mere 9 million. I concluded the interview with my dad by posing the perplexing question, who did he think was to blame for the crash (question #5). He promptly responded with an equally intriguing answer, as he claimed that the blame could not be placed on one person alone. The legacy of the Great Recession of 2007-2009 is often erroneously burdened on banks, David said, but it’s also the people’s fault too, as they were accepting the loans and trying to buy things they couldn’t afford. Politicians were also primary enablers of the incident. Overall, my dad concluded that for us, it wall worked out in the end, despite the turbulence two years. He thinks that he’s grown wiser in through an investment perspective, and he hopes the rest of America has too, despite the historical fluctuations of a capitalist economy.

   I very much remember my dad driving all the way out to Saginaw when I was 6, but I just assumed that it was all part of his job; I didn’t realize it was a last resort profession. I can also recall being very eager to move to New Jersey because I thought I could get a sweet Jersey accent, and was moderately disappointed when we didn’t move when the Great Recession concluded, as I didn’t correlating remaining in Michigan to a positive aspect. After interviewing him, I acknowledged how my dad was extremely fortunate to remain in work, as most of his co workers were let go. Furthermore, his fortune continued when GM offered him a position in their public relations department and he launched the contemporary career he has today. Knowing that government bailouts directly affected our livelihoods and potentially is responsible for the fact that I’m still living in Michigan gives me a lot of perspective and reiterates the fact that my dad was lucky to be in the career he was.
2. Sam Grasl June 4, 2018 at 9:51 pm

   Sam Grasl
   Mr. Wickersham, B16
   APUSH C, 5th

   BLOG #110 – Oral Interview About the Great Recession

   I interview my Dad for this Blog. His name is Jeff Grasl and was 34 years old in 2008. My Dad’s strongest memory of the Great Recession was watching the stock market fall precipitously (very steeply) day after day. He says its his strongest memory because it was national news, it was everywhere and the radio, on TV. Saying that the stock market was falling hundreds or sometimes thousands of points in a day. He (My Dad) even mentioned how the Great Recession affected the presidential election and that it was a major topic. On my seventh question, i asked him about subprime mortgages. His response: “I knew what they were, generally nobody had any knowledge of what subprime mortgages were, at least the general public. Until the great recession started, and they were broadcast as one of the main reason for the great recession.” He became more familiar with subprime mortgages during the Great Recession(as well as most other people in the country at this time). Later on he said that they were encouraged by the federal government in order to stimulate home ownership, and then when they failed, the federal government criticized them and all the banks for doing them. My following question was what were your feelings towards the subprime mortgages, replied with; “Frankly, i don’t think i had a negative feeling at all, it was just bad business sense. And if anything i think that the government should’ve just let the banks fail, that were heavily invested in subprime mortgages”. For my eighth question, i asked my Dad about how he felt about the government’s bailout of banks and investments/ insurance companies. His response was that, he believes that the government should’ve let the banks fail and not “boost” them up. After my sister interrupted my interview i asked my Dad about the matter of the “threat” of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing. He said, “Well, because of my profession (Corporate Bankruptcy Attorney) i honestly never believed that they would never close. For he believed out of some entity that company would be bought out of bankruptcy and continue to produce, and that’s exactly what happened. He then talked about his dislike of the government’s involvement in these businesses. He didn’t like how they stepped in and orchestrated the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler; he thought the government should’ve stayed out of it and like the private industry determine the sale as opposed to the government. For my last two questions, i asked my Dad, who do you think is o blame; and do you think that America changed since the great recession. He stated that there wasn’t one particular person to blame in general, but he said a big reason for the great recession was because of the subprime mortgages, and that the government as a whole was to blame. For they (Government) wanted people to buy homes, and they were the ones who encouraged banks to give out loans to people in standard cases wouldn’t be eligible(credit worthy) for a loan. The government was a major reason for the great recession, but some of the blame also falls onto the banks, who listened to the government against their better judgment. It’s been roughly one decade since the great recession, but my Dad believes that nothing has really changed in America (in this are of government). His reasoning for this is because America still spends heavily(credit or otherwise), America isn’t a country that encourages savings. And what he has heard (didn’t ask for source) now, and if its true (which he thinks it is). Banks are starting to lend money under less strict terms again; similar to what they were doing prior to the great recession. Although it’s not as bad, its going more that way. He believes that nobody learned any lessons, and the consumers and business as a whole are acting like they did prior to the Great recession.

   When i first started this interview, i didn’t think that i would learn much, and i was kinda just sluggin/ it. But then i got interested, i was fascinated by the actions the government did, and not in a good way. It was almost angering to know that the people we put into authority do the stuff for just brawd reasons and never think about the outcomes. Because of the governments stupid acts, people lost their homes(which is ironic because their goal was to put people in homes), their jobs, the lives of the American people changed drastically. And then they have the audacity the cover up their mistakes and put the blame on someone else, its pathetic. This interview made me to think that the government isn’t this incredibly intelligent organization that do what’s best for the people, everything they do… is to make themselves look better. Although is was alive during the Great Recession, i do not remember anything for was only 6 years old. But i do remember a lot of closed building that year when my mom would take me to do some errands.
3. Nicholas Haddad June 5, 2018 at 9:09 am

   For this assignment, I interviewed two people with different, but similar views. My dad, Albert Haddad, was the first, and his interview was a nice introduction because he outlined the central themes and concepts. As a child growing up during this time, I honestly had no idea what my parents were going through during the recession, and though they didn’t have it the worse, we were affected more than I thought.

   Towards the beginning of the interview, I asked my dad, “Were you or anyone you know affected by layoffs, foreclosures, or bank closings as a result of the crash? In what ways?”. Little known to me, he directed his attention to his own job. For context, my dad works as a commercial real estate agent and broker, and his two main clients are Starbucks Coffee and Dibella’s Subs. During this time period, he noted that Starbucks closed almost one thousand stores, meaning less commission for him. After the nation had begun the healing process, Starbucks took five years to begin opening stores in large numbers. By the time Starbucks had regained full steam, his business had been hit, and it’s taken time to regain his interests and open stores in numbers near before the recession.
   Though seemingly unrelated, I also asked him about whether his investments took a hit, and in what ways his investment philosophy had changed looking back on the recession. In response, he tied his argument back to his losses in business: my family took a major blow when it came to investments, and as a result, he has become more conservative today when investing for retirement. However, he has strived to be more aggressive in the way he invests for our education funds, most likely as a result of seeing how removed from the market they were before the crash.

   The second person I took time to talk to was Gerald Flagg, who was 75 years old in 2008. When interested in a topic, Jerry delved deeper, reading books and exploring online the entirety of views, causes, and effects. To start off, I prompted him to tell me his strongest memory of the recession, to which he replied two things. The first was watching the experience of each event, especially the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, which gave the latter the largest, oldest, and grandest brokerage system in the world. The second response was that he had read two book son the subject, and gained a wealth of knowledge about the subject as a result. He explained in depth how the government passed the CDA (Community Development Act), which encouraged banks to provide loans to low-income people by reducing interest rates to 4%. The creation of the Adjustable Rate Mortgage was deceptive in that it was good for only about three years, and at that point, they would have to be renegotiated at the prevailing interest rate, causing low-income people to suffer, even though this mortgage type was incepted to help them. At this point, credit-rating companies, in an effort to help other companies capitalize, sold their services to companies that wanted bonds for large sums of money, essentially bribing them to award high credit ratings. With these ratings, companies were able to give out more mortgages, and in turn, awarded ARM and NINJA (No Income, Job, or Assets) recipients the lowest risk mortgages without checking their backgrounds. Therefore, businesses failed to evaluate the risk that existed in their clients realm, leading to the crash.

   Another question that I asked Jerry was, “Do you agree with the decision to bail out Chrysler and GM, among other corporations?”. To this, Jerry mentioned that he receives a pension from GM, and therefore, didn’t want the money to stop flowing. However, he shifted his focus to the Marshall Plan during WWII, stating that the US wouldn’t get their money back, but Marshall understood that the funding of the European nations would create new markets to buy US products and services, in turn supporting the United States. Using this evidence, he argued that the bailouts of the auto companies needed to happen because at the time, the US still had the largest economy in the world, and by not doing so, the US economy would falter even more.

   Finally, I prompted both my dad and Jerry to explain if there was any relation between the Great Recession of 2008 and the alteration of the Glass-Steagall Act by Clinton. Both of them, unhesitatingly, said yes. My dad suggested that this was evident in a mild recession in the early 2000s. Jerry added that with the alteration, banks could now invest their clients money, and as a result, it gave the elite the upper hand, as they’re the ones who are investing. As a result of the failure to enforce banking regulations, he morphed the discussion into one about global capitalism as well, which he read a book on. There are no laws or courts to enforce global rules and regulations, or the transfer of labor from one country to another. This directly is related to the crash because the lack of regulations and over speculation is what allowed the recession to happen.

   I learned so many valuable lessons and tidbits from these interviews, and I was frankly surprised at both of my interviewees’ knowledge on the topic. In APUSH, we had talked about ARMs, but many of the other details that Jerry mentioned, I had never heard of. Jerry also, for me, did a great job of tying the crisis to other events in history, such as the Marshall Plan, and that really put things into perspective and gave me something to grasp onto. As for my dad, his range of opinions weren’t as obvious as they usually are, but he was able to give me a real-life perspective as to what had happened. It also helped me to fill in the gaps during that time period and realize why we made certain sacrifices. One common memory that my dad and I share regarding the recession was the sale of our home in Charlevoix. For at least five years, we had owned a log cabin near Charlevoix that was close to Lake Michigan. We had made so many memories there, and we would go up during the summers and spend time together. However, during 2012, I remember him and my mom finally deciding to sell it, and they posed it to us as if we were leaving because of our neighbors. However, it was really a result of the recession, and now, I completely understand the decision that they made. I’m really appreciative of both my dad and Jerry for allowing me to interview them, and I’ve learned many things through the process.
4. Megan Zacharias June 5, 2018 at 7:44 pm

   Great Recession Interview

   I decided to interview my mom, Lynne Zacharias, about what the Great Recession was like for her and the people around her. She first told me she was 38 years old in 2008 when this was happening. I then asked her what her strongest memory of the Great Recession was. She answered, “One of the things I remember the most was seeing friends who lived in my same neighborhood lose their homes because their husbands or they themselves lost their jobs and they lost their houses to foreclosure. It was very real because they were families that went to the same school as my kids and they lost their house and they had to move.” Because I was very young at the time, I don’t remember anyone moving away. I was definitely oblivious to the situation as a whole. Because of that, I asked my mom who specifically moved. “Noah’s (my brother) friend. Their house was foreclosed and they had to move. Their business failed during the recession, so they had no income and they couldn’t pay for their house.” I did remember hearing about this situation, but overall it shocked me that someone so close to us was directly affected by the Great Recession.

   I next asked how our own family was directly affected. My mom replied, “Fortunately for us, your dad was able to keep his job, but everyone who worked for his company had to take a slight pay cut. I just remember the gas prices were really high so we probably had to limit the places we went. The value of our house went down a lot, by about $150,000. Fortunately, it didn’t matter because we weren’t moving.” I obviously did know that we didn’t lose our house, but it was still reassuring to hear that my family didn’t have to deal with too many hardships throughout the Great Recession. After, I asked how our family felt about the government bailout of banks and investment/insurance companies. My mom said, “Well we were angry about that because it was pretty much their fault for lending money to people who really didn’t qualify for these loans to buy houses that were way more than they could afford. In fact, we probably should have never been able to afford our house. It was way more than we should have spent on a house. But, we were given the loan and we’ve been able to make the payments.” I never knew about our house being too expensive for our family to pay for, so that was surprising. It was also interesting to learn that my mom and dad were able to pay for the house in the end even with the high cost.

   Next, I asked if she took advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program or the home refinance programs. She answered with, “I wanted to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program but I didn’t have money to buy a new car, so it didn’t help me. I know we refinanced quite a few times and we probably got a very low interest rate for our house.” I didn’t know about these programs before this interview, so it was interesting to learn about what they were and how my own family took advantage of them.

   Finally, I asked if her investments took a major hit during this time. She replied, “Yes they did. In fact, I decided not to even open my mail when it came to show my 401K and my retirement savings. I didn’t even open my mail for nearly a year and a half.” This was something I didn’t know about but it wasn’t surprising because it seems like something my mom would do. Overall, I learned a lot about the struggles my family faced and how lucky we were during the Great Recession.
5. Nia Kepes June 6, 2018 at 12:03 am

   Nia Kepes
   APUSH
   Mr. Wickersham
   6/4/18
   Great Recession Blog

   What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
   Gregg Kepes, 45
   What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
   My business was doing fairly well until middle of 2008 when four companies I was serving went out of business. This is my strongest memory because it affected the welfare of my business.
   Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
   People lost jobs and had trouble making ends meet. Many people moved out of the area or state to try and get new jobs.
   Were you aware of the subprime mortgages that were being done at that time? What were your feelings about them? Why?
   They had been going on for a long time, they were part of the marketplace that was created. Banks, govt, mortgage brokers etc. know about it because ⅓ of businesses that I serviced were mortgages companies and some wrote subprime paper and some didn’t.We didn’t feel one way or another. People were scammed but it wasn’t that uncommon, and scamming in general is nothing new.
   How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?
   Most people’s views ran along party lines. I kind of saw it from both angles especially from working with banks and their feelings on that. When working with banks I saw it as positive. But it’s a three ring circus with everyone involved and everyone to blame. Govt and the programs they had set up years earlier and the banks who were the ones who helped them write the laws and then turned around and complained about them. I was lucky to be able to work with these people, like CEOs and CFOs of banks. They said the Govt was after them because they picked and chose who to shut down and which parts of the laws to enforce which made the banks looked like the bad guys and I agreed with that. Our family as a consumer and relied on bank mortgages and stuff so it became very difficult.
   How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? What did they feel about the auto company bailouts? Why?
   They did close to some extent. People talked about GM outside the state of MI like they should let it fail. The rest of country doesn’t understand how much infrastructure revolves around them. To let them fail is like letting a large part of tax base fail. The government had to bail them out. People like to blame them for the problem because they’re a big company. Financial institutions were also to blame. Chrysler was much smaller so I don’t really see them in the same light as GM.
   Did your investments take a major hit during the Recession? How did that change your plans or make you feel? Why?
   Yes they took a major hit and because we couldn’t get more credit we had to spend investments so it was a double whammy. The bulk of the money that was there was retirement money. But it’s worth a lot less now than it was before even ten years after. I don’t think it will ever come back.
   Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
   Banks govt, everybody and the whole system in general. It’s easy to place blame on one area or the other. The banks helped the govt write the laws. Organizations like standard and who are supposed to be correctly rating the quality of critical organizations and they weren’t. They were biased the government had to know that they were bogus. The companies that were being rated knew they were biased and I don’t think that they were really held accountable to the extent that they should have been there was a lot of corruption going on. They bet against themselves. Made gains by betting against their losses which were peoples mortgages.
   Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America and the economy has changed since then? Why?
   Upper middle class and above economically have gotten better. Poor working class has gotten worse There are more jobs but temporary and lower paying. Jobs stats look good but for ⅔ of working people in the country it’s a tougher life than it used to be. I think I’m a minority in those thoughts that although job rates are up the quality is lower. Most people are just looking strictly speaking at the unemployment rates strictly speaking and saying well they look better, but I don’t agree that they are.
   Anything else you’d like to share about the great recession?
   We saw it a lot worse in eastern michigan. It started here two years before the rest of the country. The credit market affected the car companies which affected this area. The rest of the country in was finding out in 2007 when subprime mortgages and financial institutions were hedging bets against those mortgages. Toxic assets news was coming out but people here already knew that there was serious problems and the rest of the country didn’t care. And i’m still bitter as hell about that

   personal reaction to the interview and the shared memories of the Great Recession
   I thought this interview was super interesting because I liked learning about my dad’s views and different beliefs about who was to blame and why it occurred. One of the things that stuck out to me was that their investments took a major hit which caused them to not be able to get more credit and then on top of that they had to take out some of the money they had invested to spend. The bulk of the money that was there was retirement money and it’s interesting and so sad to see that it’s worth a lot less now and he doesn’t think it will ever come back. I don’t really have any memories of the great recession, I guess my parents just never really let on about what was going on, and I didn’t watch the news when I was eight, nine, and ten.
6. Hanna Lupovitch June 6, 2018 at 7:00 pm

   What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
   Howie Lupovitch. 44 years old in 2008.
   What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
   The auto-companies going out of business. It seemed so impossible that something like that could happen. They seemed indestructible.
   Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
   We knew people who lost their house, lost their job. Our current next-door neighbors lost their business and the bank foreclosed on their house.
   Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
   My brother-in-law does commercial real-estate. For 2 or 3 years, no one was buying anything. He did not have much business. I had a kind of job that was not affected by the Great Recession because it is not dependent on the economy: a university professor.
   Were you aware of the sub-prime mortgages that were being done at that time? What were your feelings about them? Why?
   We did not own a house. We only knew about it from reading about it. We were not aware of it until the housing market collapsed. Once we found out about it, it sounded like a huge scam. Everyone got ripped off. Such a shame.
   How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? What did they feel about the auto company bailouts? Why?
   Worried about what it would do to the city of Detroit. Tough decision, but the right decision for the auto companies. Can’t let that big of a company crash.
   Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
   Members of the Bush Administration and members of Congress who overly-deregulated the economy and allowed unscrupulous hedge funds to take advantage of unsuspecting, innocent investors.
   Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
   We have learned the dangers of removing rules and safeguards just to let a few people make a lot of money. During the Obama administration, we learned about the importance of regulating banks and regulating the economy. During the last year and a half, we seem to be forgetting why this recession happened in the first place.

   I feel really lucky that my family was not directly affected by the Great Recession. There were just so many factors of our situation that avoided the Great Recession’s harms. To start, my dad worked in Canada at the time. He was a Jewish history professor at the University of Western Ontario. Thus, he was paid in Canadian dollars. This was at the point where Canadian currency was actually equal in value to the American dollar, because the US dollar was so low during the recession. He worked in Canada during one of the few points in history that the dollars were equal in value. That is such luck, and can be seen as a blessing, in my opinion. Additionally, we did not own our house. Therefore, we were not affected by the declining property value of houses, because we rented and did not own. I do feel sorry for my current next-door neighbors (my dad’s cousin) because they lost their business and house. I was also unaware of my uncle, the commercial real estate agent, being affected by the recession as well by the lack of business during that time.
7. Henry Berthel June 6, 2018 at 7:14 pm

   I did my interview on my father, Craig Berthel. He was 42 years old in 2008.

   What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?

   My father’s strongest memory of the Great Recession is of the day the company he works for laid off about 250 people. It is his strongest memory because he knew several of the people who lost their jobs, and this was upsetting to him.

   How did your child’s lives (meaning you) change during the Recession?

   My father’s work territory expanded from Metro Detroit to Metro Detroit and most of Indiana. Since 2008, he is gone about one week per month.

   Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?

   Dad: Yes. A guy who worked for me had to move back from Phoenix because he lost his house. He walked away from the house with nothing. They could not sell it.

   Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?

   Dad: I did not lose my job, but knew several of the people let go by my company. One friend had worked there for 30 years.

   How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?
   Dad: The government bailout of banks and investment/insurance companies saved the economy. “Socialism saved capitalism”. Why? Unregulated markets led the economy to the point where the banking system was going to fail globally. The Federal Reserve loaned out $8 Trillion to banks around the world.

   Were you aware of the sub-prime mortgages that were being done at that time? What were your feelings about them? Why?

   Dad: Yes – my assistant’s buddy, a police officer married to a dental hygienist got a loan for $950,000 for a house they could not afford. They were going to live in the house until its value doubled, then flip it.
   I knew, about sub-prime mortgages, that the bubble was going to burst and a lot of people would lose money and homes. I felt sorry for people but also angry that the system would get so carried away because of greed and stupidity.

   Personally, I don’t have too many memories from the great recession, as I was only six year old, and my family was fortunate enough to keep our house and jobs. This interview really opened my eyes to the topic, because I learned about my father’s personal experiences with the topic, which I have never heard before. I was not expecting to learn this much from this interview, but I learned a lot more than I thought. I thought it was very interesting to hear the story about his assistant’s friend. I have heard many stories about people who attempted to flip houses during the time period and ended up losing a ton of money, so it was interesting to hear that someone he knew lost a ton of money also.
8. Devin Woodruff (3rd Hour) June 6, 2018 at 7:19 pm

   1.The person name that I interviewed was Anna Woodruff and she is my grandmother. At this time she was 62 during 2008

   12. While interviewing Anna she had a lot to say on who she believed to be the blame on the great recession that happen during 2008. During this time period she believed that president George W. Bush was the problem she said that during his time as president she felt like the economy and many other things went down because of him. Furthermore, she felt like it was the president job to protect the economy of the US and do better things in order to try to get us out of the recession. Also, she believed the Bush relied on people within his administration in order to run the world rather than trying to take them over himself and find solutions in order to fix this problem. Moreover, she said the president Bush that his economic policies were bad but she also said that she wasn’t going to put all the blame on him but on some of the housing lender and or housing market because of all those loans they have knowing that most people wouldn’t be able to pay back that loan.

   4. When asking Anna if she had any family members she said yes. She had her sister to lose her job during this time period. She told me that her sister worked in the IT department and or technology. She also told me that her sister was seen as a good employee and that her boss just needed someone to lay off because of this time period so he decided to let her go knowing that she still had kids to support during this time. Moreover, she said that they were affected by they had to cut down on the things that they had and their expenses because her sister would no longer be able to support their regular lifestyle.

   9. When asking anna about how she felt about the chrysler and general motors maybe closing she said that she felt a little sad. She said she felt said because she didn’t want two of the top US companies to go out of business and allow other countries to rise she said that she loves the US and believes in that we can lead the world in the car business.

   13. I asked Anna how has sheen think america has changed since know and she told me that with the election of president obama that it allow for america to start taking the right direction. Also she said that with President obama being elected he allow for the US to be stable under his management and try to fix what Bush could not.

   7. At this time period Anna said that she was not aware what subprime mortgages are and what they were used for during this time. She didn’t like the idea on how they were going to leave people with this huge mortgages knowing that they could not pay for them. She just wish that their would have been someone their to tell this people about this.

   Personal Reaction: While interviewing Anna is was kind of an eye opening experience because it allowed for me too see things in another person eyes and the struggles that happen during this time period. Furthermore, during 2008 I don’t really remember what was happening and how people were losing their jobs and there money so fast because of the state our economy was in during this time period. Also, some of the stories she told to me I didn’t even know happened to her it allow for me to become closer to her and began to see what she was seeing and try to open my eyes to look at different view somethings.
9. Isabelle June 6, 2018 at 9:12 pm

   What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
   Risa Borr + Robin Borr 42 years old
   What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
   The strongest memory was how they were affected personally. For Risa, she was working for Textron, a multi-industry. Up to that point, it was lucrative, they financed what they sold in airplanes. Their companies were Cessna and Bell Helicopter. In a matter of weeks, the business dried up, orders canceled, and financial groups were failing. For Risa, it was a “Oh crap moment”. Robin saw the for sale signs and foreclosures around their neighborhood. At first, it did not matter, but then when we had to move it became a problem. Those who seemed well off had to move and could not afford their house and cars. Robin saw the cars change when dropping me off for school from escalates to cheap cars.
   How did your child’s lives (meaning you) change during the Recession?
   We had lived in Michigan for our whole lives- family, networks, and other things. So we had to move across the country to the east coast due to the lack of opportunities in Michigan. It was worse here [michigan] than in other places due to the auto industry. We were considered the lucky ones as our living situations did not really change. So I had to get acclimated to a new climate.
   Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
   We had close family friends who lost their houses and had to move their kids into a new school district. There were friends and family members who borrowed money from us. Everybody we knew had to adjust their lifestyle in some shape or form. It was impossible to sell their houses and most walked away. We were lucky because Risa’s new job paid for our house.
   Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
   Risa lost her job due to reconstructing, but she found a job before severance ran out so we did not really have to change our lifestyle. It put fear into RIsa when she did not know if she had a job. We knew people who were unemployed and had to drastically change. Our Grandma’s condo lost value and that was where most of her savings was. Many people savings were diminished because it was tied up in their house. The fear of not knowing how long or how bad.
   6. Were you aware of the sub-prime mortgages that were being done at that time? What were your feelings about them? Why?
   People were flipping houses and just selling without renovations. The house prices around us were going up too fast and not seen as sustainable. They gave mortgages just about to everybody. Overnight, people were stuck with property worth half and they just walked away. We never got involved in property. People were refinancing like crazy. We borrowed some money to do small in-house renovation like air conditioning. We did not know why or how until after but knew this was not right. Afterward, it was very difficult to get a mortgage when we moved.

   Personal Reaction

   I was not surprised by their reactions at all. Even as a child, I knew what was going on because my parents explained it to me through the process. It was eyeopening however to see how scared my mom was of the future. I only remembered her as calm and collect in front of me. The biggest memory of the recession was moving. It was the biggest change in my life up to that point, but we did what we had to do. We ended up pretty good because we got a bigger house and moved to new things. Nothing really changed my lifestyle which made my childhood as comfortable as possible.
10. Jake Stollman June 6, 2018 at 10:18 pm

    1) My name is David Stollman and I was 40 years old in 2008.

    2) I’d say my strongest memory of the Great Recession was sitting with my father and my other partner, Norman Cohen, in a room in a workout department of a local bank, the real estate market had collapsed and all of our real estate deals had gone upside down, the bank was threatening to sue us all and put us into personal bankruptcy. I remember looking at my father during the meeting and seeing his hands shake under the conference room table while the bank’s attorney screamed at us about non-payment. The image of my dad’s hands shaking during this meeting was my strongest memory from the Great Recession because he had always been rock solid emotionally, always reliable and not very emotional. His hands shaking was the first time I’d ever seen him scared and it was a powerful and scary image.

    3) I was very, very protective of Jake during these stressful times. I tried (and was largely successful) in protecting him from any of the negative impacts (both financial and emotional) from the collapse of the 100+ year old family business.

    4) Yeah, my whole family was very impacted by the Great Recession and most of my friends were colleagues in the residential home building and land development business so they were negatively impacted too.

    5) My house in Birmingham was foreclosed upon and we were forced to leave our home. It was very depressing and disheartening because I custom built the home myself.

    6) Many of my friends and colleagues lost their jobs during the Great Recession, many lost were out of work. Most, but not all recovered from the impacts of the Great Recession, but it took many years and they never totally recovered. Their careers and businesses were severely impacted and some never recovered financially or emotionally. Many filed for unemployment, moved to get jobs in other states; others borrowed money from friends and family just to survive.

    7) Yes. I was aware of the sub-prime mortgages that were being done at the time, I knew. They weren’t directly related to our business, and so I can’t say I had any direct feelings about them. Now, its clear that the crisis really was avoidable.

    8) The government bailout was very frustrating to me. They only bailed out the biggest companies and did absolutely nothing to help people/companies like mine. While I understand the need for the bailout – the government did nothing to help me and my family.

    9) I really felt the same way as I did about the bailout. It made everyone feel like the government didn’t care.

    10) The home refinance programs were just useless to me because I couldn’t afford my house any longer. I basically lost everything… My cars were leased so Cash for Clunkers was not helpful either.

    11) I lost… all of my investments during the Great Recession and virtually all of my net worth. My family business, over 100 years old, shut its doors. This completely changed my career, my personal life, and my approach to business moving forward.

    12) I don’t think the Great Recession can be blamed on only one cause. If I have to point out one in particular I’d say it was the government deregulating the banking industry. The bank failures among other factors created the economic crisis that destroyed my family business.

    13) America is a lot different, economically at least. The Great Recession caused personal and financial problems for millions of people. Some Americans have recovered, some have thrived; some haven’t. The Great Recession and its recovery ultimately was a crisis that caused, in my opinion, a huge reallocation or redistribution of wealth among its citizens.

    This interview, for me, was… weird. I have no distinct memories from the time except for hazy memories of adults yelling in my old house, the one my father spoke of. My dad has sat me down multiple times and told me how the recession, to summarize, “ruined him.” I’ve always felt solemnly about this time just too early to remember clearly. He had spoken of himself as “fighting every day” to stay afloat. But it was utterly disheartening to look him in the eyes for this interview, because at times, he looked close to tears, and I found looking straight at him was hard to do.

    *I omitted some personal details in this interview for purposes of privacy, but not very much.
11. Ella Landers June 7, 2018 at 11:42 am

    INTERVIEW
    What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    My name is John Landers. I was 36 during the recession.

    How did your child’s lives change during the Recession?
    Our standard of living was reduced drastically and we relocated to Detroit from Ohio. I also changed jobs from a job in the auto industry to a job in the tire industry. I don’t think my kids really noticed that big of a change in their lifestyles.

    Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?

    We were mostly not affected by the recession, but I knew people who were. My brother in law was out of work for an extended period of time. He works in the construction industry. We witnessed neighbors being foreclosed upon but did not know anyone personally affected.
    Did you or anyone you know have to leave their homes b/c of foreclosure? How did that feel to move everything?
    We moved homes, but it was not because of foreclosure. It did make the selling and moving process more difficult though. As I mentioned before, I saw neighbors moving and I assumed it was because of the economy crisis, but I didn’t know anyone personally.
    How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? What did they feel about the auto company bailouts? Why?
    Working in the auto industry (Nissan), it was scary to see so many affected and to see the grim future of reduced potential. I lost my job during that time, but it was unrelated to the recession. Losing my job and having to search for a new one was scary, but we had another steady income to help out until I got another job.Most everyone believed that the bailouts were the correct thing to do to prop up a changing industry.

    REFLECTION
    Overall, this talk with my dad was interesting to me. I never thought we were that affected by the recession, and my dad somewhat confirmed it for me but I still think there was some things I overlooked because I was a young, stupid 6 year old. It was interesting to think about the different aspects of the recession and wonder what it would be like if we had one today. It really makes you think-what if my parents were in the real estate or housing industry? Would I be more affected by the crisis than I was? What if we lost our house or money? Where would we live? Although I am glad I was too young to remember what was going on during the recession, I think that the unemployment and struggles of millions of people proves this recession too important and tragic to forget anytime soon.
12. Rochelle June 7, 2018 at 11:49 am

    The people I interviewed were my parents, Rogier and Charlene Durand who were 42 and 43 in 2008.

    The first question I asked them was what their strongest memory of the recession and why. My mom’s response was, “My husband didn’t have a job for two years, we struggled trying to figure out how to pay bills and how to raise a 6 year old now with such little money. Dad came home one day in the fall and told me that he got laid off at CML, a automotive lighting company. It was a small company, and the whole company went out of business, and everyone lost their job. I was angry, upset, and frustrated. I did not have a good paying job, and worked as a cook down the street. I was doing volunteer work at school, and wasn’t looking for a job because I wanted to stay at home and take care of my daughter.”

    I also asked my Dad about how the crash of the stock market and his investments were affected. He replied, “Our investments took a big hit during the recession, it made me feel bad, it made me smarter and use my money more smartly, and to become a disciplined investor.” My dad had been saving investments for college for me and for savings.

    I asked both of parents how life changed for our family, “ We had to buy more resale clothes, and go and buy used things. I started shopping at discount grocery stores like Aldi and Save-a-lot. I needed a new car so we bought a used car. We did not go on any big vacations, and took small trips. We learned how to have fun without money, even though it was a tough time for us.

    I remember 2008 pretty clearly, at least for a 6 year old. I would always get upset about being “poor”, and I remember not having cool clothes and feeling upset about our situation. I never truly understood what happened or why. I feel extremely upset and still don’t understand how difficult it must’ve been to raise a kid and deal with the problems of not having any money. Losing your job and all your savings is rough. My parents still watch their money today, and are saving it up a lot more. To sum it up, the recession deeply affected my family, and we learned a lot, my parents taught me how to save my money and to never be too careful.
13. Neve Robinson June 7, 2018 at 1:24 pm

    Interview:
    For my interview I asked my dad questions about the 2008 recession. I thought his perspective would be interesting as he worked as a head of Mercedes Benz finance during the time. I asked him about his strongest memory of the day and he said, he remembers walking into a crisis meeting right after all the stocks had fallen. I then asked him how did they handle the situation and he said, in this meeting they discussed how the recession would affect the company. I found it very interesting and somewhat refreshing to hear how they dealt with the situation. My dad said that their number one priority was to try and keep as many people in a job as possibly because apparently job loss was a huge factor of the recession. Then I asked my dad how it affected us as a family. I was 6 when this happened so I remember pretty much nothing but I found out the recession affected us quite dramatically. He said at the time we didn’t get any bonus that year in order to be able to pay the rest of the workers and also 2008 was the year that Mercedes decided to relocate my dad to North Carolina. Relocating was a huge deal due to the fact that the housing market had just crashed, so it was really hard to sell and then buy a house but luckily the company recognized our inconvenience and they bought our old house off of us, so it wasn’t just sitting on the market. Then I asked him if we knew anyone who was really affected, My dad also said that when we moved to Charlotte, we were surprised by how many people were out of jobs, especially in Charlotte as it is a banking capital and home of Bank of America. For example, at the time I didn’t know of this because I was so little but I remember one of my friends named Alex was really affected, my dad told me. His dad lost his job which caused them to move into an apartment. At the time I had no clue of this, I remember being jealous of Alex because he moved into an apartment. Not knowing of the situation, I thought it was cool how he lived in an apartment. Then I asked my dad if he had to directly lay anyone off and he said he didn’t fire anyone but they did decide to relocate an office to Texas (Not my dads office) and my dad was given the fun role of telling the office about the decision. He said they thought the move who deter people from moving and hopefully people would quit on their own, so they didn’t have to fire anyone.

    Personal Reflection:
    At the time I had no clue what was going on, I was more interested about things that a kid worries about, school, my friends, I was for sure not paying attention to the market. However I do remember my brother had to do a project on the 2008 election. As a 6 year old, I thought homework was cool because it was what my brothers did. So I helped him out with his project but just little things. I don’t remember the specifics however I do remember watching the candidates debating how to handle the job loss but that’s about all besides the story about my friend Alex.
14. Jocelyn Warnica June 7, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    Interview of my dad:
    1. My name is Tom “Crazy Pappy”(his words, not mine) Warnica and I was 41 years old in June of 2008.
    2. The strongest memory of the Great Recession is having conversations with my ex-wife regarding our investments and that we weren’t going to go broke. It’s my strongest memory because this happened every month when we would get our statements regarding our different investments. She had difficulty feeling confident that the stocks and mutual funds would bounce back – even though, historically, the stock market has never not gained in the long-term.
    3. Our child’s lives didn’t really change at all during the recession. We aren’t lavish spenders, so our lifestyle pretty much stayed the same. Being teachers, our income was fairly stable and wasn’t impacted by the recession dramatically.
    4. My sister was impacted by the recession by all the layoffs happening at her job. Luckily, she was valued enough that she didn’t lose her job. Unfortunately for her, she was required to take on a “lion’s share” of the responsibilities of the 3-5 people in her group that were laid off.
    12. I believe we as a society are to blame for the Great Recession. The reason being that we have this insatiable desire to live above our means. This desire puts pressures on us to do things that we may not normally have done to meet those desires. For example, in the banking industry there were many people & companies looking to line their pockets through giving out mortgages to people that couldn’t afford them. They did this knowing that there would be issues repaying those loans. They gave out the loans anyway. If, as a society, we could curb these desires to be more satisfied/content with living within our means, then I’m sure that we wouldn’t have had the issue in the banking/mortgage industry that happened.
    This interview did not really surprise me. This is because I don’t have any vivid memories of my parents being visibly worried about our financial situation. I also vaguely remember hearing that his sister had not been laid off, but was doing a lot of work to make up for it. The one thing I was surprised to learn was that he blamed our society for the Great Recession. I did not know what I would have put for that answer, but he definitely convinced me to blame today’s society for it. Although I was older than most of my peers in June of 2008, I do not remember much, except for the fact that I was leaving kindergarten.
15. Will Drake June 7, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    Will Drake
    6/7/18
    Blog #110
    (1) For my blog, I decided to interview my mom because she was available. Her name is Kim Drake and in 2008 she turned 39 years old. My dad, who I did not interview, turned 40 in 2008. (2) My mom’s strongest memory of the great recession is her and my dad’s real estate business taking a big hit, where home values went down, tenants couldn’t afford houses and weren’t making payments. Essentially, the real estate market took a big hit and it could have been a disastrous time for my parents and me, but luckily my mom found a job elsewhere to supplement the lost income. This was most memorable to my mom because it was a very scary moment in time for us, where we could have had to file for bankruptcy and lost almost everything. Luckily we did not have to, and the job my mom found was a good one that she held for multiple years. (6) My parents did not know anyone specifically who lost their jobs because of the recession, but as previously stated, my mom had to find work because my parents real estate business was not doing well. (9) My mom basically felt like the government should not get involved in private business, and does not necessarily approve of the bail-out. She is happy though that Ford did not take any government money. In retrospect, it might have been a good thing though since people were able to keep their jobs, but at the time my mom did not feel like it was right for the government to pick winners and losers. (12) My mom feels like the bad real estate loans are to blame for the recession. The belief that “everyone should get a home” and that everyone needs to get put into a home despite whether they could afford it or not should be to blame. People who couldn’t afford houses also were encouraged to buy houses, despite not being able to afford them. Many real estate agents, according to my mom, also did not care about the long term, but rather wanted to make a quick buck. (13) My mom believes that a recession will happen again at some point, and that people make laws without regard to long term effect.
    Personally, I am glad that my mom was able to find work at Kaplan. I could argue that this saved us during this time period, and that the work my mom was able to find allowed my parents to not file for bankruptcy. It is crazy to think nowadays, when the economy is doing great, that 10 years ago it could have been much worse off for my family. Even if my mom hadn’t of found work, I think we would have been okay, since we have relative we are very close with. But even then, there is a possibility that a there might have been a foreclosure on our house, since we would not have had money to pay the bank back. I am obviously happy my family made it through this time period and that we are doing better not.
16. David Mueller June 7, 2018 at 3:28 pm

    In interviewed Lynnette Mueller, my mother.

    1) What is your strongest memory about the Great Recession? Why?
    The auto industry kept cutting back and laying off. So, when people would talk to her people would ask, “How’s John?” John is her husband and my father, who works for Chrysler. The people asking would tilt their head in way which is often done when uncomfortable, like when asking about a deceased loved one, almost mournful. It terrified her. She was a stay at home mom with three little boys, her husband losing his job would be terrible.

    2) How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and GM closing? How did they feel about the bailouts? Why?
    She is very grateful for the bailouts of Chrysler and GM without it it is very likely that her husband would have lost his job. For a while before the bailouts it was very scary. Chrysler managed to pay their loans off early. “It wasn’t their fault,” she said. She elaborated that they did not start making cars that people just did not want, people could not afford them. A failure of the auto industries would have destroyed metro-Detroit. It would have devastated even more families.

    3) How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?
    She is mixed about the bailout of the banks. Letting the banks fail would have been so much worse, however there was not enough done to punish the banks. “Everyone involved should have been fired,” she said. The banks did nothing to think of the individuals they were hurting and deserved to be punished for that, but bank failure would have been completely disastrous.

    4) Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession?
    She believes people who took away oversight are to blame, and people who removed regulation because they believe it hurts business. If there are not rules to protect the consumers, than companies will not do what is right on their own. Everything fell apart because the banks and insurance companies were messing with the housing market. She says it is like the saying, “Locks are for honest people” that good people in their moment of temptation will do the right thing because of a lock, and regulation is that lock for banking.

    5) Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
    She thinks people are scared. There is a lingering fear and uncertainty that has captured many Americans. She believes that Americans are so ready to place blame, and so eager to latch on to promises of a better tomorrow that they will vote for an imbecile. She is also worried that people have not learned much from it.

    The interview shocked me a little. I did not know much about what was going on, I was too little to really notice anything, especially when we were mostly unaffected. I vaguely remember my Mom telling me about the “How’s John?” thing before, but I don’t remember her talking about the fear along with it. My dad is currently one of the most senior members in his division at Chrysler, which is because of many of those older took essentially early retirements, and many his age went to other companies. That really scared me. I knew my mom could not find a fixed rate mortgage for a house four years earlier. My dad had to find one, my mom thinks it was because those selling mortgages thought women would be easy to get into an ARM and did not know much about the process. I think she is right. I did not realize how much it shook up my family and my parents plan for the future, and it was tough to hear.
17. Ethan Biederman June 7, 2018 at 4:25 pm

    I interviewed my dad, Jason, who was 36 years old at the time of the Great Recession. My dad’s strongest memory of the Great Recession is the rapidly declining house prices. Luckily, we had sold our house before the recession, but the house has still not regained the value that my dad paid for it when he bought the house. Additionally, my uncle was affected because he was trying to sell his house at the time. My life and the lives of my siblings were ultimately not affected too much by the recession, because my parents did not have a lot of debt. However, my college savings fund decreased in value by a lot. My dad was aware of the sub-prime mortgages that were occurring at the time and thought that they should not be happening because they were too risky and dangerous. My family was not supportive of government bailouts for banks and investment or insurance companies, because those companies had really brought the recession about by themselves. In the past, banks never loaned money to people who couldn’t afford mortgages, but the recession was caused by loans such as those. My dad’s investments did take a major hit during the recession. He is still angry about it because he worked hard to save his money for his kids’ college tuition and his own retirement, and now those funds have lost value because of irresponsible banking practices. He ultimately blames Congress for the Great Recession, because they listened to the banks’ lobbyists and allowed their reckless practices to continue. When I asked my dad about how he thought America had changed since the recession, he said that he doesn’t believe America has changed very much. While banks no longer give out sub-prime mortgages, they are still engaged in reckless banking practices.
18. Hadin Sayed June 7, 2018 at 4:28 pm

    For this interview, I interviewed my mom, Esha Sayed who was 41 in 2008.
    1. What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    My strongest memory was the sudden loss of property value, due to the extent of the loss of property value. We were trying to sell our old house and buy a new one, so we were very attuned to market values of homes. Normally I wouldn’t have paid so much attention to property values, but at this point in my life in my life they were of the utmost importance.
    2. Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    Yes, two of our neighbors lost their homes due to foreclosure. As a result, they were forced to leave our neighborhood and move to a lesser school district.
    3. Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
    Yes, some of my patients lost their jobs and consequently, their health insurance policies. They were forced to take on lesser-paying jobs, often more than one at a time, in order to make ends meet.
    How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? What did they feel about the auto company bailouts? Why?
    4. While not directly impacted by the potential closures, I was concerned by these threats, particularly as a citizen of Michigan. Our family was concerned about the effects these closures might have on our fellow Michiganders and the state economy. Therefore, I was relieved by President Obama’s auto company bailouts.
    5. Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
    I think America has reached somewhat of a realization with regards to the corruption and greed of our financial industry. This has manifested in financial reforms such as the Dodd-Frank Act, as well as increased grassroots mobilizations, such as the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Nevertheless, these changes are not necessarily lasting, as we can see with threats to Dodd Frank.

    I thought it was interesting how some families like ours were able to take advantage of the Recession and get a better deal on our new house, but other people like my old neighbors were severely hurt by the recession and were forced to leave the neighborhood. Given my mom’s response, I got a sense that it was all about timing on the issue of getting screwed or being successful from the Recession. If you were moving at the right time you might have even been able to take advantage of the Recession but most people were severely hurt by it. I think it made sense and was interesting to see that as my mom was as a supporter of President Obama, she was very satisfied with actions implemented in Obama’s presidency such as the huge bailout of GM and Chrysler, and the Dodd-Frank Act.
19. Cole Sutton June 7, 2018 at 6:34 pm

    Cole Sutton
    Mary Molloy, 37
    The plummet of the stock market resulted in a sharp decrease in her retirement account. She had put a lot of money into her retirement account and purchased stock and started to contribute to my brother and my college account, the loss was significant. Her retirement account was now worth less despite her having contributing the maximum amount per pay period for the thirteen years she had been working.
    We took less vacations and kept travel close to home and replaced a trip to Orlando, florida with a trip to Mackinac Island. Everything was very expensive such as groceries and gas. We didn’t eat out and had more meals at home. Christmas was simple and we stopped buying extras. Costco became an important part of life as we could stock up on everyday items and gas for less money then going to the normal stores.
    She did have family members who lost jobs as a result of bank closings. She also knew many people in the mortgage business that also lost jobs. A bank that she had grown up with called Standard Federal became Comerica, new bank names were popping up everywhere and old banks were disappearing.
    6. At Beaumont hospital they brought in a management company whose job it was to evaluate the productivity in all departments and eliminate all unnecessary positions. Staff that were not doing direct patient care were the first to be cut. This included environmental service workers (Housekeeping) and many people with desk jobs in Hospital administration. There was a hiring freeze and so if someone left a position in your department it was not filled and those remaining had to work harder. Beaumont also temporarily stopped contributing to 403B plans. It was a scary time as you weren’t sure which department was going to be asked to make more cuts.

    Part 2
    I was shocked by my mothers experiences as I had never noticed this recession and had not known my life was changed during the time. Everything around still felt the same but that was probably because I was young and didn’t know what was happening. When my mother told me about her job and that she didn’t know who was getting cut I felt scared and I am glad I didn’t understand what was happening. But I am thankful my mom toughed through this and got out of the depression with her job still intact.
20. Ugo Uchendu June 7, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    Q: What is your name, and how old were you in 2008?
    A: My name is Onwuka Uchendu, and in 2008 I was 54.

    Q: What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession?
    A: Quite frankly, I did not notice the Great Recession. It made no difference in my life. At that time, quite frankly, I was doing very well at my job. My income was not affected. I was very gainfuly employed, and the Great Recession they say was 2007 and 2008. Quite frankly, that was the most lucrative period of my working career. I was working at General Motors and the company was thriving – doing very well. So, this notion of depression I did not feel, nor did my family.

    Q: How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing?
    A: That was very concerning to us because most of my job activities were at the auto company. Being in the Detroit area, the auto industry is the mainstay of the economy. When they were threatened, when the big bust happened and the depression came, we were all concerned that I was going to lose my job, but I didn’t. I guess I was lucky, and I guess my field of engineering was in demand. So I did not at the time feel the consequences of GM going through bankruptcy

    Q: Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    A: I do, quite a few of them. It was a horrible period for those affected, especially in the auto industry. People on the assembly lines, as the factories closed, a lot of the assembly line workers lost their jobs. And of course, losing their jobs meant they couldn’t pay their mortgages. Quite frankly it was a distressful period for a lot of people. Yes, I did know quite a few.

    Q: Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession, and why?
    A: Well, it’s not easy to apportion blame. But, I was around at the period and things were just going crazy. If one had any sense of analysis they could see that things were gonna bust. You see, the way things were you know esc- I mean, stocks and- it just didn’t make sense. People were making money, turning things over, at a rate that was unheard of. It was like a pyramid that had no foundation.

    Reaction: For me personally, having being so young when the Great Recession took place, I have no recollection of what life was like back then. Until now, my parents have never talked about the Recession and the effects it had on them. As a result of that I assumed that not much changed in our household from a financial standpoint.
    This interview really opened my eyes to the fact that the Great Recession was only ten or eleven years ago. In my mind, I always imagined that it had occurred around the 1990s. It was very interesting to gain insight on this topic from somebody who is clearly very knowledgeable on the subject.
21. Sathvik June 7, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    My mom, Sujatha Rajagopalan, was around the age of 37 at the time of the Recession. I asked her five questions about the recession. I first asked her what was her strongest memory of the recession to which she replied, “my strongest memory of the Recession was the number of people getting laid off from their jobs. I kept on hearing the news that the economy was in a bad state and I saw this directly when my some of my friends lost their jobs”. The second question I asked her was, who do you think is to blame for the recession? She blamed, “greedy investment bankers because of their unregulated lending practices. These practices resulted in the economic crisis”. I also asked her how America has changed since then, where she replied “we have recovered the job which we have lost over the last decade and become more economically prosperous. But, I think that the systematic risk remains”. The fourth question I asked was, “did you know anyone that lost their job during this time period”. She said, yes,” a few of my friends lost their jobs during their time period for about six months”. On top of that, I asked her “how did were you affected by the Recession.”? She said that “I was not affected by the great recession because I didn’t lose my job. However, some of my investments took a small hit”. As a follow-up, I asked her if she had to make some changes to your plans because of the hit on her investments where she replied with, “I had little to no setbacks from hits on our investments”. All of these questions my mother answered provides me insight into how people’s lives were affected by this economic crisis and how society was in general.
    It shocked me that my parents were not affected by the recession that much. The research we have done on the financial crisis suggested that majority of Americans were in difficult situations. Therefore we could assume that people or our parents were affected financially. I also found it interesting how she said that another economic crisis is systematically possible. Even though the economy is in really big shape currently, she claims those who loan out money, still haven’t learned from the mistakes that caused the recession. Furthermore, I found it quite shocking that millions of Americans were out of work for sometimes long periods of time. All of the answers that my mom gave me helped better my understanding of the economic collapse and showed me how my family was affected by it.
22. sofia di stefano June 7, 2018 at 7:07 pm

    -What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    Sandra Di Stefano and I was 38 in 2008
    -What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    My greatest memory isa lot of family friends losing their jobs and thinking if we were next, it is my strongest memory because me and my husband didn’t know what our future was going to look like.
    -Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    Yes, our current cleaning lady lost her job in 2010, a couple years after 2008 because the great recession affected europe after it affected America. She lost her job and is still now not doing or earning as much as she used to. She was an accountant for a manufacturing company and her company closed during this time.
    -Did you or anyone you know have to leave their homes b/c of foreclosure? How did that feel to move everything?
    I didn’t personally know anyone who had to leave their house because of foreclosure but our neighbors at the time had to help their family members move out and they lived with them for a short amount of time until they found another place to live in.
    -Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
    As i mentioned earlier our current cleaning lady lost her job in 2010 because her company closed and because of the lack of jobs in Italy she still doesn’t have her job back.
    -Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
    The banks because they land money to people who couldn’t afford for the mortgage, and led to people leaving above their abilities and not being able to pay back. It began as a financial crises and developed into a economic crises.

    When I first heard we had to do an interview related to the Great Recession in 2008 I truly thought i wasn’t going to learn anything very important because of where my family and I lived at that time. I then realized how this recession affected europe as well. I learned a lot about the recession and hearing it from my mom and personal stories really helped me understand what life would’ve looked like back 10 years ago. Not only did I learn about europe being affected as well but I learned that people who I am close with are still affected nowadays and have not recovered from the Great Recession that occurred 10 years ago.
23. Katie Lucken June 7, 2018 at 7:13 pm

    I chose to interview my mom and dad about the Great Recession. My mom’s name is Pam, and she was 35 in 2008, and my dad’s name is Bill, and he was 37 in 2008.

    2. What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    (Pam) Not being able to sell our house. This is the strongest memory because we found a house that we wanted that was going to require a lot of work. We were planning on using the proceeds from selling the house we were living in to do the work in this house that we had already bought. We wanted to get new carpet, do things like that. It was not a critical problem but our house stayed ugly for a lot longer. We had to remain flexible with the new house.

    4. Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    (Pam) I definitely remember classmates in both Katie and Emma’s classes that needed to leave their homes and their schools because they didn’t have enough money to live here. They had lost jobs, they needed to downsize, so they moved to more affordable areas. There was a family with a kid in Katie’s kindergarten class that had to walk away from their house because they lost it, and they moved into a two bedroom house and planted a garden to feed their kids. Someone in Emma’s class had six kids and they moved to a two bedroom house. Our next door neighbors had to move around and they rented. They all lost their houses.

    6. How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?
    (Bill) I didn’t agree with it. The government removed moral hazard, which was a mistake because it provided people bailout. If they hadn’t, it would’ve prevented people from making those same bad decisions in the future. The government should have let companies realize their bad decisions and fail because they were spending tons of money on stupid things. The companies would have been reorganized and salvaged. By bailing them out, it didn’t hold them accountable for their very bad decisions that some of them made.

    7. Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
    (Bill) I think mark-to-market accounting is to blame. It’s an accounting rule which basically accelerated the asset that was demised to these companies, so by removing that, it stopped the downhill slide. It’s a terrible accounting rule that finally got fixed.

    8. Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
    (Bill) We’ve created a generation of people dependent on the government, which is terrible. “The government will just bail us out again.” The government will not bail us out, the government is us. All that it created was more tax burden. (Pam) Don’t you feel that it made people a little more cautious about spending their money? (Bill) It’s made people more conservative about their money, it’s taken years for people to return to their investments.

    My personal reaction to the interview is interest, because I can’t remember ever being aware of the Great Recession during the time. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, and so my family didn’t really care about the Great Recession like we cared about that. That was kind of central to all of our lives, but my parents, especially my dad, always pays attention to everything going around in the country and the world so he’s at least aware. I’m interested in going into business, so policies and stuff like mark-to-market accounting are kind of interesting to me, and when my dad explains things like that to me I’m always much more interested because he is in business.
24. Dorian Campillo June 7, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    What is your name? How old were you in 2008?

    Lamia: My name is Lamia Chentouf, I was 39 in 2008.

    Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession? How did that feel to move everything?

    Lamia: Yes, a family friend of mine had to leave her house because of the interests of her mortgage was so high. She couldn’t afford to pay her monthly payments. She had to move in with another friend with her son. It was a very sad situation especially for the kid who did not understand why it happened so brutally.

    Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?

    Lamia: We were in France at the time. My husband was working for an American Company, Delphi, and he felt that something was going bad. Slowly, he found himself without work so he knew he had to find another job. My husband knew that he would be out of that job soon. It was a very stressful time. Even if he could benefit from employment insurance, we had to dig in our savings.

    What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?

    Lamia: My strongest memory was when my husband announced to me that something very bad was about to happen. We had three little kids. He was very stressed out knowing that his company was about to go under Chapter 11 (bankruptcy). He wasn’t sure there would still be work in the automobile industry. This is my strongest memory because I have never seen my husband that worried because there was a feeling of insecurity, feeling of unknown about what the future could be.

    How did your child’s lives change during the Recession?
    Lamia: Their lives changed as we did not know if we would have a steady income to bring them food and such. As I said, it was very stressful for both me and my husband.
    Personal Reflection:
    The Great Recession was a terrible thing that affected thousands of people not only in the United States but also all over the world. The fact that so many people ended up losing their jobs is not only terrible for them but especially heart wrenching. I also believe that it is unfair to have so many people have to pay for what they could not completely control. Also, he fact that this affected kids and could have rendered them homeless is also terrible. As a result of the Great Recession, stress was one of the most common emotions at the time, as we see with my parents who had just arrived with my siblings from France. The Great Recession is easily comparable to the Great Depression because many lost their jobs and the stock market crashed. I had no idea about the stress that my parents had to go through and I also didn’t know that my family was affected by this recession. I was 5 years old.
25. Carolina Ishikura June 7, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    1. What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    Mitsunori Ishikura, I was 32 years old in 2008
    2. What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    Losing my job. My company shut down the plant due to no demand from customers. Our plant and customers only worked 50% of normal capacity. One week off and one week of work for about four months. I lost my job and couldn’t support my family. I had to move from Texas to Michigan for my new job.
    3. How did your child’s lives (meaning you) change during the Recession?
    You were confused and felt stressed about my situation. While trying to find a new job we were moving and you had to go to a new school. We left our friends behind to move to Michigan. You never got used to the new school until you went to public schools.
    4. Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
    Yes, almost all of my coworkers. 30% plant workers, eight Japanese including myself. I was out of work for a couple months, three months exactly. However, I was paid as a vacation for three months, technically not out of work.
    5. Did you or anyone you know have to leave their homes b/c of foreclosure? How did that feel to move everything?
    I didn’t know anybody that lost their homes by foreclosure but I had friends of friends that killed themselves because they lost everything.
    12. Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
    Can be the banks, but I can’t blame anybody, it just happens. The economy naturally fluctuates so it was bound to happen.
    13. Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
    The economy recovered over the past ten years, it’s almost the same/better now before the recession. But it’s going to happen again, anytime soon. The economy has been good for the last decade so the cycle will strike again eventually.

    I knew that the Great Recession affected my father negatively because I remember watching him struggle when I was younger. However since I was so young, I never knew the specifics. It’s unfortunate that that is how the economy functions but it’s more unfortunate that greed ruined the lives of thousands of people. It’s very upsetting that people lost everything to the point that they found no point in living. I remember my mom telling me that we were moving to Michigan and I was upset because I was leaving many people. I never put much thought into why we moved because all I was informed was that my dad got a new job in a different state. Overall this interview was interesting and I discovered many things that I never bothered to think about.
26. Diego Roell June 7, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    Diego Roell
    AP US History C
    5th Hour

    Great Recession Interview

    The Great Recession was an economic downturn that negatively affected America and had long-reaching, long-lasting effects. Regarding this topic, I interviewed both my mother and my father, Monica Roell and Eric Roell, who were 40 and 41 years old at the time of the Recession, respectively. Eric works for Ford Motor Company, and came to the United States in 2006 as an expat. Along came then-pregnant Monica, my sister Isabella, and I.
    When asked how the Great Recession affected them or affected people they knew, they answered that their experience with the Recession was slightly different from the average experience. Eric explained that, for a while, the automobile industry was not doing very well. Ford had carried out internal surveys and projections, and realized that an economic downturn was almost inevitable. Ford braced itself against the incoming market correction, laying off workers and taking loans in advance. Eric was told to return to Mexico before the market crashed, and so the family had to leave the country as a result of the very first effects of the Great Recession. Eric knew people who were laid off: mostly coworkers in the United States, although he knew other people in similar industries that were also being affected. When the Recession truly hit, the family was back in Mexico. However, the impact of the Recession was global, and the Mexican economy was hurt as well. Particularly, car exports fell dramatically.
    When asked what was their strongest memory from the recession, they responded with the memory of having to live in a hotel for four months. Due to the sudden change, housing arrangements in Mexico could not be done and a hotel was the only viable option. This negatively affected the family. Both remarked that I used to draw houses quite often, but living in an apartment for so long (we lived in an apartment for two years after the hotel) made me only draw apartments and buildings. It seemed to them that I had forgotten what a house was like.
    In regards to the government bailouts for banks and corporations, Eric thought that they were necessary. The economy depends greatly on the banking system, and a thorough collapse of the system would only worsen the situation. He talked about the 1998-2002 Argentine Depression, noting how the economic crisis was made several times worse by the collapse of the banking system. Monica thought similarly, although she stated that the banks might have gotten off too easy. Regarding the bailout of corporations, Eric was slightly more apprehensive. It was also necessary to save many industries, but it led to some negative effects. He pointed out that Chrysler and GM took the bailout money and other forms of government assistance, while Ford weathered the crisis independently, with little to no government aid. When the crisis was over, Chrysler and GM had essentially blank slates, while Ford was saddled with several billions of dollars in loans.
    Then, in regard to who was to blame for the Recession, neither gave strong answers. Both stated that, although they knew the basics of the Recession, they were not very knowledgeable on the subject. They agreed that irresponsible banks and lenders who aggressively played with the market were at least partially to blame, as they increased the housing bubble further and further until prices were no longer tenable. They also thought that the government shared some of the blame, as they failed to oversee banking practices and regulate the system sufficiently. Eric pointed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as being influential in the crisis, and therefore somewhat guilty. These two companies dealt with mortgages and foreclosures, and were tangled with the banks.
    Finally, when asked about the changes in America and around the world as a result of the Great Recession, they said some things changed while others stayed much the same. Monica said that perhaps some people are now less willing to trust banks and lenders due to their role in the crisis. Eric said that, although he thinks people still generally trust banks, customers are now more cautious about banking and the economy. They both said that the crisis led to more regulations and laws to prevent something similar from happening, and that now the government was a bit more keen on supervising the economy.
    I enjoyed learning about my parents’ perspective on the Great Recession. I knew that the crisis was mostly caused by the housing market and the loan market, and that it greatly affected the automobile industry as well, but I didn’t know many details. Being able to see the Recession from the perspective of people who lived outside the United States when the crisis truly hit was interesting, as I remembered almost nothing about the time. I was very interested on my father’s knowledge of the preamble to the crisis, particularly knowledge on the way the automobile industry was affected. I only really remember having to leave the country quickly. I remember seeing our furniture being loaded onto the moving truck sometime in early December, when suddenly it started lightly snowing. It was the first snow I ever had in the US, and my mom made the moving men take out the box with my snow clothes so I could play at least for an hour before we had to leave. That is my last memory in the United States before we had to leave.
27. Luke L June 7, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    For this interview I chose to ask my dad a few questions about the Great Recession.
    Q. What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    A. My name is David Day Lee, and I was 31 during 2008

    Q. What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    A. I wasn’t really impacted by the Great Recession because I didn’t have a lot invested in the market but the house we bought in the market was really hot and when the prices inflated we bought our property at an inflated price in 2006 and by the time we sold it in 2008 there really wasn’t a whole lot we were able to get in return. Much like many other people in 2006 we thought we would be able to get a return in our investment but as it turns out we didn’t.

    Q. Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
    A. I didn’t really have any friends or family who were affected by the recession at the time because at the time I was a social and religious worker so pretty much all the people in my network didn’t have a whole lot of money to invest into things and spend money so all of us including myself were living a frugal lifestyle and never took any financial risks.

    Q. Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession and why?
    A. I would say that the government-sponsored loan program for mortgage. The government made it so easy for people to buy houses with little to no down payment that when it is so easy to buy homes the prices are going to obviously jump. If you’re a home-seller and buyers come out beating each other of course you’re going to raise prices.

    Q. Now that it has been 10 years since the recession do you think America has changed and why?
    A. No, it hasn’t changed because we’re still inflating money and we’re still handing out easy credit. It’s only a matter of time before these factors lead up to what could be another recession because we always have seen this cycle in which the economy goes up and down and the government knows that eventually we’re going to take a dive and go into another recession. You already see the same sort of thing happening if you look at students graduating with a six-digit loan and compare it to how homeowners in 2008 had to pay back mortgages at a value that was higher than before. College graduates are leaving schools with so much debt and are going into jobs with that debt that is practically not sustainable.

    After hearing him talk I realized that my dad was already going through a hard time even when the recession wasn’t going on. I knew before that he worked at a christian newspaper publisher and as a social worker for juvenile hall kids but it never dawned on me how poor the pay was. I remember him telling me how late he would have to stay up at nights to make his living to support me and my sister. Doing this interview not only helped me realize the situation my dad was in, however, but it also showed me that the people who were the most affected by it were the ones doing better off and could take much more financial risks.
28. Rachel Shulkin June 7, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    Interview Questions, with my dad
    (he worked in the business branch of the auto part industry at the time and had immigrated to America about 15 years before the recession, for some context)

    2. “My strongest memory of the great recession was the announcement of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers’ investment bank on September 15, 2008. This was a shock because it triggered the notion of “too big to fail.” The fact that they collapsed lead the Government to intervene and save other large investment banks.”

    8. “I believe that it was wrong for the banks to lend money to people that didn’t have the means to pay them, and then repackage them as supposedly “safe” securities.”

    9. “It would have been potentially devastating to the entire industry, especially because of the complex supply chain industries with all of the companies involved.”

    11. “I lost a lot of money in my retirement savings during the great recession, because the value of retirement savings plummeted very low, I had a lot of my savings invested in the stock market. This was only one example; all of my investments had dropped to extreme lows- it was the largest loss of investments I had ever seen. I felt that the market wouldn’t recover, especially while comparing this to the great depression, the market didn’t fully recover for decades and I was worried that this would happen again.”

    12. “People want us to say that it should be blamed on deregulation, but this was not the single case in my opinion. I believe it had a great deal to do with greed of the banks, as well as people. Banks wanted to continue to show profit, which is where subprime came from, using various derivatives because they felt pressure to grow economically. In the case of the people, I believe they went for purchases in the moment, rather than thinking about the long-term effects of their investments at the time; whether they would have enough money later to support themselves.”

    13. “Since the recession, I see the government has tried to control what banks can and cannot do. In general, this event has been largely forgotten by many people, that it is a history-book topic for most and we are extremely capable of having this occur again. For example, Europe tends to believe that they are immune to these kinds of dips in their economy, but with monetary policy, they can easily fall into a similar situation. It’s mostly that people have forgotten the lessons they learned after the recession and if we’re not careful to keep it in mind when operating the economy, this could happen again.”

    Personal Reflection
    Since I was only 6 years old when the recession occured, I don’t have a very strong recollection of what the great recession meant for my family, or even for the country. But, my dad’s comment on the fact that it’s possible for the recession to occur again got me thinking about why I don’t know much about the recession at all, even though I lived through it. I think it’s definitely more important that the next generation is aware of the dangers of the economy and how we can prevent another recession. For example, we are all pretty knowledgeable about the events of 9/11, understanding how terrorism is a threat to the united states and that it is essential that we stand ground on peace, rather than hatred and violence. Although it’s clear that the recession and 9/11 don’t even stand on the same level of the threat to humanity, I believe that if we were educated on the economy and the recession, this generation would better understand the economy when we enter as adults, making us more cautious overall and prepared to work together to build the nation.
29. Jackson Gugni June 7, 2018 at 8:41 pm

    Jackson Gugni interviewing Mother Jennifer Savel

    What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    Jennifer M. Savel. I was 41 in 2008.

    What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    My strongest memory was hearing about retirees who lost extraordinary sums of money in their portfolios, pensions, and 401ks. These were people who had worked all of their lives and saved their money so that they could retire and enjoy their “golden years”. These people were living on a budget and, many, a fixed income. Suddenly, they saw their savings and comfortable life wiped out. For many, they had to find work again just to keep their houses and basic life needs. It was incredibly sad to see these people lose their dream.
    How did your child’s lives (meaning you) change during the Recession?
    I don’t think Jackson’s life changed much at all. Both of his parents kept their same jobs and life looked the same to him. We still took vacations and, given the fact that he was only 7, didn’t really discuss the economy much. I don’t think he saw much of it affecting his friends either. For the good or for the bad, we live in an area where many people had the means to weather the economic storm without significant life changes.
    Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    None of our immediate family or close friends were affected (significantly) by the recession. Most all of them lost money in their investments but were able to wait out the upswing in the market.
    Did your investments take a major hit during the Recession? How did that change your plans or make you feel? Why?
    Our investments probably lost about 20%, especially my husband’s retirements account. I can remember looking at the monthly statements for our accounts and thinking, “holy crap”. There’s really not a better way to say it. It was incredible that there was so much loss. We worried a bit because at that time my husband was 58 so the idea of retirement was definitely in his mind. Seeing how much money we lost made us realize that he might not be able to retire as soon as he thought. We’d never put the majority of our savings in the market so we were luckier than some others we knew who took a much bigger hit. I think the recession confirmed to us that our investment strategy was sound–a good balance of equities and other less volatile investments. We were lucky that both of us were working and our firm’s were surviving (albeit not anyone’s best year). We didn’t have to live off of savings so our losses were more paper than “live”. Paper or not, it still hurt to know that our efforts into working and savings had taken a significant hit.
    Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
    I would have said that American’s are wary of investing in the stock market after 2008 but given the current strength of the market, I don’t think that’s true anymore. I think people see the significant increase in the market and see it as a “get rich quick” idea. Don’t get me wrong, the market is great and can be a place to make money. However, for most people, who don’t have money to lose and aren’t knowledgeable (or clairvoyant enough) to time the market perfectly, it really has to just be a part of an investment plan. I do think people are far more wary of institutional retirement plans–pension plans and such that they can’t control. Between Bernie Madoff and the recession, they have seen too much of their money that was left to the supposedly competent investment of others, be ripped from their accounts. I think people are more likely to try and control their own retirement monies and no longer assume that monies promised to them by employers will actually be there.
    Reaction: It’s truly amazing to see how much damage can be done by just little things adding up and eventually destroying millions of peoples lives. Although I was only 7 years old at the time, I can still vaguely remember my parents talking about how many of their close friends had lost so much money. Its hard to think about who caused it, or what could have been done better, but when it all boils down to it, we got past it. Overall this was eye opening to see how dangerous money can truly be and how much we rely on it for our lives.
30. Jake Flaherty June 7, 2018 at 9:35 pm

    What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    Jennifer Flaherty, 41 years old

    What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    Her family was affected because she lost her job, which reduced her family income by more than half. She worked at Quicken Loans, and at the time the company went from 6,000 employees to 3,000, and my mom was an engineer and there were no jobs to apply to at that time. There were a lot of men, picking up their kids after school during the recession. Usually women do it, but lots of men were suddenly doing that. Things looked very, very bleak, the economy looked very bleak. You filed for unemployment insurance, it was a personal thing. Nationally, it seemed the news just kept getting worse and worse on job outlooks, and layoffs, and the markets… The stock market had a crash. People’s home values dropped. A lot of companies were going belly up. In less than 18 months the market index lost half of it’s value.

    Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    She took a financial planning class and she met many friends who had lost their jobs. Many people… This whole area where we lived were affected. We had to cut back on a lot of our spending, like expenses, luxury items, going out to eat, vacations, traveling, anything that was unnecessary… Not as many luxuries. We only bought what we absolutely had to.

    Did you or anyone you know have to leave their homes b/c of foreclosure? How did that feel to move everything? Where would you go?
    Not specifically. That would be devastating. There is no where to go, it would be a disaster, you’d have to move in with someone, get an apartment, it would be different for everyone. There were a lot of houses on the market, but no one could pay the mortgage. And no one had the money to buy the houses, and so housing values dropped significantly. Everyone’s net worth halved. A lot of people had equity, and sometimes people owed way more than the house was worth.

    How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies, and automotive industries? Why?
    A lot of the banks were at fault. The bailout, the government was trying to do what was most right, but this was unchartered territory. Not sure how she feels about the bailout.

    Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
    It was from loose regulation or lack of regulation of the banking industries, mortgage industries. My mom also feels that the current government is removing a lot of regulations that were set up to prevent another recession and that concern her. It just happened because of incoordination, you can’t blame a certain committee or person.

    I literally had no idea my mom was fired. That’s so scary, I might not be able to have music lesson or something, it’s just scary how many luxuries. Can you imagine being kicked out of your own house… Like, where would you go? And because you move, school’s a problem, it’s just so scary… So many people. I don’t think anyone deserves to have to go through that. And also, the people who have to fire three thousand people from a company, that must feel awful, how do you do that? And how to you choose who gets fired and who stays? My mom was fired then so we stopped going out to eat, stopped vacations look at the interview it’s laid out pretty well there.
31. Gabriel G June 7, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    Me and my sister asked my parents some questions about their experience in The Great Recession, and they had a lot to say:
    How old were you guys in 2008?
    My Dad, Daniel Gamlin, was 38, My Mom, Carmen Gamlin, 39.
    What was your biggest memories from it?
    My Dad’s biggest memory was the difference in treatment of those citizens that lost their jobs and homes vs the corporations.
    My Mom remembered working at UD Mercy and seeing experienced faculty being laid off because they couldn’t support them, adn Detroit as a whole lost the lot of their industry.
    How did your children’s lives change during the recession?
    Dad did not believe that me and cariel noticed a big difference, because they still had their jobs, but that things were getting more expensive left and right, and it was harder to hold up the house. But he didn’t let us know how bad it was.
    My Mom remembered that when she helped out Greenfield as a stay at home mom, she couldn’t keep doing that when 2008 hit, and that me and cariel were sad that Mom had to be away at her job much more often.
    Did you know anyone who lost their jobs during the recession?
    Dad remembers several friends who lost homes and jobs, and was disgusted by how his hardworking and talented friends were losing everything, and that corporations were fleecing and hurting citizens without any care for them.
    My Mom remembers family members that lost things like their homes and church buildings. She remembers students at U of D that were leaving their homes because they couldn’t pay for anything anymore. Many of them moved out of state.
    Who do you think is to blame for the recession?
    Dad blames the big corporations and banks like Goldman Sachs, because they knew that it wouldn’t be good for them to sell and approve mortgages for so many people, and that financial institutions did not do enough to stop the bubble they knew would burst, from bursting.
    My Mom blames the governments branches responsible for navigating the citizen’s funds, as they have a responsibility to take action to protect the people first, and nothing was done to prevent this recession. Both Mom and Dad blame things like the DOD bill and TARP for not mending any of the issues.
    Do you remember any shock at any news coverage of the recession?
    My Mom was shocked that there were people who vocally did not want to help the Auto industry from collapsing and ruining Michigan’s economy, due to its devastating affect to Detroit, my family’s native city.
    My Dad was not really shocked that much, as he expects nothing from businesses and the government, but he was shocked by how many corporate leaders were getting benefits to be immune to the recession, and he was grateful that Obama attempted to prevent people from allowing the Midwestern Auto Industry to die, as he stated it as the benchmark of the middle class.

    I have been mostly pleased with the depth and relevancy of my parent’s responses. I can see that they struggled to keep their jobs and retain economic relevance during such a time, and were frustrated by their peers’ forsaken nature in the face of corporate scrambling.
    I remember living in my old grandma’s house because we couldn’t move into the one we bought just moths before the crash, and I remember Greenfield Elementary losing scores of workers and teachers, and seeing my family and friends from Detroit, and economically worse area than Beverly Hills/Southfield, being crushed under the weight of the recession. I remember my Mom working for whole days on end to maintain my family’s income, and my Dad being away at work for eons at a time. I was also very confused and angry at how the adults around me spoke upon the recession, blaming anything and anyone they could to seek validation (namely Obama), and watching the News with Men barking at each other about some “fall of America” as we know it. It was during this time that I really started to realize how much of a ghetto the neighborhoods in Detroit I had been from and been to had become for some time, as houses I remember having families living in became husks on my street of Klinger, I did not live there anymore, but had great sorrow for those who still did. The recession also occured in a time where I was having a lot of trouble in school, being harrassed consistently while also struggling with my grades, and to top it all off, my Mom had stage 4 Breast Cancer, and I lived with the fear of my Mom dying. So yeah, it was a lot on a Six Year Old’s Mind.
32. Annie Chernow June 7, 2018 at 10:04 pm

    I interviewed my father, Aaron Chernow for this blog. I thought it would be interesting to see what he and his companies had went through during the great recession of 2008.

    What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    Aaron Chernow. 38

    What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    “GM and Chrysler filing bankruptcy. Conducted business with both and was owed large sums of money from each company. I was faced with both organizations owing lots and the threat of losing their business going forward. Without payment from the company’s, my businesses would have collapsed and I as well would’ve had to file for bankruptcy. Gladly, as a result of the government bailout of the automotives, I was paid every single dollar I was owed and happily never had to go through bankruptcy.”

    Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    “As an executive in the staffing and recruiting profession, I knew many individuals that were affected by the recession. Many lost their jobs, were unable to make their mortgage payments and support their families. I also had friends affected as well, they went on unemployment. They weren’t able to pay their mortgages in which costed them their houses as well.”

    Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
    “I did not lose my job but knew of many that did. Many took jobs that were beneath their prior positions just to earn a paycheck. People that were put out of work are even now still struggling to find a job today. This created a huge underemployment predicament in the US economy.”

    Did your investments take a major hit during the Recession? How did that change your plans or make you feel? Why?
    “My 401k took a 35% hit. I knew that the markets were cyclical and would eventually swing the other way. It never changed any plans as I was saving for the future (after retirement). However, it is never a good feeling losing 35% of your entire market portfolio.”

    Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
    “The lack of government regulation and banking controls allowed anyone to purchase and mortgage real estate. I believe the housing bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis ultimately created the Great Recession.”

    Personal Reaction
    With only being six years old at the time, I wasn’t aware of the great recession until later in my childhood. When interviewing my dad about this time period in 2008, it became very eye opening to me and it really made me realize that everyone in a job was effected in one way or another. I was very thankful to know that my father never went through a job loss and all of his companies recovered very well over time. I was also very glad to know my family was not effected to the point where we were struggling to pay for our house or had to move to another one. When I was younger, I thought that once you were in a job you had a stable life and didn’t have to worry at all. Obviously I was very wrong about that when I was younger and it’s very interesting to see how people found ways to recover from this recession but as well being really sad for the people who haven’t.
33. Kate Karaskewicz June 7, 2018 at 10:04 pm

    For this blog a talked to both my parents about the recession, Jennifer and Chris Karaskiewicz who were both 36 at the time of the recession.

    My mom remembers vividly when she realized that we owed way more on our house then it was worth. She said it was scaring feeling because are house was are biggest asset and suddenly it wasn’t. My mom also was laid off from her job. It took her about a year to find part time work and another couple years to find a job full time.
    My Dad remembers how expensive gas was. He went from spending $100 a month on gas to $400 in jus a couple months. He worked in Monroe which is about an hour from our house both ways some times as much as 2 hours when traffic was bad. He remembers friends and family having to take jobs far way and or in different cities or states for a time because they couldn’t find work close to home.

    According to my parents the main thing that was different about my sister and I lives was having less for Christmas, not taking vacations, eating out less, going without the more expensive clothes and groceries, and my mom not working for a time.
    For the record I don’t remember every feeling like I had less on Christmas. I didn’t realize that we weren’t going on big vacations for a while. I was 5, but I never felt like I was really going with out a lot.

    My parents also filled me in on what happened to my family during the recession. My aunt had to shot sale her house and moved in with my uncle. Cousins of my mom has the same thing happen. I didn’t know this previously.

    My parents were aware of shady practices bankers were using to flip houses. During 2006 my parents wanted to refinance the mortgage on our house, they got offers that were “too good to be true”. Luckily they didn’t take the bait but many did and it didn’t work out for most.

    Both of my parents have worked in the car industries most if not all of there careers so when car company were going under they were naturally concerned and effect. My mom remembers how the CEOs were taken to Congress and took a lot of heat for there finaical programs. She was mad companies that were making products for consumers and employing hundreds of thousands of people were being bashed so hard by the government. She continued to say that most banks who had helped cause the crash weren’t held responsible for breaking laws and or taking advantage of loophole after loophole; these banks according to her were being protected by the government whereas the car industry was not. My dad expressed that he felt the government should have done more for the people in the middle. The people who were rich were protected and those who were very poor got aid but the people in the middle had it rough. My parents where upside down on our house but not enough upside down to get help. Therefore the just had to work hard and just tried to hang tough. We were lucky and were able to hang on but of course many didn’t. All of our investments no matter how much safe the bet it was, it lost value. This set my parents retirement funds back considerably and me and my sister’s college funds. Of course they were upset and worried. They recovered, slowly, but certain things still aren’t what they ought to be.

    Both my parents blamed the banks and pissed off that they largely got away with what they did. I feel the government also bares the blame for letting this happen, they undid laws and policies set in place after the depression and other economic depressions of the 20th century. My parents feel, and I agree, that the government still largely hasn’t learned it lesson, although things did get better.
34. Maddy Penoza June 7, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    I interviewed my grandpa, Bill Penoza. He was 56 years old in 2007. Originally, I was going to interview my grandma, Claudia, but she told me he was “way better suited to do this than I am.” So, I interviewed grandpa. I was glad I did because he had lots of interesting views on the topic of the recession. He was very involved in the stock market at the time, and had a lot to lose.

    Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?

    Nope. I can’t think of anybody who got laid off. I must have hung out with a bunch of rich guys! However, both my parents, and many of my siblings were worried about the fate of their pensions.

    How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? What did they feel about the auto company bailouts? Why?

    I think that GM got a really sweet deal that they didn’t deserve. They weren’t prepared financially. They didn’t have the resources. Because of this, some of my friends were worried about their pensions. The salary pensions weren’t necessarily protected by the government. The government didn’t treat this like a normal “bankruptcy” they treated GM like they were too big to fail. The government has always stood behind hourly pensions. To some extent salary pensions are the same. Higher Ups were worried. Lots of my friends were very concerned.

    Did your investments take a major hit during the Recession? How did that change your plans or make you feel? Why?

    Yes, we live off of the dividends on our investments. We took a big hit. Probably average for the stock market. We were worried. We would watch CNBC every single day to see what was happening.

    Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?

    Well, politics have definitely changed. I think some of this had an impact on us being so divided. It was headed that way, but the recession accelerated it. Gov regulations of banks should have been implemented more than they were. That divided conservatives and liberals a lot. It has had a lot of impact on where we are today. The economy has come back stronger than ever, but the political divide has gotten much worse.

    How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?

    I think they had to bail out the banks. The economy could not have survived if they let the banks go under. The fact is the bank got themselves into this. They loaned money to people who couldn’t pay it back, than sold those loans to other people who couldn’t pay it back!

    This is just my opinion, but I think part of the solution is: if the bank loans somebody money, they should not be allowed to sell that loan. The banks got into this because they did it to themselves.

    Reflection: Through this interview, I’ve learned a lot about the great recession, and its impact on everyday, ordinary Americans. It’s easy to talk about how the great recession impacted the country as a whole, but talking to my grandpa about it really gave it a new perspective. I was alive at the time, but I barely remember being 5 at all, let alone any sacrifices that my family had to make. My grandpa, on the other hand, was not five, and remembers it well. Additionally, he and my grandma were heavily invested in the stock market, and his story about how they would watch the news together everyday to see what state the market was in showed just how much this hit home. My grandpa, after the interview, also said that he didn’t realize that they were in the clear, as far as the recession went, until they bought their boat in 2015. 7 years later. I always thought of it as a two year thing, but grandpa was not over it for 7 years of his adult life.

    ~Maddy Penoza
35. AJ Zako June 7, 2018 at 10:23 pm

    1. My name is Dan Zako and I was 47 years old in 2008 when the Great Recession happened. I am Rhea Zako and I was 37 when the recession happened.

    2.401K and investments were cut in half, fear of losing jobs, vacation property lost value

    3.Childhood wasn’t greatly affected because my parents refused to let it happen because they wanted me to live normal life

    4. Friends houses went into foreclosure and lost jobs, family lost all of kids college savings when they were about to go to college

    5. Wouldn’t know what it would be like to move because it didn’t happen to us but it did happen to friends

    6. Friend lost job and was out of work for about a year, lost marriage, lived of savings, had to go to parents and ask for advance on inheritance

    7. Didn’t know much about it but knew that something was wrong because mortgage companies were offering people large sums of money on a mortgage but people didn’t have enough money to pay it back

    8. It was bullsh**, bankers should have gone to jail, a lot of white collar bankers who made a lot of money selling through knowing that people couldn’t afford them, feel as though government didn’t do their job by allowing these mortgages to sell

    9. Parents work in media and those companies are big clients of theirs, glad and happy that president was Obama and they bailed out the companies because it would have affected them and so many other people around the area of Detroit and could’ve put many people out of work, would’ve been worse off if those companies were not bailed,

    10. Did not do cash for clunkers, did take advantage of home refinance program because parents had enough already down on the house they were able to refinance at a better APR rate

    11. Yes, devastating, felt like shit, people could’ve been wiped out, didn’t change much except that they worked harder to get those investments back up

    12. The government, bank, and mortgage lenders, banks and mortgage lenders took advantage of people and government didn’t stop them

    13. America hasn’t yet done all the things yet they can do to make sure that this can’t happen again, lack of trust with banking and government because banks lied and cheated and government did nothing, people with their investments are more apt to diversify their investments to try and protect their investments and money

    When I first started interviewing my parents I did not have a full understanding of the way the recession affected people. The way in which my father described the corruption of the government and banks at the time was indescribable. He was impacted way less by this experience than many other people but still knows how bad the government and banks messed up and feels terrible for all those affected and explains how blessed he was that his family was not greatly affected by the recession.
36. Dominic Gullo June 7, 2018 at 10:25 pm

    David Gullo (my father), 46 years old in 2008

    Q. What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    For my dad, his strongest memory of the Great Recession was losing his job. Times were hard for him and the rest of our family. At the time, my dad worked in construction (he managed the building of luxury homes). When the market crashed, his salary, along with his coworker’s salaries, were nearly cut in half. Soon, he was let go. Being out of a job, and having a family to feed, my dad felt as if he was cornered and had nowhere else to go. He felt that his entire world was on the verge of collapsing. Things like his home savings, or the welfare of his children were on the line.

    Q. Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the recession?
    For one thing, my dad was laid off. He had also known other friends and colleagues who suffered in the same way. My uncle (my dad’s brother in law) and his family lost their home as well. Before the market crashed, my dad had been a partial owner of a bank and had invested a good deal of money into it. When the rough times came, his investments were severely damaged, and practically cut in half.

    Q. Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
    My father recalled that pretty much half the people he knew had lost their jobs, or had their salaries cut in half. Even after my dad had managed to get another job, he considered trying to find a second job just to make ends meet. “People did what they had to do,” he said to me. It was a struggle for him and for many people. “You were expected to work twice as hard for twice as much”.

    Q. Did your investments take a major hit during the Recession? How did that change your plans or make you feel? Why?
    My dad had been a partial owner of a bank at the time, which means that he had invested quite a bit of money into it. When the Great Recession hit, those investments took nearly a fifty percent hit. These were rough times for him. He felt extremely vulnerable.

    Q. Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession?
    When asked this question, my dad blamed mortgage lenders. He stated that there was an issue with over-valuing of mortgages, and there was a mixing of prime mortgages and risky mortgages. He complained that people were selling crappy houses for way too much money and that people who could not afford them were buying them.

    My Reflection/Reaction:
    This whole thing is just really interesting to me. I find it weird how I was living through this, yet I had no idea what was going on. I knew that times were tough for my family and I, but I hadn’t known that other people had had it much worse. I remember my dad losing his job, and my parents almost splitting up. I was young and didn’t like how things were at the time, so I sort of just put those memories in the back of my head. After learning more about the events of those years, I have a lot more respect for my dad. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of stress that was put on him. He had to somehow find a way to make ends meet through this dreadful time. Knowing that this is something he did for me and the rest of my siblings, I won’t ever take it for granted. Looking back on those years, I’m glad that they’re over, and I’m glad that my family has since recovered.
37. Jana Dinkeloo June 7, 2018 at 10:27 pm

    1.)What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    Derek Dinkeloo and 41.

    2.)What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    That tons of people lost their jobs. I knew lots of people that lost their jobs and were really worried about supporting their families without that income.

    3.) How did me and Will’s lives change during the Recession?
    There wasn’t much money to put you into activities that we would have liked you to do, or to go on school or family trips even.

    4.) Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    Yes. My brother lost his job and it took him a long time to find another full time job.

    7.) Were you aware of the sub-prime mortgages that were being done at that time? What were your feelings about them? Why?
    No, I guess when they occurred I didn’t know anything about them. It’s awful though.

    8.)How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?
    I thought, along with most other people that it wasn’t right. But I personally at least thought that to some degree the government is responsible for making sure that not everything collapses.

    9.) How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? (We’re a Ford Family)
    I don’t think anyone thought it would be a good thing. It would obviously affect the area we live in, and home prices even more, and jobs even more, so it was a really scary prospect to think about.

    12.) Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
    I guess blame could go all around. I think that the banks overextending was a big problem, and I personally think that the war in Iraq, which was sort of unnecessary, contributed a lot to it as well. I think also in terms of companies like Chrysler and GM, their promises from decades ago dealing with health insurance finally caught up to them and contributed to it as well.
    (When I asked my mom about her least favorite president she’s lived under, her top pick was Bush because she doesn’t think that he knew what he was doing and had people just telling him what to do, so I think that it’s safe to say that she blames the Bush Administration for their inadequacy to fix the problem.)

    13.)Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
    I don’t know. I’m not sure people have learned anything from it. The only thing that’s changed is that the economy seems to be doing well and people have jobs and money which is obviously a good thing. But the way people spend, and healthcare and healthcare costs, some of that really hasn’t changed.

    My personal reaction is that I think I am super fortunate to not really remember or have been affected too badly by the recession. Since my mom was stay at home at the time, it could’ve been a much worse situation for us than it was if my dad was to have lost his job, and I’m not sure how that situation would have played out. I was around six and my brother was around two in 2008, so I’m sure it would have been much harder to recover from layoffs with such small children, especially since the cost of younger children is already expensive. Altogether I feel really, really fortunate that my family had things all right, and I have an extreme amount of empathy for those like my uncle who lost their jobs, or those who lost their homes. I think this interview really opened my eyes to how important and life changing this recession was for people.
38. Kiran Krishnan June 7, 2018 at 10:31 pm

    What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?

    Dad: My strongest memory is the steep drop in the stock market. It’s my strongest memory because I have a lot of my networth tied in the stock market.
    Mom: My memory would be of President Obama taking office and having to quickly determine the best course of action to stabilize the economy. I also clearly remember the debates and discussions around whether or not the auto-companies would go bankrupt and government funds being used to make sure that they didn’t – and thus saving many jobs in the metro-detroit economy.

    2. Were you aware of the sub-prime mortgages that were being done at that time? What were your feelings about them? Why?

    Dad: Vaguely familiar with the sub-prime mortgages. I did not think about them too much, but I did think that there were many people getting mortgages that probably couldn’t afford them, and that it could not have a good ending.
    Mom: I teach in Macomb County. When I first started driving out there in the mid-1990s, there were wide open fields and dirt roads. By the time of the Great Recession, there were acres and acres of McMansions. I remember thinking to myself, “What are all these people doing to be able to afford such huge houses?” When the mortgage failures started, it became obvious what had happened. There had been no way that the people buying these homes could truly afford them.

    How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?

    Dad: I was not very happy with the bailout, while it might’ve been needed to save the financial system – the investigation into the causes and convictions were insufficient for the scale and magnitude of the crisis.
    Mom: If a normal person had made the kinds of investment mistakes these banks had made? Well, there would be no buyout.

    How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? What did they feel about the auto company bailouts? Why?

    Dad: Having lived in the Detroit area for the last 25 years it was essential to save the auto companies. I supported the bailout of the auto companies, because without that it would’ve led to a much larger crisis.
    Mom: This is a case of knowing people who would have lost their jobs if the auto companies hadn’t been bailed out. I remember also feeling a bit proud of the way Ford Motor Company had used their resources and avoided the need for a bailout.

    Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?

    Dad: Insufficient regulation of the banks, the banks themselves had no internal mechanisms to prevent this. Essentially it was a failure of government to regulate and insure that illegal practices like sub-prime mortgages didn’t happen.
    Mom:I would also add that it is a failure of our government that there is still no incentive for regulation. We are slipping back into an unregulated environment again and illegal practices are happening again.

    Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?

    Dad:There have been some stronger regulations put in place to try to prevent a repeat of the 2008 recession, however the public has short memories and many politicians are trying to undo or reduce those regulations which may lead to the same situation we were in 2008. Low interest rates that rates that resulted following the great recession to stimulate the economy remain in place, which has meant easy money for corporations and people, resulting in massive debts to both corporations and individuals.

    Personal Reflection: Before talking to my parents about the Great Recession I did not know a lot about it. My family was never directly affected by the recession, and i only vaguely remember adults talking about it, but because I was only 5-7 not much stuck with me. The only thing that I think of is my dad now telling me that he was thinking of moving, while the housing market was down and prices are cheaper, but because my sister and I were such good friends with our neighbors, he opted not to (he’s a little annoyed about that, now that we have grown apart from our friends). Watching the video and hearing my parents talk about the situation has been a great learning experience. I was amazed that banks were able to give out subprime mortgages without any regulation. This was a little upsetting because it seems like the whole issue could’ve been avoided had the government been properly regulating the financial system and housing industry.
39. Jonathan Giha June 7, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    Answers to Questions:
    What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    “My name is Tom Schafer, and I was thirty nine.”
    What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    “Dropping stock value because my 401k took a 60% dive.”
    How did your child’s lives (meaning you) change during the Recession?
    “They didn’t.”
    Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    “Some people lost their jobs, most people lost a lot of retirement spendings, and people decided to stop spending money unless they needed to. Stopped vacations, reduced spending, there was fear of job security.”
    Did you or anyone you know have to leave their homes b/c of foreclosure? How did that feel to move everything?
    “I did not know anyone that did.”
    Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
    “I had co-workers lose their jobs. Maybe about 4 months, they basically had to rely on their savings.”
    Were you aware of the sub-prime mortgages that were being done at that time? What were your feelings about them? Why?
    “I was aware of them. I had always avoided those types of financial instruments and had advised others not to use them. They were risky loans that often let people pay a lower monthly rate but often were not allowing for equity to be developed.”
    How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?
    “Unfair but necessary. There should have been more of a penalty on the banks that packaged such loans as investments.”
    How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? What did they feel about the auto company bailouts? Why?
    “The same as the banks, necessary but something that wouldn’t be provided to individuals.”
    Did you take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program or the home refinance programs offered by Congress?
    “No.”
    Did your investments take a major hit during the Recession? How did that change your plans or make you feel? Why?
    “Investments took a major hit but at my age I left the investments as is and they recovered in two years. In fact, I used cash to invest when the market was at the bottom.”
    Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
    “It was congress. Congress wanted to help low income individuals qualify for housing without understanding the risk to individuals that did not have financial funds to afford a house.”
    Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
    “A greater percentage of people must wait for obtaining loans until they are able to afford the cost and risk of homeownership.”
    Response:
    To me it seems like Mr. Schafer and the people he knows were affected much less than money, and from his statement that he spent cash on new investments when the market was at its worst it seems like he might have financially gained from it in the end. However, unlike many in his position, he does not blame the poor who tried to become homeowners for the recession, instead saying that Congress caused it by taking action without knowing the risk it would cause to the poor. It also seems like he tried to prevent the predatory lending by advising people to not accept risky deals.
40. Nick Johns June 7, 2018 at 10:50 pm

    I interviewed my father for this blog because he actually works in the mortgage industry, so he knows a lot about this topic, and he was very involved in it.

    Q. Were you aware of the subprime mortgages that were being handed out during the great recession?
    “Yes I was.”
    Q. How did you feel about them?
    “I thought they were a bad idea because we knew the result was going to happen.”
    Q. How did you feel about government bailouts of banks and insurance companies?
    “Mixed feelings. I thought there were certain companies who were forced to take it and they shouldn’t have taken it or didn’t need to take it, but some of them, I think it was probably for the economy a good thing. I do think, however, they should have kept tighter regulations on those companies afterwards.”
    Q. How did you feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors closing?
    “That one didn’t bother me too much, I was more concerned with the financial end of the Recession. I had mixed feelings about the bailouts though. Because it was local, I hoped that [the government] would [bail out the companies], because a lot of people I knew would be out of work, but, in general and looking at the big picture, I don’t think they should have though.”
    Q. Did you take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program of the home refinance program?
    “No, we did not. The Home Refinance program was were if you were underwater in your mortgage you can refinance it with no cost, we did not need to do that.”
    Q. Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession?
    “I think that there were lots of people that are culpable. I think that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac [These are two large federal mortgage associations] were somewhat to blame because they were promoting, if not encouraging, bad loans. I think that some of the banks who were refinancing people or giving people mortgages who obviously couldn’t afford it are to blame. I also think the people who were buying the homes, knowing they were going to blow what they wouldn’t afford were responsible too. The people buying the homes were also a big problem because they walked away from [homes] when they had a legal obligation to it. “
    Q. Now that it has been almost ten years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then?
    “Well, I’d like to say they’ve learned from the mistakes, but if you look at the mortgage products that are coming back, I think that was one of the big issues of it, the same loan types of the mortgage products that are coming back, or were in place in 2008 and 2009, they’re trying to come back nowadays, and we call them ‘liar loans.’

    This was a very interesting interview in my opinion, because my father was very knowledgeable on the topic because he was in the industry that was taking a big hit during the Recession. I have talked with him about the Recession before, because he knew some people that used the company that he worked for to buy a mortgage, but they walked away from their home. He wasn’t happy with this, because, as he even mentioned in the interview, he believed this was a big cause of the Recession. It is also very interesting to hear about all of this, because even though I was alive and living through all of this, I was only 8 years old, so I was completely oblivious to what was going on in the world around me, so learning all that happened was very intriguing.
41. Wyatt Heaton June 7, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    For the purpose of this interview on the Great Recession, I chose to interview my mother. This is because she is the only surviving adult in my family who experienced the time, and my family was actually impacted pretty hard by the crash of 2008.

    What is your name? How old were you in 2008? My name is April Heaton, and I was 35 in 2008. I was living in a suburb of Chicago called Wheaton, Illinois.
    How did your child’s lives (meaning you) change during the Recession? The recession actually hit us pretty hard. My husband lost his job because of it, and we were unable to pay the mortgage on our house. This forced us to leave Chicago and come back to Michigan to try and find a cheaper place to live. My boys were forced to leave behind their friends and their life for the third time, and I remember they were both pretty emotional about the whole thing.
    Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period? My husband, as I said before, lost his job during that period. He was working at Sears, which was already struggling by that point, and the recession caused it to downsize further. He was out of a job for a few months, but I was working at a public school in Special Education, so we at least had some income coming in.
    How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? What did they feel about the auto company bailouts? Why? The closing of those big auto companies was actually pretty scary for us. It made it more difficult for my husband to find a job, as he was wary to look in those companies since they could’ve closed pretty soon. So finding a job in the Detroit area became a bit more difficult. I thought the automotive bailouts were a good thing, personally. Those were a major supplier of jobs and I had friends who worked with those companies. Them losing their jobs would’ve been devastating.
    Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why? I don’t really think it’s my position to throw blame. I wouldn’t really know exactly who to throw it at, because so many factors caused the recession. I’m not exactly an economics expert, so I really can’t pointedly blame any one person or organization.

    My thoughts:
    Frankly, interviewing my mother on how the recession affected us really sheds some light on my life. Knowing that my dad’s layoff was due to the crisis, and how much trouble it was finding a new home after we were forced to move really puts things into a much more easy to understand perspective for me. While I was living through it, it was kind of just a blur of bad thing after another, and knowing what my mother thought and did with her more organized adult mind clears it all up for me.
42. Kevin Gruich June 7, 2018 at 11:00 pm

    (Q1)I interviewed my mother, Bridget Gruich, she was 42 in 2008. (Q2)Her strongest memory is learning about the automotive bailout on the news. She also remembers hearing about the massive layoffs at the time in automotive industries. This is her strongest memory because she had just graduated from college and expected to easily find work, yet she couldn’t even get contracting work. (Q3)She said that her children’s lives changed with them now worrying about the possibility of my dad being laid off. At the time the worry consumed the family. (Q4)Her sister became unemployed for 2 years as soon as she finished her degree. Many she knew at the time moved to other states for work. She knew no one close who was foreclosed on because of the recession. (Q6)Her sister made ends meet through a part time job at an art gallery, during her 2 year unemployment. (Q7)She was aware of the practice of loose credit lending, she thought it was a scummy practice. She had just graduate with a degree in finance. She noticed the inflated prices when looking at the mortgages in 2007 being well above their price. (Q8)She thought the banks shouldn’t have been bailed out like the automotive, she also saw the bonuses given afterwards as nearly illegal. (Q9)She saw the potential closing of Chrysler and General Motors as devastating to our economy, especially in Michigan. This is why she supported the bail outs for them. The possibility that she would need to leave the state was very possible. Though in many other states the case wasn’t much better. (Q10)She didn’t take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program or the home refinance programs. This is because she didn’t qualify for HARP, because we had a second home and our mortgage was sold by PNC to another bank that didn’t participate in the program. She had the option of bankruptcy, but didn’t take it out of moral obligation for her debt. (Q11)Luckily, her investments at the time were in property alone with no stocks or bonds or 401Ks. Her property values were cut in half and that kept her from moving or selling a house. Also there was no equity left that was planned for college or retirement funds. (Q12)She blames the republican’s deregulation that led to the precarious sub-prime mortgages. She also blames the credit default swaps that were used to bet on failure, and were overly complicated, which led to them being hard to regulate. She partially blames the unions for letting the pension funds getting so unbalanced that the automotive companies were not profitable. (Q13)She thinks the need to have a dual income household is greater than ever before with few raises which will affect the future generation. She also notes the overworking that is required to have a decent life and to pay for school. The pressure for children to excel and get scholarships have also increased since. She thinks this is because home values still haven’t recovered and until recently the job market was still weak.
    I found this interview to be a bit surprising. I learned somethings I didn’t know, like how she watched MSNBC and the economy suffer for hours because she was unemployed. Though I did know a lot of this already because I do often talk about these economic topics with her. She has many times expressed the complicated situation our family was in at the time. I have some memories of the time, mainly just being at home with my brothers. I distinctly remember witting for my mother to come home from night school. She had to go back to school at the time to be competitive in the market, this led to me not seeing her for multiple days at time commonly for years. Even when she got a job, it was at least 60 hours a week because of the wages dropping. I also remember a friend I had disappearing randomly at the time named Parker. My mom tells me that his family moved to Tennessee to get work, I never knew this until now. All I really remember of the time is just spending my time with my brothers and rarely seeing my parents.
43. Cariel Gamlin June 7, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    video of them answering questions 1 through 5. Includes follow up questions. https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/my-drive
    Personal reflection:I did a video to see the expressions of my parents and I was very surprised by my mom’s facial expressions. She almost never looked at the camera. I heard my parents praising god constantly for the goodness of what happened to their family but, how it affected their friends and family. Not to mention she avoided the fact that she had breast cancer so during this time she worked in the school we recently moved to Greenfield Elementary. I enjoyed talking about how they sold their house and moved up to southfield. I remember for the short time living in a family house where we sat on an air mattress then I got my jewelry box. Then my parents talked about who they blamed , mainly government and banks fault for the recession. They went on about how they were fortunate to keep their jobs. After I finished recording my dad said that he was worried because my mom worked at a private college they would lay her off (Carmen worked at U of D Mercy as co-op coordinator for college of engineering and science). I asked them what was a moment when they were watching the news and they were surprised. Daniel wasn’t surprised at anything basing on how he thought the establishment and the government is corrupt so the idea isn’t far fetched. For Carmen she was shocked at people saying to let the automotive industry perish. She expressed how Trump was one of those people and yet later Michigan elected him into office. The idea twisted her mouth up with bitterness. “I dunno it may just be because I’m a native Detroiter” this was a phrase carmen would repeat constantly throughout her explaining her disdain for the country slandering her city’s main export to other countries; cars which she enjoys a lot.
44. Kyla Hurns June 7, 2018 at 11:16 pm

    Interviewed Norman Hurns, 37 years old at the time
    Blog #110- The Great Recession
    Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession? Why?
    I think Wall Street, regulations by the federal government were two key components. Not blaming President Bush but the laxidasically restrictions on the industry in order to create business by not restricting, I think caused a problem. I think just because his wanting that everyone have a home, not everyone should have a house. I think you have to be able to own a home and everything that comes with that responsibility.
    Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
    I think much like history things go in cycles and much like war the further you go away from something the less you start thinking about it. I think we are creeping that area again. If I go back to the financial crisis, this telling if you think about history has happened before. In fact some of the same people involved as when it happened in the SNL Scandal, you know Alan Greenspan was one of the major components and he ended up being the Secretary of Treasury at the time. So to me not only was it some of the same players involved, it was happening again. It seems like its the little guy that gets impacted more than the big guy. If you look at all of the companies that were having large profits, those companies were bailed out although some of them paid back for example like the auto industry those companies got bailed back: Chase Bank, Bank of America. All of those places are doing phenomenal now and a lot of that is because they made a lot of bad decisions and they got let off the hook and now they are in first place. Where somebody like me, everyday person a lot of my friends who bought houses for the very first time never reaped the benefits of the wealth that we get from homes. So, for me it really changed me it really changed my perspective in respects to paying off a house, you just use your house as a conduit of wealth for me at this point. One of the reasons why we moved into the neighborhood that we live in now is because I was so self concious in getting caught and losing the value of my home. So I moved to a place in which I knew no matter what happened to the economy, I knew that I could sustain myself. Even if I go back to the neighborhood that we left the house in, its in shambles. I thought about actually staying, but the neighborhood was so devastated because it dropped so low and caused many problems with additional crime, abandoaned homes, etc. So for the everyday person, only one of my friends at the time didn’t lose out because of the housing market. They had already bought a new house and sold their previous one, so they reaped the benefits of having a home ownership in order to upgrade. Unfortunately, they ended up moving to another neighborhood in order to upgrade with their second home and they lost 100,000 cash on their new home.
    Did you or anyone you know lose their job during this time period? How long were they out of work? How did you make ends meet during that time period?
    Yes, they leveraged their savings and their retirement accounts and they applied for jobs. Ironically many of them received government jobs and one of my friends had his own business and he just went to a market that was less impacted.
    What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    I think my strongest memory is trying to sell our house, well probably two. One trying to sell our house, in the process of selling our house for short sale. The bank, Chase Bank, basically railroaded our ability to sell the house it happened on two different occasions and our house went into actually foreclosure. I had to contact the federal government to make sure that our house was able to be sold, they were purposely trying to push our house into foreclosure because as a company they received more money from a foreclosure than just a short sale. The second one is probably when we were trying to sell a car, we had bought two cars from Chrysler in the past and we didn’t have any changes in our income or bill pay or anything and it was weird they wouldn’t finance it. We had to go to a third party finance company in order to get the car. The second memory is the strongest memory because thats when you know something is happening is weird but you can’t explain it and you don’t know how to conceptualize it. That’s when I knew it was the beginning of the end. The second one is so strong because Chase Bank was one of the causes of the Great Recession and here they are able to benefit from it. They were bailed out and there was no bail out for the homeowners.
    How did your child’s lives (meaning you) change during the Recession?
    Long term at the time I was in a 15 year mortgage, probably 10 years within nine years so last year the house would have been paid off. It would have created a financial wealth for our kids in order to have some flexible in choice of schools and vacations and trips. It totally sent our finances in a downturn.

    Reflection
    My own personal experience with the Great Recession was mostly with my friends and family. During that time period six of my closest friends and family members had to move out of the state of Michigan because their parents lost their jobs. I lost a lot of my friends and cousins, and as a six year old this was very hard for me to understand why this was happening and why my friends couldn’t stay with me. Also we were in the process of trying to move at the time and to me this was the best time of my life I was going to be closer to my school and friends because at the time we lived on the East side of Detroit and we were attending Birmingham Public Schools. So to me this was a fun experience but I remember my parents often talking in hushed tones and whispering during this entire period of my life about pricing, loans and foreclosures.
45. Maya Wolock June 7, 2018 at 11:24 pm

    I interviewed my mom, Miriam Wolock, about the Great Recession for this assignment. First I asked her “Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?”. She responded by telling me how she and around fifty others from her law office were laid off. She also told me about how her clients were affected. My mom is a family lawyer. She had many clients whose custody agreements had to be changed. Some parents really struggled to pay child support, making it much harder on the kids. She explained that the hardest cases were the ones where one parent had to move away to get out of hard-hit Detroit. The next question was “Did you or anyone you know have to leave their homes b/c of foreclosure?”. She told me that while neither her or her friends had their homes foreclosed, but some of her clients did. This also affected custody agreements. The third question I asked was “Were you aware of the subprime mortgages that were being done at that time? What were your feelings about them?” She said that she was not aware at the time. She was not in the mortgage market, therefore she did not know. She explains that she now understands how dangerous the situation was. My fourth question was “What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?”. She said the strongest memory she had was all the couples who wanted to get divorced but couldn’t, because their house was their only asset. She talked about how children were stuck in unhappy households. The last question was “Did your investments take a major hit during the Recession? How did that change your plans or make you feel?”. She told me how my parents retirement account took at least a thirty percent hit. This made her very nervous about the future. She remembers thinking “what if there was a medical emergency?”.

    I was very fascinated by my mother’s response. She was laid off and directly affected by the recession. However, she did not seem to focus much on her own experience. This spoke to me, because it showed just how much harder others had it. Losing one’s job is a scary experience, and the fact that she thought it was nothing compared to what others went through shows just how dire the recession was. I also never thought about how the Great Recession affected the divorce rate. One would assume that the divorce rate would go up because of the stress it caused within families. However, it actually went down, because people simply could not afford to get divorced. Thanks to this interview, I learned about not only the economic effects of the recession but the personal and familial ones.
46. James Laport June 7, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    The loss of jobs that we had in our industry, which was the advertising industry in Detroit. We lost about ⅔ of the jobs, many of those never came back and they suffered greatly.
    Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession?
    No, I didn’t have any direct friends affected by it, but certainly the economy overall was affected by it. We certainly felt the effects of foreclosures throughout our industry.
    Did your investments take a major hit during the Recession? How did that change your plans or make you feel? Why?
    Our family lost approximately ⅔ of our net worth at the lowest point of the recession. It was a very scary time, but for the most part, we stayed on course and stayed in the stock market and fortunately the economy has climbed and we have recovered since that time.
    How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?
    Well, I think our family was most directly affected by the bailout of the banks as much as the bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler which was overall something we were in favor of because they were major clients of ours at the time. It enabled the community in Detroit to sustain and come out of the recession much better than if the government had not bailed out the automotive industry.
    Who do you think is to blame for the Great Recession?
    I think the banks themselves were responsible for the Great Recession because they over-invested in home loans and gave loans to people that could not sustain their mortgages. There was a lot of nefarious activity going on and a lot of greed and I think that is what is primarily responsible for bringing the economy to its knees in 2008.

    I personally didn’t even know we were going through a recession at the time until one day in third grade, we were talking about the Great Depression and she said, “you know, we are actually going through a recession ourselves right now.” During that period, I would hear little bits and pieces of conversation about it, but nothing that concerned my little eight year old mind. Hearing about it all now though, I’m realizing it was still pretty tough for my family and we were barely even impacted compared to what I’ve heard about some other families.
47. Kyle V June 7, 2018 at 11:28 pm

    What is your name? How old were you in 2008? David Varda. Was 40 years old

    What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory? Strongest memory was the uncertainty of the future of my job and how to take care of our family. Did know if I was going to have a job because they were firing a lot of people. Had to take a 10% pay cut and some co-workers got a demotion. Cause my most important Job is taking care of my family.

    How did your family feel about the threat of Chrysler and General Motors potentially closing? What did they feel about the auto company bailouts? Why?
    Mom still had a job teaching and we knew we could be okay and we had to keep the faith. Me and my didn’t understand because we were still young. My Grandpa would always call when he saw the newspaper headlines, just to make sure everything was okay. Was thankful for it because it was an obligation to the country that we could succeed and that it was a big part of our economy and the life of our country is the automobile industry. Even though the country probably didn’t like the bailout.

    Did your investments take a major hit during the Recession? How did that change your plans or make you feel? Why?
    Sure, My investment dropped dramatically and our net worth drop by 31%. By the end of 2008, Lost 30% of stock value with no company making money. On average we lost 40% on most invest. Knew people that lost all there money and there retirement because they kept moving
    All there money in GM stocks. Lost retirement health care and pensions, so we have to work till 60 to get Medicare.

    Did you know any family members or friends directly affected by the bank closings, foreclosures, layoffs, etc? How were they affected by the Recession? 10% of his coworkers lost their Job. One day they put up paper in the conference room and they would call people in too tell them they would be laid off.

    Personal Reflection; During the recession I never really knew what was going on I was really just focused on settling in to our new house and trying to figure out my friends. I do remember my Dad always being on edge and was always worried about whether he could keep my family in our house and how he could keep his job. Nothing around me seemed to change very much, no one moved or left their houses in my new neighborhood and my old friends didn’t lose their jobs. It was weird after the first year of us living here because I would drive back to Ypsilanti with my Mom to go to work and go to school and everyday we would drive passed my Dads old abandon plant and wondering what going to happen to it and what was going to happen to all his co-workers we knew. While I was never really affected by the Recession, I do remember all the struggles my Dad made for us and how successful he has become since his struggle and he will always have my love and respect for keep the faith.
48. Joseph DeMarco June 7, 2018 at 11:31 pm

    1.) What is your name, and how old were you during the time of the recession? Also, what is your biggest memory from the recession?
    the person that I interviewed for this topic was Nick DeMarco, my father, and he was 38 during the time of the recession. Nick personally experienced the drop in business and industry that occurred in Detroit as a working part of the airline industry. Though most of the downfall in Detroit occurred in the auto industry, The huge drop in value in the auto industry lead to their travel dropped significantly starting around 2008, ultimately leading to less business for the airline industry. This was Nick’s strongest memory because it was the most personal memory he had, in the sense of, it really affected his job.
    2.) Do you have any memories of people that you knew who were affected by the recession?
    The only memory Nick had of anybody affected by the bank closures and foreclosures was of some of our neighbors. Because of the failing mortgages that these neighbors had, they were forced to leave their homes, and we really haven’t seen them since.
    3.) Did you, or anybody that you knew lose their jobs during the recession? If so, how long were they out of work?
    Nick did not lose his job, though he did have colleagues who lost their jobs. He explained that these people were only colleagues, not friends, so he does not know when they resumed work. There were several colleagues, he said, and there was a wide range of the amount of time these colleagues were out of work, from merely days and weeks to months.
    4.) How did you feel about the huge government bailouts of the failing banks and insurance companies?
    Nick felt very conflicted with the government about the bailouts of banks and insurance companies at the time. On one hand, he saw it as necessary to stabilizing the situation to stop it from compounding on itself and becoming worse, or as a good way to stop the situation quickly. On the other hand, he felt as though it was a large waste of taxpayer money to help out the banks, when really money should’ve come from the relatively few people who were responsible for the situation. He felt as though the people he claimed responsible for the situation got off too easily while others felt the full force of the recession, and he felt that there needed to be some kind of punishment instead of bailouts.
    5.) How did you feel about the potential bankruptcy and closing of auto industries in Detroit, such as Chrysler and General Motors? What about the bailouts on these auto industries?
    We were concerned about the threat of these auto companies closing because firstly, Nicks job in the airline industry relied on a healthy auto-industry, and Nick would’ve probably been laid off if these industries closed. Secondly, he was worried about the threat of the whole Detroit economy as a whole, which is based almost entirely off of these companies. Because of the concern over the auto companies closing, he felt like the bailouts, especially because of the fact that they were structured as loans, not really bailouts, were warranted.
    6.) Did any of your investments or savings take a hit or did you lose any of these during the recession? Did this change any economic plans of yours like retirement at the time?
    Nick explained that his 401k took a big hit like everyone else, and it was something that had to be seen to have been avoided. He said that everyone’s 401k took the hit, unless they went around and switched up the bonds to protect the investments, but this is something that had to be seen to be done by people who saw the recession early. This did not change any of his plans, as the investments did come back rather quickly, and also Nick was a little young to retire at the time and knew he was still going to work instead of retire.
    7.) Who did you think was responsible for the recession? What were your general feelings towards them and their failures?
    Nick explained that the people responsible for the recession were the leaders of the investment banks like Goldman Sachs and AIG, especially the ones that received the largest bailouts. The leaders made irresponsible decisions in search of profits, which backfired spectacularly, and he felt they should’ve felt as though they were responsible, and maybe they should’ve faced some kind of punishment for their failures.
    8.) It’s been some time since the recession, do you think America has really changed since this time? Do you think that another recession, like this, could ever occur in the near future?
    Nick explains that he thought people were a little more conservative after the recession, definitely because of the recession, and he thinks that the banks have got back to their bad habits and continued to make it incredibly easy to get a mortgage. Nick says that maybe, very soon, this could happen again, but he also thinks that we will be able to stop it from happening by looking at the signs that appear right before the recession hits. He doesn’t know why the banks haven’t learned their lessons about cheap mortgages, but he thinks if it ever gets close to a recession, like 2008, that we’d be able to see it and potentially put an end to it before it ever occurs.

    Personal Reflection
    I felt as though this interviews really helped me get a better understanding of the recession, especially because I really didn’t know that there was a recession until maybe a couple years ago when I heard about the movie coming out (The Big Short). I really have no memory of the recession, so it was very weird and shocking to hear that some of my father’s colleagues and some of our neighbors were forced to leave, or were fired, and that we really haven’t seen them since. One memory of something related to the recession that I do have, is the fact that we moved to Michigan in 2006, narrowly missing the recession. Even though it really wasn’t the house buyers affected by the mortgage crisis portion of the recession, I always find it a little cool that we missed the recession by only 1-2 years. Overall I was pretty shocked to hear about the number of people that he knew who were directly affected by house foreclosures and people being laid off of their jobs, and a little surprised to hear that nobody that he was really close to was affected by the recession. I thought of this interview as a great way to gain a new perspective of the recession, as I was not old enough to really understand what was happening.
49. Brody H June 7, 2018 at 11:32 pm

    1. What is your name? How old were you in 2008?
    Sara Hiipakka, 37 years old
    2. What is your strongest memory of the Great Recession? Why is this your strongest memory?
    I joined Comerica Bank in the summer of 2006 as a HR Director. The reason I left General Motors and the automotive industry was because it was a declining industry at the time (bankruptcy occurred later in 2009). General Motors was implementing involuntary resignations for the first time in their history and I was on the project. Letting people go was very depressing. I left to go to Comerica and was looking forward to joining an industry without all of the negative media attention and staff reductions. That was short-lived. Comerica’s headquarters moved to Dallas in 2007 and the Great Recession hit in 2008 and 2009. Banks became the new focus on the media’s negative attention. It was just as bad as being in the automotive industry.
    3. Were you aware of the sub-prime mortgages that were being done at that time? What were your feelings about them? Why?
    Yes, however, I did not personally participate in them. I do believe it was a major contributor in the Grade Recession. Times were good and people were living way beyond their means. Lenders approved loans with no or low documentation required to verify income and assets. In 2006, housing prices started falling. At the same time those borrowers with adjustable rate mortgages saw their monthly payments increase when the interest rate rose. Borrowers could not afford their payments and stopped paying on their loans. Banks took big losses on those loans that defaulted or foreclosed. That in turn caused banks to fail, such as Lehman Brothers (America’s 4th largest bank) and many other large financial institutions came close. Comerica is a very conservative bank so they did not do subprime loans but they were still impacted because the lent money to a lot of real estate builders who were unable to sell their houses.
    I was really upset that greed from several big banks and their borrowers who wanted massive houses, even when they could not afford them, caused such a negative impact to everyone in America.

    4. How did your family feel about the government bailout of banks and investment / insurance companies? Why?
    As someone who worked at a bank, I was very frustrated by the reality of what happened and how banks were portrayed in the media. The federal government came to banks and asked them to take the money to calm fears in the public and stop the financial institutions from closing. It infused $350 billion of new capital into banks through the TARP, the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Comerica was given $2.25 billion, even though it was not needed. TARP went from being a good thing to do to for America to being the focus of all media on why banks are bad. The reality is that there were a few big banks that were bad. Their borrowing practices were questionable and needed more oversight. However, it was portrayed that all banks were bad and were seen through the same lens. On the first day possible by the federal government, on March 18, 2010, Comerica returned the money to the U.S. Treasury. They also paid the Treasury $150.9m in dividends. A recent number I saw said the federal government made over 10 billion dollars profit on that program. That did not seem to make any headlines.

    5. Now that it’s been almost 10 years since the Recession, how do you think America has changed since then? Why?
    I am concerned we will be worse off when there is another recession. We have been taking a long time to get out of this past recession and a new one will come.
    The good news is the banks are heavily monitored and entire organizations have been built to review risk within the banks. Banks now need to demonstrate their ability to survive through various stress situations and those test are reviewed by the Fed.
    My concern is in the last 10 years there are many alternatives to using banks and what will happen to people’s money if the we go into another recession. The FDIC insures your money in a bank for up to $250,000. If you are not in a bank, that is not the case. If the banks are in trouble, the government knows who to help. Many of the new lending sources are on-line with very little oversight. This could be a big problem.

    Personal reaction: I did not realize the troubles my mom went through during this time period. I knew she left General Motors for that reason, but I did not know about the struggles she went through with Comerica Bank. Although it makes perfect sense thinking about it, during a great recession for Banks to be in the news a lot and to be struggling. I did not realize that Comerica got affected by this but since Comerica is a very conservative bank, they did not do subprime loans but they were still impacted because the lent money to a lot of real estate builders who were unable to sell their houses. It was also fascinating to me that Comerica Bank was given 2.25 billion dollars by TARP to try to help fix their problem. I am so proud of my mom and everything she has accomplished, she is so smart and strong. Now knowing what she went through outside of family issues just shows exactly how strong she is.
50. Devin Roberts June 7, 2018 at 11:50 pm

    I interviewed my dad Parrish Roberts 45 years old in 2008.
    Did you know anybody who lost their job during this time period? Yeah i did know a couple of people and they made ends neat by finding jobs that paid a lot of less
    Were you aware of the subprime mortgages that were being sold during that time.
    Yes, absolutely my feelings about them is that the banks and the mortgage companies were being greedy by giving out loans to people who didn’t have the means to pay them back.
    How did you feel about the bailouts of the banks?
    I was very pissed about that. I felt that the banks and lending institutions should be held liable even though they did a terrible job of managing. He thinks that financial institutions hold so much power in our political system which is why they got bailed out.
    How you feel about the threat of chrysler and gm and them being bailed out.
    He felt much better about auto bailout because you had a lot more middle class people who benefited from that bailout than from the banking bailout. He felt Michigan’s economy would have collapsed if the auto bailout did not happen. It also made him want to buy an American car when he made his new car purchase because of seeing GM and Chrysler go under and he wanted to help support the local economy. Knowing what kind of devastation that would have had on the Michigan Economy and the National Economy it made him reevaluate where he was spending his money and if an American company could make just as good of a product as a european or foreign brand he wanted to support the American Brand.
    My retirement fund took a hit and it made me feel that some people had an advantage over others because they knew what was going to happen before the general public and the general public was caught off guard. But it didn’t make me change my financial or spending habits at all.
    He thinks the blame goes to very greedy CEOS and the policies that Bush and Republican Party put it in place because it gave the banks more flexibility and less oversight and they just ran wild.
    How did the recession affect you and your job at Blue Cross?
    He said that the companies that buy the healthcare from them and the workers had cover a lot more of the costs rather than the companies. It made them have to come up with more creative ideas to get patients the healthcare that they needed a lower cost because the patients were paying more and they couldn’t afford to do that. A lot of negations with drug companies and hospitals to bring down prices on the drugs and the services that they provide to patients at hospitals. He negationed with businesses to try to bring down health care costs for patients.
    He thinks that people are spending money less and more with straight up cash. He felt that the bank when in a no lose situation because if the banks didn’t get their money for the people the government would bail them out.

    I had heard about the recession and its effects and the reforms that were put in place by Obama but I didn’t know that it had an impact on so many Americans. I thought that it only had an impact on your if you lost your job or home but I didn’t know about the complexity of the topic and the recession. I didn’t know that it had so many moving parts in our economy and why it was the way that it was. I didn’t really know much more except hearing about it on the news. I am glad that we have recovered from the recession and I hope it will stay that and not go back.