Political+and+English+Language

Annotation: []
 * Meaningless Words in Modern Political Language - U.S politician 1950-1970. **

Joseph McCarthy in his speech, “Enemies from Within”, tries to accuse disloyalty of people who are Communists and Soviet spies in the U.S. federal government and elsewhere. In his speech, McCarthy used meaningless words such as //peace, moral//, //understanding, historical figures, enemy, trust//, and more//.// These kinds of words are too brief. What peace? He should expand on describing what kind of peace. For example: peace to have freedom of speech, no racial discrimination, and so on. For the word //moral//, he needs to further describe what is moral, what is not. He should not just state the word and assumes that everyone knows what moral is. McCarthy talked about how supporters of Communism lost normal understanding. But understanding of what? Of what is right or wrong? He needs to go into details more instead of just stating the words. Also, he mentioned about outstanding historical figures of the past, but he didn’t mention who. He should state who he is mentioning, for example, Lincoln or Washington. Just saying outstanding historical figures is too vague. No one will know why they are outstanding. McCarthy needs to state who is the enemy of the U.S. and lastly, he should expand on the word trust. In conclusion, Joseph McCarthy was too unclear on some of his statements because of his use of words that have no meaning. In order to make the audience understand what he is saying, he should go deeper by describing what each word means and represents.

McCarthy, Joseph. ""Enemies from Within": Senator Joseph R. McCarthy's Accusations of Disloyalty." History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web. N.p., 9 Feb. 1950. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.  Imprecise diction,  Meaningless words , Dying metaphors

Good evening. This is an extraordinary period for America’s economy. In these last few weeks, many Americans have felt the pressures of their finances and future. I understand both of these feelings. We’ve seen triple digit swings in the stock market, and financial institutions have either failed or are about to do so. As uncertainty has grown banks have restricted lending, credit markets have been stalled, and families and businesses find it hard to borrow money. Serious financial crisis is upon us, and the federal government is actively responding. We have strengthened the confidence in money market mutual funds and are preventing major investors from intentionally driving down stocks for personal gain. Most importantly, my administration and Congress are working to address the cause of the instability in our markets. The financial assets that relate to home mortgages have lost value during the house decline while the banks that hold these assets have restricted credit, and these results in a dangerous economy. So I will enforce the federal government to reduce the risk posed from these troubled assets and supply urgently needed money so banks and other financial institutions can avoid collapse and resume lending. This plan’s purpose is not to preserve any individual company or industry but America’s overall economy. It will help American consumers and businesses get credit to meet their daily needs and create jobs. And it will help send a signal to markets around the world that America's financial system is back on track. I know this raises many questions such as, how did we reach this point in our economy? How will the solution I propose work? And what does this mean for your financial future? These questions are entitled to clear answers. We must start with how our economy reached its current state. Most economists agree that the problem we are seeing now have developed over a long period of time. For more than a decade, due to our stable economy, money flowed into the US from investors abroad. This large influx of money to U.S. banks and financial institutions, along with low interest rates, made it easier for Americans to get credit. This gave families more access to borrow money for cars, homes, and college tuition. It also allowed entrepreneurs to take loans to start new businesses and create jobs. This had negative consequences though, particularly in the housing market. When easy credit is combined with the assumption that home value will increase bad decisions and excesses take place. Many mortgage lenders approved loans for borrowers without examining their ability to pay. Many borrowers took out loans larger than they could afford, believing that they could sell or refinance their homes at a higher price later on. This belief led to an increase in home construction, and eventually the number of people willing to buy new home was less than new homes built. This caused house prices to fall due to oversupply. Borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages, who had been planning to sell or refinance their homes at a higher price, were stuck with homes worth less than expected, along with mortgage payments they could not afford. As a result, many mortgage-holders began to default, and this caused issues beyond the housing market. See, in today's mortgage industry, home loans are often packaged together and converted into financial products called mortgage-backed securities. These securities were sold to investors around the world. Assuming that these securities were trustworthy, investors asked few questions about the actual value. Two of the leading purchasers of mortgage-backed securities were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Because these companies were chartered through Congress, many believed they were guaranteed by the federal government. This allowed them to borrow enormous sums of money, fuel the market for questionable investments, and has placed our financial system at risk. The decline in the housing market causes a downturn in our economy. When home values declined, borrowers defaulted on their mortgages, and investors holding mortgage-backed securities began to incur serious losses.

Many securities became unreliable because that they were not being bought or sold, such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. They found themselves saddled with large amounts of assets they could not sell. They ran out of money needed to meet their immediate obligations, and they faced imminent collapse.

Other banks also found themselves in severe financial trouble. These banks hold on the money, then lend the money until it is gone which cause the American financial system to a halt.

With the financial situation becoming more precarious by the day, it is my responsibility to help out by making goverment policy to fix these financial situation and not to allow the irresponsible actions of some to undermine the financial security of all.

I'm a strong believer in free enterprise, so my natural instinct is to oppose government intervention. I believe companies that make bad decisions that are affecting the economy should be allowed to go out of business.

The market is not functioning properly. With lack of confidence in handling financial situations, and major sectors of America's financial system are at risk of shutting down.

The government's top economic experts warn that, without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic.

More banks could fail and the stock market would drop more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of homes could plummet and foreclosures would rise dramatically.

And if you own a business or a farm, you would find it harder and more expensive to get credit. More businesses would close their doors, and millions of Americans could lose their jobs.

Even if you have good credit history, it would be more difficult for you to get the loans such as for cars and college. And, ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession.

Fellow citizens, we must not let this recession happen. I appreciate the work of leaders from both parties in both houses of Congress to address this financial problem in our nation and to make improvements to the proposal my administration sent to them.

There is a spirit of cooperation between Democrats and Republicans and between Congress and this administration. In that spirit, I've invited Senators McCain and Obama to join congressional leaders of both parties at the White House tomorrow to help speed our discussions toward a bipartisan bill.

I know that an economic rescue package will present a tough vote for the members of Congress. I also understand the frustration of responsible Americans who pay their mortgages on time, file their tax returns every April 15th, and are reluctant to pay the cost of excesses on Wall Street. It is difficult to pass a bill that commits so much of the taxpayers' hard-earned money. However a bill is needed in order to improve economy and not cost Americans much more later in the future.

The rescue plan would remove the risk posed by the troubled assets, including mortgage-backed securities, now clogging the financial system. It would also free banks to resume the flow of credit to American families and businesses.

The rescue plan should also be designed to ensure that taxpayers are protected from going to poverty. It should welcome the participation of financial institutions, large and small, and make certain that failed executives do not receive a windfall from your tax dollars.

It should establish a bipartisan board to oversee the plan's implementation, and it should be enacted as soon as possible.

To solve this serious financial problem, I met with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and SEC Chairman Chris Co. The federal government would put up to $700 billion taxpayer dollars on the line to purchase troubled assets that are clogging the financial system.

This will restart the flow of credit to American families and business causing our economy to grow. Even though the prices dropped drastically as the markets lost certainty in mortgage securities, the overall value of these assets will be higher than current price in assurance that Americans will pay off their mortgages eventually. Be reassured that the government has the patience to buy the assets at low prices and owning them until markets was set to normal. This will lead the money to be restored to the Treasury the moment these assets are sold as the tax dollars are replaced. I reassure you that the purpose of these proposals is to protect the American workers, families, and businesses as federal government keeps enforcing laws to guard your money. The Treasury Department for 75 years never misplaced a single penny on the insured deposit. Therefore, their offer of insurance of money market funds to the government, which insures the congress to be insured up to $100,000, can be trusted. Correcting this crisis will later resolve our financial structures that are ineffective to 21st century economy. Recently, we noticed that the growth of one company can cause the failure of entire financial system. Therefore, Secretary Paulson proposed a plan that could stabilize the overall finance. One way to enforce the plan is to have the Federal Reserve judging whether the operations of companies would threaten the whole financial system. Also, the congress must not regulate Wall Street in risk of destroying the economy. Nevertheless, Americans still have strong economic stance despite the corrections that must be made. This country still gives the best place to renovate business and adjust to better the economy. Our country is capable of overcoming any difficulties we face. The history reassures us that we can fix the crisis even though Washington’s disregard in people might tire us. Let us show the world that America is capable of resolving problems to meet our goals. Thank you for listening. May God bless you.

Bush, George. "George W. Bush - Speech, Economic Crisis, 24 September 2008." Welcome to U.S. Politics on About.com. N.p., 24 Sept. 2008. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. .