Monday, February 1, 2010
Toyota and transparency
Another article in today's Wall Street Journal caught my attention. Toyota's been in the news for a while now, for their car-saftey problems. A lot of these problems had to do with stuck accelerators--pretty scary, no? But, car manufacturer recalls aren't anything new. What is new is that Jim Lentz, president for US sales Toyota, will make a media appearance concerning the recalls. Sure, this could all be a kind of marketing ploy, but maybe there's more. Maybe Mr. Lentz is taking a cue from the financial sector and is attempting to be transparent. Is it possible that corporate culture in America is indeed changing, just as President Obama promised?
Change?
President Obama promised he would bring change to Washington. What would be the agent of that change (other than himself)? Transparency.
Everyone knows that we're in a recession. While the president assures us that we've had the worst of it, the unemployment rate is holding at about ten percent. Many of my friends who graduated from college last year have found jobs, but not at all what they were looking for--nothing that requires a college degree. Technically my friends are counted in the labor force (employed one hour or more per week), but are they happy? Are they optimistic for the future? Perhaps not.
Though many people aren't optimistic about the US economy and the change that President Obama promised us, perhaps there is light. Today's Wall Street Journal got me to think that there may indeed being created the culture of transparency that the president promised us. One piece of news I thought was interesting was an article about Henry Paulson's new book, One the Brink. Paulson tells the account of what many people believed were back-room deals made by himself and bank executives, and makes things, well, a little more transparent. I think the book will show Americans a different side of the banking industry and its wizards--the human side. The WSJ article ends with a conversation Paulson had with his wife one night. He told her, "I'm really scared."
Everyone knows that we're in a recession. While the president assures us that we've had the worst of it, the unemployment rate is holding at about ten percent. Many of my friends who graduated from college last year have found jobs, but not at all what they were looking for--nothing that requires a college degree. Technically my friends are counted in the labor force (employed one hour or more per week), but are they happy? Are they optimistic for the future? Perhaps not.
Though many people aren't optimistic about the US economy and the change that President Obama promised us, perhaps there is light. Today's Wall Street Journal got me to think that there may indeed being created the culture of transparency that the president promised us. One piece of news I thought was interesting was an article about Henry Paulson's new book, One the Brink. Paulson tells the account of what many people believed were back-room deals made by himself and bank executives, and makes things, well, a little more transparent. I think the book will show Americans a different side of the banking industry and its wizards--the human side. The WSJ article ends with a conversation Paulson had with his wife one night. He told her, "I'm really scared."
Introduction
I'm a student at UMass Boston, and I'm writing this blog for my English class. My focus for my blog is the recession, and I'll be mostly using the Wall Street Journal as my source. I'll look at other sources though, and see about taking polls, and generally trying to engage the audience.
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